Thai Cucumber Salad

This salad is a must when we cook Indian or Thai food, but I like it with anything grilled as well.

3 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and chopped

1/3 cup white vinegar

1/4 sugar

1/4 water

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 an onion, chopped

1/2 cup roasted peanuts, chopped

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

In a small saucepan, heat water, sugar, vinegar, and salt until sugar has dissolved. Cool. Pour over cucumber and onion. Stir in cilantro. Refrigerate. Add peanuts just before serving.

Pesto Chicken

This is so fast and easy. Just make sure to plan ahead enough to leave time for marinating.

Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 5 oz. each)
1/2 cup Pesto ( I either use homemade or the kind you find in the refrigerated section)

2 roma tomatoes, sliced (optional)
3/4 cup feta cheese

Directions

Put chicken and pesto in a bag and marinate for several hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place chicken on prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center. Remove from oven; top with tomatoes and cheese. Bake for an additional 3 to 5 minutes.

Cook of the Week

All of you that are on facebook already know this, but I have to take every opportunity to spread the news of my fame. After all, it's temporary fame and will be over at the end of the week.
I logged on to allrecipes.com this morning to look for a recipe and happened to notice my picture on the homepage. I was chosen as Cook of the Week. Wow, I'm famous, I thought, I must spread the word. So I facebooked it and now I'm blogging it because I would hate for any of you to miss out on my week of fame. But now the pressure is on. You're all expecting me to post more tasty and visually appealing recipes. But not to fear, I just need a day or two to accept the fact that I am now a famous person, and then I'll be back in the kitchen.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot my speech, so....I couldn't have done it without you, my loyal fans, so thank you. I love you all. I also wanted to thank my mom who wouldn't let me give up after I added too much salt to something-I can't remember what- when I was a kid. And my Dad, who made me eat my peas out of the garbage can after throwing them away. Without him I may have never learned to like peas, and probably would have never learned to cook them. I must also thank my husband because on days that I don't want to cook-I know, hard to believe, but it happens occasionally-he doesn't mind eating Hamburger Helper that's 2 years out of date. I hope I didn't miss anyone. Just know that I love you all and it's YOU, my fans, who made this all possible. Now, I've got to get back to allrecipes to make sure my picture is still there. XXOOxOXo!!

Witch Finger Cookies

The kids had a lot of fun making these. Spencer got real creative making warts and rings for the fingers. A bit labor intensive if you make these yourself, so be sure to let the kids do most the work! Also, these will puff up quite a bit while baking, so make sure to shape them smaller than you want for the finished product.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup whole almonds* (I blanched mine, see below)
1 (.75 ounce) tube red decorating gel
DIRECTIONS
Combine the butter, sugar, egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat together with an electric mixer; gradually add the flour, baking powder, and salt, continually beating; refrigerate 20 to 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Remove dough from refrigerator in small amounts. Scoop 1 heaping teaspoon at a time and roll the dough into a thin finger-shaped cookie. Press one almond into one end of each cookie to give the appearance of a long fingernail. Squeeze cookie near the tip and again near the center of each to give the impression of knuckles. You can also cut into the dough with a sharp knife at the same points to help give a more finger-like appearance. Arrange the shaped cookies on an ungreased baking sheets.
Bake in the preheated oven until the cookies are slightly golden in color, 20 to 25 minutes.
Remove the almond from the end of each cookie; squeeze a small amount of red decorating gel into the cavity; replace the almond to cause the gel to ooze out around the tip of the cookie.
Let cool completely.
*To blanch almonds, pour boiling water over the almonds, enough to cover them. Let stand for one minute (don't over do it), then rinse with cold water. Skins should peel right off.

Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips

I love this stuff and could pretty much eat a whole batch all by myself. Which I don't feel too bad about because it's half healthy. You can use any fruit that is in season and sounds good to you. I always use the apples and strawberries, but sometimes the other fruits vary.
Ingredients:
4 kiwis, peeled and diced
4 Gala apples - peeled, cored and diced
1 small cantaloupe, diced
1 pound strawberries, diced
3 tablespoons fruit preserves, any flavor (optional, I never use it)
20 (6 inch) flour tortillas, or the smallest ones you can get
butter flavored cooking spray
2 cups cinnamon sugar
Directions:
In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, Golden Delicious apples, raspberries, strawberries, and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.
(I like to use this chopper (below) to dice all the fruit. It makes it much faster and easier. I found mine on eBay. I also use it for regular salsa.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Coat both sides of each flour tortilla with butter flavored cooking spray. Cut into wedges with a pizza cutter. Put the wedges in a bag with the cinnamon sugar. Shake until evenly coated. Arrange in a single layer on a cookie sheet.
Bake in the preheated oven 8 to 10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.

Fresh Peach Dessert

This is one of my all time favorite desserts. We would look forward to this dessert every year when the peaches on our tree were ripe. It's important, though, to use sweet, ripe peaches.Peaches from the grocery store are usually not very good.
Ingredients:
16 whole graham crackers, crushed
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 c butter, melted
8 ounces mini marshmallows
1/4 cup milk
1 pint whipping cream, whipped and sweetened with 1/3 cup of sugar
5 or 6 fresh large peaches, peeled and sliced
Directions:
Put milk and marshmallows in a large microwave safe bowl. Microwave until marshmallows melt, stirring often. Set aside to cool.
Mix together graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter. Set aside 1/4 cup for topping and press remaining mixture into a 9x13 pan. Refrigerate.
After marshmallows have cooled, fold together with whipped cream. Spread half this mixture on top of the crust. Top with peaches, then the rest of the cream mixture. Sprinkle with reserved crumbs. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Cheesy Zucchini Patties

Depending on how much moisture is in your zucchini, you may need to add a little extra flour.
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups grated zucchini
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup flour (I like whole wheat)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/4 tsp pepper (or to taste)
red pepper flakes (optional, if you like a little spice)
2 tablespoons oil
Marinara sauce (optional)
Directions:
In a medium bowl, combine the zucchini, eggs, onion, flour, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, and salt. Stir well enough to distribute ingredients evenly.
Heat a small amount of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Drop zucchini mixture by quarter cup fulls, and cook for a few minutes on each side until golden. Serve with marinara sauce.