I made Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies yesterday. Mmmm! So good, especially chilled on hot day like today.

Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies
1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cocoa
3/4 cup peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups oats

Add the first 4 ingredients together in a saucepan, bring to a rolling boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Then add oats. Drop onto wax paper. Cool until set.

SnowAngel

Those look pretty awesome SnowAngel. My mom has a no-bake cookie recipe and I don't know it off the top of my head, but the ingredients look very similar to the way I remember her cookies tasting.

I picked my first ever cabbage tonight!! Does anybody have any good recipes for cabbage besides coleslaw? I have a lot to use up.

Thanks, fantasia! I had forgotten how good no-bakes are until I made them last week.

Fantasia, this is one of our favorite cabbage recipes. Beware it's makes plenty. Everyone loves this salad. It looks kind of funny so I always think when we take it togethers we'll bring home more than we do, sometimes there isn't any left. That's always disappionting, because it's really good leftover.

Ramen Noodle Salad
2 packages beef ramen noodles
1 package (16 oz.) cabbage slaw
1 bunch green onions (sliced)
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup almonds
3/4 cup oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar

Mix oil, vinegar, and sugar. Add cabbage mix, stir. Break noodles into pieces. Add all remaining ingredients. Sprinkle seasoning packets on top. Stir thoroughly. Refrigerate for 4 hours. Stirring occasionally. Serve.

Note: We do shredded cabbage and carrots inplace of the packaged slaw mix and it works very well.

One of our neighbors bought us fresh blackberries recently and I used the last of them to make a coffee cake on Saturday. It was so tasty. I love blackberries, especially fresh ones. I changed one of our favorite coffee cake recipes by adding the blackberries and making some other small changes. It turned out quite good if I do say so myself. I just wish coffee cake would disappear more slow at our house.

I'm planning to make Peanut Butter Bars on Thursday or Friday when it gets really hot 'cause they will taste really good then. Maybe I will post the recipe after I have a picture to go with it.

SnowAngel

I love blackberries, especially fresh ones.

Too bad we're not neighbors, because I've picked tons of blackberries (probably at least 20 cups last week) and I don't like them at all. That said, the rest of the family likes them. We're supposed to freeze some of them, but otherwise they've been eating them plain. In the past, when we cook with them, we've just made blackberry cobbler. I know you mentioned coffee cake, but do you have any other favourite recipes that use blackberries? Thanks!

Fantasia, this is one of our favorite cabbage recipes.

I think this is one of those universal recipes that everybody has a variation of. Here's my mom's version....

ORIENTAL CABBAGE SALAD

2 whole chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
½ cup slivered almonds
½ head shredded cabbage
4 chopped green onions
2 Tbsp. sesame seeds
1 package Top Ramen Noodles, chicken flavored—crushed

Dressing:

Ramen Noodle flavoring packet
2 Tbsp. sugar
½ cup oil
3 Tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper

Toast seeds & almonds till brown. Cool. Toss all items together with dressing. Allow to set 1 hour before serving.

... and this is what I'm going to be making for dinner tonight. At least half of the cabbage will be used up then.

Valia, if you're in the neighborhood at some point, I will be more than happy to take some of those blackberries off your hands. If your family can part with some that is.

I love blackberries, especially fresh ones.

Too bad we're not neighbors, because I've picked tons of blackberries (probably at least 20 cups last week) and I don't like them at all. That said, the rest of the family likes them. We're supposed to freeze some of them, but otherwise they've been eating them plain. In the past, when we cook with them, we've just made blackberry cobbler. I know you mentioned coffee cake, but do you have any other favourite recipes that use blackberries? Thanks!

Wow, I would love to take your blackberries, ValiantArcher! Here are several recipes. All of them can be made with any kind of berry. I hope these are hopeful.

Berry Pie
1 ¼ cups sugar
¼ cup flour
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
4 cups fresh or frozen berries, if frozen thaw before using
1 unbaked 9inch pie crust

Combine sugar, flour, and salt. Add sugar mixture to berries; toss to coat fruit. Fill pie crust with berry mixture. Put on topping. Cover edge of pie with foil. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Remove foil, bake for 25 to 30 more minutes or until golden. Cool on wire rack. Makes 8 servings.

SnowAngel’s Blackberry Coffee Cake
1 cup butter, softened
1 ¼ cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups fresh blackberries

Cream together butter, sugar, and eggs. Add sour cream and vanilla, mix well. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture to sour cream mixture. Spread two-thirds of the batter in a greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle blackberries over batter. Spread the remaining batter over blackberries. Sprinkle with topping. Bake 350F for 40-45 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Topping: ¾ brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter

Place all ingredients in a small bowl, mix with a pastry blender.

Berry Buckle (this one is for Eating Well magazine)

1 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup milk
½ cup applesauce
½ cup canola oil
½ cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups of berries
1 ½ cups of another kind of berries
1 tablespoon raw cane sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Coat a 9-inch baking dish with butter.

2. Whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk milk, applesauce, oil, sugar, egg, and vanilla in another bowl until well blended. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, gently fold until blended. Sprinkle berries on top and fold just until blended. Spoon batter into baking dish. Sprinkle with sugar.

3. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes. Let cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Fantasia, this is one of our favorite cabbage recipes.

I think this is one of those universal recipes that everybody has a variation of.

Oh, I didn't know that. I had never seen a recipe like ours before. Your mom's recipe sounds very good.

Yesterday and today we made applesauce and applebutter. Mmmm! Tastes delicious, but what a big mess it makes.

SnowAngel

Yum, these all sound like such great recipes.

As of late, I have been becoming a health food lover. Delicious fruits and vegetables a plenty, lean meats, nuts, and some dairy particularly spring to mind as some foods I've been learning to love.

One thing I really love making for lunch is salads. It's a lot of fun to make varieties of salads, not just plain spinach and carrots and tomatoes every day. Personally, I think that just makes it boring and bland. To make it better, I often add berries and other fruits, and even some cheese. Hey, today I even added garlic, which really spiced things up (no pun intended ).

Lately I've also been learning to cook from my mom. I hope to be able to make something out of a German Russian recipe book I got a few months back soon.

1 ½ cups of berries
1 ½ cups of another kind of berries

I don't know why that struck me as amusing, but it did. But I like that it keeps it open to using whatever kind of berries you prefer!

Yesterday and today we made applesauce and applebutter.

Jealous!! Actually two years ago we had a crazy apple year and we made a lot of homemade applesauce with different variations of sugar-free, with sugar, with brown sugar (this one was best), and I still have some left over. But I save it for cooking with because it's so much better than the store-bought stuff.

As of late, I have been becoming a health food lover.

Good for you Louloudi! I grew up with a mom who was a dietitian before I was born, and her mantra was 'everything in balance'. She didn't mind us having dessert, but it was only one serving after dinner. So I'm glad to see you have a great mix of foods up there that you're falling in love with.

Last night I made my mom's Halibut Stew. My aunt's aunt and uncle go fishing in Alaska every year and bring back loads of halibut and salmon which tends to trickle down to me, and this is my favorite recipe to use halibut in. It's a cream based soup with lots of veggies added in and it's pretty fast to put together too. But as I was making it, I was wondering what on earth I was thinking making a hot soup on a 106F day.

And then my husband found a recipe from somewhere for Blueberry Lemon cookies. They were a bit strange for my tastes (one, I don't like lemon flavoring in stuff, two, it tasted like breakfast). But we had a bunch of blueberries we needed to use up so this worked out.

1 ½ cups of berries
1 ½ cups of another kind of berries

I don't know why that struck me as amusing, but it did. But I like that it keeps it open to using whatever kind of berries you prefer!

I don't remember if the recipe was like that originally or if I put , I think I did. I'm always changing the berries in a recipe to something other than what it called for, 'cause I usually use whatever kind we have in the freezer.

The applesauce is really good, but we have to save most of it for winter.

I don't usually eat fish, but if it's from Alaska it's got to be good.

I made Chocolate Chip Cookies today. I almost always use Djaq's recipe and today was no exception. Thankfully the cookies did not turn out as dark as they look in the first picture. I love doughy cookies.

SnowAngel

My sister made me an Uncharted 3 (my favorite Video Game!) cake earlier this year for my Birthday! She did so Awesome, I didn't want to eat it LOL!
Everything is edible and it tasted so so good!
It was a chocolate and Coffee cake!

She was inspired by the first teaser trailer for the game. Everything on the desk has to do with some part in the game:

Here is the link to some more close-ups of the cake:

7chronicles. To say I'm mindblown would be an understatement. Your sister has some epic cake decorating skills. How in the world did she make everything edible and yet make it look so realistic?!?!?!!?

I'm really wowed here. Awesome job! Thanks for sharing that with us.

Thanks! I'll tell her you liked it!
-A lot of the bigger props, like: The gun, Books, and those sort of things, she shaped with rice crispy treats and then covered and smoothed them with fondant.
-Things like the card, and number twenty one were made from mixing gum paste and fondant.
-And the map was rolled out fondant.
-She used this cake paint sprayer to paint on some of the details and she hand painted all the items using water and food coloring.
I'm glad you like it! It was very yummy!

I've had all sorts of food experiences lately but I've been too busy to get in here and report on them all!

First of all, around here, veggies are beginning to ripen like crazy. Last night my husband and I made foil dinners (you just wrap up a whole bunch of things in tin foil and either grill it or bake it in the oven), and only the hamburger wasn't ours. The onions, tomatoes, potatoes, and corn were all ours. Yummy.

Oooh, and I got to try schwarma for the first time ever. (Remember The Avengers? ) For those who don't know what it is, it's a middle eastern food named after the (I guess for lack of a better term) spit or rotisserie that they put a whole bunch of meat on, season it and cure it, and then carve it off and put it into pita wraps with leafy greens and a creamy sauce. I think the meat is typically lamb, but the one I had was chicken and boy was it good! If you're familiar with the Gyro, that's the Greek version of Schwarma.

Tonight my husband and I delved into unfamiliar territory by grilling shrimp! I can share the recipe I used with you all, it's here...
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/marinated- ... etail.aspx
Oh my goodness... it was unbelievably good. I don't think I've ever mowed through shrimp so fast in my entire life.

And last but not least, Food Network kindly decided to post their page of Milkshake recipes on Facebook today. As if I needed a whole list of milkshakes to go crazy over.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes-and- ... index.html
Tonight I made recipe #23, the Cookies and Cream milkshake, consisting of Vanilla Ice Cream, Milk, and Oreos. I will admit right up front that it was probably the ugliest milkshake in the world (looked like cement) but was it ever tasty!! I'm sure my blood sugar hit a new record tonight. Or it would have if I hadn't stopped drinking (eating?) my glass and passed the rest off to my poor hubby.

And that leads me to a question. When you go to a diner and order a shake, is that short for milkshake? Or are they two different things? (The latter obviously containing milk.)

Referring back to Valia's post on the previous page, YAY for Winter and fellow angel food cake lovers!

Does anybody have any good recipes for cabbage besides coleslaw?

I used to make some delicious cabbage rolls, but they were so very much work that I haven't done them for years. That's not a lot of help, is it? I even wonder where my recipe is now ...

Oh man, Snow Angel and fantasia, that is one of my very favourite salads. ♥

Now, folks, you do realize all these posted recipes are making my salivary glands go crazy? And those pics of those amazing chocolate chip cookies are enough to make me run down to the kitchen and make some pronto.

One thing I really love making for lunch is salads.

Definitely!

7chronicles, that is one amazing cake your sister made!!! What artistic and creative talent. Bravo! How did you become brave enough to dig into that detailed creation?!

The onions, tomatoes, potatoes, and corn were all ours. Yummy.

I love this! Our garden is just at the very beginning stages of picking. We had our first cucumber the other day, and it was utterly sweet. Almost overly so. Then the radishes are flourishing, and last night for the first time we plucked a couple of green beans ... just to try 'em. Even though they aren't fully developed yet, they tasted amazing. The peas are readily visible now, and growing 'like weeds'. One of the tomato plants is especially doing well (Jet Star); two others (grape tomato plants) are doing mediocre; the last plant (Brandywine—love that name ) is struggling. There is nothing like fresh tomatoes from one's garden. Or fresh anything from the garden, for that matter. (Must trot on over to that Green Thumb topic this week sometime!)

If you're familiar with the Gyro, that's the Greek version of Schwarma.

Ah yes, we have a number of Gyro places here. Schwarma is getting to be more popular, but I'm not fond of either. Something about the seasoning.

That grilled shrimp sounds scrumpdillyicious! Got to have some! As does the milkshake, even though it was aesthetically abysmal.

Hmm, good question: I'm not sure of a difference between a shake and a milkshake. But I do know the only flavour of milkshake I like is ... vanilla. Even though I'm a chocolate-lover, chocolate shakes do nothing for me. Shocking, eh? And certainly not strawberry.

At the recent Mod Moot, I mentioned a few recipes that we use at our house and was asked for them. I am just getting around to posting them. They are all soups. The first is based on Olive Garden's Zuppa Tuscana, although I think our version is better. The second is Italian Sub Stoup (I think this may have been a Rachael Ray originally; Stoup= stew+soup). The last, which I've linked, is a potato soup for the crock out that we made recently. It is just as good or better than O'Charley's in my opinion.

Zuppa Toscana Soup Like Olive Garden’s

1 lb. spicy Italian sausage – crumbled
1 lb. sweet Italian sausage – crumbled
1 lb. smoked bacon – diced
2 qt. water
3 (14 oz.) cans chicken broth
5 medium Russet potatoes – cubed
4 cloves garlic – crushed
1 meduim onion – chopped
4 cups chopped kale
1 pint heavy whipping cream
salt and pepper to taste

In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown sausage, breaking it into small pieces as you fry it. Drain well and set aside.

In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown bacon; drain and set aside.

Place water, broth, potatoes, garlic, onion, and kale in a pot; simmer over medium heat until potatoes are tender.

Add sausage and bacon to pot; simmer for 10 minutes.

Add cream to pot; season with salt and pepper; heat through.

Italian Sub Stoup w/Garlic Toast Floaters (Croutons)

2 T. olive oil, plus 1/4 cup for croutons
1/4 lb. stick pepperoni, diced
1/2 lb. diced cooked ham
1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 (15-oz.) can diced tomatoes
6 cups chicken stock
3/4 lb. hot or sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
1 med. yellow onion
1/2 lb. preferred pasta (like Ziti or Rotini)
2 bunches arugula, spinach or kale, trimmed and coarsely chopped
5 cups cubed French bread
3 large cloves garlic, cracked from skin
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Cook sausage in the olive oil until browned. Crumble and drain off the fat. Add ham and pepperoni. Cook meats together 2 minutes. Add peppers and onions and cook 2-3 more minutes. Add tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Stir in pasta and cook until pasta is tender. Make croutons while pasta cooks.

In a large skillet, heat about 1/4 cup olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook 1 minute. Add bread to the oil, toss and toast the cubes for 5-6 minutes. Season the toasty cubes with red pepper flakes, oregano, and lots of grated cheese.

Add greens to the soup and simmer for 2 minutes. Serve soup hot in bowls with croutons on top.

Crockpot Potato Soup