Orange Cookies with Orange Glaze

Recently a good friend of mine lost a family member. As always during that time, her family received a ton of food from friends. I wanted to make them something but I wanted it to be cookies or a cake or something yummy like that instead of giving them more pasta that they will probably never be able to finish. I asked her what kind of cookies her family liked and got two answers... Chocolate chip and orange. Hmmm... I never made orange cookies before! Let's go with that one.

First thing first, I searched Pinterest. I checked out a few cookies that looked good but I settled on a recipe from Brown Eyed Baker. (I will add a link directly to the cookie later.) They looked amazingly good and I couldn't wait to start baking! Sadly, I had to... Can't make orange cookies if you don't have any oranges!

The wait was well worth it. Since I was making them for a friend and her family I could not eat too many of them and that was the hardest part. I managed to get away with only eating four and my boyfriend, who claimed he didn't like orange cookies, managed to eat only two. (Although he really wanted to eat more!) They were soft and puffy and orange-y and delicious!

I only had one orange because the recipe I used didn't
say how many I needed. Get two if you want it to have a
stronger orange taste. (Although its not needed!)

Cookies
2½ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
  1½ tablespoons orange zest
1 cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350F. Get out your cookie sheets and set aside. (If you do not have non-stick cookie sheets, line them with parchment paper.) In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together; set aside. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and orange zest. Rub them together with your fingers until the zest is completely incorporated into the sugar.

Cream together the butter and the orange-zest sugar with an electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and orange juice and mix until combined. Remember to scrape the sides of the bowl to get everything. Reduce the mixer to low and gradually add the dry ingredients until combined. If the dough seems soft, put it in the fridge for up to 30 minutes.

Roll dough into balls. Mine were a little on the smaller side, about a tablespoon full. Place them 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until very lightly browned around the edges but still pale in the middle. Let cool on sheet for about 8 minutes then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely. (The cookies will cook a little more while cooling on the cookie sheet.)

Orange Glaze
1½ cups confectioners’ sugar
  ¼ tablespoon orange zest
fresh orange juice

 For the glaze, whisk the powdered sugar, orange zest and enough orange juice to match the consistency you want together. The more juice you add, the thinner the glaze will be. Glaze your cookies and let set until the glaze dries, about 30 minutes. I picked up my unglazed cookies and dipped the top of them in the glaze and then spread it around a little. Store at room temperature in an airtight container, using layers of wax paper so the cookies don't stick to each other.

Try not to eat them all in one sitting!

(Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker.)

Ranch and Panko&Parmesan Breaded Pork Chops and Garlicky Parmesan Noodles

Let me start by saying that this was amazing! I stopped making breaded pork chops probably two years ago because I was always disappointed in the results and I'm not a huge pork chop fan to begin with. This definitely changed my mind about it and I know I am going to be making this many more times! The noodles were also delicious and they are very easy to make. It is a nice side dish to add when you don't have too much time to cook but need something else for your meal.

Most times when I cook I do not measure everything exactly. (Although with baking I always do!) This is one of those cases.

Ranch and panko&parmesan breaded pork chops
and garlicky parmesan noodles.

Pork Chops
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup ranch dressing
6 boneless porkchops

Preheat oven to 375F. Combine the bread crumbs and parmesan in a shallow bowl. I used Panko bread crumbs and it was amazing! (I have been disappointed in bread crumbs lately... As odd as that sounds.) Put the ranch dressing in another shallow bowl. Dip the pork chops in the ranch to cover them, then the bread crumb/parmesan mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the inside temperature reaches 160F. I turned the oven on broil at the end to make the bread crumbs crispy.

Noodles
3 cups (uncooked) egg noodles*
2 1/2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
couple dashes salt
dash black pepper
1/2 teaspoon parsley
about 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Make noodles according to directions on box. While the noodles are cooking mix the garlic, salt, pepper, and parsley together in a small bowl. Drain noodles and place back in pot, off of heat. Add butter and stir until melted. Stir in the spice mixture until evenly coated on noodles. Stir in parmesan. Enjoy!
*If you don't have or like egg noodles, any type of noodle will do. You might have to change the amount of uncooked noodles used due to different noodles expanding different amounts when they get cooked. I used farfalle noodles once and wagon wheels the second time.

A Look Into The Past...

To start, I thought I would show some pictures of food that I have made in the past. The photo quality isn't that great but for various reasons I would always have to use my cell phone to take the pictures and it doesn't take very good ones.

Let's start out with some dinners.

Pasta bake!

Breaded and fried chicken, mashed sweet
potatoes & malt vinegar and garlic green beans.

Corn casserole.

Cream chicken on biscuits & peas.

Fried zucchini.

Steak, rice and green beans.

Tuna noodle casserole.

And you always have to end with desserts!

White cake with cherries and whipped cream.

Gingerbread cookies and powdered sugar icing.

Coffee cake.

Hello!

Welcome to my blog! My name is Nicole and I love cooking and baking, trying new recipes and tweaking them to how my boyfriend and I would like best. I don't buy all those expensive or rare ingredients like I often see in recipes so you might already have most of the ingredients needed on hand! That's important for people like me who can't get to the store very often and have a hard time making and sticking to a meal plan.

I got the idea to start a blog because I would often post a picture of my dinner on facebook and I would get all kinds of likes, comments and messages about it. People would randomly message me and ask me a cooking question or ask for ideas on what they should make for dinner and it made me feel great! It kept me motivated to make more delicious dinners instead of just the same stuff over and over. Over the years many people asked me "When are you going to start a cooking blog?" and honestly I never thought I would... Who would really read it? I'm going to give it a shot though and see what happens. If nothing else, it will help me remember recipes and be able to look back on things I have made!