Fresh pesto sauce AND peach shortbread

Yes, it's been months since I last blogged, but I just hadn't felt inspired.  Now that we've moved to an apartment with a REAL kitchen, I might have more inspiration (then again grad school might take away any free time I once had).  Since we had fresh produce from the Prospect Park farmer's market and a nice long weekend, I wanted to do some cooking.  I used an Ina Garten recipe to create fresh pesto which is so simple and delicious.  Now I have pesto to last us for months and months...just store it in the freezer.

 I also wanted to make something yummy with the peaches we bought and found a great recipe from the blog Smitten Kitchen that Lydia had directed me to.  Yum and yum!  I even served the food to a friend and she deemed it a success.  Let's see how long it takes me to cook again...

Rice Krispie Treats

I found yet another awesome recipe on the Smitten Kitchen blog for some rice krispie treats that were made with brown butter and sea salt.  I am so fortunate to have such an awesome helper in the kitchen and these turned out really yummy!  They were also super easy to make and not very messy either!

YUM!

Dutch Apple Pie

We've still got loads of apples in our apartment so I decided to embark on my first ever apple pie.  I was given some good advice by my friend Susy that store bought  crust is easier in such small Manhattan kitchens and tastes just fine.  So really, the pie was quite simple.  I prefer the crumbly top of a dutch apple pie (probably cause i looooove sugar-ask me about my song) so I found a recipe online.  Really so simple!  My only note was that I used all different types of apples instead of just one and thus they all cooked at different times and some were still a little firm.  But guess what, the pie still tastes GOOD!

SUCCESS

Apple Cranberry Crisp

We went apple picking in upstate New York this weekend and now have a surplus of apples in our kitchen.  Even if I eat an apple a day, there will still be plenty.

Last night I baked a yummy apple cranberry crisp with a granola-like topping.  I got the recipe from another blogger that writes for her blog Smitten Kitchen (thanks for the tip Lydia!).  The scent of the crisp baking in my oven was really unbelievable.  The blogger recommends serving this cold with yogurt and I tried it for breakfast this morning.  It was really tasty!

What apple treat will I make next?

Momma's Noodle Kugel

Well, it's that time of the year-Jewish New Year!  I haven't gone to temple in a long time for these holidays, but I sure do enjoy the traditional Jewish foods.  My mom always used to make the most AMAZING kugel and I really just adored it.  Thankfully when i moved into an apartment in Boston that had a kitchen she sent me the recipe.  Turns out it's really simple to make.  I make it every year and brought it to my cousin Shai's this past Friday.  Not sure the Israeli's at his house really understood the idea of a sweet noodle pudding, but i was happy with it nonetheless!

YUM! YUM! YUM!  Thanks Mom!

Ingredients:
12 oz broad egg noodles
1/2 cup and 2tbs sugar
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup sour cream
1 cup cottage cheese
4 eggs beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
6 oz frozen orange juice concentrate (thawed and undiluted)
1 large apple, cut into slices
raisins (though i don't often add these)

Cook noodles according to package instructions.  Drain and toss with 1/2 cup sugar.  Mix together margarine, sour cream, cottage cheese, vanilla, cinnamon and orange concentrate.  Stir in apple and noodles.  Turn into a 13x9x2 inch greased baking dish.  Sprinkle with remaining 2 tbs sugar and raisins. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes.  My mom's special tip was that after she drains the noodles she used the large boiling pot to toss the noodle with the sugar.  If you add the margarine next it will melt in the warm noodles.  This way you can toss everything in the same pot you boiled the noodles in.  Less dishes are a great thing when you live in a dishwasher-less apartment!

See, isn't it simple?  Momma knows what's best!

Swirled White and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last Friday I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies.  Cooking is something that Luke has been helping me with, but baking, baking I can do!  I must have been needing some comfort food, so ofcourse I thought of chocolate chip cookies right away.  After looking at recipes online, I decided to go with the Nestle Tollhouse recipe that is on the back of the chocolate chip bag.  The only difference is that I used swirled chocolate chips and I added some oatmeal.  I made sure not to overbake the cookies so that they were nice and chewy.  Let me just say that these cookies were so tasty that I proceeded to eat so many that my stomach hurt.  I actually had to end up throwing half of the batch away so that I wouldn't lose any more control and eat the cookies in one sitting.  oops!

Weekend in DC

I went to DC this weekend for a family get together with my bro and his lovely fiance Lydia, my parents and all of my grandparents.  I did not do any cooking while there (and haven't done anything too fancy lately because Luke has been in San Diego for work), but I was lucky to enjoy some awesome home-baked desserts.

The first treat are something that my family fondly calls "Stingers".  I believe they have an official German name that I'm not going to even try to spell.  So these are my Oma's (aka Grandma in German) specialty cookies that she brings any time we see her.  They are just blissful.  I don't really know how else to describe them.  Oma is the best baker!

The second treat was a peach and berry pie that Lydia baked in honor of the grandparents' bdays.  Lydia also has a blog (which she actually update frequently...ooops) and she often writes about her amazing cooking (check it out here).  This pie was amazing and the crust was perfect.  Bravo, you will make a wonderful addition to the Leff family!