Vegetable Barley Soup

Nomtown.  This is just a perfect chicken-noodle replacement; sweet and a little salty, with nice chewy barley and delicious veggie chunks.  You could mix up a lot of things in this soup and it would still be excellent, but I have to say, this version is pretty awesome.

Notes: Used homemade chicken stock, tastytown.  Pretty standard, although I might use more barley next time; it wasn't as big a player as I expected.

zuppa

Eggnog!

This was TOTALLY WORTH IT.  100% worth it.  So.  Delicious.

Notes: Beat eggs separately and it worked out fine, kind of pretty with the foam on top.  Definitely grate the nutmeg on top.  Brandy & rum = EXCELLENCE.  Make this, it made me feel extremely pleasant.

NOG
Tasty-looking variations

Roasted Acorn Squash Soup

This was good, but not outstanding compared to other soups.  As good a use as any for acorn squash, I suppose.

Notes: definitely needed more ginger and sage than called for, a lot.  Just kept adding those and salt until it tasted good.

acorn?

Ultrathin Chocolate Chunk Cookies

These were supposed to be super lacy and light, but I guess I didn't flatten them enough, or leave them out long enough--they turned out crispy but not a lot thinner than I originally spread them.  However, they were delicious--I'm usually a soft chocolate chip cookie kind of gal, but I really liked these.  They're big, and they're perfect for dipping in a glass of milk.  Nom!

crunch

Brown Butter Brown Sugar Shorties

NOM cookies.  These are crispy and salty and sweet and suuuuper tasty.  Yes please.

Notes: When you get to the cooking stage, this will work out much better if you let the dough temperature come up a little bit before slicing or rolling in sugar; the sugar won't stick if it's too cold (and you definitely want the sugar to stick!), and slicing while still frozen makes it difficult to keep the cookies in the right shape before baking.  Also this dough is nomtown.

all day and allll night

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Lots of variations here--I only did one, with a graham cracker crust, cut into bars, and regular swirled into pumpkin.  All of the options below look like they'd be worth trying :)  Different kinds of crusts, etc.

Notes: none, followed the recipe pretty closely!

swirly bars

king arthur basics
another basic, all-pumpkin
all-pumpkin bars, neufchatel
two versions, both look great!
pretty swirl

Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips

Made these puppies when a craving struck.  Worth it!  A nice peanut butter cookie, and the sugar on the outside is a good textural element--plus big chocolate chips inside, nom.  A pleasant snack, I think I ate six in one evening.

Notes: Use non-hippy peanut butter for the texture to come out right.  Didn't have peanut butter chips, subbed extra chocolate, wouldn't throw them on the ground.  Also next time use chunky pb, would be delish.  Made a ton of smallish cookies, probably about 35.

just eat em