Cooking, cooking...always cooking

Mom and Dad LOVE it when I come home from school on my breaks to work. Why? Because I cook. A lot. And bake. A lot. Of the few full days that I have been home, I have spent most of them (like 75% of them) in the kitchen. So, here's what I've been doing:


Hibachi chicken:
I made this for the first time a few weeks ago when I was back at school (you can find the post here). I made it for Mom and Dad...with a few leftovers for me to take to work. They seemed to enjoy it because when I got home from work the next day, there was none left.


Mint chocolate chip cookies:
Yummy! I have been enjoying making these delicious cookies for my "goodie plates" for my grandparents and my boyfriend's parents. Mom and Dad have enjoyed eating them as well. You can find the recipe for that here at AllRecipes.com. If you like mint chocolate chip ice cream, you'll like these. (By the way, the "mint" extract is peppermint extract.)


Pumpkin crunch:
This is a delicious recipe that I got from my former roommate's mom (who loves to cook...and is fantastic at it!). I couldn't tell you where she got it so I can't give the "proper" credit...but here's the recipe for that:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cans (15 ounce cans) of pumpkin
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) of evaporated milk
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 cup of sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 box of yellow cake mix
• 1 1/2 stick of butter

Directions:

Mix pumpkin, milk, cinnamon, sugar and eggs together. Cover the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan with the mixture. Pour the dry cake mix over the pumpkin mixture. Top this with the melted butter. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

Optional topping:

Mix cool whip, cream cheese and powdered sugar and spread over top of the finished pumpkin crunch

I have never made the topping to it to I can't tell you how good it is with it...but it's delicious without it! (Even Dad liked it...and he really doesn't like pumpkin.)


Breakfast for dinner:
I love breakfast food...but I don't like getting up early and cooking. (And when I say "breakfast food," I don't mean cereal.) I made scrambled eggs (because that's one of the few ways I know how to cook eggs), fried up some bacon and made some delicious hash browns. No recipes for this one. :-P


Marinaded chicken:
This was tonight's dinner. It was rather good. The chicken marinaded for about 8 hours before it got cooked (the marinade recipe suggests to do it "overnight"). With it, I made rice, green beans and croissants. It have great reviews from Mom and Dad. Even I, my worst critic, thought it was pretty good. Here's the recipe for the marinade:

• 1/2 c. soy sauce
• 1/4 c. vegetable oil
• 1/4 c. red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1/2 tsp. sweet basil
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. pepper

I poured all of the ingredients int a ziploc bag and dumped in the chicken. I made sure it was all coated well and let it set in the fridge for a few hours...flipping the bag every couple of hours. I baked it in the oven, with the marinade juice in the pan, at 350 degrees for about 40-45 minutes (this for 3 chicken breasts).


I haven't been home for 2 weeks yet...and have 11 days left here (4 left that are uncommitted to something) so we'll see what else I might come up with to cook.