Soft Cut-out Sugar Cookies

You guys, I can't stop making these cookies. And subsequently eating them. I love this recipe because the dough is easy to work with and it doesn't make 40 dozen cookies. That seems to be the big downfall of lots of sugar cookie recipes-you end up with an insane amount of cookies. And with only two of us in the apartment, that just sounds like a bad idea.

Making the dough is pretty simple. I did use regular butter instead of unsalted and everything turned out fine.

(I also used making these cookies as an excuse to play around with my food photography.)

Add sugar, an egg, and vanilla. The recipe also calls for a tiny bit of almond extract but I'm not a fan so I just used all vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients and mix.

This recipe does call for chilling the dough, but it's only for an hour. She also rolls out her dough before chilling it, but I don't bother as I don't find the dough to be very difficult to work with.

I used a medium sized flower cookie cutter and got a little over a dozen cookies. All you need to do is lightly flour your countertop and rolling pin. The recipe I'd been using before this one required you to spray your countertop with Pam and then put flour on top because the dough was that. sticky. So not worth it. Just make these!

After baking, they looked like this:

That's another great thing about this recipe-they don't spread out while baking! I didn't take any pictures after I frosted them because I just did a lazy job and didn't try too hard to make them cute. This is the frosting recipe I've been using-also awesome. But it does make quite a bit of frosting. Anyway, incase you couldn't tell, this is a 4 star recipe and the only one I'll use for sugar cookies now. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato and Corn Enchiladas

Guys, I'm super excited about this recipe. When I first saw it, I was really intrigued but hesitant. Sweet potatoes are a tricky ingredient in our marriage. I think they're glorious and Husband isn't really a fan. Sadness. But I went for it anyway. And I'm really glad I did! Perfect for Meatless Monday, if you're into that. ;)

I cooked my sweet potato in the oven since I had the time. Then I peeled it and chopped it up after it had cooled a bit.

Exciting picture, isn't it? And I should have chopped it up into smaller pieces.

The original recipe has black beans and uses a salsa from Trader Joe's. I couldn't find a salsa with corn and black beans, and there isn't a Trader Joe's near me...so I used this:

I think part of the reason I like making enchiladas is that they're really easy but still end up being spicy and cheesy and comforting.

The recipe says it will make 6-8 enchiladas. I ended up with 7. She also used an 8x10 pan, but I don't have one of those, (never even knew they existed before this recipe) so I used a 9x13. I'm betting if I cut the sweet potato smaller, I could have gotten 8 enchiladas. Anyway, after coming out of the oven they looked like this:

These were surprisingly good. They're definitely different, but I'm calling them a major win because Husband says I should keep the recipe! Wahoo!! For that, I'm giving these 4 stars.

Traditional German Schnitzel

Everybody's talking about New Years Resolutions and how to be healthy and I'm over here like, "I think I'll fry some pork!" But this is what sounded good to me so it's what I decided to try this week. It also sounded pretty simple so I was feeling fairly confident.

First I pounded my pork chops, which proved to need a bit more force than I originally anticipated. But it wasn't difficult.

I probably should have pounded them a little more thinly. I feel like this recipe has a fairly steep learning curve.

While I prepared my breading station, I let some oil heat up on the stove top. And I got it way too hot and filled the apartment with smoke. So then I had to wait for it to cool down and open some windows. :P

I was pretty convinced the recipe would turn out to be a fail at this point, but I persevered because I had no other options and we couldn't just have mashed potatoes for dinner. And for the sake of keeping this blog going. :D

Once I got the oil down to a more reasonable temperature, I tried the frying.

Really the trickiest part is to keep the oil at the right temperature so you don't burn the outside before the meat can cook through, but you also don't want to cook it too slowly or you won't have a crispy coating. But by the time I was done, I felt like I'd finally figured it out.

This was the prettiest one. And I was pleasantly surprised by the results. I think the recipe has potential with practice. So we're giving this one 3 stars.

2 Ingredient Queso Dip

I've been sick this week, so the recipe I tested was super simple. And I tested it at a friend's house for a girls day so unfortunately, I don't have any pictures. But this is the recipe. Salsa verde and cream cheese? I was so intrigued. I've poured regular red salsa over cream cheese for a dip plenty of times, but the thought of using salsa verde instead sounded really interesting!
And you know what? It was amazing! Seriously so good. We both really enjoyed it. It's not too spicy, and the cream cheese doesn't make it weirdly sweet. I don't know if I'd necessarily call it a queso, but whatever. It's awesome. 4 stars, I know I'll be doing it again.