Welcome to my eclectic country kitchen!
Life is nothing without dessert, right? Ice cream is my favorite, but cookies come in a close second because they go great with coffee and coffee just rules my world.
I’m partial to crunchy, buttery cookies. Others like soft, chewy cookies. These loaded oatmeal cookies have a little something for us all, chewy oatmeal AND crunchy pecans…plus chocolate chips, because who doesn’t like those? Or you can add raisins instead, even though I can’t imagine why.
Salsibury Steak smothered in gravy, so tender Grandma can eat it without her dentures. Mashed potatoes smothered with more gravy. Or not, so you can mix them into your peas and make a real mess. Now that’s what I call comfort food.
We did that last night. Everyone was happy. End of story.
Not enough fruits and veggies for you? Well, I made some carrot cupcakes and they even had pineapple in them. So, we had fruit and veggie for desert. Boom! That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.
At least I do! I’m dead serious when I tell you my Dad ate two bowls of ice cream every single night of his life. Which is probably why ice cream is my favorite thing in the world. It’s not dessert for me, it’s a basic food group, like coffee & chocolate. And when you put them all together? Oh yeah, mocha almond fudge is my absolute favorite.
But it was my mother-in-law’s butter pecan ice cream I made this week, and that’s pretty awesome too. So I’ll post the recipe for that, as well as for some quick strawberry sorbet I often make. That’s for those of you who are lactose intolerant, don’t want to fuss with an ice cream freezer, or want a healthier alternative to heaven in a bowl.
I almost cooked dinner. Well, actually I made tacos and we were about five minutes from chowing down and some friends invited us out to dinner. Their treat. Well, that’s a no-brainer. So everything went in the fridge and tonight’s dinner is all ready to go. Even better.
But I was feeling a little guilty because tacos is what I fix when I don’t feel like cooking. So I made a consolation pie.
See, I figured I could earn some brownie points with Mr. Man; “She only made tacos for dinner, but she made a pie! What a good little wife”. OK, after 37 years of marriage that’s probably not really happening. But I live in hope that I’m appreciated, he lives in hope that I would actually do something nice for him, and in the end, isn’t hope what keeps us going?
So I threw together this Cherry Berry Pie, which is totally fake cooking, but I’m OK with that. It looks like a homemade pie. Tastes like a homemade pie. I invited our friends in for pie and ice cream after we got back from dinner. Score!