Peanut Butter Balls

2 cups peanut butter
1/2 cup butter
3 cups confectioner sugar
3 1/2 cups rice crispies
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips

Melt peanut butter and butter over low heat.
Remove from heat and mix in sugar, rice crispies and vanilla extract.
Form into small balls - chilling for 15 minutes may help if too sticky.
Melt chocolate over low heat. Place into plastic sandwich bag, seal and snip corner.
Drizzle over balls.
Chill until ready to serve.

Update -  I was invited (see comments below) to post this to the party on Lisa's site.  I did and what fun. A ton of yumminess going on in her world. Stop by her site  Sweet As Sugar Cookies for some great inspiration.

Jumbo Shrimp with Sorrel Pesto Pasta

MMMMMmmmmmm good.

Last night I decided to use a little of my garden goodness. Raided the herb bed and stripped down my sorrel plant to make a fresh pesto. So here it goes.

2 cups sorrel leaves, washed and minced
1 Tbsp fresh crushed garlic
2 Tbsp orange juice (or use lemon for an ultra lemony flavour)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (or other hard cheese)
1/4 cup toasted pinenuts (or other nut)
1/2 tsp sea salt

Mix above ingredients together in bowl you are going to use to serve the pasta in. This size batch will coat roughly a 4 person serving of pasta.

Boil water and cook desired pasta - I used a whole grain rotini as this pesto can stand up to the stronger flavour of a whole wheat pasta. Add raw prepped jumbo shrimp to pasta roughly 3 minutes before pasta is completed cooking. Drain and toss with pesto. Voila! Serve with fresh bread & butter and veggies & dip for a quick and easy summertime dinner.

First attempts for cookbook

Okay, so I have started playing around with recipes with the cookbook in mind. So far I have a grilled pineapple salad with a spicy sauce that has possibilities as well as a rhubarb sticky bun that was commented on at Mother's Day brunch. Both will obviously require making again with any changes to improve further and ingredient measurements written down more accurately.

I have made several other items that though they were good were not worthy of a cookbook with my name to it.

Still haven't figured out a format so it is hard to focus on what type of recipes to be playing with. I was just thinking right now that maybe something about fruits and veggies in a new way.

In other news I have had to find a new person to take over my pregnancy care as my regular doctor has chosen to discontinue deliveries. Luckily I was able to get in with the midwifery group in Duncan, which is slightly ironic as I had originally thought I would go with a midwife but then chose to stay with my regular doctor for the consistancy factor. Sometimes life just takes you to something you wanted anyways. I have to say I am extremely comfortable with this change - far more so then the suggested new doctor options.

Ultrasound went great. Apparently nothing showed up to worry about. New due date is September 12. Triple screen tests came back - low risk - which is a sigh of relief - not that we had reason to be concerned but it is good to know that we are at only 1% chance of these birth defects.

Little Piglet / Jefferson / whateveryournamewillbe is kicking a lot these days. Can't wait until Andy can feel it. He is starting to really become comfortable with the whole idea. Even said hello to our little guy the other day. It sure makes a world of difference for me. Just makes me feel like yes everything will be alright.

Now if only this darned cold would go away!

Challenge myself

Okay, so I have been doing a lot of thinking about what I will do when I am home with the little one. There will be only so much housework and yardwork that one can do and one has to have something that doesn't seem like working on one's home all the time. Something that is my own. Something creative and hopefully productive.

So here it is. I am going to write a cookbook. Sound crazy. Maybe a little, after all what do I know about writing a book. But here is what I do know. #1 - I like to cook. #2 - People tell me I am a good cook. #3 - I like to try new recipes all the time (there are times when Andy will ask if we can have something normal like spaghetti with meat and tomato sauce because I have made him so many new dishes that he wants something familiar) #4 - I like to change the recipe to my taste after trying it a time or two and therefore creating a Sonja recipe.

How I will be challenged - in more ways then I can even imagine. Learning about writing and producing a book. Creativity in my cooking. Keeping records of what did/didn't work, how to improve a recipe, etc, etc. Keeping on track so this doesn't become a ten year or never to be completed project ;)

I am thinking I need to come up with format first so I then have a way to organize recipes as they are created. Do I go from appies through dessert or spring through winter or specialize in a type of food like veggies or pasta. Oh my! HHHmmmmm, my Rustic Rhubarb pie might just have to be the first recipe to enter it's way into the book. Perhaps something like West Coast backyard....recipes using home grown and locally sourced food items....

Lots to think about.