It's been too long

I have been cooking all this time, I have just been dumb and forgetting to take pictures of the things I make. I like to have something for you to see so you have an idea how yummy something is. I always like to see what I am going to make, although I make things without seeing too.

Summer gets me in the mood for salads. I am sure you have sensed that so far. I am making a lot of them and am going to continue to make more and more of them. I like that they make a lot so I can eat them for a few days. Although, usually by the fourth day I am ready for something new. The drawback of being only two of us. Lucy isn't usually down with the things I make.I recently entered a cookie contest through Eating Well Magazine. May friend Lauren told me about it and so I thought, what the heck. There were rules about the amount of fat used as well as sugars. They were basically supposed to be a made over holiday cookie to be more healthful. I took the classic Quaker Oats Oatmeal Raisin Cookie recipe from the canister and made it totally my own. Used some whole wheat flour with white, replaced some of the butter with heart healthy canola oil, reduced the sugar and added some honey and apple juice. I also used cranberries, walnuts, and granola instead of raisins. They were really delicious I must say. Healthy and delicious. If you are interested in the recipe let me know. I am not going to post it at this time.
So last friday was National Chocolate Chip Day. How could I pass that up? I wanted to try a new chocolate chip recipe as I have been making mine for 7 years now. Wow. That long. Anyhow. The experience was nice. It turned into some really yummy cookies that Jason and the others really enjoyed. I sent them to work with him. I must say in the end that I still like mine the best. Mine are really moist and gooey. These were still soft but more cakey. I kept reading about them on my foodgawker web site so I had to give them a wing.
You can find the recipe at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/091crex.htmlThis is a tride and true recipe I have been making for about a year now. I am happy to be making it again while the produce has exploded. I am so excited about that. This is from Cooking Light and I know you will love it too. You can find it at the link below.
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1197250I have been trying out a lot of Rachael Ray recipes latley because I have found them to be so amazing. Super simple and very very good. This is a recipe I have been wanting to try forever and I am so happy I did because it is freaking amazing. I love it so much. I am sad because it made so much and I don't know if I am going to be able to eat it all. Please please try this one. It is so healthy and so yummy and simple. I actually added a couple garlic cloves to the recipe. I also only made half of the dressing. I don't like my salads swimming in dressing. If you aren't sure how much you want, just make it all and put it on until it's to your liking. I did half and I feel like it is perfect. I also used a whole jar of roasted red peppers instead of roasting my own red peppers. I always feel like you can't have too many vegetables. Salads are forgiving like that. Love love love the marinated mushrooms in this. I think I put in about 18 ounces of them. So what, I freaking like my veggies. Enjoy. This is really a good one. A keeper.
http://rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=1795

Another great salad I recently made, is again from Cooking light. This is one of those I forgot to take a picture of but as you read the ingredients let it paint a picture in your mind. I used black beans in mine instead of the corn because I had a little accident in the roasting process. Basically I ended up formulating the most amazing salad ever based on this one. I will post the link to the recipe and then below I will post my own. You can take your pick.
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1197171

So I didn't want to use pasta in mine really, so I used the black beans instead and as I mentioned, I had a little accident with roasting the corn. Trying to roast frozen corn from a bag does not work I will tell you this. This is what I had and I thought it would work, nope. Oh well. I fed it to the squirels.
1 roasted poblano
2 chipotle peppers in adobo, seeds removed for heat
juice of two limes
2 T olive oil
one pint of cherry tomatoes halved
1 avocado diced
cilantro
1/2 red onion minced
1 can black beans rinsed and drained
1/2 t cumin
2 cloves garlic
Roast the poblano under your broiler, on your stove top burner or on the grill until blackened. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let this sit while you chop and assemble the remaining ingredients. You can add two ears of roasted corn or some frozen corn if you like. It would be a great compliment to the dish, I however left it out. Combine all of the rest of the ingredients and toss to combine. Remove your poblano from the bowl and the skin should rub off easily. Do not rinse under water as you do this. You will lose most of the essential nutrients that this vegetable provides. If you can't get all of the skin off don't worry you can eat it. Cut it open and remove the seeds, unless you like a lot of heat, then cut it as is. Cut into small pieces and add to the rest of your salad. If you want to make it more of a salad, add a couple cups of cooked pasta noodles. You can't go wrong with this salad really. Enjoy! Great taste of summer.