Molasses Crisps with Sweet Potato Buttercream Frosting

Very rich, but delicious, cookie that I baked today to welcome fall! Even though it's not very fall like outside with all of this rain. Sorry, Texas, wish I could send it to you. :(

What you'll need:

• 3/4 c. shortening
• 1 c. packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 c. molasses
• 2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 tsp. allspice
• 1 tsp. nutmeg

To make these delicious, soft, fall cookies:

1. Cream shortening and brown sugar
2. Stir in egg and molasses and stir well
3. Fold in dry ingredients and stir
4. Cover and chill for 1-2 hours, or until dough is firm
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
6. Take a spoonful of dough and shape into a ball with your hands
7. Roll that dough ball in a little white granulated sugar
8. Place on slightly greased baking pan
9. Bake for 9-10 min.

For the buttercream frosting you'll need:

• 1 c. milk
• 4 Tbsp. all purpose flour
• 1c. granulated sugar
• 1 c. butter, softened
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4-1/2 can (16 oz.) sweet potato or yam whichever they have it labeled

To make it:

1. Heat flour and milk together over medium low heat, stirring often, until it thickens (about 5 min)
2. Set aside to cool.
3. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy
4. Mix in sweet potato (it should be pre cooked so that it mashes really easily) The frosting will be a little thin and orange-ish.
5. Add in vanille and beat again
6. Finally add in flour and milk mix and mix it really well.
7. I refrigerated my frosting so it would set enough to be spreadable on my cookies.

I could only eat like 3 of these before I was completely full! But they are so good <3

Here are a few pictures of my final result :

Perfectly soft cookies!

Delicious frosting

Welcome to Fall - NOW WHEN WILL THE RAIN LEAVE

Ok so I got all excited about the fall season starting up last weekend when, out of the blue, we went from 95 to 65! It was SO nice. I started busting out the boots from storage, the sweaters from the back of my closet, and the scarves and fall recipes were just making me so happy. I freaking love fall. Every time it comes around, I make more fond memories of apple cider, trips to the pumpkin farm, carving a MILLION pumpkins, and making delicious things with that special fall taste to it. My friend Meryn said it perfectly -

Every time I see pumpkins, all I can think of is how those specific pumpkins aren't actively in my food and how they need to be in my food right now. Those pumpkins need to get in my coffee beverages. They need to get in ALL of my baked goods. Do you see how fat I'm not, pumpkins? Yeah, well, that's gonna change, because it's time to eat ALL of the pumpkins.

Amazing stuff and pretty much my brain waves during this season. Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks, here I come. Sweet potato and pumpkin bread? You are on my list. Pumpkin cream cheese frosting on a coffee cake?? YOU'RE MINE. So, to kick off the lovely season (despite the ridiculous amount of rain and muggy heat we are getting on this mid-September day), I am making a batch of Molasses Cookies. Tasty.

Recipe to follow :) My dumb blog will not let me stop writing in bold and italics now. Thanks Meryn's quote!!!

Quesadillas to Celebrate Texas!

Hello again fellow food lovers. I have been out of my mind planning this wedding. It can get so complicated and JUST when you think you have it figured out, there's a new variable thrown in there! I think (hope) I will have the venues picked out by the end of the week. Then I can send out save the dates. :) The engagement pictures are so awesome I can't wait to put them on the save the dates and show them off!!

Here's an example of the one I want to use.

Pretty nice.

So I finally got some time in between my crazy school load and my busy work with the wedding to make some food. I went home to Texas last weekend to scope out venues with Steven's mom and aunt and remembered how much more AWESOME the tortillas are in Texas than here on the east coast. Plus, they're dirt cheap too! So I smuggled two gigantic packs of tortillas home in my bags. Then, I made teriyaki steak quesadillas.
Delicious.
Here's how it's done!

TERIYAKI STEAK QUESADILLAS

• 1/3 c. reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1/3 c. reduced sodium chicken stock
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. minced fresh gingerroot (or 1/4 tsp. powdered ginger)
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 beef top sirloin steak
• 1/2 c. sliced red onion
• 1/2 c. sliced green bell pepper
• 1 Tbps. olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 c. shredded part skim mozarella cheese
• some flour tortillas

In a small bowl, combine the first six ingredients to make an awesome marinade. Then stick the marinade inside of a resealable plastic bag - then add the steak to it. Let that sit in the refrigerator for about 2 hours. I only did one hour, and it turned out delicious, so it's up to you.

In the meantime, slice those onions and green bell peppers. When it gets close to the end of the marinade time, start a skillet on medium heat with about a Tbsp. of olive oil. Toss in the onions and bell peppers, salt and pepper to taste, and cook until crisp-tender. Take off heat and keep nearby.

When the meat is finished marinading, take the meat out of the bag and put it on the grill for however long you like your steaks. I like mine pretty rare, so it was not on there very long. Reserve 3 Tbsp. of the marinade to put on the filling.

When the steak is done, take it off and cut it up into bite size pieces. Lay a tortilla flat and put some mozzarella cheese on it. Then, layer with some steak pieces, a few onions and peppers, and some more mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle a spoon full of the marinade on top of all of that and then seal the deal with a second tortilla. I pan fried mine in olive oil until just browned, but you can also put them on the grill if you want. Slice into six pieces (honestly this part doesn't matter if you just want to eat it whole).

Steven loves his with jalapenos, I like mine with sour cream and salsa. Either way, you have a unique tasting, amazing quesadilla!!