cooking ala mel

healthy recipes and the occasional craft

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Coffee Cake Cookies

Is summer flying by or what?!  Things have been busy, busy, busy around here, which always seems to happen when I finally think I’m going to have time to relax!  Time with family and friends is definitely a good trade-off, though.  AND it means I can load people up with goodies!

My sisters and I threw my parents a surprise party for their 30th wedding anniversary (well, a surprise for my mom, anyway – my dad was in on it).  I ended up making two cakes (which I did not get pictures of), peach sangria, and these cookies.  We decided the day before the party we probably needed some cookies, and this recipe just happened to catch my eye, so I whipped ’em up right away.  I’m so glad I did, because they were pretty fantastic!

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Chocolate Yogurt Mousse Brownies

My mini summer has gotten off to a great start with a great visit back home to see my family and friends.  Morty (the kitty) did such a great job traveling home with me – he is Maine Coon through and through, with an almost dog-like temperament when traveling!  We got plenty of use out of his harness and leash, which was pretty awesome.  He was so good with it!  I’ve never had such a quiet kitty in the car…

Right before I went home, I whipped up these brownies to take with me, and they were a hit!  The brownies are super fudgy, perfect straight out of the fridge.  The topping is slightly tangy from the Greek yogurt, but it cuts the richness of the brownie wonderfully.  I’ll probably be whipping up a batch of just the yogurt mousse topping soon – I wanted to just keep eating the topping! [Read more…]

Cheesy Garlic Breadsticks (Gluten Free)

My summer has officially started!  I finished my first rotation of my P4 year of pharmacy this week, and I have the next 6 weeks off.  Hooray for a little bit of summer!  I’m starting it off with a trip home for all of my various doctor’s appointments (and to visit with family and friends, obviously), and I’m taking the little fluff monster with me because he’s currently on antibiotics.  I fully intend on harnessing him up and taking him out to enjoy the sunshine a little bit, but he’s already outgrown all of the kitty harnesses we have.  He’s not even nearly full grown yet, and he’s already the same size as our other two full-grown kitties; I’m not sure I’m ready for the hugeness of this Maine Coon!

Earlier this week, I made one of our favorite dishes for dinner – shrimp scampi with fettuccine.  We didn’t have any bread, so I decided to try out a gluten free version of garlic bread in lieu of actual garlic bread.  I found a recipe that looked promising, and I went with it, adding in fresh garlic instead of just garlic powder, cause I looove me some garlic.  I was so impressed with this recipe!  The dough is actually soft and fluffy, the closest thing I’ve ever had to a gluten free recipe that is actually similar to bread.  The flavors going on here are fantastic! [Read more…]