Pinterest Challenge

Remember that lovely theme word, "Celebrate"?  Part of that is working on ideas I find and post in Pinterest as well as "Too Cute Not To Toot".  I went through my boards on Pinterest at the end of December and picked a few things I wanted to try and complete this month.  I divided the ideas between crafty things and recipes (because recipes are usually easier to get done!)  Recently, I made two recipes on the same day and they both turned out perfectly.

First up is this recipe for Roasted Cabbage.

I know, I know. Cabbage?  Really?  Well, here's the deal.  After being married for 9 years, my husband informed me last year that he loves cabbage.  I didn't really know that at all.  So after he told me that, we had it for St. Patricks day with our Corned Beef and I also made it for Easter with our ham.  Then, I found a great recipe for Crock Pop Stuffed Cabbage.  When I saw this recipe, I knew he would love it and, I just admit, it is very good.  Roasting it gives it a clean taste and makes it almost sweet.  Plus I like this better then cooking it with a ham (or other meat) because it doesn't get soggy; it stayed nice and firm.  Here's a picture of what mine looked like:

Roasted Cabbage
adapted from Martha Stewart

This is such a simple recipe that you really can't mess it up.  Plus, cabbage is such an in-expensive veggie that it fits easily into any budget.  The original recipe calls for fennel or caraway seeds - I used neither but rather just sprinkle on Nature's Seasoning instead.  Also, because I had a ham in the oven, I split the difference on the oven temp. and cooked these at 375 for 1 hour and they were perfect.

Yield Serves 6         

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon plus 2 more tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium head green cabbage, cut into 1-inch-thick rounds
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon caraway or fennel seeds

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush a rimmed baking sheet with 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil. Place 1 medium head green cabbage, cut into 1-inch-thick rounds, in a single layer on sheet and brush with 2 tablespoons oil. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon caraway or fennel seeds. Roast until cabbage is tender and edges are golden, 40 to 45 minutes

The second recipe that I tried was a cookie recipe.  I've mentioned in the past that I'm on the search for the "perfect" recipe for the main different cookie types such as Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter.  You know, the go to recipes that you KNOW taste good and always turn out.  Well, I have found a winner!  These cookies are called Pretzel Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies:

I was a little nervous about these because my husband is not a fan of the whole salty/sweet combo but I happen to love it.  I figured if he didn't like them, I would make him something else but guess what?  He loves them.  The dough itself is very good and I can seeing using this base dough for any type of "chip' cookie.  Here's what my cookies looked like :

Aren't they pretty?  They taste even better!!

Pretzel Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
adapted from Sugar Cooking

These cookies are full of yummy goodness with chocolate AND peanut butter chips plus toss in some pretzels for a nice crunch and yes, I said crunch.  The pretzels really do retain their crutch during cookies and it adds really nice texture to the cookies.  The original recipes states that you will get 24 cookies but, I ended up with about 3-4 dozen instead.  I usually use the small Pampered Chef scoop when I make cookies - this makes them more the perfect size for little kids :-)  Also, I did not sprinkle salt on them before baking them.  Two reasons, I didn't want to buy "Sea Salt" so I was going to use regular salt (because I heard on Food Network that all Salt is Sea Salt . . .so . . why buy something different and the second reason, I meant to sprinkle some regular salt on top and forgot :-)  We didn't miss it though.

Recipe: Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Pretzel Cookies
Makes 24 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. of salt
• 1/4 tsp. of baking soda
• 1/2 cup of butter at room temperature
• 1/2 cup of tightly packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter chips
• 1/2 cup broken up pretzel pieces
• Pretzel Salt or Sea Salt

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a larger bowl, beat the butter and sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). On low speed, slowly add the beaten egg and vanilla extract. Beat to combine, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add the flour mixture and beat just until there are no more streaks of flour. Stir in the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and pretzels. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop out well rounded tablespoonfuls of the dough and sprinkle with pretzel salt. Leave about 2 inches between each ball. Bake for 10 minutes. If you prefer crispier cookies increase the baking time by 1-2 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before removing

Have you made anything from Pinterest ? We all love to hear both the success stories AND the failures!! (That way we don't try them too!)