Peanut Butter Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are a few of my favorite things......
Seriously.  How can you go wrong with this recipe?

I read in the comments of the original post that the peanut butter was overwhelming the oatmeal flavor. Not that I don't like peanut butter, cause believe me, it might be the best thing ever.  I just wanted the oatmeal to come through too.  So, I decided to leave out the peanut butter chips.  I added a little extra oatmeal and white chocolate chips.  Turned out great!

I'm taking the rest to work tomorrow so I don't eat them all!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal white chocolate chip cookies

Cheesy Stuffed Meatloaf

This is the first recipe I've changed a decent amount from the original recipe.  I added onions, worchestire sauce and only had dijon mustard to use instead of yellow mustard.  I didn't use as much mustard as the original recipe called for not knowing how the dijon would work out.  I loved the cheese and scallion center (even though my loaf didn't stay together as much as I would have hoped.)  I used 2 lbs of ground beef as the recipe called for and this made a lot of food.  We have a lot of leftovers...we'll see how it reheats!

Cheesy Stuffed Meatloaf

Spicy Romano Chicken Pasta with Artichoke Hearts and Sundried Tomatoes

This was a great recipe.  Different from the kind of pastas I would usually make, thanks to the cayenne pepper kick.  I didn't even measure the cayenne pepper but used quite a bit and we loved it.  I made it with chicken, but I think it would be really good with sausage too.  Sure, I felt a little guilty about the heavy cream based sauce -- but oh well, occasionally, it's a great dish.

Spicy Romano Chicken Pasta

Balsamic Glazed Brussel Sprouts with Bacon and Onion

Brussel sprouts are my new favorite food....really.  I don't know why I didn't know about them earlier.  They got such a bad rap for years, but I love them.  I was introduced to them at a friend's house for dinner.  Cut them in half, shake them up in a gallon size plastic bag with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake in the oven for 20 minutes or so.  They are crispy, good flavor.  And so easy!

However, since I have discovered my newfound love of brussel sprouts I've looked for other ways to cook them.  This is one of the best I've tried.  Brussel sprouts and bacon go very well together.  Yes, bacon goes well with almost everything....but still, just saying, it goes very well with brussel sprouts.

This is a good recipe to fancy them up a little.

Balsamic Glazed Brussel Sprouts with Bacon and Onion

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Although it probably wasn't cold enough outside for this soup I did it anyways.  And I'm very glad I did.....

Delicious, flavorful...good fall/winter soup.  I used 4 chicken breasts and this made a TON of soup.  We'll have leftovers for a week.  I was reading the original blog I got this from later and the author recommended making it with pre-cooked rotisserie chicken.  I'm sure either is great, but I do agree with her that would be easier.  I added sour cream and cheese to the top (and I would have added avocado if I'd had any).

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Nutter Butter Balls

This was a really easy, good recipe   Took just a few minutes, sat in the fridge for a bit and came out great.  Would be good for a holiday party and I like that you can decide how big you want to make them.  (bite size anyone?)

I didn't know what one package of nutter butters meant since they come in so many sizes.  I used about 12 nutter butter cookies for 5-6oz of cream cheese. I also used dark chocolate for the coating.

Nutter Butter Balls

Taco Pasta Bake

Alright, let me preface this by saying this is not the healthiest thing I've ever made.  However, it was simple and good.  I tried to make it a little healthier with low fat cream cheese, whole wheat pasta and low sodium taco seasoning.  Even with that I think I probably went over my allotted calories.  Oh well :)

One tip...make sure you coat all the pasta in the meat sauce.  I missed a few zitis and they were a little crispy.  Still good though.

Taco Pasta Bake

Apple Prosciutto Pizza

This was a great, different pizza.  Easy to make, we had it as a fun Friday night dinner.  The sage gives it a great flavor.  I used about 6 oz of goat cheese, which was plenty.  I think anymore and the goat cheese flavor would have been too overwhelming.  I used 2 large green apples and a store bought Boboli pizza crust. Definitely recommend.

Apple Prosciutto Pizza

Pumpkin Risotto

One of the best things I've made so far.  As I've said before...I love pumpkin, and fall is the perfect time for it.  However, the flavor was great.  Noticeable but not too strong.  I put in a little extra parmesan and some pecans on top for a little crunch.  Absolutely wonderful.  Highly recommend.

I made this as a main dish with some roasted brussel sprouts on the side (one of my favorite vegetable dishes, LOVE these).  It was relatively light but enough food for me.

Pumpkin Risotto

Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas

I was looking for some comfort food after a long week.

I found it right here.  These were easy and delicious.  A great combination of ingredients.  I followed the recipe exactly and loved it.  Would be great for a big group too.

Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas

Bite Size Apple Pies

One of my biggest problems in cooking dessert is that I'm often only cooking for Oakley and I.  Sure, I could bring treats to work, or to friends.  Often this stuff doesn't transport very well.  And more often I have plans to bring it to work but we eat too much of it before that happens.  And God knows I don't need all this dessert.

So, along came this recipe for bite sized apple pies.  I halved the recipe and came out with 7 (should have been 8 but one suffered an untimely death on the kitchen floor prior to making it into the oven) cute apple pies.

Bite Size Apple Pies

These were really easy to make.  Like the original blogger I didn't know whether to leave the peel on or take it off so I did some of each.  I think I preferred the ones that were peeled, though both were great.  I used a pre made refrigerated crust since it's what I could find at my grocery store.  Next time I would let it bake a little longer since the apples weren't quite as soft as I would like.

We had three leftover that I put in tupperware overnight.  Popped them in the microwave and they weren't too bad as leftovers either.

A little vanilla ice cream makes this a great dessert!