Double Peanut Butter Cookies

On Saturday, I attended a baby shower for my neighbor and friend, Tracie. After she opened the gift from David and me (an adorable duckie bathrobe and Burt’s Bees baby set), she jokingly yelled “THANKS, DAVID,” since I knew he was lying on the couch on the other side of the wall of the room we were in. It was at that point, one of her good friends exclaimed, “Oh, is this the neighbor with the cat?”

Turns out, Crouton’s growing quite a reputation around these parts…

To make these cookies, I had to raid the Halloween candy. Luckily, we didn’t run out because of that. However, it did look like quite a Peanut Butter M&M massacre with all the fun-sized bags strewn across my counter.

We interrupt your day to let you know…

This morning, I caught Crouton pulling scraps of broccoli out of the trash can.

That is all.

How can a cat so obsessed with vegetables be so chubby?

Meatballs in Red Wine Sauce

Crouton has officially been kicked out of the fridge.  You might recall this photo from last year:

Well, no more. Last week, we spontaneously purchased a new fridge that has a freezer on the bottom. This means that unless Crouton develops the ability to open the freezer door and pull out the shelves to stand on — and I wouldn’t put it past her — there will be more no more climbing into the fridge to find her food.

Crouton’s One-Year Anniversary

It’s been a year since I launched Cooking with Crouton. Considering my incredibly short attention span for most projects, a year is a pretty big feat. Even crazier is that Crouton has made it through another year without maiming anyone — insects don’t count, and neither does that incident with the neighbors — and without anyone maiming her.

Three Pumpkin Cocktails

In case you hadn’t heard, there was a little storm around these parts last night.

Oh, who am I kidding? EVERYONE knows about “Superstorm Sandy.” We didn’t know how hard we would get hit — we live fairly far inland and have yet to lose power during a storm, but the news media sure did their part in making me nervous. I’m happy to say that we never lost power, and we’re no worse for the wear. What I did have time to do, though, was experiment with a new flavor of vodka that I discovered on Friday: Pinnacle’s Pumpkin Pie.

Cheddar-Beer Soup

A few weeks ago — oh, who am I kidding? It was probably more than a month ago, the way time flies these days — I shared a recipe for a pretzel bread bowl. I get worked up when I think about how good it was, even if David doesn’t share my emotions, the carb-hater he is (what kind of man did I marry, anyway?)

If you’ve been waiting with bated breath for the soup that goes inside of it — and I know you have, don’t act shy — your day is finally here.

The One Where Crouton Returns // Slow-Cooker Chicken Cacciatore

It’s been a while. Have you missed me? Probably not, but I know you’ve missed Crouton. I don’t have much time, but she’s been doing a little shopping and learning how to play the piano lately. Really — I have proof. I promise.

She’s also been doing some slow-cooker cooking. Oh, wait, that’s me. Well, Crouton helps by rubbing against my legs, attempting to trip me, and climbing up my clothing whenever possible. So, same thing basically.

Pumpkin Pie Dip

I haven’t been cooking much lately. It’s actually been really difficult for me. See, the past couple weeks, I’ve been involved in a benefit for the Children’s Theatre of Annapolis, an organization that is near and dear to my heart (I actually am on the Board of Directors there).

Fun fact about me: I spent my high school years performing at a youth theatre in Arizona, and even minored in theatre at Penn State. However, I have not performed onstage — unless you count karaoke — since my senior musical, Honk!, in which I played Maureen, a chatterbox hen. Anyway, when an organization from the community college approached the board at CTA about potentially pairing up for a fundraiser involving a musical review, or cabaret, I thought it would be a fun way to step back onstage and see if theatre was something I still wanted to do.

So, what’s the answer to that? It’s hard to say. I loved being on stage again, and every second I was performing was fantastic. However, I discovered it’s much harder as an adult to fit rehearsals, particularly tech week, into my schedule, balancing it with work, other charity obligations, exercise, cooking, my friends, and — oh, yeah — that guy I call my husband, who I barely saw for about 8 days. Another lady who was in the benefit performance with me asked if I would audition for a local production of “A Christmas Carol” with her this week, and for a myriad of reasons — including my scheduled Thanksgiving trip to Arizona — I had to turn her down. But perhaps in the spring, I’ll revisit the idea of auditioning for another local production.

Wow, that was a tangent. All I meant to say was that I haven’t been cooking lately, so I had to reach back into my archive of photos to find a recipe that I’ve never blogged before. And this is it, pumpkin pie dip, a recipe that works well for an afternoon snack, a dessert, a football party food, or the perfect dish to bring to a holiday potluck.

 

 

Oh, and it’s cuter if you hollow out a little pumpkin to use as it’s own serving bowl!

 

The One Where Crouton Helps with Groceries // Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars

 When I get home from the grocery store, Crouton is always so helpful. She always offers to drag the lettuce — her favorite food — out of the bag and put it away in her food bowl where it belongs. I don’t have the heart to tell her that sometimes I don’t buy lettuce, and she goes searching for it anyway.

This is the dialogue I imagine in Crouton’s head (Clockwise from left):

1. Hmm…what is the best way to approach this situation and retrieve any potential lettuce inside these bags?
2. I shall pounce. Perhaps the lettuce will simply spring out of the bag.
3. I must dig.
4. A little help here, mom?

Of course, there was no lettuce in the bag; it was just baking ingredients for Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars. Beyond that, I had already taken most of the groceries out of the bag. But what’s really amusing is that at no point did Crouton actually make it inside these Trader Joe’s bags (even though the third picture looks like she has) — the paper kept folding and crumbling beneath her until it was in the mess of a final photo.

Let’s talk more about these cheesecake bars. Are you on Pinterest? How silly, of course you are. This is one of the very first recipes I ever pinned when I joined last year. It needed some modifications, but in the end — amazing.

The One Where Crouton Gets Kicked Out // Grilled Bok Choy

I hemmed and hawed over posting this photo. Everyone I’ve shown it to has laughed hysterically, but it’s admittedly a little gross — and that’s not what you want to portray on a food blog. So bear with me, and rest assured that the dog definitely got a bath after this happened.

As I’ve mentioned, David and I adopted a new dog a few months ago. He’s a rescue dog, who was saved from a puppy mill, and due to that, Fleetwood has his own set of unique challenges — some of which we never saw coming. A couple weeks ago, I was downstairs when I hear a strange scratching noise. In our house, you just never know what the animals are destroying, so I rushed upstairs. I checked in the bedroom — no Fleetwood. I looked in the office — no Fleetwood. Well, that’s strange. We only have those two rooms and a bathroom on the second story, so where could he be? I peered in the bathroom, and what did I see?

Cat litter. Everywhere. And a Crouton who was very unhappy to see she’s been ousted from her little cave of a litter box.

There’s been a lot of suggestion as to why Fleetwood did this — he likes small spaces, even though he has a covered kennel right around the corner, or that he’s used to sitting in dirty spots. Whatever the reasoning was, Crouton was not pleased. Neither was I, considering I had to sweep up litter and then bathe a dirty dog. We fixed the situation by turning the litter box so the opening faces the wall, and only Crouton can squeeze in.

Sigh. It’s always something new in our household. How about a cleaner topic — something grilled, perhaps?