I wanted to tell you about a couple cooking blogs that I read regularly. I’ve had a lot of fun finding new recipes from them and learing more about cooking. So instead of a recipe, here’s a couple blogs you should check out:

Fulltummies - written by 2 sisters who are the mothers of young children they have a lot of “family friendly and not very complicated foods.” A personal favorite, their Compromise Cookies.

Simply Recipes - great pictures, good foods, I’m looking forward to trying her Chicken Curry Salad.

Smitten kitchen - pictures during the cooking process, delicious food, decadent desserts.  A favorite that I made for small group: Brownie Mosiac Cheesecake

Laura made these for our LIFE group last week, and they were delicious!! Thanks for the recipe, Laura.

Raspberry Oat Bars - submitted by Laura Buhl (from Allrecipes.com)
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1(10 ounce) jar raspberry preserves

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Combine the oats, flour, salt and baking powder; stir into the creamed mixture. Press half of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread the preserves over the crust. Crumble the remaining crust mixture over the raspberry layer. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until light brown. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

laura said: “I made several changes to this recipe. I substituted in one cup of whole wheat flour, used only 1 cup of jam, and added 2/3 cup chopped dates and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts to the dry mixture. Also, don’t spread the jam all the way to the edges to prevent burning. The recipe says to bake it up to 25 minutes, but I felt even 20 minutes, which I did, verged on burning.”

Chocolate-covered Cherry Cake from Stephanie Hebert (from BetterRecipes.com)

1 pkg white cake mix
1 bottle Maraschino cherries (reserve juice)
2 bars Ghirardelli chocolate
1 – 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Mix cake as directed on package, substituting cherry juice for water (if not enough juice then supplement with water. Fold in cherries. Bake in a 9×13 pan as directed on package. Cool thoroughly.
 

Frosting: Melt chocolate in double boiler (or microwave.) Cream butter and cream cheese. Add vanilla, mixing well. Add powdered sugar, ½ cup at a time, until well blended. Add melted chocolate, mixing well. Spread onto cooled cake immediately after preparing. Serves 8.

Dirt Cake – Gail Matthews

1 – 16 oz pkg oreo cookies
1 – 8 oz pkg cream cheese
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 – 3.5 oz pkg pistachio pudding
2 cup whole milk
1 – 12 oz pkg Coolwhip

Crush cookies. Place half on bottom of flat container. In a separate bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, margarine and vanilla until well blended, set aside. Combine pudding mix and milk, fold in Coolwhip. Gently fold cheese and pudding mixtures together. Pour over first layer of cookie crumbs. Top with remaining cookie crumbs. Cover and place in fridge. Serves 12.

For another version of Dirt Dessert – see http://cravinggrace.org/2007/01/10/dirt-dessert/

Snack Attack Chocolate Cake from Pamela Stephens (from BetterRecipes.com)

Cake:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
4 Tbsp cocoa
1 cup water
½ cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

Frosting:
½ cup butter
4 Tbsp cocoa
5 Tbsp buttermilk
4 cups (1 box) powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 9×13 pan. Sift together flour and sugar and set aside. In saucepan over high heat, bring butter, cocoa and water to a boil. Pour over sugar/flour mixture and mix well. Add buttermilk, eggs, baking soda and vanilla and mix well. Pour into pan. Bake for 25 minutes.

Frosting: In a saucepan over high heat, bring butter, cocoa and buttermilk to a boil and remove from heat. Add sugar and vanilla and beat with wire whisk until well blended. Stir in nuts. While frosting is still warm, spread on cake. Serves 16-20.
I must say - this sound delicious. I just might have to try it out the next time I have a somewhat legitimate excuse to bake!!