In My Garden

Snickerdoodle Bars

Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies! When I saw this recipe on Crazy Daisy, I couldn't wait to make them. I decided to make them for my step son Michael's soccer banquet. Of course, as I cut them, I had to taste. These bars are so good. The flavor of a snickerdoodle cookie and the texture of a brownie. Thank goodness I made them to take somewhere or I would have eaten way too many. Next time you're searching for a cookie to make, try these you won't be sorry!!!

Snickerdoodle Bars
2 1/3 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cinnamon Filling
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350. Spray or grease the bottom only of a 9x13-inch pan with cooking spray. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

Beat butter on high speed until creamy. Beat in sugars. Gradually beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients and beat on low speed until combined.

Spoon half the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle with Cinnamon Filling evenly over batter. Dollop teaspoons of remaining batter evenly over Cinnamon Filling. Gaps are okay, they let the filling peek through leaving a fun marbled look.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

In a small bowl, stir glaze ingredients until smooth and thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle over bars.

I am linking this to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday's, Tuesday's at the Table and Tasty Tuesdays.

One Year Ago Roasted Dill Potatoes.

Pistachio Linzer Thumprints - SMS

This week's SMS takes me back to my childhood. If you follow my blog, you know my mother died when I was sixteen. One of the cookies I remember my mother making at the holidays were thumbprints. These remind me so much of those cookies.

From making the thumbprint with your thumb or whatever finger you choose, to filling the centers with the preserves, these cookies are fun to make. I cut the recipe in half and ended up with 15 cookies. The recipe called for unsalted pistachios. I had salted on the shelf and used them instead. The contrast of the sweet preserves and the salted pistachios is delicious. I didn't have quite enough apicot preserves, so I filled a few of them with plum preserves. Actually, I like the contrast you get with the dark preserves. These cookies were a thumbs up at my house!



The talented and creative Tracey of Tracey's Culinary Creations is our host this week. You'll find the recipe on her blog. The links to all of the other SMS gals can be found here!

Pink Saturday

The roses in my garden are just starting to bloom! Happy Pink Saturday!

Quinoa Salad With Sugar Snap Peas

When you search for recipes for quinoa, you'll find a lot of salad recipes available. I found this recipe for Quinoa Salad With Sugar Snap Peas in my endless stack of recipes torn from magazines.

I come home for lunch almost every day and am always looking for something new to eat. This is a great salad for a summer picnic or family reuinion. It's easy to put together and won't spoil in the heat. The sugar snap peas and the chives add a nice color and crunch to the quinoa. I substituted sunflower seeds for the pumpkin seeds. This salad has lots of possiblities, different nuts or veggies. I think I will try it with asaparagus next time.

I am linking this to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.

In My Garden

We had our first real Springtime storm last night. While tornado warnings were sounding in the surrounding counties, we had 50 mile per hour winds, pea size hail and sheets of rain. Have you ever seen rain coming down in sheets? It goes sideways across your lawn. Some of my flowers look a little torn and tattered but all in all everything looks pretty good.




We planted this Japanese Lilac four years ago . This is the first year it has bloomed!



I think my lettuce is almost ready to pick. What do you think?



Last summer my husband planted this yarrow plant. I thought it looked somewhat like a weed. It's much prettier this year.



One of my favorite plants in the garden is lavender. I love the beautiful purple color and amazing fragrance.

Spicy Brussels Sprouts

How do you record your thoughts, ideas and potential recipes to blog about? I have a notebook I carry with me. When I have a thought or hear about a recipe I want to make, I jot it down. Quite some time ago, I made a note to make David Chang's Brussels Sprouts recipe. Last weekend, as I was sorting my stack of recipe clippings, I found the recipe from November 2009's Food & Wine.

I halved the brussels sprouts, coated them in olive oil and kosher salt and roasted them in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes. I didn't have any fish sauce, so I substituted chicken broth. To prevent this recipe from being too spicy, I omitted the red chili. I love the idea of rice krispies being the topping for the brussels sprouts. Having your oil just the right temperature is they key to browning and not burning the rice krispies. Mine was a little too hot and we raced to turn off the alarm so the smoke detector didn't set it off. Seems I do that a lot in my kitchen. I also learned to be really cautious when pouring the cayenne pepper into the already smoking oil. That's one way to clean out your sinuses.

I really enjoyed the sweet and salty flavors of this recipe. Tim said he liked them but preferred this recipe.

I am linking this to Tasty Tuesday's at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.