Last nite I made a double batch of pecan tassies. It only made 4 1/2 dozen though. I’ll probably end up making another double batch tomorrow along with my spritz/butter cookies. I probably would have made more last nite, but I spent about 3 hours trying to figure out why I couldn’t access my own websites when other people could. I don’t know if it was a DNS issue or what. But it eventually straightened itself out. I didn’t feel like doing any more baking after that.

Today, I made a batch of peanut butter cups. I ended up with 11 dozen plus 1 … 133 individual peanut butter cups. That’s all I’m making of those. They’re not hard to make, just tedious. Having to roll all those little balls and then coating them in chocolate. I think one year I made a double batch … can’t remember any more. That’s too many. I’ve hardly eaten any the last couple of years. I think I ate too many in the past.

I thought about making another batch of peanut butter blossoms tonite … so I could take some to work. But I’m not sure if I want to or not. Maybe after my dishwasher finishes its cycle so I can get my baking stuff out of there. Otherwise, I’ll just make some tomorrow. It doesn’t take long to make a batch of ‘em. The butter cookies on the other hand do take a while. I think I get about 7 dozen from a batch (it uses a cake mix, flour, and a pound of butter … guess that’s why they call ‘em butter cookies … ). I use my cookie press (hence the spritz part). The pressure tends to build up and start to tick me off after a couple dozen. But they’re so good.

Mood: lazy

Well … I ended up making 2 batches of cookies. That gave me a total of 101 peanut butter blossoms (2 batches of just over 4 dozen each). And can you believe that I only ate 1? I had to make sure they were edible. I’ve got an ice cream pail almost overflowing with the cookies up in my freezer. I’ll probably make one more batch at least so I have some to take to work to bribe people on the Christmas decorating contest. I gotta do something … I haven’t decorated yet … LOL. I plan on getting a few things on Friday or maybe I’ll venture out on Saturday. But I’m not gonna spend a lot of money just to decorate my desk. I’ll either get stuff at the Family Dollar Store or at Big Lots …

I got most of my Christmas cards written out too. I only had 14 stamps, so I can only mail that many. I’ll probably write out the rest and then get stamps after work tomorrow if I have time before my Christmas party for work. At least I don’t have to go very far for it. It’s at a hotel only a few blocks from my apartment.

Mood: tired

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 medium onion (more or less if you like onion)
1 12oz. can tomato paste
1 15oz. can tomato sauce
3 1/2 c. water
1 box mini lasagna noodles (12oz.)
shredded mozzarella cheese
cottage cheese
salt, pepper, season salt, lemon pepper, garlic salt, etc. to taste

Hardware:
9 x 13 in. baking dish
dutch oven or other deep saucepan/pot
measuring cup(s)
wooden spoon
aluminum foil

Instructions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
2. Saute the onions ’til they just start to get soft. Add the ground beef, season to your liking, and cook ’til done. Drain off the grease.
3. Add the tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
4. Let sauce cool for 5 minutes. Add the mini lasagna noodles (in raw form). Mix well.
5. Add half of the sauce-noodle mixture to bottom of 9 x 13 in. baking dish. Add layer of cottage cheese and mozzarella cheese (as much or as little as you like). Layer the remaining sauce-noodle mixture over the cheese and then add another layer of cheese.
6. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil. Place in 350° oven and bake for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, take off the foil and return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes or until the cheese has browned to your liking. Can also turn on the broiler after 5 minutes.
7. Remove from oven, cut into pieces, serve, and enjoy.

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Mood: lazy

I’m playing in the kitchen tonite making supper. I’ve got a lasagna recipe from my Mom that I love and is easy as hell to make. I thought I’d vary it a bit. I’m using mini lasagna noodles instead of the regular lasagna noodles. I’m gonna stir them (raw) into the sauce. Then I’ll layer the sauce-noodle mixture with cheese (cottage cheese and mozzarella). I’m hoping it turns out. If it does and it’s good, I’ll post the exact recipe … both variations … in case anyone else wants to try it.

Well … I’d better go keep an eye on my sauce.

Mood: hungry

I’m in baking mode today. I’ve been craving some chocolate chunk macadamia nut cookies for a while now. I thought I’d try to make ‘em instead of buying them. So I bought the chips and nuts today. I had everything else I needed. I used the Toll House recipe. I used white chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, and macadamia nuts. And DAMN are these cookies good. If I’m not careful, I’ll end up eating all of ‘em today. But I have to resist the urge to eat ‘em all. But I HAVE to have just one more. At least ’til tonite …

Here’s a pic of them (just for you Lisa). They taste better than they look in the pic.
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Mood: chillin

The only bad thing about cooking up beets and peeling ‘em so I can eat ‘em, is that my hands (and everything else the water I cooked ‘em in touches) turn purplish-red. But my hands did wash clean easily.

And man them beets are nummy. They probably won’t last past supper tomorrow nite … LOL.

Mood: okay