What's for Dinner?

It works so fabulously I'm tempted to ice everything in the house =). Here's the recipe I used to ice the sugar cookies made from the recipe below. The cookies are amazing by themselves- I'm so glad I went with that recipe. 1 cup confectioners' sugar 2 teaspoons milk 2 teaspoons light corn syrup 1/4 teaspoon almond extract assorted food coloring In a small bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup. Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to desired intensity. Dip cookies, paint them with a brush, or I put mine in ziplock bags, cut the corner tip off, and "flooded" them. I had to use thinner icing for the bottom (white) layer to"flood" them. The icing gets hard and glossy, so you can stack them on top of each other and they don't mess up the design. I mixed a second batch to do th

I found this on Soul Kitchen's blog last week, but every time I open thatblog it jams up my computer, so I'm posting it here. I found some snowflake cookie cutters (finally!) and Dball & I are going to make this recipe for our family and friends. We may even ship it to folks- don't know how that will go! No Fail Sugar Cookie Recipe 6 cups flour 2 cups butter 2 cups sugar 2 eggs 1 TBSP baking powder 2 tsp. vanilla extract 1 tsp. salt Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients and add to butter mixture. Mix well. Chill for 1 to 2 hours Roll to desired thickness (I like ¼ inch) and cut into desired shapes. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges. This recipe can make up to 8-dozen 3" cookies. Royal Icing 2 tablespoons meringue powder 1/4 cup water About 2 cups confectioners' sugar 1 teaspoon flavoring such as vanilla, lemon, orange or almond (optional) It'

I am not warm. It's definitely a crock-pot day, and I'm trying this recipe for the very first time. Since I made it up in my head. =) But I'm extremely optimistic, and cold. Keep your fingers crossed, will report back after! Black Bean Soup Ingredients 2 lbs dry black beans salt pork (fat back, 10-12 slices bacon...) 2 medium onions 1 can diced tomatoes 6 cloves garlic 1-2 bay leaves 1-2 TBSP cumin 1 tsp chipotle pepper cilantro sour cream, cheddar cheese, scallions for garnish I soaked my beans overnight w/2 tsp baking soda and a large bowl of water. I don't know what the baking soda does for it, I've heard it cuts the gas and also that it can soften really hard beans (like the ones that have maybe been in your food storage for 10 years?! I don't know....) So this morning I drained the beans, rinsed them real well and dumped them in the crock-pot. If you don't want to soak your beans overnight, you can clean, rinse, and sort them- then boil them for 1-2