PB2 Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

A friend of mine sent me a pretty cool website the other day, Desserts Magazine: For people who eat desserts first!. I found a recipe for Flour less Peanut Butter Cookies, and thought I could modify to meet my lifestyle food choices. Now, once again, I could make or eat this everyday, but it was nice for a treat. Most of the time we make new food recipes, we usually take them to my in-laws. This way, they are not in our house tempting us!

These were pretty good, though a little bit dry and crumbly. I just might add a little liquid next time!

Hope you enjoy!


INGREDIENTS
1 cup PB2 prepared peanut butter
¾ cup granulated Splenda
1 large egg, slightly beaten
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¾ cup Sugar Free Chocolate Chips
½ cup roasted pecan halves

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottoms of two 12-by-18-inch sheet pans with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, stir the peanut butter, sugar, egg, baking soda and kosher salt until combined. Stir in the chocolate and peanuts.

Using a small, greased ice cream scoop, measure out the dough in teaspoon sized balls. Place the dough on the prepared pans, spacing them 2 inches apart.

Bake on the middle shelves of the oven, rotating the pans 180 degrees halfway through the baking time, until lightly golden and spread to a puffy mound, about 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool completely on the pans on wire racks. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to week. Yields: 24 cookies

Butternut Squash Soup

Beth went out for lunch a couple of weeks ago and talked about the Butternut Squash soup she had. I saw this one over at Bread & Honey. So, I thought I would make it for her. I did modify it according to what I had in the house, but it is still the same recipe!

I love food blogs, and Bread & Honey is one of my new fvorites. Summer Allen-Gibson is the creator of Design is Mine, as well as a mum, illustrator, and baker. She spends large portions of her days buried in cookbooks and trying out new recipes in her kitsch-filled kitchen. Alicia Lynn Carrier is a 24 year old mom, freelance photographer, and nerd. She loves food, spending time at home, and taking pictures of stuff in people's houses. Her website is here.

Very yummy after spending a "cold" day at the football field!

Hope you enjoy!

Butternut Squash Soup

1 butternut squashes
1 poblano pepper
1 small yellow onion
1 whole head of garlic (I will be roasting garlic again!)
8 ounces baby carrots
3-4 cups of vegetable or chicken stock.

Preheat your oven to 375ºf.

Slice squashes lengthwise, so you can scoop out the seeds. You can cut them down a little more if you'd like, to fit on your pans and maybe cook a little faster. Drizzle with olive oil, salt lightly, and place on a baking sheet in the oven. You know what? Do i need to describe the whole process? Everything gets drizzled in olive oil and roasted at the same time in the oven. I wrap the onions, shallot, and garlic individually in tinfoil, and leave the seeded, halved pepper on a baking sheet, along with the carrots. Keep an eye on the pepper and remove when it becomes blistery and begins to blacken. Just peek in on everything every once in awhile and make sure nothings burning.

Pull things out as they finish (The peppers will finish first, then the carrots, then the shallot probably, then the garlic, then onion, then butternuts, probably.) Just keep poking everything until it's mushy. Let everything cool so you can handle it easily, and heat up your stock while you wait.

Bust out your blender or food processor, and put a large pot aside for the finished soup. Begin blending the ingredients (duh, don't forget to peel your butternut) in steps, adding warm stock as needed to get it smooth. Dump it all in the big pot and stir it up really well, adding more stock if necessary to thin to desired consistency. Put over heat if necessary- letting all the ingredients cool can leave you with a lukewarm soup. Serves 3 or 4