Chunky Tomato Sauce

What's better than good pasta? Good pasta with fabulous fresh sauce of course!

What you need:
Seasonings! I use salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil, thyme, bay leaves, and garlic salt. Fresh garlic is also encouraged but I rarely have it as my garlic cruncher thing sucks.
6 Tomatos (I use Romas, but any tomatos will be fine)
1 green pepper
2-3 handfulls of baby carrots
1/4 c olive oil

What to do:
Heat olive oil in a medium-large saucepan over medium heat. Add seasonings (about 1 t of each, but more 2-3 t of garlic). Begin chopping the green pepper into small bits. Add chopped green pepper to oil. Chop tomatos and add to oil. Chop carrots (you can use regular size carrots too obviously. I just never have those) and add to oil. Mix everything in the pan. Cover and let saute 30-40 minutes.
Serve over pasta or with bread.

Variations:
If you have cloves of garlic, chop those and add them! Yum!
Also you could add onions, squash, other peppers, etc. The variations are endless.

Enjoy!
-Mimi-

Sugar Body Scrub

Ok, so I'm not sure I would *eat* this kitchen creation (maybe before adding oil), but it's definitely great for the shower.

What you need:
1 c white sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1 t vanilla extract
olive oil (I'm honestly not sure how much I used)
optional: add a bit of coffee grounds (really fine powder) as caffeine revitalizes your skin.

What to do:
Mix the sugars and vanilla (and coffee) in a bowl (or container that you want to store it in). Slowly add olive until it reaches the proper consistency.

Use in the shower (leave it on your skin for a few minutes for even better results).

Enjoy!
-Mimi-

Focaccia Bread

Cooking is a lot like fashion. I don't mean in the sense that you can redesign your outfit by getting flour all over yourself!
In fashion, the key to a great outfit is to mix those WOW designer pieces with other pieces. Being head to toe Louis or Coco just looks tacky. A meal is the same way. You don't have to spend HOURS on each part, just add a great staple to dress up any meal. And what kind of staple? How about a homemade bread? :)

What you need:
1 t sugar (you could also use honey)
1 package of active dry yeast
1/3 c warm water
2 cups flour
2 T or so olive oil
pinch of salt

What to do:
In a small bowl dissolve the yeast & sugar in the warm water. Let it sit for about 10 minutes until it gets creamy.

Pour the flour into a large bowl. Add the yeast/sugar/water mixture and stir together. Begin adding water to the mixture. The original recipe that I modified called for you to do this tablespoon by tablespoon. I usually use a little less than 1/2 a cup. I suggest adding 1/4-1/3 cup and then doing it tablespoon by tablespoon until all the flour is absorbed.
Before kneading the dough, prepare another large bowl coated in oil (I use olive oil). Then begin kneading the dough (I do this in the bowl because I hate making a mess) for about a minute. Transfer the dough to the oil coated bowl. Cover it with a damp cloth and let it rise until it doubles in size (at least a half hour, but an hour works better).

After the dough rises, preheat your oven to 475 and grease a baking sheet (or bowl) with oil. Knead the dough briefly and flatten it down a bit. If you make some indents with your thumb on the surface of the dough, they will fill with olive oil and be extra juicy and delicious. Place on the baking sheet and brush with olive oil, sprinkle on salt, and any other seasonings that you like.

Bake the bread for 10-20 minutes depending on how crisp you like it. I find that 10 minutes is perfect, but I'm also burnt-a-phobic. Go nearer to 20 minutes if you like crispier browner breads.

Enjoy!
-Mimi-

Peanut Butter Cookies

This might just be the EASIEST recipe on Earth (not to say that it can't be messed up, but it's pretty flippin' easy!).

What you need:
1 c Creamy Peanut Butter
1 c sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla
some extra sugar for the end (just a little bit in a bowl)
a cookie sheet or two (this makes 30-36 cookies depending on the size and how much dough you eat, not that I condone eating dough, while making them)

What to do:
Preheat your oven to 350.
Mix it all together. I've found that the easiest way to do it is to mix the egg, vanilla, and sugar and then slowly add the Peanut Butter. It's pretty easy to mix it all together since there's no flour in this recipe.
Start by rolling out small balls of dough. Take a fork, and dip it in sugar and then make a criss-cross shape on top of the cookie. Place it on the cookie sheet and continue.
Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. If you like cookies a bit crispier, go to 12 minutes, but don't go more than 13 or the edges will start to burn.
Let cookies cool before storing.

Enjoy!
-Mimi-