We're Up And Running!

Well I finally did it. I updated I mean copied someone's blog template and tweaked it a little so I could call it my own blog template! I hope you all like it. I'll still make some tweaks along the way (especially with the blog header...that's temporary until I find something I like better), but I think it's good enough to put my name on. ;)

Ok, so why did I feel the crazy need to make a third blog? Well if you read my first blog you know that I had to set it to private, so blogging things like my knitting projects and cooking adventures really wasn't as fun. And if you read my second blog you know that there is only room for one star on that blog and his name is Theodore. I had been batting around this idea for months and I finally decided to just take the plunge.

I've been remodeling my kitchen for the last few months and let me tell you, nothing will encourage you to cook more than eating out every single meal for 3 months straight. I even got sick of Rubios for awhile, and that's staying something. Now that it's almost done I've been dabbling a bit with some of the recipes I've been drooling over since June. So while the title suggests that perhaps the first post of this blog should be about knitting, I'm going to be difficult and share with you my latest baking accomplishment: lime meltaway cookies!

The first few recipes I tried were definitely dominated by Deb from Smitten Kitchen. Simple recipes combined with fresh ingredients and gorgeous food photography kept me on the edge of my taste buds the last few weeks. Her keylime meltaways (pictured) recipe I highly recommend.

Like Deb's husband, I love limes. I didn't discover how much I liked them until I tried a squirt or two of fresh lime on my Rubio's fish taco especial years ago, but it's been a love affair ever since. So where before I may have thought "ew" upon seeing a recipe for baking with lime, now I see it and think "oh man that sounds like it could be delicious", and they were! They were buttery and sweet, but the lime flavor kept it from tasting too boring, too heavy, or too sweet. It added a bit of freshness to the cookies, which was good and bad. Good because it made the cookie taste light and was a great balance for the sweet sugar, and bad because it made me feel like I could eat twice and many.

This recipe was super easy. I didn't have any key limes, so I just used regular limes. I'd definitely be interested in trying this recipe again with the key limes to see how different the cookies turn out. And be sure not to over-bake! Mine were super crumbly, I think because I baked them a little too long, though it didn't seem to affect the flavor much. Also, I have to warn you, these cookies almost didn't make it in to the oven at all. Stay away from the dough! It is habit forming! The raw dough for these cookies is just about the yummiest thing I have ever tasted. Again, I blame the lime. Don't say that I didn't warn you!

PS: If you're interested, don't forget to follow my blog!