It's never a bad time for molasses cookies

Apparently I've been on a cooking/baking roll lately. I tried a molasses recipe today to take to a party, and they were a huge hit! I finished off the leftovers on my drive home (whoops). They go down easily :)

Molasses Cookies (my new favorite, I have to say)

• 3/4 cup margarine, softened
• 1 cup white sugar (or 1/2 c brown and 1/2 c white)
  
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 cup white sugar (for rolling the cookies)

Mix all ingredients together and cool dough in fridge for 1/2-1 hour. Preheat oven to 375F and roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll in white sugar. Place a couple of inches apart and don't flatten. Bake 7 minutes for nice, gooey cookies, and 8 minutes if you like your cookie a little more done. The bigger the cookie you want to make, increase bake time slightly (my last sheet was 1 1/4 inch-ish and I baked them 8.5 minutes, I think). Cool and enjoy! This recipe will make about 4 dozen small cookies (and you'll eat them all).

Simple and delicious

Hello! Hope you are all enjoying 2010 thus far.

On Sunday I was cooking dinner for a friend and I wanted to make something quick yet tasty (don't we all). I knew I wanted to do something rice and beany, so I just went to allrecipes and saw what I could find. Haitian rice and beans is what transpired, and, I shit you not, best r&b I've ever had! Who knew cloves could make them taste so great?

My version of the above recipe:

3 Garlic cloves, minced
3 Green onions, chopped
Olive Oil
1 can of TJ's kidney beans (20 oz)
3 cups water
1 cup white rice
thyme, parsley, cloves, salt and pepper (I just winged it like I always do, maybe ~1 t of the first 3 and s&p to taste)
2 bay leaves
2 chopped dried mexican peppers

I sauteed the onion and garlic (I would use more garlic next time and add other sauteed veggies into the mix to make it a whole meal - maybe peppers and mushrooms?) in the olive oil, then added the drained beans and cooked that mix for a couple minutes. Then I added the water and rice, stirred and then added all the spices last. Simmer until the water is gone and there you go (take out bay leaves, though they may be difficult to find!).

The whole thing maybe took 30 minutes - so easy and really amazingly great! Enjoy!