where food brings happiness to all.

so i got my hands on this cookie cookbook the other day at the library:

i have to say it’s a really great cookie book. so many different types of cookies, so little time! i think i will have to purchase the book in the future. i love a cookbook with pictures, and this has a picture for every cookie. so i’ve tried two of the recipes from the book, the carrot cake cookies and the ne plus ultra cookies. both turned out really great. the carrot cake cookies were sandwich cookies, with a cream cheese filling, and the texture of the cookies were soft and chewy. the bf said they would be nice if they were a little firmer, but otherwise they were great. i don’t know what it is with guys and carrot cake. do all guys love carrot cake and such? then i made the Ne Plus Ultra cookies. ne plus ultra \nee-plus-UL-truh; nay-\ , noun; 1. The highest point, as of excellence or achievement; the acme; the pinnacle; the ultimate. these turned out really tasty. it was on the crunchy side which is nice, because lately i’ve been eating soft chewy cookies. the crunchy was a nice change. the recipe called for chocolate chips, pecans and raisins. it also called for course salt instead of regular table salt, which i could definitely taste in the cookie. i think it gave it a kind of almost salty-sweet taste to the cookies. the bf doesn’t normally like nuts in his cookies, brownies, or anything really, but he said it wasn’t bad, and it went well with the raisins and chocolate chips. dunked in milk, it tastes heavenly.

i also did promise to blog about that overnight baked french toast i did the other day. well it was delicious. i think i put a little too much nutmeg, but other than that, it was tasty, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. a great morning treat that i need to make more often!

not the greatest image, but as you can see, french toast made with real french bread, drenched in some maple syrup atop w/some powdered sugar. mm mm mmm. and lastly — dinner. i was looking through old magazines, and a really old issue of the rachael ray magazine, and found this recipe: orange beef with cilantro rice. it looked simple and i had almost all the ingredients on hand already. it was actually the oranges that got my attention, because i’ve had a bunch of oranges at home and i haven’t been eating them, and figured i’d cook with them. well if you’ve ever had orange beef at a chinese restaurant, this is similar, yet it doesn’t make you feel like you’ve just eaten greasy chinese food. the flavor in the beef was perfect, and the cilantro rice paired perfectly with it. my beef could have been a little more tender, but at least i know for next time (which there will be a next time, because the bf loved it, and asked me to make it again already). well, more cookies and such to come soon (hopefully) !