The Chocolate Viennese Filled Cookies

Most of my cooking and baking have a bit of a healthy twist. This is one exception. The only healthy thing about these is that they are made with all organic ingredients.

I usually do a lot of baking around the holidays. There are a couple delicacies that win the popular vote. The one baked item I get asked for more than any other is the viennese cookies. I have no idea why they are called viennese cookies and don't know if the recipe comes from Vienna. I do know that they are delicious. I do know they are addictive. I do know that I licked my fingers and the bowl and the broken ones so much that I woke up with a sugar hangover.

The recipe starts with a chocolate shortbread type cookie that is piped out and baked.

Dark chocolate is melted so that one edge of each cookie can be dipped.


The filling is flavored with espresso which gives such a nice coffee balance to the dark chocolate and the sweetness of the cream filling.

Now they're ready for gifting and for munching. They freeze well too!

If you want the recipe, post a comment requesting it, and I will gladly post it.

Vegetable Lasagna

This is such a great standby for us. I find it pretty easy to put together and everyone always loves it!

I start by mixing the cheese layer in a bowl. I use two containers of organic ricotta, a bag of frozen chopped spinach, 2 eggs and 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese.

I start layering the lasagna with a jarred organic spagetti sauce ladled on the bottom of a glass casserole dish. I place a layer of noodles next. I use rice lasagna noodles, but only Tinkyada brand. Any others I've tried are mushy and have a horrendous texture. I place the noodles on the sauce without precooking them - as simple as possible.

Then I spoon 1/2 of the ricotta mixture over the noodles and spread evenly. I pulled whatever veggies I could find in the fridge to chop and add on top of the ricotta layer (carrots, green beans and mustard greens), then more sauce, another layer of noodles, the rest of the ricotta mixture, more sauce, the last layer of noodles, topped with sauce and some parmesan sprinkled on top.

Bake at 400 for about 50 minutes or until the noodles are cooked through.

Collards and cornmeal

My dad grew up on a farm. Years ago he told me about how his mother used to prepare greens with cornmeal dumplings. The thought of this dish has been festering in the back of my mind ever since. Tonight I decided to tackle the yearning I've had for that meal. I had an abundance of collards and mustard greens from my csa.

I used this recipe from epicurious.com:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Simmered-Greens-with-Cornmeal-Dumplings-241202

I substituted turkey bacon for the regular bacon, changed the cornmeal to flour ratio so that it was mostly cornmeal and substituted agave for sugar.

It was sooooo so good.






I also made some roasted butternut squash, also from my csa, and some field peas and beans to round out the southern meal reminiscent of days gone by.