3 Favs: Cilantro, Pesto and Milk Chocolate

These yummy recipes are all from this amazing food blog: http://sisterscafe.blogspot.com/

Texas Caviar

3 cans black eye peas, drained and rinsed
2 cans shoepeg corn, drained
3-4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
3 avocados, chunked
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1/2 sweet onion, minced
juice of 2 limes
Good Seasonings Italian Dressing packet, prepared
salt to taste


Combine all ingredients in large bowl, adding avocado last. (I like to add a few squirts of Tabasco sauce as well.) Pour about 1/2 the dressing into mixture and stir gently. Add as much dressing as desired. I usually use a little more than half. Serve with tortilla chips. Enjoy!

Melanie's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

submitted by Brittany at sisterscafe.blogspot.com

printable recipe

1 cube (1/2 cup) butter, softened *not melted!*

1/2 cup shortening

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Mix butter, shortening and sugars - do not over mix. (The key to this recipe is minimal mixing - try it with a wooden spoon instead of a mixer.) Add vanilla and eggs. Sift together dry ingredients and add them next. Mix until everything is combined. Add one package of milk chocolate chips. (Guittard is my all time favorite. The milk chocolate chips are large and so smooth and creamy... yum!) Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Take them out when they are barely brown. Serve warm out of the oven with a tall glass of cold milk... YUM!

**FYI--a note from Melanie:
A couple of years ago I quit using shortening in anything. I now use all butter in this recipe. So, I now leave out the shortening and replace it with an equal amount of butter ( 1/2 cup). I found that the cookies still have that perfect texture as shown and don't go flat, if you chill the dough for an hour or so before baking. You may need to bake for a few minutes longer--but DO NOT over bake--take out when barely brown. Then leave on the pan for a few minutes before transferring to the wire rack for cooling**



Basil Pesto Pasta

Submitted by Mindy

1/4 cup basil pesto (Pesto recipe already posted by Erin... it's the best!)

1/4 lb penne pasta

1.5-2 cups tomatoes

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Basil leaves

Shredded parmesan cheese

Prepare Basil Pesto. Store in refrigerator or freeze until ready to serve. (Click on "pesto" above to go to the recipe, which was previously posted by Erin. It is the BEST!!!) Cook pasta according to package directions to al dente. Just before draining the pasta into a colander, remove 1/4 cup of pasta water; set aside. Drain the pasta, put back in the pot, and then stir in the Basil Pesto and the reserved pasta water, a little at a time, to create a sauce. Add diced tomatoes and toss to coat thoroughly. Salt and pepper to taste. Transfer onto individual serving plates and garnish with sliced fresh basil leaves and shavings of Parmesan cheese.

Makes 2 servings.