Coconut macaroons. Something I've loved my whole life. When I started thinking about making these macaroons, I knew that I wanted something that really just let the flavor of the coconut stand out. A few years back, I had asked my mom to make some macaroons, as she had made them for Christmases past. (Like, WAY past.) She had trouble finding a recipe that she liked. She eventually found two that she thought looked good. Honestly, neither of them were much like the coconut macaroons that we had remembered. The recipes she used both called for almond extract. I thought the almond flavor took over the cookie. Call us all unimpressed.So, I searched the Food Network website for something that looked good. I found one from Ina Garten's show, The Barefoot Contessa. If you've ever watched Ina's show, you know she ain't messin' around. The recipe was extremely simple, and it had a five-star rating. I knew I'd picked a winner! They were so easy to make, and let me tell you, they are delicious. I even dipped the tops of some in chocolate. Ho-ly smokes! So freaking good. I somehow restrained myself and only ate one.
In my last post, I talked about how tired I've been from being in the kitchen all the time. I know my posting doesn't quite reflect that. I've made almost two batches of everything I've posted about. None of them have been made the same day as the first batch. Just yesterday, I made second batches of the macaroons (I think I made the first batch on Saturday) and peanut brittle. Today, I'm just finishing up a second batch of chocolate chip cookies. Friday, the kids and I are making a second batch of sugar cookies. (Or fourth batch, since I always double the recipe?) So, it has indeed been labor intensive, but I have enjoyed every minute of it. It has definitely enhanced my holiday season.
Okay, on to last night's dinner. A simple repeat, and it is indeed another casserole. (I'm trying to use up some of the beans in my freezer to make way for more goodies.) So, I made the Navy Bean Gratin from The Hippy Gourmet cookbook. I served it with a side of roasted asparagus with a soy/balsamic sauce. The sauce is 2 TBS butter or EB (melted), 1 TBS soy sauce, 1 tsp balsamic vinegar. Easy, quick and satisfying.
4 comments:
I'm going to have to try the navy bean gratin soon....I have a ton of white beans in my freezer from last week. They seem to be Stella's favorite of late, so I'm on the lookout for someting yummy to do with them!!
carrie: It actually reminds me of the veggie gratin you made last week. You could probably follow the same recipe and just sub the beans for the veggies.
One of Sleek's co-workers, Jiveturkey, forgot his blogger password. Sleek took in a couple goodie platters to work today, and Jiveturkey has this to say:
Jackpot! B-Dog just hand-delivered some of D-Mama's cousinal handiwork here to the office. Mmmm mmm good! I highly recommend trying the choclate chip deluxe cookies and the brown sugar cookies with the sugar topping and the sugar flavor inside. But, you can't try them here at work, I think I saved two, I mean one for the rest of my co-workers (you snooze, you looze).
P.S. Dear, mom, please send more cookies to camp.
Feel free to copy and paste if you wish.
Thanks for the cookies.
Mary Kristmus
I wish I had seen this before I tried my macaroons. I used a different recipe and they turned out having the exact same texture as those little shreds of old tires they put on playgrounds. However, I could save them up, along with the leftover fruitcake from Uncle Don and make a badass cushion for the kids' jungle gym in the spring. :)
Rebecca: You may be on to something. Here in Mo-town, the local parks and rec dept. recently tore up all the playgrounds and put (unwashed) pea-gravel down. So, the playgrounds aren't seeing much use these days. Parents don't want their kids being covered in head-to-toe dirt, throwing rocks, or eating them. The shredded tires are are very expensive to replace the pea-gravel. Maybe we could commission you to make a new playground surface! Only if you could do it cheaper than the tires, though!
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