Food adoration

I love reading cook books and so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I adore food blogs. The "Blogs" folder on my favorite lists receives additions on almost a daily basis, most of them filled with eye-popping, mouth-watering photographs of yummy stuff and descriptions of cuisine complicated or simple, but always unbelievably delicious.

Last night, my husband, Princess and I made cookies together. It was a wonderful evening and I hope that nights like those are something our children remember with fondness as they grow up. We started with a fairly ordinary oatmeal chocolate chip recipe. However, like me, Princess (who as a sign that we watch far too much Food TV, has taking to calling herself my sous chef when we're in the kitchen--"Mommy, your sous chef is getting the eggs out"), can't seem to leave a recipe alone. What we ended up with were these.

Our White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups quick oatmeal
1 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup dried cranberries

Mix together the first five ingredients until creamy. Add remaining ingredients. Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

My husband absolutely loved them and I think we'll be making them a lot, although I'll likely be experimenting with substitutions for all that butter :)

In other baking news, we attempted to make Figgy Pudding just after Christmas:

It turned out alright, but I can tell it's a recipe which will take some refining to more closely match our family's tastes. It was really fun though, and the first time I've ever cooked in a waterbath or made an English-style pudding.

My massage therapist and I both love food and my sessions with her are often filled with discussions about our favorite recipes and things we have recently eaten. I was drooling over her descriptions of the special holiday feast she makes using her grandmother's traditional recipes for things like pirogis, and last time I was there she asked for the easy zucchini recipe I found this summer that is now my favorite because it does not require me to grate the zucchini (read: knuckles)! I misplaced the recipe, but when I find it for her, I'll post it here too.