I forgot to post the first 3 kinds of cookies  made for the shower...

My favorites that I have been making for years.. 

Christmas time, showers, weddings.

We will have quite a feast tomorrow, hope all bring a good healthy appetite!

Gettin' ready for Amanda's shower tomorrow..

Got the flowers from Merced Floral today, came home and arranged them. 

Will add the ribbon tomorrow.

    

corsages made with flowers from my garden, not many roses out there this time of year, but I got three.. 

Car is packed, just have to add all that is in the refridgerator tomorrow to the ice chests.. Can't forget the wine or proseco....

Wanted to try the Coconut macaroons, so I went to my old faithful cookbook like the one my mom had at home growning up.  I actually bought this one at an antique store, cuz she said she wouldn't part with hers. It is exactly the same.

I found the coconut macaroon recipe along with how to release the cookie off of the baking sheet.. this book is wonderful, not only does it have ALLmade from scratch recipes but also all of these wonderful tips!

Thank you Betty Crocker, a much easier technique than the one in the cookbook I used for the last recipe.

Here they are fresh out of the oven, all puffy and light.  I used a unsweetened coconut by Bob's Big Mill, it is perfect with the right amount of sugar the recipe called for. If I had used sweetened coconut I think it would have been too sweet.

I chocolate coated the bottoms and drizzled a little chocolate on top, cooled them in the fridge, then they all got a dustin' of powdered sugar.

Lined them up in an old cookie tin I have with wax paper lining the inside and top.

Another tin filled and ready for the shower...

Try makin' a batch, they remind me of a mounds bar, yummy... 

Tomorrow night onto makin' my grandmothers potatoe salad.

Finished Macaroons

Here are the finished macaroons!

I sandwiched them with rasberry jam and rolled them in chocolated finished with a dusting of powdered sugar.

Certainly do not look like the bakery ones but have a great flavor!

Macaroons....

Second, I piped them onto a cookie sheet

they looked so pretty at this point.

Not so pretty here!

I baked them, the second batch came out flater, because the other recipe I was readin said to hit the pan on the counter to have them spread out, and they did.

Tomorrow I am going to sandwich them together with jam, putting the peaky one on top, flatter one on bottom..

Did they come out???? I don't know, they do not look like the ones in the cookbook I used, I was looking at two different ones, one was French and the other was "tea time". These remind me of making amaretti cookies you just gotta know the "trick".

I don't think I know that yet. If anyone out there has ever made them let me know what your trick is.  I will post a picture of them sandwiched together and dusted with powdered sugar tomorrow.. Right now they are cooling under the fan.

First I beat the egg whites, folded in the powdered sugar, ground almonds, crushed strawberries.  I think I didn't beat the egg whites long enough, but it said not dry peaks!??!!

Maybe I can try some coconut macaroons, dipped in chocolate, that would be good and the chocolate will disguise any flaws in them....

Mousakka..

Tonight for dinner I made Mousakka.. (I don't know if this is spelled right?!)

It can be made with beef or lamb, I had some left over stuffing from some Italian sweet peppers I had stuffed so I used that up . I used the long chinese eggplant, I like them.. cut up with some red onion, olive oil and cooked till soft .

Layered it in the bottom of dish, added the meat and more eggplant mixture. 

I also had made like a white bechamel sauce using very little of it, and then sprinkled top with parmean cheese.  Baked at 375 for 20 minutes.. 

It was delicous!

Thank you Alysia, Joleen and Manuel for turning me on to this yummy dish!

At the Hyde Street diner in Selma....

Makin' sauce!

What to do when you have tomatoes?

I make spagetti sauce!

I cut them in quarters and remove seeds and the gunky stuff

Then I process in my food processor, (hope I spelled that right!??) 

I do NOT remove the skins, just process them.

washed the fresh basil from my garden that I started from seed.

process the onion, garlic, celery, saute' in olive oil till transparent.

Stir altogether with the processed tomatoes, fresh Italian herbs,

 (basil, marajon, sage, oregano) I like to add more olive oil as the liquid reduces.

Cook on low till liquids reduce, a good 2 hours, with lid half off.

If you want to add cooked ground meat you can, I like to use left over roast, stew meat, all processed in the food processor. 

cook on low so as not to burn.

If I don't have meat when I am processing the tomatoes, I will add later when I take out of freezer when we are ready to enjoy it.

Always nice to have sauce in the freezer for a quick meal,

 especially for Sunday dinner

My sister n' law gave me some magoes when I stopped at her house Monday night after my biscotti deliveries.  I love them chopped up with red onions and added to the fish that I breaded and cooked.  So good, I could've eaten the whole plate of mangoes and forgone the fish..  thank you Rhonda!

I also made a homemade pizza and added sliced zuccini, eggplant and roasted red peppers and red onions, just olive oil topping the dough no sauce. 

Delicous, we had the pizza again tonight with roasted stuffed Italian sweet peppers.

I am stuffed again!!