Fish tacos

We love fish tacos, but they are hard to come by here in Northern New York.

And there are so many ways to make them--from types of fish, to preparation of fish, types of tortillas, sauces and toppings--it's almost easier to make them at home so that they are exactly the way you like them.

I'm not a fan of fried fish or mayonnaise sauces, so here's my version using tilapia:

Marinate five tilapia fillets in 1/4 cup of oil, 1 teaspoon of chili powder and the juice of one lime. Let sit for 20 or 30 minutes and then pan fry. (Micah likes his breaded for a crunch factor, so you can dip some in bread crumbs before pan frying if that's you).

La Tortilla Factory makes some amazing tortillas that are part corn, part flour and they are sooooo good. If you warm them in a pan with a little cooking spray they taste freshly made. We have them in our regular grocery store, and if we have them then you probably do too.

For toppings I use a little bit of grated Gruyere, fresh cilantro, sliced avocado and some shredded cabbage. I toss my cabbage with some red wine vinegar, oil, salt and pepper before adding it to the taco. {If you prefer a cream sauce of some kind there are numerous yogurt, sour cream, mayo or avocado sauce recipes out there to try}. Have fun with it and customize your fish taco!

Lazy girl caprese salad.

I talked Micah into letting me throw a little Christmas party this year.

If these walls could talk, I'm pretty sure they would beg for parties.

This house was made for entertaining.

I like to think of all the soiree's that have occurred here in the last 111 years.

I didn't want a potluck party, everything these days is a potluck (which I really do appreciate most of the time!)

But I wanted it to be a no-strings-attached, come-empty-handed party where people could relax and enjoy themselves without having to think about making something.

I may have invited 40 families because I knew so many people would have scheduling conflicts or be out of town and I wanted to ensure we would still have a crowd.

We ended up with 10 families making it, which I thought was a perfect number--roughly 40 people give or take.

We had a fun, crazy, busy, full house......lots of food.....kids everywhere.....and I got the party bug out of my system until April when it's birthday week for the little Rue's.

I didn't want the party preparation to be stressful so I did all of the desserts ahead of time, used disposable paper products (sorry earth!) and kept food prep simple the day of.

(Well...simplish. I would like to think I'm a minimalist, but let's be real here...I'm not. I am trying though).

My plan was to some make caprese salad skewers that I saw in Southern Living. (Thanks Nana for keeping me in the southern loop!) They had a cherry tomato, a bit-sized mozzerella ball, and a large tortellini on a skewer drizzled with balsamic vinegar and basil. Very festive and easy.

But in the end, I was too lazy to make skewers so I changed my plan and bought smaller versions of the above ingredients and threw it all in a bowl.

And I may have fallen in love and found something that I want to eat every day for lunch.

In a bowl combine:

1 container of grape tomatoes sliced in half
1 container of mozzerella pearls (found in the deli section)
1 box of cheese tortellini cooked al dente

Over the top I drizzled some balsamic vinegar (use the good stuff for this--something imported from Italy) and some basil. Mix together and refrigerate until eating time.

The Buckeye and the Oreo Lollipop.

Making buckeyes has become a Christmas tradition in this household.

I would argue that chocolate and peanut butter is the best combination in the world. Period.

(Unless of course you're allergic to peanut butter and a buckeye would kill you--that would be a sad fate indeed.)

Some of ours are given away in confection boxes, others shared at parties, but the vast majority are destined to be devoured behind closed doors......

Traditionally they are only partially dipped in chocolate to resemble an actual buckeye, but I don't believe in halfway dipping things in chocolate. (Well okay, except pretzel rods...but only because you need a handle).

I like to use a recipe with as little butter and as much peanut butter as possible.

My favorite:

1 1/2 cups of peanut butter

1/2 cup of butter (softened)

1 tsp of vanilla

1 pound of powdered sugar

1 bag if semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

Mix the first four ingredients together, make it into little balls (easier with a mini scoop), chill them for awhile to firm them up and then dip in the melted chocolate!

Or if you're lazy like me, keep the balls in the freezer and dip as needed (I find the process tedious).

And this year for the little people in Skylar's life, we are making Oreo pops......



You are going to need a whole lot of melted white chocolate for this one. I used white chocolate chips because the candy making chocolate disks weird me out. (White chocolate in general kind of weirds me out, but that's a personal problem).

2 bags of white chocolate chips

1 bag of oreos (whatever flavor you like--I used double stuff)

Popsicle sticks

Sprinkles/decorations of choice

Lollipop bags to wrap them in

Melt the chocolate, then open the oreos and dip the popsicle sticks in white chocolate before pressing them into the cream and closing the oreo again. Give them a few minutes to harden before dipping.

(This step is crucial...my first two oreos slid right off the stick when I dipped them.)

When they firm up just dip the oreo and decorate (I found it easier to kind of frost the oreo with a knife).

Then give one to your husband and hide the rest. (Also a crucial step!)

Pumpkin buttercream frosting.

So for Bekah's 21st birthday we celebrated with this chocolate/spice cake/ganache/pumpkin buttercream concoction. (Sounds like way too much going on, I know).

It wasn't "professional cake pretty" (I have no patience or interest in cake decorating) but it was tasty and thankfully all of those flavors actually worked.

It started off as a spice cake with ganache frosting intended as a dessert for Thanksgiving.

But then we had so many desserts it was never frosted. Or even taken out of the pans.

Two days later it was B's birthday, but it seemed wrong to use a two-day old spice cake for her birthday. So I made a chocolate cake as well and decided to go with four layers to be fancy.

I didn't want to do a ganache filling. I haven't had much luck with that. The layers just slide around.

So I decided on buttercream.

But I wanted to tie in the "spice cake" part so at the last minute I added a couple of dollops of pumpkin puree to the frosting.

Then I whipped some unsweetened cream and folded it in to lighten it up. 

Thus the spice cake evolved into this mess....

The pumpkin buttercream is great with spice cake, gingerbread cupcakes or chocolate cake.

So here's the frosting:

1 stick of butter softened

A glug of vanilla (I'm really precise here)

A couple teaspoonfuls of unsweetened canned pumpkin.

Most of a bag of powdered sugar.

Then I add a little milk until it reaches the consistency I like.

At this point it's ready to go.

BUT if you fold in some whipped cream it makes a great filling or lighter frosting.

Now go find an excuse to frost something.

The chocolate chip cookie.

We have been doing a lot a lot a lot of baking around here.

It makes Skylar and I both relaxed and happy, and Micah enjoys the fruits of our labors.

I love that she is such a little cook, and hopefully she has lots of good memories from all of these hours in the kitchen together.

I've discovered so many great new things, I could probably blog recipes for two straight weeks.

But alas, this isn't a food blog remember? It's a blog about absolutely nothing. And I take that responsibility very seriously.

Since I haven't posted a recipe in awhile, allow me to introduce you to the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I have ever tried. EVER.

If you aren't a baker then this will mean nothing to you.

But for at least a dozen years I have been making the basic chocolate chip cookie. I've tried the recipes on the back of the chocolate chip bags. Fail. Always too thick, or too runny, never quite right. Same with online recipes.

And it always annoyed me that I couldn't get it quite right. How hard can a stinkin' cookie be? But it alluded me.

Then the other day I cracked open a Hershey's cookbook that someone gave me many years ago and I confess I have never used before.

I had low expectations.

But then..... 

Not only did they look exactly right, they had the perfect texture.

Like the kind of giant cookie you would pay way too much money for at Starbucks.

Then I made more to make sure it wasn't a fluke. It isn't.

I feel triumphant.

 

So here's the recipe in the off-chance that this is as exciting for you as it is for me....

Giant Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 stick of butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup peanut butter

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup chocolate chips

I won't tell you how to mix it all together, I'm sure you know what to do. Bake at 350. 10 minutes for smaller cookies, 15 for the giant kind.

Then do a victory dance around your kitchen!

Home made pudding pops.

I know popsicle season is over.

But popsicle molds are on clearance at Wally World for $2. And really there is no such thing as popsicle season at our house since we always have them in the freezer. I figured it was worth picking up a pack or three and spending the 5 minutes to make some.

My slightly OCD assistant washed the molds for me and then lined them up in color-coded rows to dry.

Basic pudding pop recipe:


1 box of pudding mix
2 cups of milk
1 tub of cool whip

I didn't have cool whip, so I used a leftover tub of ricotta cheese I had from the Italian deli next door. This isn't like the regular ricotta I've gotten before, it was the real stuff--almost a cream cheese consistency. I figured it would reduce the sugar, add some protein, and quadruple the fat. And well....I just needed to get rid of the ricotta cheese. They actually taste good. You would never know it's ricotta.

My recipe:

1 box of cook and serve chocolate pudding made according to the box (I know it's more work but it tastes soooooo much better)
A cup of ricotta cheese mixed into the pudding while it's still warm

The perfect treat after ballet class. Rehearsing your elf routine for the Christmas Recital is hard work. (Seriously, the little ones are elves....total rip-off...why not a sugar plum fairy or something fun??)

Beer Bread.

Mmmmm....beer bread.

My mom used to keep cans of beer under the kitchen sink to make beer bread when I was a little girl. I remember feeling a wee bit naughty for eating it since it was made with an adult beverage.

A friend recently brought over a loaf from a mix she had. It reminded me of how good it was.

So I decided it was time to bring it back again.

When I looked up the recipe I couldn't believe how simple it was to make.

Easier than whipping up a batch of biscuits.

Why have I not been making it all these years?

I have a fridge of leftover beer from Micah's R&R just begging to be used.

And my trusty little kitchen destroyer assistant.

And plenty of hours between wake-up and bed-time to be filled.

So I opened the test kitchen, and we made three different batches until I found the winner.

This may be the quickest of quick breads.

So easy a three year old can make it.

No really, she really did make it.

She measured all the ingredients herself.

I just had to open the beer for her and keep her from chugging it.

If you use a little assistant, just be prepared for this.....

And this.....

And a little dusting on the nose too.....

But it's okay because she said it was the best day ever and even though she says that almost every day, I think she means it every time.

The original recipe is as follows:

3 cups of self rising flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 can or bottle of beer
2 Tablespoons of melted butter (to brush on top of the loaf)

Bake in a loaf pan at 375 for 40 minutes. A few minutes before it's done, brush the butter on top and return to the oven.

Seriously, that's IT.

Except that I don't have self-rising flour. So I had to adapt it to this:

3 cups of all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1 can or bottle of beer, plus 1 ounce of liquid
2 Tablespoons of melted butter, brushed on top a few minutes before baking is done.
Bake in a loaf pan at 375 for 40 minutes.

Adding 6 extra teaspoons of dry ingredients made the dough too dry, so you have to add a little extra liquid. You can either open a second bottle of beer, use a little and pass it off to an eager beer drinker, or you can just use water. I tried both and they worked equally well. You want the dough to be really wet and sticky.

Also, I didn't think the dark beer was a good choice for this when I tried it. Some of the recipes advise against a light beer. So something middle of the road.

(And for all my Southern Baptist peeps out there--go ahead and sneak that beer in the bottom of your cart and hope you don't run into anyone. It'll be worth it!)

S'mores Cups

I recently discovered that Pampered Chef has some great free recipes on their website. (I don't sell or endorse Pampered Chef --they do have some fun gadgets though). I highly recommend trying their tropical fruit salsa (using fresh pineapple not canned) and spicy thai noodles.

But when you have an army of kids coming over for dinner, these are the perfect dessert. All the greatness of a s'more in one convenient bite.

Ingredients:

7 whole graham crackers (1 cup finely crushed)

1/4 cup powdered sugar

6 tbsp butter, melted

4 bars (1.5 oz each) milk chocolate candy, divided

12 large marshmallows

To make:

Crush up the graham crackers and mix with the powdered sugar and melted butter. Put a small spoonful of the mixture into each cup of a mini muffin tin. (I used a mini scooper I had and a tart shaper to push it all down--convenient but not necessary--I just wanted to use my tart shaper for something).

Bake the crust for about 5 minutes until bubbly. Remove from oven and place one square of chocolate in each cup followed by half of a marshmallow. Return to oven for 1-2 minutes. Allow to cool before removing from pan. Melt remaining chocolate and drizzle on top and let harden.

Bruschetta.

This is my favorite way to do bruschetta. Okay, it's my only way. But that's because I like it so much that I haven't even looked for another way.

It's inspired by the bruschetta we had at the Tennessee Pass Cafe in Leadville, Colorado the evening Micah proposed. Maybe I should call it "Engagement Bruschetta". Maybe if you're single and you make it a man will suddenly show up at your doorstep and propose to you. No promises though.

Anyway, I crave it mostly in the summer. I think it's great as a light meal with a salad. I made it twice last week when I was THIS hungry (enter gratutious picture of starving baby):


So here's how to make it. No exact measurements here, just add more or less of whatever you like. Mix together:

-Cannellini beans (although navy or great northern beans work too)
-calamata olives chopped
-cherry tomatoes chopped
-handful of flat leaf parsley chopped (I frequently substitute cilantro if I already have it)

Just slice your baguette about 1/2 inch thick on the diagonal, brush with olive oil and toast until crispy and browned. After you take it out of the oven, peel a clove of garlic and rub it on each slice (the garlic flavor will get all over the bread without any pieces of raw garlic--it's yummy). Then give each piece a smear of herbed goat cheese. I go easy on the stinky cheese. You could omit it altogether or use feta. Then spoon on your topping and enjoy.

Iced Coffee.

There's a new addiction in town.

I'm not a real coffee drinker, just a frou frou coffee drinker.

This stuff is yummy. I stole it off my friend Nancy's facebook page. (Thanks Nancy!) I've been drinking it every morning for a few weeks now.

Iced Coffee

12 cups (one pot) of coffee

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

2 cups of milk

Just mix it all together, keep it chilled in the fridge and pour over ice to serve. I make mine with vanilla soy milk. It's even better with chocolate or caramel sauced drizzled on top.

Heaven in a bowl.

I just want my old Ft. Carson army wives to know I'm thinking about them today. I made our favorite dessert, introduced by Amy Armstrong during our husbands first deployment many years ago.

If you've never tried it, it's simple: one pan of brownies, one package of chocolate pudding (prepared), a tub of whipped cream and a bag of Heath bits. I'm not sure of the correct order, but I layered the brownies, pudding, heath bits then whipped cream.

Sadly, I got distracted and forgot a layer of whipped cream, so it didn't look as pretty. But it was still good and an easy dessert to feed the masses.

In case you needed another reason to love Nutella.

Who doesn't love Nutella? I'm thinking only the people who haven't tried it yet. We definitely do. When given a choice of a treat, Skylar will almost always choose a spoonful of Nutella over her other options.

There are lots of delicious recipes out there using Nutella.

Ever since I saw this recipe on Giada's show a few years ago, I've wanted to buy an ice cream maker just to try it. But that didn't seem like a good enough reason to buy a new appliance.

I made a basket of chocolate filled crescent rolls for bible study this morning......
Just put a dollop of Nutella on a packaged crescent roll, roll it up, bake it and you have yourself a faux chocolate croissant.......

They are best eaten straight from the oven while the chocolate is all melty and warm.

Warning: do not make these alone, they are addicting. Be sure you have plenty of people around you to disperse them to.

Spinach and Artichoke Dip--the skinny version.

I won't lie and say this is the best Spinach and Artichoke dip you'll ever eat--it has no mayonaise or sour cream, two primary ingredients in the original that make it so fattening and delicious. But it is still very good and guilt free with only 1/3 of the calories of the original version, so for all of you spinach and artichoke lovers out there, it's worth a try.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of flour

3 1/2 cups of protein and calcium fortified nonfat milk such as Skim Plus (it's thicker than regular skim--I just used 1%)

1/2 c. finely diced red onion

1/2 c. finely diced red bell pepper

2 tsp. minced garlic

1 cup grated Romano cheese

1/2 cup of grated Parmesan

1 bag of thawed frozen spinach, drained and squeezed dry

1 can of artichoke hearts, chopped and squeezed dry

1 tsp kosher salt, 1/2 tsp of pepper

1 diced plum tomato and fresh shaved parmesan to garnish

To make:

-Whisk flour and milk in a large saucepan until blended; stir in onion, bell pepper and garlic. Bring mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring frequently until mixture starts to bubble and thickens to the consistency of heavy cream.

-Reduce heat to medium low, whisk in cheeses and stir until melted.

-Add spinach, artichokes, salt and pepper and simmer uncovered on low heat, about 5 minutes. Spoon into serving dishes and scatter top with diced tomato and parmesan cheese. Serve with chips.

As a sidenote: I actually found the flavor a bit bland and added a big shot of red pepper flakes to mine. I think some dried mustard would be good added in there. And I wasn't a fan of the frozen spinach, so next time I'll use fresh like I do in my full-fat version. If I were making it for other people, I would stick it under the broiler for a minute or two to melt the top layer of cheese and brown it up a little bit.

Frozen Hot Chocolate

So I've been really craving hot chocolate these days. I like to get the sugar-free kind and then add lots of mini marshmallows. I recently discovered frozen hot chocolate, and now I alternate between the two. This recipe is from nutritionist Joy Bauer, and considering it's a dessert, isn't too bad for you at all. And it's easy to make.

These are the star ingredients, plus some ice and vanilla.(You obviously don't have to use the low sugar and light versions of everything--it would no doubt taste even better if you went full throttle).

In a blender combine:

1/2 cup of chocolate syrup
1 cup of fat-free evaporated milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups of ice cubes

Garnish with some whipped cream (and chocolate shavings if your feeling fancy and have plenty of extra time on your hands). It makes a blenderful, so there's plenty to share!

Tasty snacks.

I've never met a bean I didn't like.

In fact, my love of all beans would make it very easy for me to be a vegetarian. But I'm not sure Micah would appreciate that, so my tenuous relationship with poultry remains.

I saw a recipe in a fitness magazine at the gym a few months back for Roasted Chickpeas and finally tried it today. It was easy enough to remember, so I didn't have to nonchalantly tear a page out of the magazine while trying to maintain balance on the elliptical. (I always feel guilty tearing a page out, like the magazine police are going to come get me).

Roasted chickpeas are seriously addictive. They might be my new popcorn.

And easy, easy. Just open a can of chickpeas and rinse them. Toss with a little olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper. Roast in the oven on 400 for 20 minutes, let cool a bit, and eat.

And while I was at it, I made Jeanie's Crispy Kale--equally delicious and addicting. (Jeanie is my sister-in-law's sister).

Skylar didn't want to try them at first, but right now she is happily munching on a bowl of chickpeas and I am feeling supremely triumphant. It's a small victory, but I'll take it.

Light Breakfast Casserole.

Breakfast is so not my thing. In fact, I kind of think it's a waste of a meal. I'd much rather eat leftover pizza or a turkey sandwich in the morning.

As fate would have it, breakfast is Micah's favorite. He eats the exact same thing every day: 3 eggs whites and 1 whole egg scrambled with a splash of milk and season salt, and an English Muffin with peanut butter and wheat germ sprinkled on top. Maybe oatmeal if he's feeling wild and crazy. Pancakes on Saturday.

I on the other hand, usually wait a couple of hours and then end up eating a bowl of cereal because it's easy. Then I'm hungry again in two hours.

I used to have a really good recipe for a breakfast casserole with green chilis and cheese. It was part of my breakfast casserole rotation--I had 3 standbys that I made for all of our morning activities whenever it was my turn to bring something. It was everyone's favorite, probably because it had a stick of butter, and a pound of cheese.....all the good stuff.

Anyway, I lost the recipe and wanted to try to recreate it. Then I decided to make a healthy version while I was at it. In the end, it didn't taste very much like the original but it's still really good. I actually measured my ingredients this time and wrote down my recipe. Shocker. Then I calculated all the fat content while I was at it. It came out to 4 grams of fat per piece. Not bad right? This is perfect for me because I can make it at the beginning of the week, and then just heat up a piece every morning. Protein=full for more than 2 hours.

Green Chili and Cheese Egg Bake


4 whole eggs + 4 egg whites

1-4 oz can green chilis

1/2 c. fat free cottage cheese

1/2 tsp of salt

ground pepper to taste (and/or whatever spices tickle your fancy)

1/4 c whole wheat white flour

1/4 c skim milk

1/2 tsp baking powder

4 ounces of grated 2% milk sharp cheddar (pretty much the only cheese I use)

Mix together and pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 375 for 18 minutes. Cut into 12 pieces.


I like putting mine on a toasted English muffin because I'm a sandwich girl and I can eat it while I'm running out the door--late for wherever I'm going. I hate being late. But at least this way I'm not hungry and late. That's the worst.

Tomatoes.

Our nice neighbor brought us over a grocery bag of tomatoes from her garden. They were ripe and ready to eat, but there were a lot of them. I'm not really a tomato person, don't like them in salads--I'll eat them because their good for me, but I won't enjoy it. So I had to think of a way to use them up.

My grandmother makes yummy cheese and tomato sandwiches so I made some for lunch in her honor and ohmygoodness they were some good tomatoes. The ones in the store don't even compare. Sometimes the simplest food is the best.
I ate these sandwiches for lunch twice, then I made the rest into tomato sauce. I've made fresh tomato sauce several times when I've made pasta, and decided the end result wasn't really worth the effort.

But as it turns out, when you use really good tomatoes, you get a really good sauce. (Which I guess is kind of a no-brainer now that I think about it). In fact, I wish I could make my own sauce all the time. I might have to grow my own tomatoes next year.

I didn't use a recipe, I just kept it simple.

First, I poached the tomatoes in almost boiling water for a couple of minutes until the skins started to crack. Then I cooled them and the skin just peeled right off.

I put all my skinned tomatoes (about 4 lbs?) in a pot on medium heat and added:

-1 big splash of olive oil

-3 minced garlic cloves

-some kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

-lots of Italian seasonings, whatever I could find (dried rosemary, oregano, basil, thyme, etc)

-a little onion powder

-a couple splashes of red wine (this actually made a huge difference in the flavor)

It simmered for an hour, and I occasionally used a potato masher to squish it up. When it had cooked down and thickened up a little bit I pureed it, and served it over pasta (not homemade this time) with some fresh ground turkey meatballs and Parmesan. Totally worth the effort.

We're also trying to enjoy the last of the summer fruit while we can. It already feels like fall around here. Anything is good on angel food cake, but this is probably my favorite:

Happy Things.

Flowers from the garden in vintage inks wells from a local antique store (a birthday gift from Margaret and Thomas--thanks guys!). I can't wait to go back and scavenge through that store again!My world famous mojitos (okay, obviously they aren't world fameous, but they are fameous in my world and they are yummy):

Family dinners:

And whole wheat cheese biscuits (lets just pretend they're healthy, okay?):

And since I haven't posted a recipe in ages, here's my spin on the traditional Better Homes and Gardens biscuit recipe on page 123 of the cookbook. (If you've ever gotten married you were probably given two or three copies of this cookbook). Remember the two cardinal rules of biscuit making: Use very cold butter and always use buttermilk regardless of what the recipe says. It's the difference between flaky biscuits and hockey pucks. The women in my family have mastered the art of the biscuit, and they all have the recipe memorized except for me. I made hockey pucks for years. No more.

Whole Wheat Cheese Biscuits

3 Cups of King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour

4 tsp of baking powder

1 T sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder

3/4 tsp cream of tartar

3/4 c butter

1 1/4 cup buttermilk

6 ounces of sharp 2% milk cheese coarsely grated

1/3 cup Italian parsley chopped (or whatever you have on hand--thyme or dill would be good--I used fresh but you could reduce the amount and used dried)

Stir together dry ingredients, cut in butter until mixture resembles course crumbs, add the cheese and parsley, make a well in the center and pour in buttermilk. Mix with a fork. Roll out dough and cut biscuits (I use the top of a wine glass to cut mine, you can just drop them by the spoonful if you want). Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. I ended up with 28 small biscuits.

Crockpot Yogurt

So I haven't posted a recipe in a long time because I'm not in "cooking mode" yet. We are surviving on things like quesadillas, salads and turkey sandwiches, or whatever Micah feels like grilling around here.

But here's a new one I'm excited to pass along!

Last month I got an e-mail from Micah's sweet Aunt Raina sharing this recipe for homemade yogurt. I'll admit I haven't had a chance to try it yet with all the moving, but I really want to! In the meantime maybe some of you can try it and let me know what you think.

Raina said she used 2% milk instead of whole, mixed it with some agave nectar (available in wal-mart now by the way) and serves it over fruit and pecans. Yum!

Here's the link for crockpot yogurt .

While you're there you can find a whole slew of other great crockpot recipes too. Thanks for sharing Raina!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies.

I remember my mom making Whoopie pies when I was child. I loved them. And somewhere along the way they disappeared from my life. I decided a couple of weeks ago to bring them back.

If you don't know what a Whoopie Pie is than you just haven't lived, it's as simple as that.

And please whatever you do, don't confuse it with a Moon Pie, they aren't even in the same class. In fact, if you like Moon Pies (especially the banana ones) you should probably stop reading my blog and never come back because you and I have absolutely nothing in common and can never be friends (unless of course we already are friends and you've been hiding your dirty little Moon Pie secret all this time, in which case I grant amnesty). I know that sounds harsh, but sometimes I just have to speak out against the injustices of the world--namely Cheese Whizz, any meat in a tube and Moon Pies.

I cover Skylar's eyes and walk extra fast to get away from Moon Pies when I see them in a store, and believe me they are all over the place down here. They even have their own special displays in prominent locations. I've probably burned a few extra calories by going the long way to avoid a Moon Pie display. Calories that could be better spent on a Whoopie Pie. A Moon Pie is not a dessert.

But this is dessert......

When I started searching for a recipe, I couldn't find a single one that didn't use Crisco in both the cake and filling--an ingredient that I refuse to use. In the end, I went with this version from Martha Stewart that still called for Crisco in the cake, and just tweaked it. I know I shouldn't mess with Martha, and I'm sure her original version is even more delicious. So for the original go here. My slightly healthier version is below:

For the Cookies:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, not Dutch-process
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 cup skim milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Filling:
1 1/4 cup natural, creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

To make cookies: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a small bowl; set aside.
Put butter and sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add egg; mix until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in half the flour mixture, then the milk and vanilla. Mix in remaining flour mixture.

Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies spring back when lightly touched, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks using a spatula; let cool completely.

To make filling: Put peanut butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on high speed until smooth. Reduce mixer speed to low. Add confectioners' sugar; mix until combined. Raise speed to high, and mix until fluffy and smooth, about 3 minutes.

Assemble cookies: Spread 1 scant tablespoon filling on the bottom of 1 cookie. Sandwich with another cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling. Cookies can be refrigerated in single layers in airtight containers up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.

One bite and you'll know why their called Whoopie Pies.