Tuesday dinner, October 7

I had to make cookies for lunch bunch tomorrow. I'm still dealing with quite a bit of leftover granola from when we volunteered with Bike the Barns. So I decided granola cookies were the way to go.

CRUNCHY DROP COOKIES

(adapted from The Recipe Link website)

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 egg

3 tbsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups granola

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a cookie sheet. In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt; mix well and set aside. In large bowl, beat together brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy; blend in egg, milk and vanilla. Add flour mixture; mix well. Stir in cereal. If the dough doesn't seem firm enough add a bit more flour. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes at 350 degrees.

OK so this took care of lunch bunch on Wednesday but not our dinner.

I bought raspberries on sale so I decided to try a Raspberry Patch Cream Pie. This was a recipe a cut out of a Taste of Home magazine. It was not a total success, but this was probably my fault.

Raspberry Patch Cream Pie

Crust

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup sugar

5 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling

1 8 oz. package cream cheese (I used organic light)

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

2 teaspoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping

3/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 1/3 cup cold water

1/4 cup raspberry gelatin powder

3 cups or more fresh raspberries

Combine cracker crumbs, sugar and butter. Press onto the bottom and sides of an ungreased 9" pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes or until set. Cool on wire rack. This is where I went awry. I used a different cookie for the crumbs. When I baked the crust it all sank to the bottom and made a very hard crust in the bottom.

For filling, combine the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla. Carefully spread over the cooled crust.

For topping, combine the sugar, cornstarch and water until mix until smooth. Bring to a boil either on top of stove or in the microwave. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. It really doesn't get very thick at all but this is OK. Remove from heat and stir in the gelatin powder. Cool to room temperature and chill in the frig until slightly thickened.

Arrange raspberries over filling. Spoon somewhat thickened gelatin mixture over berries. Refrigerate until set. This will take at least a couple of hours.

Note: the picture is from The Taste of Home website. My pie didn't have any globs of stuff on top; plus as I mentioned it had a very sad crust.

For our main dish, I made Spinach and Black Bean Quesadillas. They were very good and I'd recommend them.

Spinach and Black Bean Quesadillas

(adapted from Grains, Rice and Beans cookbook)

Olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

1# can black beans, drained and rinsed (about 1 1/2 cups) and then mashed

8 oz. bag of spinach steamed lightly, then cooled and chopped

Pinch of five spice powder

Salt & pepper to taste

Whole Wheat Tortillas 10-12

Heat oil, saute onion, garlic and jalapeno until tender. Add the mashed beans and saute briefly. Remove from heat. Stir in cooked and chopped spinach. Season with five spice powder, salt and pepper. Place 5 of the tortillas on a flat work surface. Divide the bean mixture among the tortillas. Spread the mixture to within 1/2 inch of the edge. Top with another tortilla. Make up another quesadilla if you have leftover filling. Fry the quesadillas in additional olive oil until lightly brown on both sides. Serve plain or with tomatillo sauce or salsa.