Creative Cookies

Don't make "not knowing a good recipe" stop you from baking creatively. You don't need any recipe to cook. All you need to do is create what you feel like. For example, my boyfriend felt like having some cookies. I just looked in the cabinets, saw that we had chocolate chips and went from there. Don't know the perfect amounts of each item? That's ok! Cooking is always an experiment, and that's how some of the best recipes come to be, by just trying to create something! So here I blended together eggs and butter and sugar and brown sugar. Then I added some vanilla, some baking soda and the chocolate chips. To add a little more flavor I tossed in some milk chocolate toffee chips. Within 10 minutes, without thinking, the smell of chocolate chip cookies were in the air. And there's nothing like a warm chocolate chip cookie in the winter!

A Pomegranate Touch

The holidays are soon approaching, and for some, there's the pressure of "what to make", "what will be different". All you have to do is take a simple store mix, and add some leftover makeover, in this case, a splash of color, from a pomegranate. I made a Devil's food cake mix, and simply added a "snowy" cover of powdered sugar, and then a lot of pomegranate seeds for that eye popping look. You can make them into cute little cupcakes and put it on a holiday platter or a nice big sheet cake for that wow effect. The pomegranate seeds give each bite a little extra moist sweetness.

A Different Bed of Rice

How many times do you see a recipe that says serve on a "Bed of rice". That bed of rice thing can get a bit boring time after time. How about changing it up and using some vegetables instead. Here I simply used some sprouts and some asparagus. It's very simple, very easy:

• Roast the asaparagus with salt, pepper and olive oil
• Saute the sprouts in a little olive oil
  

Done, in less than the time it takes to make rice.
Then when you add a great entree with a wonderful sauce, the sauce with the sprouts and asparagus make a perfect combination!