Chocolate Pudding Butterscotch Cookies

I have been trying to challenge myself to use stuff that is in my pantry instead of buying more...well a couple/few items made up some wonderful cookies (after a few searches to see what I could find to use up these wonderful ingredients.) I found the original recipe on this blog here and where she used vanilla pudding and chocolate chips, I altered the recipe a tad and used what I had! I hope you all enjoy! I know a couple of boys over here LOVED them!

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

3.4 oz package instant chocolate pudding

2 eggs

1 1/2 t vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

1 t baking soda

1/4 t salt                   

2 cups butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together butter and sugars until creamy.  Add the pudding, eggs and vanilla and mix again.  Add the baking soda and salt and mix one more time.  Add the flour. You can start with 2 cups and add the last 1/4 cup if needed. Lastly add the butterscotch chips and mix.  

Drop by the tablespoonful full and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.  

Let them cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before removing to a cooling rack.

Mediterranean Poached Fish

I love fish. Shrimp. Crab. Salmon. Cod. You name it, I love it. I wanted to do something light and healthy last night since we have kind of strayed from eating healthy and eating quite fattening foods lately. I decided to try my hand at poaching a fish this time around, because Dave usually grills fish any time we get something larger than a shrimp. We took a journey to Whole Foods, since I have found their fish to be exquisite and decided to get a few Cod filets. There are quite a few ways you can poach a fish...a few recipes to be exact. Since Whole Foods has such a wonderful olive bar, I decided to take a Mediterranean approach. Last summer I preserved multiple jars of diced tomatoes and used those as part of my broth along with wine. The result was an excellent healthy meal that I hope you all enjoy!

4 cod filets

1 small fennel bulb, sliced thinly

4 garlic cloves, sliced paper thin

1 cup marinated olives, sliced in half

2 tbsp capers

2 small cans of diced tomatoes (or jars of freshly canned diced tomatoes)

1 ½ cups of dry white wine

1 tsp thyme

2 tbsp fresh parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

In a Dutch oven, saute the fennel until wilted. Add the garlic and continue sauteing for about 5 minutes. Deglaze the pot with the white wine and bring to a simmer. Add the two cans of tomatoes, thyme and salt and pepper.  Gently stir in the olives and capers. Bring to a slow boil (medium to low heat). Gently submerge the each of the fillets into the broth making sure not to stir too roughly. Cover and let cook for about 10 – 15 minutes.  Very gently sprinkle the parsley over the broth and push into the broth to submerge the parsley trying not to disturb the fish (otherwise it will break). Serve whole filets over a bed of rice or quinoa with a good portion of the broth ladled over it. Garnish with fresh parsley.

Lil Smokie Stuffed Jalapeno

This past Superbowl Sunday, I didn't really feel like doing much in the way of cooking a large meal. We just recently purchased a deep fryer and with the homemade raviolis I made last Christmas, we decided to just do appetizers. We made deep fried raviolis with marinara sauce, Italian sausage stuffed mushrooms, and these lil babies, Lil Smokie Stuffed Jalapeno's wrapped with bacon. Of course found the inspiration on Pinterest, and changed the recipe up a bit, but they turned out pretty good. We used a whole piece of bacon which we found to be way to much so for the recipe I cut it back to half a piece of bacon. Dave also has a built in smoker in his grill and used hickory chips as his smoke. You can spice it up and use mesquite, applewood or what ever other kind of chip you prefer. All in all, they turned out quite yummy.

12 large jalapenos, halved and seeded

6 bacon strips, cut into half

8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened

1 small shallot, minced finely

½ cup Monterey jack cheese, shredded

24 lil smokies

In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, Monterey jack cheese and shallots until well blended. Take about a tablespoon of the filling, maybe a bit more and spoon into a halved jalapeno. Take a lil smokie and place on top of the cream cheese mixture. Wrap a half piece of bacon around the jalapeno and place on a cookie sheet. Repeat until all jalapenos are wrapped. We placed on a rack and our grill has a built in smoker. We smoked them for about 2 hours at about 245 degrees or until the bacon was crispy. You could also do this in the oven, but I find that the bacon never gets crisp enough for me. You could try it at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes.