Creamy Peanut Dressing

Sometimes, when I have a bad morning, like this morning where I discover that the soup I had planned for lunch got mysteriously fizzy over the weekend. This morning, I also discovered that last night I had stepped in doggy doodoo in my favorite running shoes. I also managed to slip on some ice on the way to work, went flying and landed in a mud puddle. So by 9am I was muddy, had no lunch, had smelly shoes, and a big blue bruise on my big behind. I did what any other red blooded American woman would do. I came home and ate a bunch of Girl Scout Cookies.

The day managed to get better, but bearing in mind my one thousand calorie breakfast I needed something light for dinner. I also had to work mostly in the constraints of what's in the fridge and pantry because remember I was away all weekend? I haven't done my grocery shopping for the week yet. SO I consulted the Healthy Cooking for Two cookbook and found a Creamy Peanut Dressing for salad. I chopped up some romaine lettuce, a little red pepper, a little yellow pepper, a couple radishes, about half a can of water chestnuts, a slice of onion and added some sliced mushrooms. Behold! I made an Asian chopped salad of sorts. I didn't measure any of the salad ingredients, but you get the idea. It was very very tasty and I'm starting to feel super healthy.

Now I can have some of my chocolate for dessert....

Creamy Peanut Dressing

from Healthy Cooking for Two (or Just You)

2 servings

1/4 cup nonfat plain yogurt

4 tsp creamy peanut butter

2 tsp lemon juice

Thai garlic chili sauce

soy sauce

In a small bowl using a small whisk, blend the yogurt with the peanut butter and lemon juice until smooth. Stir in Thai garlic chili sauce and soy sauce to taste.

Nutrition Information Per Serving: 79 calories, 5.3g total fat, 1g saturated fat, 1 mg cholesterol, 74 mg sodium, 4.3g protein, 4.9g carbohydrates, .7g dietary fiber.

Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate Cookies

Do you remember that stupid sappy movie from the '70s "Love Story" where Ali McGraw tells Ryan O'Neal that "Love means never having to say you're sorry"? Well she was wrong. Duh. But love means constantly saying your sorry.

For example you may find yourself one evening reading a book, like We Need to Talk About Kevin, and then you suddenly find yourself saying things like "I'm so sorry my darling husband who never used up a box of bandaids before meeting me, that my streak of athletic ineptness and general accident prone-ness has rubbed off on you. I'm sorry that I pushed you to find outlets for your frustration with starting your own business, and that I encouraged you to go and play raquetball." This sort of thing will then continue as you say, "I'm sorry I can't avoid all the potholes on the 2 mile journey to the ER and I really don't mean to make this such a bumpy drive." And on into the night as you helplessly say, "I'm sorry I don't know how to make you more comfortable, I have experience with all kinds of injuries, but when it comes to shoulders I know squat."

So yes, love means having to say you're sorry. A lot. After a mostly sleepless night, the only good thing was I finished my book. I recommend it. And the Brain is finally just now starting to dose on and off. It was necessary for me to throw my lenten resolution of not eating sweets right out the window. Whoo. I made it almost one whole day. Usually I'm way better at this giving things up for lent thing.

I made these luciously rich and tasty Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate Cookies. They're a decadent dark chocolate cookie with just a hint of peanut butter that are studded with semi-sweet chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. The inspiration came after reading Peabody's blog about Peanut Butter World Peace Cookies, but I wanted something chewier. The first time I made them, the next morning I had 7 for breakfast and promptly packed them up and took them over to my friends at Catholic Charities. The lovely ladies at Catholic Charities have become my dumping ground for baked goods. They don't seem to mind. Although rumor has it there was a skirmish when it came to the last cookie in the bag. Fortunately about half of these cookies will go to another friend of the Brain and I who just had his knee replaced. So we'll only have to contend with half of these oh so delicious little addictive morsels. Perhaps they should be called crack cookies...

Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate Cookies

an original recipe

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cups Hershey Special Dark Cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter

1/4 cup peanut butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 bag peanut butter chips

1/2 bag chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Stir together flour, cocoa, soda and salt in medium mixing bowl. Beat butter, peanut butter, and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfull (or small cookie scoop) onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake 8 to 9 minutes. Do not overbake. Cookies will be sort. They puff while baking and flatten upon cooling. Cool slightly then remove from cookie sheet to cool completely on wire rack.

What's in the cupboard?

I have a stuffed up nose. I also left work this evening with a long list of gift buying to do. The combination of the two didn't really make me want to hop into the kitchen to make something fabulous with subtle overtones because A) the gift buying involves going to the next coutny to get to Home Depot, Target, and a Borders; and B) I can barely taste anything. And really the idea of going to the grocery store tonight was about as enticing as walking down Main St. naked.

It just wasn't going to happen.

So I came home and looked in the pantry and the fridge and I looked at a couple recipes and I Iron Cheffed it. I'm so ridiculously proud of myself I can't even tell you. Remember my OCD tendencies? Need I point out that the cashier at Borders asked me if I was trying to short change her because I had to give her the closest to exact change I had and all my bills had to be facing in the same direction? (She was just teasing, I was obviously flustered by a $20 bill that was out of whack.) SO, for me to not follow a recipe is HUGE! And it turned out pretty tasty. Woooo! Yay me!

OK enough of that. I would tell you what the Brain thinks of it, but he went to bed early because apparently his wife has a unbelievably loud, wake the dead, sort of snoring problem when she has a stuffy nose and she kept him up all night. What can I say, I take after my mother. My poor poor husband!

Basically I made a sort of vegetarian cold pseudo Asian noodle dish. I'll call it Spicy Peanut Noodles with Vegetables. I am so glad there's leftovers. I think it's crazy good and spicy enough that it unstuffs my nose! And I like to think it's healthy too. Well sort of. The fat content is probably a little on the high side with the peanut butter and all, but it's probably good fats. And I think adding even more vegetables would be great, but I was working with what I had on hand. Something like water chestnuts would be awesome in it, but I don't keep those in the pantry. Feel free to take it, and make it yours.

Spicy Peanut Noodles with Vegetables

1 pound whole wheat spaghetti

2 large carrots, peeled and diced small
1 large red bell pepper cut into matchsticks
1 12oz bag frozen brocolli cuts, thawed and brought to room temperature
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

6 Tbsp smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup low salt chicken broth
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
3 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp sesame oil
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (about)

1/2 cup peanuts (dry roasted)

Combine the peanut butter, broth, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, ground ginger and cayenne pepper. Heat in the microwave for about 30 seconds or until the peanut butter whisks easily and you can really mix up the dressing. Set the dressing aside and let cool.

Cook the pasta until it is just tender. Drain the pasta and rinse for several minutes in cold water so that it's room temperature or a little chilled. Transfer the pasta to a big bowl. Add the chopped red bell pepper, carrots, cilantro and the dressing. Toss to coat. Sprinkle individual servings with peanuts.