Chocolate lava cake

I bought this set of corning ware a few months ago and haven't had a chance yet to use my ramekins. I read a friend's blog about how she made chocolate lava cake recently, and so that's what I wanted to make too! She didn't post the recipe, so I scoured the internet for one. I happened across a super simple one, and somewhat lower fat, so hey why not! I present "Guilt Free Lava Cake for One." Yes, that's right. A recipe that actually is designed to create exactly one little lava cake. Perfect. It was tasty. Not as sweet as I'd like, though I bet if next time I use vanilla yogurt instead of plain yogurt, that'll do the trick!

From: January 20, 2013

Shepherd's Pie

I had a few of those beef patties left, so I searched online for recipes I could make with ground beef. I got the idea to make shepherd's pie, which I've never really tried before. I found a great, simple recipe, and gave it a try. Originally it called for thyme and rosemary in the beef mixture, but I don't like those herbs. Instead at the last minute, I added some worcestershire sauce, and yum! That was the key. Super tasty. Though I didn't make nearly enough mashed potatoes to go on top!

From: January 20, 2013

Roasted Vegetable, etc. over Pasta

I don't know what to call this recipe. While I was in Utah for the holidays, I had dinner at my good friend Sarah's house, and she made this super scrumptious dish for dinner. She has a tendency to make up her recipes as she goes, and so recreating this in my own kitchen a few weeks later was tricky. Basically this is a creamy squash-based pasta sauce with various roasted vegetables, bacon, and sausage, served over pasta. Surely the sauce could be served as a standalone dish. My attempt was not quite as flavorful as the one Sarah made (not sure why), but still tasty!

From: January 18, 2013

Grilled onions, beef, and vegetables

Between holiday and work travel, I haven't tried very many new things lately, although I still have been cooking (most of the time). This week I bought these beef patties because they were on sale. There wasn't anything particularly special about them...they were just on sale. Tonight I had evening plans (that would have included dinner) that ended up being canceled because of a snow storm that never materialized here, but supposedly did where I was going. So I put together a dinner on the fly. I decided to grill up one of those beef patties, and threw on a bunch of grilled onions and served a sweet potato and blanched asparagus.

From: January 17, 2013