Coo-Kees - Christmas COOKIES!!

I wanted to make Christmas cookies to take to our friends this year.  I actually caught this baking bug from my cousin Bethany.  :-)   I made them - Carlos and I ate a bunch and then we ran out of time to take them to our friends (sorry guys LOL!!  Good thing I didn't tell em I was doing this) so I boxed them all up and took them to our friend Moses Uvere's video shoot.  That was fun.  So here are some pics and the link to the recipes.  They were awesome cookies - super easy and fun to make!

slice and bake cookies from Our Italian Kitchen

 Cookie Dough Bites

 Christmas Mints

 Candy Cane Blossoms from Baked Perfection

And dang....I don't have a link to this one.  Found it on Pinterest though and I think I pinned it.  :)

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Mulligatawny

Found a recipe for mulligatawny on Bakingdom!  It is sooo good!  Because I didn't know how to pronounce "mulligatawny" I Googled it (of course) and found out all sorts on interesting info on the origin of this soup.

So a very brief lesson:

Mulligatawny means pepper water and apparently was "developed" or "created" by the Indian's for the British who were stationed in India because of the British peoples love of soup.   (I didn't know the British loved soup??)   And since being introduced to the Western culture it has many variations. 

Who knew soup could have such a history?? So if anyone ends up making this let me know how you like it!  :-)

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Fun!

Just saw my mints on Bake It Pretty!  Over the Christmas holidays I made these:

I took the pic with my cell phone so it didn't pick up the colors so great, it was way more blue.  Anyway, the snowflakes are a butter mint recipe that I found off  Bake It Pretty.  She talked about her grandmother making those mints for weddings and I was like, "OMG!  So did mine!"  My grandmother would make the leaves and roses.  I remember her making them and lining a Tupperware container with wax paper and layering them in.  We (girl cousins) only got one if there was no room left.  So it won't surprise you to learn that when I made them I kinda gorged and made myself sick.  Later I made dough again and divided it up, colored one green and one red and then added coconut flavoring to one and raspberry to the other.  DELISH!!  Then I got the bright idea to just make vanilla "mints"  (thanks mom)! I bought a flower mold and made several bright colors.  To see those check out the Bake It Pretty Blog.  I am #6.  :-)  And by the way, if you are not reading the Bake it Pretty blog regularly, you are totally missing out! 

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Let's get FAT!!!!!!!!!

I went and saw Julie and Julia with my aunts last week. It was SO good! It was even better than I expected. The only problem was that the entire movie your mouth was watering from all the nonstop delish eats! What really got to me was the Bruschetta that Julie makes early on in the movie. I googled the recipe and found it here. I also decided that the Hungry Novelist is a blog I will now be following. Anyway I probably gained like 5lbs just watching that movie and I am definitely going to make the Bruschetta. Thought you might like to try out the recipe. So here it is:

Bruschetta alla Julie and Julia – Recipe

4 slices rough textured bread, such as focaccia, or from a crusty baguette, cut lengthwise
16 oz. assorted heirloom type tomatoes (I used President’s Choice Rainbow heirloom cherry tomatoes) chopped and seeded if the seeds look sketchy
extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, peeled and halved
sea salt
chopped fresh basil

1. Toss tomatoes with 1 T. olive oil and about 1 tsp. sea salt.
2. Fry bread in 2-3 T. olive oil in skillet, browning on each side, and adding 1 more T. oil if necessary.
3. Rub cut half of garlic over 1 side of fried bread.
4. Spoon tomatoes (with oil and accumulated juices) over bread. Top with chopped basil and more sea salt to taste.
5. Eat with plenty of napkins on hand.

Serves 2.

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The Color of Carbs

I have been working really really hard lately and Carlos took pity on me and fed me - obviously I cheated. Carlos made so much fun of me because the color of my food was all the same - brown, tan, white - and he said that shows no variety and proves how unhealthy it is since there is no color to it....then he wanted me to take a picture of his food which I refused because his was way to colorful and would make me look bad....I must be really stressed out cause I went out to eat the next day with my boss and got the exact same thing. hehe! YUMMMMM!!!!! Who cares if I am fat now and Carlos is skinny??? NOT ME!! ***munching on a lettuce leaf***

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More..s u s h i

My husband thinks he can convince me that sushi is good because of this photo AND because he says it doesn't taste like fish in CA...I don't believe him.

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Sonic Grilled Chicken Salad

Someone tell me WHY they put an onion ring on their salads??? Are they trying to ruin my diet or what? Seriously - I see that onion ring and I am like...well they put it on there and I don't want to waste food so I will eat it...I would be better off with a single, tiny fry....but yeah, I ate the onion ring today...and I LIKED it.

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Ahhhh....chai tea

I love tazo organic chai tea...in fact, I am hooked. Of all the tea in this photo its the best...the way to drink it is like this:

Heat your cup of water up in the microwave for 1:20.

Put your tea bag in the tea

Pour in 2 packets of Splenda

Then pour a nice bit of heavy whipping cream into the tea

Let it sit 30 seconds....close your eyes, and try not to burn your tongue

On a side note, the Passion tea is freaky....its bright red and very fruity....and there is some kind of chemical reaction between it and then heavy whipping cream because it immediately curdled when I poured some in...but yeah....

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Sushi Part 734

Image courtesy of:www.a1-gourmet.com/japanesefood/

Since I think Sushi is so gross you would think that we would have heard the end of it. BUT I ran across an felllow blogger who has an in depth list of all the correct ways to eat Sushi HERE.

The following are some high lights:

Do not rub your chopsticks together. When not in use they should be placed parallel to yourself on the holder (if there is one) or on the shoyu dish. (What happens if you don't use your chopsticks? Is that rude?)

Don’t put wasabi directly in the shoyu dish. (WHY would you want to eat wasabi anyway since its disgusting and hot?)

It is OK to eat nigiri-zushi (sushi) with your hands. Sashimi is only to be eaten with your chopsticks. (I used my fork and I don't know what Sashimi is but I still used my fork)

Do not pick up a piece of food from another person’s plate with the end of the chopsticks you put in your mouth. When moving food like this use the end you hold, which is considered the polite way. (hmmm, I hope then that you washed your hands before you ate or that end might have more germs)

Eat nigiri sushi in one bite. This is not always easy (or possible) in North America where some sushi-ya make huge pieces, but traditional itamae in Japanese sushi-ya will make the pieces the proper size for this. In North America, try your best and don’t worry if they won’t let you. (yeah, waaay to big...warning: if you cut it with your fork it will all fall apart)

Also, never stick your chopsticks in your rice and leave them sticking up. This resembles incense sticks and again brings to mind the symbolism of the Japanese funeral and prayers to one's ancestors. (since I don't use chopsticks I am safe on this one)

So there you have it - a little info on sushi and how to eat it properly - check out the rest of the page for more info: HERE.

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My Kind of Sushi!

I KNEW it existed!! I was whining about how gross sushi was and didn't someone out there make a dessert sushi? While I was wandering around the internet I found it!! HERE This was an april fools day party. It's rice krispy treats with dried mango, dried papaya (sliced), and candy ginger for fish, and wrapped in slices of green fruit rollups and green 'Yogos' candy roll.With wasabi peas and candied ginger on the side. How totally awesome is that? Thank you thank you! That's the only sushi I will eat. I believe she called it "Faux Sushi"!!!

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