A Cook's Quest

What could be wrong with a pancake and a cinnamon roll combined?  If you said nothing at all, you are 100 percent correct!  Not only are these pancakes made using the best ever pancake mix ever, ever, ever, but now they are even better with a sweet, cinnamony (another one of my words) swirl made from the exact ingredients that go into a cinnamon roll filling.  Then, as if they weren't fabulous enough they are topped with, what else I ask you, cream cheese frosting.  Oh my. Oh my.  This recipe is far past breakfast fare it is now dessert at 8 in the morning.  Can it get any better?  Cinnamon Roll Pancakes Recipe Source:  Big Red Kitchen For the Cinnamon Filling... In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, mix until smooth: 1 stick softened butter, almost melty 1 cup packed brown sugar 2 T. cinnamon Using a rubber spatula to scrape the sides, pour this mixture into a large pastry bag or ziplock bag that had been opened and stoo...

Every once in a while I have people ask me "why" I cook the way I do.  The short answer has just always been because I like to.  I have always felt more grounded and in touch with who I really am as I cook.  It is my stress reliever when times are hard and my enjoyment when life is good.  I cook when I am sad, when I am happy, when I am lonely, when I am surrounded by love, and when I just am simply bored.  I have never examined what drives me to try making something from scratch that I can easily by prepared or in a mix.  But now that I have more time to focus on food through this blog I wonder if my reasoning runs deeper than just liking to cook.  There is a certain feeling that comes when I serve food to the people I care about in my life.  I don't know what that feeling is, I don't even know how to describe it. I do know that when people gather to eat a meal that I helped create I enjoy every moment of the ...

These little babies are simple, flexible, and delicious!  Don't repeat this but I ate three in one sitting. It was only because my family needed to eat their dinners that I didn't eat more.  The recipe idea came from a few different places.  The first from my friend and fellow book club member who brought a version made with crescent rolls, cream, cheese, onion and bacon...can you say mouth watering?!  They were sooooo good!  Then a few days later Mel at My Kitchen Cafe posted a similar recipe using ham and broccoli.  Any combination of meat, cheese, veggies and seasoning can be used.  Next time I think I might do a Mexican style one with cream cheese, salsa, seasoned taco meat etc., or a chicken cordon bleu style with chicken, ham, and Swiss cheese.  I used the french roll recipe in mine because that is what Melanie used but try any favorite roll recipe you have or even refrigerated crescent rolls or the bread dough that can be found i...

I have heard of people making cheese from yogurt but I never thought of trying it. The official name is Labneh and it is a traditional Lebanese soft cheese.  After making the mascarpone , go ahead say it to yourself I will wait...MASK-ARE-PONE-AY, I decided that I wanted to try other cheeses too.  Yogurt cheese is very much like cream cheese, but not really.  Cream cheese is made with cow's milk and rennet while yogurt cheese is made from, well, yogurt.  There is no cooking, heating or mixing involved.  Just a strainer, some cheese cloth and time.  You see most dairy products are full of water.  When the water is removed cheese is very often the result.  So by allowing the water to drain off the yogurt the end result is a smooth, dense creamy cheese that is a bit tangier than the traditional cream cheese that most Americans are used to but can be used in the same way.  If you want a traditional way to serve it, pat it into a r...

I was able to restrain myself long enough to make a recipe with the wonderful roasted tomatoes that I posted a few days ago.  These little beauties add quite the punch of flavor and brightness to anything.  I love tomatoes in cream sauce, I love cream sauce with pasta, and of course they all go well with chicken so I threw this little dish together for dinner, spending more than I normally would but we all wanted something delicious and homey after eating restaraunt food all week. It was a perfect meal for all of us.   Bowtie Pasta with Chicken in Cream Sauce with Roasted Tomatoes Recipe Source: A Cook's Quest 12 ounces bow tie pasta 2 chicken breasts grilled 2 cups heavy cream Roasted Tomatoes (about 1/2 cup chopped) Parmesan Cheese--the real stuff (about 2 cups grated) Parsley for garnish if desired Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook your pasta.  While the pasta is cooking chop the chicken that has already been cooked into bite sized pie...

Since I was a young girl I have always loved salad.  I grew up on the standard iceberg dinner salad and never experienced a different type of green until I was an adult.  Nowadays my husband and I much prefer a mix of baby greens with any variety of toppings which include fruit, nuts, cheeses and grilled meat. But, there is still an occasion that I go back to my roots and want just a simple green salad made of iceberg lettuce and carrots.  To top the salad off I want ranch dressing, the good kind from a "valley" that makes every vegetable in its presence bow down for the ceremonious dipping before consumption.  It is creamy and delicious and exactly what I would describe as food from my childhood, only now I know how expensive it is and how not so good it really is for you. Quite by accident I stumbled onto this recipe and was intrigued by how simple it was.  There was nothing in it that I couldn't pronounce and even better nothing that I wouldn't...

Finals are over, and after a week of vacation I am back in the kitchen.  I have reacquainted myself with my old friends, kitchen aide, oven, utensils (specifically whisk and bowl scrapers) and of course the pots and pans.  I am ready to make all the recipes I have been looking at for the past three months, but just couldn't make time for.  These beautiful veggies came from our little garden so the first recipe I am making are these oven roasted tomatoes from one of my favorite sites, Our Best Bites .   These girls know how to make real food, in real kitchens for regular on the go families.  When I first started blogging I posted about making my own dried tomatoes as a way to save money.  I LOVE sun dried tomatoes but lets face it, they can be kind of spendy.  Then a few months ago I stumbled on to this recipe and let me tell you I don't know if I will return to my dehydrator or not.  I'm not a raw tomato eater, i...

ATTENTION READERS! The family just returned  home from a wonderful week away.  There is just nothing like a good old American road trip.  We had a blast and now it is time for reality to return.  I apologize for the slowness of the blog and can only say that with your help good food is coming!  I have missed cooking very much and can't wait to try some new things, so I decided I want to try recipes that all of you, my readers, love and do a "Readers Recipe" entry once a week.  A few rules: All recipes must be family friendly All recipes must be sent with a story All recipes should be thrifty in some way.  Maybe you are a couponer, grew your own veggies, or eat meat that your husband/family hunted, whatever way just tell me how you save money on this recipe. All recipes need to be submitted to me via email at acooksquest at yahoo dot com 

The "time" I refer to is the end of summer term at school.  Why I ever thought that cramming 10 weeks of information into 8 weeks with the schedule that my family has I will never understand.  At first (the first 3-4weeks) everything was OK, I had found a good balance between family, work and school but, oh yes, there is a but, all of a sudden the universe started spinning much faster, my days began slipping by in nano-seconds and then all of a sudden I found myself falling behind, struggling to keep up and praying that I would survive and retain the required information in order to pass those dreaded finals. Well the end is almost here, I have been eating, breathing, and living school in every spare second I can find.  There has been no time for cooking, or grocery shopping or house cleaning, only survival people.  Luckily, my family is wonderful, my husband and children have been maintaining the house and no one stares too much as the circles around my eyes from ...