more deliciousness than I can handle!

I have developed some tasty new addictions. First one is (since I'm getting a cold) some fresh squeezed orange juice. They sell it at work, fresh, and I'm going to start having some every time I work. It's amazing, and b/c I only pay half price, it's probably cheaper to get it at work than to have to squeeze a million oranges to make it myself.

Another is that previously mentioned red pepper hummus. I added a large-ish jar of roasted red bell peppers (I was going to do my own, but these were so convenient!) with a little over half of a (1 lb., dried) bag of chick peas, cooked. To that, I added some sesame oil (I couldn't find tahini in my grocery store; but the sesame oil worked nicely), lemon juice, soy sauce, fresh ground black pepper, garlic (I always use the minced, jarred garlic), cumin, and just a bit of salt. Deliciousness. It makes about a ton, but I've eaten almost all of mine, 2 days later--it's that good.

Next is these cookies from this "Gifts from a Basket" cookbook that D's aunt gave me one year. I've been craving these because they're awesome; and I finally whipped up a batch. The only change I had to make was subbing vegan margarine for butter.
Raspberry Pecan Thumbprints:
2 cups all-purpose flour (I like to use 1 c whole wheat & 1 c all-purp)
1 cup pecan pieces, finely chopped, divided
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup margarine, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam (which I'm out of, so I used strawberry)
Cream together the margarine & sugar. Add vanilla, salt, cinnamon, allspice, pecans, and then flour. The recipe tells you to save 1/2 the pecans to sprinkle on the outside of the cookies later, but I usually just add about 2/3 cup to the batter and leave it at that because I'm that lazy. Then form the dough into 1" balls, make a dent in each with your thumb (or any finger will do I suppose), press the cracks in the dough together really well (or else they'll fall apart), and fill the indent with a "generous 1/4 tsp" of jam in each cookie.
Bake at 350 for 14 minutes or just until set. Don't eat or handle these til they cool, because the jam turns to lava for a little while. But try them and you'll be hooked.


My next recipe comes from here:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/The-Best-Thai-Peanut-Sauce/Detail.aspx?prop31=1
It's called The Best Thai Peanut Sauce; and I've never done a ton of Thai cooking, but I tried this for the first time this morning, and the recipe's title doesn't lie. I could eat this every day. The recipe calls for fish sauce, but I used an extra Tbsp. of soy sauce and a dash of sesame oil instead. Absolutely delicious. Also it creams up really thick, so I added a little extra coconut milk. Here's what it calls for:

• 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons water
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

You mix everything in a bowl & don't even have to cook it. I left out the hot sauce for my husband & child's sakes, and used dried ground ginger, and was out of cilantro. It was absolutely fantastic. I'm taking the leftovers to my dad's tonight for dinner. I served it over spaghetti pasta (that's all I had) and it worked really well. Tonight I'm going to saute some tofu with it too.