Another three new recipes tonight — we’re doing good! And they weren’t even for dinner, so first, let me backtrack. The Husband kindly offered to make dinner tonight, and I quickly took him up on it. I was r-e-a-l-l-y tired when I came home today, and even took a nap with Nicholas before dinner, so The Husband’s timing was perfect. He made one of his House Specials – Chicken with Yellow Rice. The smell wafted upstairs and lured me down quickly.
My turn to bring in lunch tomorrow for the office, and here’s where the three new recipes come into play. I made Southwestern Chicken Pasta Salad, Herbed Zucchini Soup and Unbaked Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies.
The Southwestern Chicken Pasta Salad is a Cooking Light recipe from the August 2005 issue of the magazine. Haven’t tasted it yet, so that report will have to wait until tomorrow.
The Herbed Zucchini Soup is from the August/September 2005 issue of Eating Well magazine, and I snuck a taste of that one, and it is deeelicious! It will definitely be a repeater, both for its ease of preparation and from the taste testing. Six ingredients in the recipe keep the flavor all about the fresh zucchini, and in the summer months, what more could you want? I’m not real good with keeping track of what’s in season when (though I know the obvious ones) and had the darnedest time finding zucchini, so maybe we’re nearing the end of the season. I had planned to make a different zucchini recipe, but once I saw this one, I knew it would be a great accompaniment for lunch tomorrow. The Eating Well issue also has a recipe for Roasted Zucchini & Pesto, which looked great as well, so I might have to hunt down some more zucchinis.
The Unbaked Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies are your typical standard no-bake cookies that are a favorite of mine, except this recipe calls for raisins. First version that I’ve seen with raisins as an ingredient. I liked the extra moistness that they gave the cookie, and might make them again. Problem with No Bakes is they tend to crumble easily, so they really have to be reserved for in-home eating … no CARE packages made from these, as they’d never make the trip. This recipe comes from All Recipes, and had a 5-star rating. All Recipes has so many recipes, sometimes it’s hard to pick one. I look for 5-star ratings with LOTS of reviews. I’ve had the best luck that way.
There is a hotel/restaurant chain in Maine called Governors that has my absolute hands-down, favorite version of No Bake Cookies. They’re so good that John Travolta has them Fedex’d to him. And if they’re good enough for John… I’m still on a mission to come close enough to their version, and although these cookies were good, they weren’t as good as Governors’. My sister went to college in Maine, and when we visited her, we (ok, I) always made sure to stop in Governors to bring home a bag of my favorite cookies. Sometimes they made it all the way home … sometimes they didn’t. ;)
OK folks, all for tonight. Tune in tomorrow to see what’s cookin’ as we cross the mid-week threshold. Until then…
Herbed Zucchini Soup
3 cups chicken broth
1-1/2 pounds zucchini (about 3 medium), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon or dill or 1 teaspoon dried
3/4 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese (3 oz) (I used Jack cheese)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Place broth, zucchini and tarragon (or dill) in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to a simmer and cook, uncovered, until the zucchini is tender, 7-10 minutes. Puree in a blender, in batches if necessary, until smooth. Return the soup to the pan and heat over medium-high heat, slowly stirring in cheese until it is incorporated. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper. Serve hot or chilled.
Unbaked Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 cup butter
3 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup milk
5 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1/2 cup flaked coconut (optional)
Cook butter or margarine, milk and sugar in kettle and boil for 1 and 1/2 minutes. Add peanut butter, oatmeal, baking cocoa and any one of the optional ingredients. Drop on waxed paper and allow to cool before serving. Yields: approximately 24 cookies
A mystery! We must track down the secret ingredient in Governor’s No-Bake Oatmeal Cookies.
Meanwhile, I just put these into Mastercook. I tend to skip the no-bake cookies, but it sounds like I’m missing out.
That Herbed Zucchini Soup sounds really good. We’ll have to add it to our “Try it!” list.
I’ve only made a couple no bakes and they were only so-so. I’ll have to set this aside and try it sometime – it sounds interesting!
The Roasted Zucchini with Pesto is excellent – strongly recommend you try it. The Oven-Fried Zucchini also from that issue was okay. I have been eyeing the soup, glad to see the good review. I may give that a try this weekend.
hmm
we don’t get unbaked cokies (biscuits) like that in OZ at all
I’ve found that the secret to have no-bakes cookies turn out well is to be precise in your boiling time. This recipe calls for boiling for 1 1/2 minutes. That is the amount that the recipe I have also calls for. Boiling the ingredients for too long produces a crumbly cookie, while not boiling them long enough causes them not to set.
Just a thought! I love no-bake cookies!