Eggplant Sandwiches with Butternut Squash Soup

This morning started off rough. I overslept and then opened the front door to at least a couple of inches snow piled on top of my car. Seriously, a garage would be worth its weight in gold about now.

Surprisingly, things turned themselves around midday. Not enough to be able to leave work on time, but eh, I got a lot done. Because I made it home a little late it ended up being a soup and sandwich night. The sandwich was an eggplant and goat cheese sandwich, minus the arugula that's in the recipe. It was pretty fantastic. Goat cheese and pesto. Yum. I also sped up the process by using jarred roasted red peppers from Trader Joe's.

On the side was a cup of Pacific Butternut Squash Soup. I'm not going to lie. I was really unsure about this soup. Squash and I have an on and off relationship, after all. But I didn't want to make my own soup and this was on sale. And you know what? It was pretty good. Maybe a little thinner than I prefer, but pretty tasty! I would definitely recommend it, especially if you don't want to go through the process of making it from scratch. I wouldn't blame you. Peeling a butternut squash is a pain in the rear.

Overall a simple, satisfying meal for a cold, snowy night!

Salmon and Green Beans in Parchment

I've seen a zillion recipes for parchment paper packets, but I've always been hesitant to try them. Even in a food magazine, the end product just looks kind of anemic, bland and kind of boring.

They never look appetizing, and I was afraid it would come out tasting what I would consider to be "diet food" — you know, something that's low-cal and tastes like it, too.

But I think I may have been wrong about cooking in parchment packets.

I took a chance with a recipe for Salmon with Green Beans and Lemon Zest. It looked promising enough to lure me in. Green beans, lemon zest, capers.. all of it sounded great. And you know, pretty much was.

I personally have a tendency to overcook oven roasted salmon, but the fish came out perfectly this time and the green beans were cooked, but still had a good crunch to them.

Has there ever been a cooking method you've been hestitant to try? Why?

Giant Sugar Cookies

All of a sudden, these Giant Sugar Cookies were all I could think about. The craving came out of nowhere and was definitely serious.

I've made these cookies a lot — probably a lot more than I'd care to admit considering they aren't a "light" or "healthy" cookie in any way shape or form. If I'm going to bake — it's going to be the real deal.

I made them half the size the recipe called for so they'd be at least 200 calories a cookie rather than 400 calories. It doesn't make them a healthy choice, but at least lessens the damage, right? I don't know who I was kidding. I may have made them smaller, but that also tempted me to eat two at a time. So much for willpower.

I dare you to eat just one. Almost impossible.

They turned out just slightly crispy on the edges but softer and chewier in the center. My less giant version were roughly 1.5 tbsp - 2 tbsp of dough (instead of 3) and took about 12 minutes to bake. You want them to be just turning brown, so they're still chewy in the center.

You can make them even smaller by dropping only a tablespoon of dough and baking 8-10 minutes, but if you're anything like me you'll just end up eating three of them anyhow so you might as well just follow the recipe.