Stealing

I am totally stealing this idea from my friend, ChaCha. I just found her blog, which shares her kitchen successes on the World Wide Web. Since I'm home a lot more than I used to be, I've been indulging my passion for baking and cooking. I like to try new recipes, so now I will share my successes and failings with you!

#1 - I'm going to ChaCha's house for dinner tomorrow and was asked to bring "something dessert-y." Knowing that Mr. ChaCha is a cookie monster, I promised a treat "in the cookie family." I had a container of whole cranberries burning a whole in my fridge, so I went out in search of a recipe.

I came up with Cranberry Drop Cookies on Cooks.com. I mostly followed it, but I melted the butter and didn't sift the dry ingredients separately (I never do). Oh, and I didn't use nuts (because I didn't have any). I added a little dried cranberry on the top of each just to be festive.They turned out well. I baked them to the minimum 10 minutes (always under cook - that's my secret). They taste great, though I wouldn't call them fabulous. In other words, I was able to eat just one without gobbling up the whole batch in one sitting like I often do. They are more cakey than I was expecting, but still yummy.

#2 - Brad had asked for meatloaf on this week's menu. I don't have a recipe, so I again went hunting. I found a simple one that looked traditional (Mom's Basic Meatloaf) on About.com. While the photo is a little less than appetizing, Brad assures me that it was really good - a keeper! (It was a vegetarian grilled cheese sandwich for me tonight) The loaf didn't stay together, but I think that's because it finished before Brad got home and I covered it with a lid. I think it just sweated a lot.

Both recipes are going in my box :)

-Liz