A couple of new recipes today!

This last week I picked up some yukon gold potatoes and some leeks to make a new recipe in this months Cooking Light, Golden Potato-Leek Soup with Cheddar Toasts. I wasn't quite sure when I was actually going to make it- but today at Sam's I got my hands on a pair of piping hot baguettes- and that cemented it for me. Soup tonight. It was pretty good. I halved the recipe- as it was just me, and I used homemade chicken stock instead of the canned veggie called for. Other than that, I made the recipe mostly as written. Oh, and I used half-and-half instead of whipping cream. If I have whipping cream in the house I will whip it and eat it any way I can, so I try to only buy it when I really need it. I thought half-and-half would do this time. And it did. The only change I would make if I made it again would be to elminate the water completely and use all stock-whether chicken or veggie. And the cheddar toasts really complemented the soup nicely. I would make both again.

The second challenge today was brought to me by Abigail. She told me the other day that she wished she could have hot lunch so that she could have the chocolate cookies with M&M's. Well, since I know very well that she won't eat the rest of the hot lunch, I decided it was a challenge to come up with those cookies.
I really hunted high and low for a basic chocolate cookie. You would think they would be everywhere- but I couldn't find what I was looking for. I finally decided on a recipe posted over on Cookie Madness- Chewy Chocolate Cookies. I logged onto Allrecipes and printed out the recipe. Then while walking home with the kids, we headed over to the store to pick up some eggs. While we were there, it occurred to me that there is a good chocolate cookie on the back of a bag of Reese's PB Chips- so we picked up a bag of those as well so that I had the recipe. So I made my cookies- omitting the chips, and adding 2 cups of regular size M&M's. They turned out very good. They work for Abigail, that's for sure. The funny part comes in when I walk to the computer and pick up the recipe I didn't use. It was exactly the same as the one from the PB chips- except it had chocolate chips listed. :-) So it will be repeated with the M&M's- but no one really gets credit for it. Here are the recipes- Enjoy!

Golden Potato-Leek Soup with Cheddar Toasts
From
writeDinnerTonight();
See All Dinner Tonight Recipes
Yukon gold potatoes are the key ingredient to give the soup rich, buttery flavor.
Soup:
1 tablespoon butter
3 cups thinly sliced leek (about 3 medium)
6 cups cubed peeled Yukon gold potato (about 2 1/4 pounds)
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 (14-ounce) cans organic vegetable broth (such as Swanson Certified Organic)
2 thyme sprigs
Cheddar Toasts:
8 (1/4-inch-thick) slices diagonally cut sourdough French bread baguette
Cooking spray
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
Remaining Ingredients:
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Thyme sprigs (optional)
Preheat oven to 375°.
To prepare soup, melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add leek; cook 10 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally (do not brown).
Add potatoes, water, salt, broth, and 2 thyme sprigs. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes or until potatoes are very tender.
To prepare cheddar toasts, place baguette slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 375° for 7 minutes or until toasted. Turn slices over; coat with cooking spray, and sprinkle 1 tablespoon cheese over each slice. Bake 5 minutes or until cheese melts. Sprinkle evenly with red pepper.
Remove pan from heat; discard thyme sprigs. Partially mash potatoes with a potato masher; stir in cream. Sprinkle with black pepper. Serve with cheddar toasts. Garnish with thyme sprigs, if desired. Yield: 8 servings (serving size: about 1 cup soup and 1 toast)

NUTRITION PER SERVINGCALORIES 299(25% from fat); FAT 8.6g (sat 4.7g,mono 2.7g,poly 0.6g); PROTEIN 7.5g; CHOLESTEROL 25mg; CALCIUM 113mg; SODIUM 660mg; FIBER 3.9g; IRON 2mg; CARBOHYDRATE 48.4gMark Bittman Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2005

Chewy Chocolate Cookies I
Submitted by: Linda Whittaker

"These are GREAT chocolate chocolate chip cookies. Always a request at Christmas from friends and family!" Original recipe yield: 4 dozen.

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/4 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the chocolate chips. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 8 to 9 minutes in the preheated oven. Cookies will be soft. Cool slightly on cookie sheet; remove from sheet onto wire rack to cool completely.
This recipe is featured within our Allrecipes cookbook. If you would like to learn more, please click http://allrecipes.com/arcookbook/.