Linzer Cookies

1 1/4 cup softened, unsalted butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 cups flour, sifted
1 3/4 cups ground almonds
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
5 Tbsp. raspberry jam (I usually use close to a cup, actually)
powdered sugar

Cream butter and sugar together until it is light and fluffy. Beat in the flour 1/2 cup at a time, almonds and cinnamon. Continue beating until dough becomes slightly stiff.  Shape into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour. Preheat oven to 325*. Cut dough in half and roll dough 1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut with a Linzer cutter, cut dough with cutter and then corresponding number with the insert cutter in the middle (or with a larger cutter, cut shapes and then with a small cookie cutter, cut a hole in the middle of half of the cookies). The cookies pictured above were not made in the traditional fashion. I didn't cut holes out of the middles of the top cookie because they were really small. Here's a more traditional style:

Bake 10-15 minutes (depending on the size, obviously). Cool for 20 minutes. Sift powdered sugar over the tops. Spread jam on bottoms. Put halves together.

Omelette Muffins

Someone posted this on Facebook so I'm putting it here for safekeeping. These are great for breakfast lunch or anytime! They can also be put in the refrigerator or freezer for later.

1/4-1/2 cup finally chopped onion
1/4 cup finally chopped red pepper
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 four oz. can of diced green chiles
Shredded cheese (about a cup)
Oil for sautéing

8 eggs
1 tsp. oil
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup milk
Salt and pepper

Sauté the onion, red pepper and garlic in oil in a small frying pan on the stove. Remove from heat and add chiles; mix. Spray muffin tins with oil to keep from sticking. Add a spoonful of the onion mixture to each muffin compartment. Add about a tablespoons of cheese on top of the onion mixture.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, baking powder and milk. Stir in salt and pepper to taste. Pour the egg mixture into each compartment, dividing equally amongst the compartments. Bake at 375° for 20 to 25 minutes. Makes one dozen.

Yellow Cupcakes

1 box yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Sift cake mix into a separate bowl and set aside. Whisk together remaining ingredients until uniform consistency. Stir in cake mix until well combined. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake at 350* for 17 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.



Vanilla buttercream:
1 cup softened butter
3 tsp. vanilla
4-5 cups powdered sugar
1 T. milk if needed
sprinkles or decorations (optional)
Beat butter two minutes. Add vanilla. Gradually add powdered sugar. Add milk if needed. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes with large open or closed star tip.

Chocolate Cupcakes

I bought a totally amazing cupcake book called "Your Cup of Cake" by Lizzy Early--highly recommend it! I usually don't use mixes often, but these recipes can be used with gluten-free cake mixes or pretty much any other special diet cake mix. Enjoy!


1 box devil's food cake mix
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Sift the cake mix into a separate bowl and set aside. Whisk together the eggs, oil, buttermilk, sour cream and vanilla until unified consistency. Stir in the cake mix until well combined. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full of batter. Bake at 350* for 17 minutes or until the cakes spring back from being touched. Let cool on rack. Frost when completely cooled.

Chocolate Buttercream:

1 cup softened butter

2 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa

1 Tbsp. milk

3-4 cups powdered sugar

sprinkles (optional)

Beat butter 2 minutes. Add vanilla, cocoa and milk. Gradually add powdered sugar. Pipe onto cupcakes using a large open or closed star tip.

Filipino Noodle Dish (Pansit)

I'm sure this has a real name, but for now, this is the title: Filipino Noodle Dish. It's delicious!!

One 8 oz. package rice noodles (My package said "rice stick" on it. See picture at bottom.)
1 T. cooking oil
1 medium white onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup chicken or pork meat (I used a large 12.5 oz. can of chicken--I liked the texture better)
3 T. soy sauce
2 T. oyster sauce
2 1/2 cups chicken or beef stock
1/2 cup grated carrots
2 cups shredded/finely chopped cabbage

Saute onion and garlic in oil in a large skillet. Add meat, soy sauce and oyster sauce. (Soak noodles in water for about 3 minutes. I used a casserole dish.) Add carrots, cabbage and stock. Bring to a boil. Remove meat and vegetables. Put rice noodles in remaining stock. Cook about 10 minutes or until the noodles absorb the liquid. Stir in the veggies and meat.
There are some variations if you want: use some frozen peas, shrimp, some like more soy sauce, etc. You could also use some chopped broccoli because broccoli goes with almost everything! :)

Makes a lot of yummy noodles. Here are the noodles I use:

Cheesy Crackers

4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
8 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shred yourself (the pre-shredded stuff comes with an anti-caking agent that will not allow the cheese to mesh with the other ingredients)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup flour
2-3 Tbsp cold water

Mix the butter, cheese, salt and pepper in a stand mixer with a paddle. It will form a ball--kind of. Slowly add flour while mixer is on low speed. Add cold water one tablespoon at a time. Mix in spices if desired--I like them!

Spice mixture:
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp paprika

After adding spices, mix briefly in mixer. It's okay to have some streaks.
Divide in two and wrap each section in plastic wrap and put in refrigerator for 30 min to an hour. Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness on a floured surface. Yes, this is thin. I use rubber rings on my rolling pin to get the right thickness. Cut out dough with a cutter (I used mustaches and one inch cutters. The one inch cutters made very small bite sized crackers--addicting!) Poke holes in each cracker with a fork. Bake for 11-15 minutes--depending on the cutter size used--in an oven heated to 375 degrees. (The one inch crackers were done in 11 minutes, larger ones will obviously take longer.)
Here are the mustaches. You can see I baked them longer than the above crackers, but I like them crispy! :)

Rosemary Soup

Okay, I completely made this up this afternoon, but it's the best soup I have ever eaten. These measurements are approximate, as I did not actually measure--sorry!

Here's what I wrote down as estimates:

2 cans chicken broth
3 small potatoes diced to about 3/8 inch (I left the skins on mine for nutrition)
3/4 to 1 cup diced ham (I used turkey ham)
(Get these cooking in a large pot on medium heat while preparing other ingredients)

2 celery stalks, diced (I like mine diced really small)
1/2 cup broccoli stems diced (this is all I had left in my fridge)
2 Tbsp dried onion
2 minced garlic cloves

Let cook on medium-high covered for 10-12 minutes. In the last 5 minutes of cooking, add these:
1/2 tsp dried rosemary (I'm not really sure how much I put in, I just sprinkled it around several times)
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp flour to thicken (I use a fine sifter to sprinkle in while stirring to avoid clumps)

Stir until all melted and smooth. Makes around 8 cups, although I'm not sure how much I had eaten before I measured it into portions for my lunches this week! I had about two bowls and 6 cups left over--so about 8 cups total I'd guess. Enjoy!