You win some, you lose some

Hey there

Well if you recall I live in the SF bay area, you may understand the title.  I’m sorry 9ers, it just wasn’t your game.  Though I found it highly entertaining to watch the Har-Bowl, the Ravens just seemed to have more heart in it.  Next time, my friends, next time.

So one loss, but over all a good weekend.

We took Bean to the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo on Saturday and it was such fun. Seeing bean light up at the all the exhibits and animals brought such a smile to my face.  Although admittedly his favorite thing was walking over the footbridge.  (over and over and over and then playing with the bolts that fastened the planks).  The museum was featuring bugs so they had cute little bug outfits for adornment:

He looks good as a praying mantis, no?

The bridge was just behind us. And now that we have a full-fledged walker (!!!) he really thought it was the coolest thing ever.

After our midday adventures we walked to downtown Palo Alto and got fro-yo for the first time in 6+ months.  A combo of chocolate milkshake, toasted coconut, and cookies and cream (with toppings of course) was good, but not quite good enough for me to become fro-yo obsessed once again.

Saturday night we had a last minute date/movie night and saw Zero Dark Thirty.  Fascinating, intriguing, depressing, intense, thoughtful. That’s how I would sum it up.  Certainly not a feel good movie, but worth seeing.

And that gets us to Super Bowl Sunday.  We had our friends and their 1 month old over for apps, vino, beer, pizza, wings, and homemade cookies

The game didn’t turn out great but the cookies did.  FYI, these are good ol’ Nestle chocolate chip cookies (plus cinnamon in the mix).  Simple and delish.

So there ya go.  Some ‘bad,’ but mostly good.  Overall, a win.

Any wins or losses you care to share?

Mexi Spaghetti Squash and Candy Corn Cookies

Guess where I went last night?  Sweet Tomatoes!!!  Yes it is deserving of 3 exclamation points because I never get the hubby to go to buffet-like places even if they are really healthy like ST.  Verdict –> Meh   Some parts were good, but it sort of was just another buffet like place where you are free to eat too much mediocre food.  You live, you learn right?

And moving on to some recent eats…

Do you ever get bored of the same creations?  Yeah, me too.  But I’m a sucker for being able to easily mix things together and have a delicious meal or treat result. 

Enter Mexi Spaghetti Squash:

How to make spaghetti squash (Shanna-style): wash outside of squash (so when you cut it, bacteria doesn’t get in); stab it multiple times (maybe 12) all around using large knife and going in 1/2”.  Pop in microwave and cook in 4 minute increments rotating lengthwise after each increment.  When you can push the flesh in with your thumb, it’s done!  A large squash will take about 14 minutes.  After about 10 minutes of cooling, I cut in half, remove the seeds/gunk and spaghetti away. EASY!

As for the Mexi flair, any ol’ mixings will do.  I used 2 green bell peppers, one small yellow onion, a can of roasted diced tomatoes, a can of (rinsed) black beans, some fajita seasoning and the salsa of your choice.

Saute the green peppers and onions in 1+ tbsp EVOO along with your fajita seasoning for 10 minutes.  Add your tomatoes and beans, followed by your salsa.  Let simmer at low heat (while your squash is cooking).

Serve with tapatio sauce and some chips!

And for a treat, Candy Corn Cookies:

And because I’ve been wanting an excuse to dig into my 2nd bag of candy corns of the season, I figured I could bake with them.  I used the original Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe as my base – minor changes, like adding in a dash of cinnamon, omitting the nuts, and halving the chocolate chips.

The special ingredient was 1 cup of candy corns cut in half.

The result is a tasty classic recipe jazzed up with a bit of Fall-lovin’

How do you jazz up your recipes?

What do you top your spaghetti squash with?

Do you love candy corn as much as I do?

Bailey’s Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the best part of joining the food blogging community is finding recipes that blow your mind.  It is no surprise that Jessica from How Sweet It Is concocted a product of genius once again.

In preparation for St. Patty’s Day, Jess toasted her heritage with Bailey’s and Bailey’s inspired cookies.  Since I indeed forgot to tout my own Irish heritage (hey, may maiden name is McCord!), I had to redeem myself by recreating her recipe on Friday.

Epic cookies...really EPIC

I pretty much followed Jess’s recipe to a “T” so if you do make them, make sure to give her the credit

How Sweet It Is Double Fudge Irish Cream Cookies

Double Fudge Irish Cream Cookies

makes ~40 cookies

1 cup butter, softened (I used Blue Bonnet)

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 2/3 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder (I used Nestle)

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon instant coffee powder (I used Starbucks Cinnamon flavored VIA)

8 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish Cream liqueur (heaping )

1 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Add in Bailey’s one tablespoon at a time.

In separate bowl, mix flour, cocoa powder, instant coffee, baking soda and salt.  Gradually add to your butter mix and stir until combined.

Fold in chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 4 hours.

Roll into approximate tbsp-sized balls and set on a greased baking sheet.

Bake at 350 for ~10 minutes.

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I had to sample one of these guys right out of the oven and I nearly thought I’d be drunk if I had more than one cookie.  Then as they cooled, the flavors mellowed to perfection.

Thanks to two get togethers over the weekend, I had several taste testers, and dare I say, they were a HIT!

Next time, I may just use mint chocolate chips for an extra wow factor   Oh yes, I’d go there.  I also debated making them into brownie bars.

Share a link to your favorite cookie recipe (yours or another blogger’s)

What do you prefer: Cookies or brownies? I prefer a cookie 99% of the time.  Or I’ll choose “c” and say Blondies