Whatcha got Cookin'.....

I have to say I just love being married and I love having someone to cook for. Josh is such a good sport, he’s never afraid to try anything that I’ve made, even if it doesn’t look too appetizing. :)
I definitely took advantage of the long weekend that we had over the holiday weekend. Besides getting to rest a lot, I was able to get in the kitchen and try a lot of different recipes!!
Before I began working at the YWCA I was volunteering fairly regularly at the Salvation Army. Robert, the main cook, always showed me tricks and gave me cooking tips. He taught me so much every time I went, and the last few times he showed me a little bit of how to make an edible arrangement. So that’s what I did on Saturday night! Talk about a lot of work and a lot of patience. It was a lot harder than I had imagined. You have to prep all the fruit by washing, cutting it into the shaped you want, and then dipping it in chocolate. By the time I had prepared it and had in on the sticks I was already tired! Then I put it into the arrangement, which was very meticulous! Four hours later I had this beautiful, edible creation!!! :)

After church on Sunday I began my other creations in the kitchen. I made a whole assortment of things. The first thing I made was American lasagna. It was basically the same as regular lasagna except, instead of ricotta cheese, it had mozzarella and American cheese. It turned out fabulous. I got this recipe from Cooks.com. This is a picture of the final product.

…..And this is a picture of my husband’s clean plate!

I was looking through another Taste of Home magazine and I came across four recipes for homemade pesto. I don’t know how often you use pesto, but it’s very expensive and Josh and I love it. I was super excited when I came across it because who doesn’t like to save money? So I made Cilantro pesto. It cost us about a third of the cost to make it and it’s fresh. I ended up really liking it, but Josh wasn’t a huge fan (too many walnuts). I think I’m going to try to make the Poblano Pesto next time.

So Josh had been asking me for a couple of weeks now to make a buttermilk pie. I was a little nervous because the only kind he had ever had was made by an older lady in our church who had obviously been cooking for years. He loved it! But I attempted it anyway and it turned out fabulous. I really hadn’t ever had it before so I didn’t know what it was supposed to taste like, but once I took a bite I knew it was good, Ha! :) The recipe was very easy too.



I also made peanut butter thumbprint cookies with the new dark chocolate Hersey’s kisses. I made these so I could take them to movie night with the girls. They were yummy and moist and we enjoyed them! I highly recommend you make them.



Here's the recipe for the Buttermilk Pie:
Buttermilk pie
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 - 5 rounded tablespoons flour
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 unbaked deep dish 9 inch pie shell, or 2 regular unbaked 9 inch pie shells

Cream the sugar and butter together. Add the flour and eggs and beat well.

Add the buttermilk and vanilla; mix well & pour into pie shells.

I find that the filling makes enough for two of the regular 9" pie shells if you buy them frozen (I do sometimes; it's faster). If I use the deep dish version of the frozen pie shells, I can get it all into one shell.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes, or until tests done. Top should be slightly crusty and brown.

If you find this pie a bit on the sweet side; reduce vanilla first and see how you like it. Then, try reducing the sugar. It should be sweet.


Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!!

-A