Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

When I'm craving something sweet, but don't have time to make something fancy, I love snacking on these cookies to solve my problem. Seriously, I am addicted...

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg

Mix ingredients together. Roll into one-inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. Flatten with a fork. Bake at 350˚F for 10 minutes.

When they come out of the oven, sprinkle some sugar on top if you want to make it look nice. To make it healthier, use reduced-fat peanut butter and Splenda. For something fun, add crushed peanuts to the recipe or chocolate chips! Really anything goes- these are fun cookies to work with.


Ashley Stokes

Cafe Rio Chicken Tortilla Soup

Sorry, I couldn't find any pictures that even comes close to a resemblance, but it's green and yummy!

• 2 seeded soaked ancho chilies, roughly chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 4 corn tortillas, torn into about quarter-sized pieces
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 1 shredded cooked chicken or 6 frozen chicken cutlets

Puree chilies, onion, tomatoes, and garlic in a blender or food processor until smooth. In soup pot cover bottom of pot with olive oil. Heat over medium-high. Add puree to oil and fry for a minute or two. Then add the broth, tortilla pieces, cilantro, and chicken to the pot. Simmer until thick, about 1 1/2 hours - less if you use cooked chicken. Add salt to taste, about 1 tablespoon. Serve with lime wedges, chopped avacado, cilantro, tortilla strips, and mexican cheese (queso fresco). Squeeze 1/4 lime into each bowl of soup. I think Key limes are the best to use.


Andrea Raleigh

Fiesta Wheat and Bean Salad

• 3 cups cooked wheat berries*
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 orange or red pepper, diced
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 bunch cilantro, leaves chopped
• lime juice from 1 lime
• 1 jalapeno pepper, cored and diced
• 1 can (16 oz) corn, drained
• 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons cumin powder
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Toss well. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.

*Basic Cooked Wheat Berries

• 4 cups raw whole wheat
• 10 cups water
• 1 tablespoon salt

Oil a large (4 quart or larger) slow cooker or crock pot and fill with wheat, water, and salt. Cover and cook on low all night, 8 to 10 hours. Cooked wheat may be bagged and stored in the refrigerator for at least a week or in the freezer for months.

I usually just make a half batch of the wheat berries because I have a smaller crock pot. You can also eat the wheat berries like you would oatmeal. Just add milk and some brown sugar!


Darci Pierson

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

I made these bars for one of our class potlucks. I made it a little healthier with sugar-free jam and Adam's low-sugar peanut butter because it was what I had at the time. But who cares about calories when it comes to dessert. Enjoy!

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups strawberry jam
• 2/3 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped

Preheat oven at 350° F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan. Mix butter and sugar in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add eggs and peanut butter. Beat until combined, about 2 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. Combine with the ingredients in mixer on low speed then mix in vanilla. Transfer two-thirds of the mixture to pan and spread evenly. Next spread jam on top of peanut-butter mixture. Dollop remaining third of mixture on top of jam. Sprinkle with peanuts. Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden. Cool and eat!


Brittani Hunsaker

Carmel Popcorn

This is by far the easiest and bestest carmel corn ever from my Aunt.

• 6-8 quarts (2-3 bags) plain popcorn
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup white karo syrup
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

First, pop the popcorn. Combine the sugar, syrup, butter, and salt and bring to a boil (stirring constantly) and then remove from the stove top and add the baking soda. It will froth up a bit. Pour immediatley over the popped corn and eat it with a movie. (Note: I always double the sauce - it's just silly not to).


Brittani Hunsaker

Greek Salad with Herbed Pita

This recipe is what motivated the creation of the blog. Megan Ham gave it to me and it is soooo good! If you like Greek food then you should definitely try this!

• lemon juice from 1 lemon
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil (for the dressing)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (for the pitas)
• 4 rounds pita bread
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 heads Romaine lettuce
• 1 cucumber, wedged
• 2 tomatoes, wedged
• assorted brine olives (ie. kalamata)
• 1/2 pound feta cheese
• 8 green onions, thinly sliced

To make the dressing, whisk together the lemon juice, garlic, and pepper and gradually stir in the 1/4 cup olive oil until smooth. Preheat oven at 300° F. Brush both sides of the pitas with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Sprinkle with oregano. Warm in oven for 10 minutes. Mix the lettuce, cucumber, and tomatoes with the dressing. Top with the olives, cheese, and onions. Serves 4.

We changed a few things when we made this because it was just me and my husband so we mostly downsized the portions that we used in the recipe. We basically cut it in half and we still had leftovers! The picture is just off the internet so it isn't exactly what it looks like but it's pretty similar. We stuffed the pitas with the salad or you could eat it on top of the pita, whatever you prefer. Note: I noticed that buying the feta in a chunk instead of crumbled was a lot cheaper. Save a few bucks and just crumble it yourself! This is definitely a yummy recipe and would suggest it to anyone!

It's Finally Here!

Hey girls!
I've been noticing that some of us keep mentioning that we should start a recipe blog so we can all share our yummy recipes with each other so here it is! The email address and user name for this account is ucdh2011recipes@gmail.com and the password is studentsmile. Feel free to add your recipes, spiff up the blog, or add your own blog link so we can all keep in touch with each other when we eventually graduate. Happy cooking!