Beef Jerky and more, oh my!

So my pictures don't do the things I make any justice, but we sure enjoy eating what is made. The chocolate covered strawberries were made by my husband and daughters for Mother's Day. I was so surprised by their creativity.

The Chicken Black Bean Rice bake was Delish! http://picky-palate.com/2011/04/25/chicken-and-black-bean-green-enchilada-rice-bake/

And the Double Chocolate Oreo Cookies...http://picky-palate.com/2011/04/21/bakery-style-cookies-and-cream-cookies/

And I have a picture of the lemony-cream sauce that went over tortellini, the recipe is here...http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/04/tortellini-spinach-bake-in-creamy-lemon/

Fantastic! I even made this recipe again for a sister in our ward who just had a baby. It's so cool looking and good and looks complicated, but it isn't.

And then I made my family's wonderful Beef Jerky. The marinade is soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, ketchup, pepper, parsley flakes, red pepper flakes, and mash a clove of garlic to sit in the marinade as well. Then throw the thin slices of beef on the dehydrator and let it go until it is yummy, chewy jerky!

I also made salsa this week. I was telling my husband how between the chips and salsa and jerky, they made for wonderful snacks throughout the day, that curbed cravings and were satisfying. The problem is that they were both so wonderful that I would OVER eat them. HA! However, that is what I love about salsa, is that it is fresh ingredients and good for you. If I ate it with lower-sodium chips I bet that would be better for me.

And then my dear husband loves to eat cookies and he just made a wonderful batch this weekend, a classic chocolate chip but he also put in butterscotch chips and toffee pieces and I think he may have put some cinnamon candies in as well. But he made the not our normal chocolate chip recipe batch and he hand mixed it and it called for shortening (which our usual recipe doesn't use), and these came out perfectly crisp and chewy all at once and were big and rich!

He and I joked about opening our own place and calling it Biddles' Belly (Biddles is the nick-name of our son... he is a year old and walks with it stuck out and I just don't want him to loose that cute little pouch!). I enjoy having a husband that can cook. He likes to break the rules though, and that drives me crazy. He will make simple things like oatmeal, and not follow the recipe, so it doesn't always work... ha! But on things he CAN get creative on, he does a great job! Happy cooking!