Saturday, July 28, 2012

Slider Cookies


I get my inspirations from many different places.  I watch Food Network and The Chew.  I love shows like Chopped, Cupcake Wars and Sweet Genius.  I subscribe to several food blogs.  The reality is many of the ideas/recipes I see are re-posts.  Like the Cookie balls I made at Christmas.  The recipe came from Kraft but, when Googled, you could find it on dozens of sites.  I try to give credit where credit is due but the sad fact is that by the time a recipe makes the rounds on the net you may never know who created it.  So I take my inspirations and add my own personality to them.   I want to share with you my creations and ideas.  I hope I inspire you to play with them and make them your own.
I am going to share with you my Slider Cookies.  I saw a picture online and thought they were adorable. But that recipe did not appeal to me.  I will tell you the difference as I get into that part of the cookie.  So what I will say is I had no recipe but I had an idea and that idea worked!

Slider Cookies 

It was like a Farmer's Market


I had a great visit yesterday from my Godparents Thespina and Costas.  Not only did I enjoy hearing more family history and history of Greece but they brought me a Farmer's Market, freshly grown, from their ranch in Cotati CA.  They brought figs from the tree that originally came from Greece, walnuts from their trees, fava beans, horta (greens), zucchini and a huge bunch of freshly dried oregano.  
The only thing that would have made this better would have been fresh lamb straight from the ranch...maybe next time.

My Godmother also shared with me a favorite summer recipe from her Mother, my Great Aunt.  I can't wait to give it a try!  If its as good to eat as it looks on paper I will definitely share the recipe.




Lean and Green



I'm a lifetime dieter. I gain weight super easy, especially from stress. Losing weight is another matter. I think the main problem is taste. It always seems that if anything tastes really good then it must be fattening. So I am constantly looking for low fat, low cal food that I can make that tastes good. There are many many delicious recipes out there that fit the bill. But many of them though just taste bad. No offense to the creators but I have tried some really awful recipes that looked good on paper but tasted horrible.
One thing that had eluded me for such a long time was salad dressing. I am not a huge fan of plain oil & vinegar. I much prefer creamier dressings like Caesar or ranch or blue cheese. So I started hunting for one that didn't taste like puke (sorry I had to say it). I found one that was palatable, barely. It was made with yogurt. It still had a funny taste to it though that really made eating salad more of a chore than something that should be enjoyed. Not to mention the cost...a rather small bottle is $3.99 or more. I decided to experiment and see what I could come up with. What I got is lean and green.