Chewy Peanut Butter Drizzle Cookies

 Are you in the mood for a chewy peanut butter cookie?  How about with some chocolate drizzled on top?  Sounds good to me!  These Chewy Peanut Butter Drizzle Cookies have mini chocolate surprises inside by way of a few mini chocolate chips baked inside rather than throughout the cookie like a chocolate chip cookie does.  

I love to bake and my children love cookies. This cookie baking occasion was for a going away treat for one of our little buddies, although, anytime is a good time to bake cookies.  Wouldn't you agree? Especially if you have kids.

Garlic Hummus

Making Garlic Hummus at home is easier than you may think and it tastes great. It requires minimal ingredients and one kitchen appliance.  

The first time I made it I was impressed by the flavor and haven't bought hummus since. When you buy it from the store it is nice and creamy, and as long as you have a good food processor or blender you can replicate the texture.  My husband prefers it with a little texture, so that is how I make it.

Wine Review - Jacob's Creek Shiraz

Jacobs Creek Shiraz has been one of my favorite wines for a while now. It's a reasonably priced wine, between $8-10 a bottle.  Don't let that deter you. This just increases how often you can enjoy the wine. 

Shiraz wines are Australian and are made with Syrah grapes.  In Australia the Syrah grapes are known as Shiraz grapes. Thus, Syrah and Shiraz wines are made using the same grape. Shiraz grapes are the most popular and widely planted red grape in Australia. Shiraz grapes have a beautiful deep purplish-blue color. 

Wine Tools - Part 1

An important component of appreciating wine is the tools and accessories.  There are an assortment of devices that can enhance your wine drinking experience. Some are necessary and some are just gadgets.  

As you can tell from my blog, I am a wine enthusiast.  I enjoy sharing my experiences with you.  While I don't have all the tools that I would like to have, I do have an assortment. In trying to educate the novice about the different types of wines available and how to savor them, the only tools I have discussed are the types of glasses they should be sipped in. I have also touched on chilling wine, but have not gotten into the different methods of chilling wine other than using your refrigerator.  I currently do no have a wine cooler, as it stopped working, so I also use the refrigerator - which works just fine.  

No-Egg Pancakes

Pancakes are a standard on the weekends in our home, but occasionally we are in the mood for "breakfast for dinner".  I'm not sure that we have ever had no-egg pancakes before this particular evening.  It's not that we wanted or needed to make pancakes without eggs.  It just so happened that my family was in the mood for pancakes, but we were a little low on the grocery staples. Actually we were more than a little low, we didn't have eggs, milk, or oil! How does that happen?  I must have done a lot of baking that week.  It figures that the one thing they wanted required all those items.

You know when you are in the mood for something, and you are bound and determined to get it. Well, that was my family.  I am not one of those "run-to-the-grocery-store-last-minute" kind of people, so that was not about to happen. Instead, I put on my super-mom cape and came up with what I hoped would satisfy their craving.

Wine Review - The Naked Grape Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir is a varietal wine.  It has a profound fruity flavor and little acidity. A medium bodied wine, garnet in color - especially when young. The color and flavor change in Pinot Noir as it ages.  Kind of like how we ladies change with age...for the better of course! It tends to take on a more vegetal aroma.      

Cooking with Cast Iron

Cooking with cast iron may seem old fashioned, but there are many reasons you should consider making it your go to cookware.  You may remember your grandmother or great-grandmother cooking with it.  There's a reason they didn't give up those heavy pans.

Cast iron comes in many shapes and sizes. There's the traditional black cast iron, but there's also the colorful enamel covered cookware. There are benefits to both types.


Traditional cast iron can be used for more than just camping.

Wine Review - Mad Housewife Merlot

Time for another wine review.  This time, lets evaluate a Merlot.  A beautiful deep red Merlot.

Merlot wine is one of the most popular red wines available, and as a matter of fact, Merlot grapes are the second most planted worldwide.  The Merlot grape is a thick skinned, dark blue colored grape. It helps soften other wines, and is used in varietal wines and blends. Merlot's are known to be smooth and rich in flavor.  They go well with a variety of meat dishes and heavier creamy/cheesy dishes.  There is also no need to age Merlot wine.  They taste great young, but you can experiment with aging them to see what satisfies your taste buds.         

Homemade Vegetable Stock

Make your own vegetable stock.  It's one of the easiest things to prepare, and you'll be glad you did!  Vegetable stock is not only good for soup, it is great when used in boiling rice or other grains.  It's can also be added to a stir fry, if you need some extra liquid.  This adds flavor rather than watering down your recipe.  You can also use broth to moisten left-overs when reheating them.

Healthy Stove Top Popped Popcorn

With the New Year and resolutions, have you been looking for ways to improve your eating habits?  Have you always considered popcorn a healthy snack?  Popcorn is a light, healthy snack but are you aware that it is made unhealthy by those microwave bags of popcorn you buy at the store?

Microwaveable popcorn bags are coated with chemicals linked to certain types of cancer and reproductive system damage.  These chemicals are called perfluorochemicals or PFC's. They are added by the manufacturers to make the bags grease-proof.  When heating up a bag of popcorn in the microwave these chemicals are leached into our food.  A serious concern with PFC's is that once ingested, they stay in our system for a long time.  That can't be good.   

Get Your Omega 3's with Ground Flaxseed and Chia Seed

How can you get more Omega 3's in your diet?  There are a number of ways to do so, like taking supplements or eating fish.  Some other foods that provide Omega 3's are beans, walnuts, and olive oil.  But are you familiar with the benefits of Flaxseed and Chia Seed?

Flaxseed and Chia seed are both better than salmon at supplying Omega 3, and are great sources of fiber for your diet.

Wine Review - Verdi Spumante

Time for some holiday cheer! Let's try some bubbly or shall I say semi-bubbly. This time of year there are so many parties and celebrations to host or attend. One way to save money is to bring a reasonably priced gift that everyone can enjoy.

Verdi Spumante  is under $10 and a nice sparkling wine that can be enjoyed by many.  It's good for novice wine drinkers who have not yet acquired the taste for less sweet, drier, or even red wines.  It's also a great replacement for bubbly champagne. The effervescence of champagne is not enjoyed by all, so here you have a celebratory wine with some sparkle.

Easy Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

This is one of the easiest, if not the easiest, cookie recipes ever created!  It is also amazing!  I literally have to hide these from my family or wait until the day I plan to "allow" them to eat the cookies. Each year I have to hide them in a new location!  They know I hide them, so they work pretty hard at finding them.  I can't even say how long I've been making these, but I can say it's been the same every year.

Wine Review - Louis Jadot Boujolais-Villages

Louis Jadot Boujolais-Villages is my husbands favorite wine, so I decided to postpone the wine review on my favorite until after Christmas.  One reason I decided to review his favorite is because it is a great pairing wine. With the holiday's right around the corner, and parties all around us, I figured "what better time".  My hope is that you will add it to your holiday wine list, although, this wine is great any time of the year.  We enjoy it fairly regularly.

Melissa's Chili

Isn't there a chili season?  You know, when the days are shorter, the air is cooler, and football season has returned!  Don't you begin to crave that nice warm bowl in your hand with all the delicious toppings of your choice? 

Chili is one of those recipes that you can easily alter to your liking.  There's white bean chili, turkey chili, bean-less chili, vegetarian chili, and good old traditional chili.  I have tried a variety, and enjoyed them from BBQ flavored to hot and spicy.

Wine Review - Hans Schummer Riesling

It has been a while since I have enjoyed a Riesling.  I have a couple girlfriends that enjoy them, but I have not seen them in while, so I presume that is part of the reason. Also as I mentioned in my last wine review, my husband is not a fan of white wine.  We like to enjoy our wine together, so we've been buying reds.  

I'm hooked on a reasonably priced Shiraz right now, so how can I pass up buying it? Inexpensive and Shiraz (my favorite type of wine), nothing can beat that!  My next review will be on this particular Shiraz, so keep your eyes open for that.

Bacon Jalapeno Quiche

This recipe was born out of necessity.  I needed to make a quick last minute dinner for my husband.  

Recently, while on Twitter, I ran across a recipe for quiche that had spinach in it. Apparently, this was still fresh in my mind when I was scanning my refrigerator for ingredients.  I was hesitant, though, because my husband is not a big fan of eggs, but will eat them if they are loaded with veggies.  As I continued on my search for the perfect ingredients to make quiche an acceptable dinner for him, I spotted them!  You can't go wrong with bacon and jalapeno - even if it is turkey bacon!  At least not in his book.

Wine Review - Bottaro Red Table Wine

While looking for a nice table wine, we ran across this very unique looking bottle.  We've had table wines before and know what we like, but thought "what the heck, let's try something new!".  Being attracted to something because it's unique isn't unusual, unless you are a teen trying to fit in!  Well, lucky for us we are not teens.  And even more lucky for us wine drinkers, there is quite a large selection.  

Stuffed Acorn Squash

What a great harvest!  The family farm in Northeast Nebraska always has a successful garden.  The vegetables are always large and abundant!  

I have not had the opportunity to be part of the planting, but I have helped pruned and harvest a variety of vegetables.  From acorn squash to zucchini, and everything in between.  The last few years this garden has encouraged me to have my own garden (on a much smaller scale).  I wanted to have access to fresh vegetables right outside my back door.  The farm is about 3 1/2 hours away, so we can only visit every so often.  When we do, though, we stock up and freeze, can, and store what we can.  

Wine Bottle...of Dreams

My husband bought this bottle of wine in 1998 or 1999.  He loves Beaujolais wine, so I'm sure he intended on us enjoying this bottle of wine, but for some reason we didn't. Something made him want to save this one for a special occasion.

That special occasion has changed a few times.  If I recall correctly, the original special occasion was to be when we had our next child, which happened in 2001.  Then it was, when/if my brother got married.  And then it was our 10 year anniversary.  Well, all these occasions have passed us by, yet the bottle remains unopened.  We even had another child, a boy!  You would think he would have opened it then, but no.