For Thanksgiving, I was looking for something to make and bring to our family dinner. All the “usual suspects” were already accounted for — the stuffing, mashed potatoes, green been casserole, etc. Last year I took coconut macaroons, but I made those with limited edition Hershey Kisses that I didn’t have this year. So the search was on… I wanted something easy to make, but still something I hadn’t made before. I originally found this recipe at YumSugar, but the recipe itself is from the Land O’ Lakes website. It had a few things in it’s favor– it looked easy, and I had almost all of the ingredients.

The Recipe
Cookie Ingredients:

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Filling Ingredients:

1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

I did a lousy job of taking pictures to document these cookies, but I’ll give it a shot. First you heat your oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, combine all of the cookie ingredients except for the flour and baking power.

Beat at medium speed until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add flour and baking powder. Beat until well mixed.

Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Make indentation in each cookie with thumb; rotate thumb to hollow out slightly.

Combine all filling ingredients in small bowl;

fill each cookie with 1 rounded teaspoon filling.

Bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets.

The Verdict
Everyone loved them! They certainly do not make as many cookies as the recipe says (it says yields 3 dozen, but I was probably closer to 2 dozen). They were impossibly easy to make, and I’ll definitely make them again. More than one person wanted the recipe too. So this is definitely going in the file of “to be made again.” Already in that file for me are my lasagna, and a white chicken parmesan I made for Mother’s Day (and for Father’s Day too, cause I’m a cheater like that).

I braved the crowds this morning to grab a few things I really wanted. These are two of the things I came home with:

So that leaves me with a question for all of you (you too, mom). What can I make in a 2.5 quart crock pot? Well, it’s not crock pot brand, so I guess I should say “slow cooker.”

And I do have a couple of food posts in the works, just need to get around to writing them up!

While stumbling last week, I came across a recipe for the Best Lasagna Ever over on The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I read through the post, and not only did the lasagna look very good, it also looked easy. Since I’m taking things slowly over here (you know, let’s make sure we can successfully boil water before we attempt to make something incredibly complicated), easy is a very good thing. Even better, reading through the comments they were largely positive. So the thought formed in my mind… I could pick up all the ingredients and invite my mom and her husband over for dinner on Sunday. And just like that, I was committed.
You can read the original post, and the original recipe at the link above, or you can follow along with me here. I’m a cheater, so there are a few deviations here.

The Ingredients

Lasagna noodles, 1.5 lbs of ground beef, 1lb of Italian sausage, minced garlic, parsley flakes, dried basil, cottage cheese, 2 eggs (not pictured), parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese slices, whole tomatoes and tomato paste. And no, the amaretto in the background was not in the ingredient list.

Making Lasagna
The first step was to brown the 1.5 pounds of ground beef with the one pound of sausage, and 1/2 tsp. minced garlic. The original recipe called for Hot breakfast sausage, but I’m a wimp, so I went for Italian instead as it’s slightly less “Oh my goodness, my mouth’s on FIRE!” It also called for 2 cloves of garlic, minced, but I’m lazy and bought a jar of ready to use minced garlic instead. In the pan it went.

In the original, she begs everyone not to drain all of the fat off, for PETE’s sake, but I couldn’t help it. I’m usually a “rinser” so I resisted doing that before returning the meat to the pan. That has to count for something, doesn’t it? Right?
Well anyways, then it was time to continue making the meat sauce, so to my cooked meat, I added 28 oz. of whole tomatoes, 12 oz. of tomato paste, 2 tbs. parsley flakes, 2 tbs. dried basil, 1 tsp. salt.

You’re supposed to let it simmer, uncovered for about 45 minutes. This is what mine looked like about 35 minutes in.

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