Oatmeal Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have you ever found a recipe you just had to make immediately if not sooner and then spent the next week visiting 5 grocery stores and 2 Targets looking for the one elusive ingredient that sets that recipe apart from everything else only to not find it and then you finally look online and are so excited until you notice they want to charge you 300% more than the items costs just to ship it to you so you get sad and then angry and decide even if you do find that elusive ingredient you're never going to make that recipe?  Yeah, me neither.  (cough, lying, cough).  Instead I decided to make something more awesome than the original recipe because you know I love seasonal ingredients so I couldn't help myself when I saw the cinnamon milk chocolate M&Ms during my failed mission.  I decided to turn them into an amazing oatmeal cookie full of chocolate and cinnamon for an excellent fall cookie with a soft texture and tons of flavor.

Pretzel Dogs

Please allow me a moment to nom vigorously on these.

Ok, now that I've wiped the crumbs, I can share how amazing this hot dog wrapped in a perfect soft pretzel sprinkled with salt is: AMAZING.  Last month I went to two football games and both times I ordered a soft pretzel to enjoy with the game.  so the idea of stuffing a hot dog into that pretzel to enjoy while cheering on my team won me over in a heartbeat.  I whipped these up as a football lunch for Dave and I (he did help a lot) and we devoured them.  I packed the leftovers away in the freezer in two-packs so we could enjoy them later.  The pretzel has a perfect soft and chewy inside with a crusty, golden brown outside that is the perfect "bun" for a hot dog.  I eat my hot dogs with ketchup only, but if you're a mustard aficionado, you will be hard pressed to find something better to pair with your favorite spread.

Brownie Batter Truffles

Sigh.  As delicious as these treats are, I was sad to make them.  My coworker and friend Beth took another job, so we had a little going-away lunch for her.  Since I know she doesn't like cake (correction, she likes cake, she just has an obscene level of self-control and wouldn't indulge in something less than spectacular), I decided not to order one from our catering department (their cakes definitely qualify as less than spectacular).  So I searched for the perfect bite-sized treat that Beth (and I and everyone else) would love but wouldn't feel too indulgent about eating since they are tiny and not big slabs of greasy frosting coated dry cake (true, less than spectacular cake graces my workplace).  Clearly, the best alternative is a ball of eggless brownie batter dipped in chocolate and topped with seasonally appropriate sprinkles (see: seasonal baking item compulsion).  The catered lunch did come with brownies automatically.  When I spied one of my coworkers grabbing a brownie rather than one of my truffles, I (jokingly) said to him, "What the hell are you eating that for?"  Mildly ashamed he put the brownie down, grabbed a truffle and upon tasting it, he said, "Yeah, that was definitely the right question to ask me."  Tasty?  I think so.

Snickerdoodle Rice Krispies Treats

Confession: I can't resist seasonal ingredients  (damn you Target and your perfect seasonal displays!).  Especially in the fall.  Something overwhelms me when I see a regular bag of M&Ms, chocolate chips, or marshmallows has been transformed into something "special" for the fall holidays, be it with a simple color change, a design or shape adjustment or, my favorite, a new flavor.  So when I saw a bag of cinnamon bun flavored marshmallows, I scooped them up knowing there was only one end result for this new treat: rice krispies treats.  And they were awesome.  Every bit of a yummy cereal treat you expect, but with cinnamon flavor throughout and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar on top.  The marshmallows were far more subtle than I expected, which was nice if you were just going to pop a few in your mouth, or maybe spice up a cup of hot chocolate. So they gave a nice cinnamon pop to regular cereal bars which Dave adored, seeing as how Snickerdoodles are one of his favorite cookies.

Vegetable and Turkey Loaf

It's harvest season.  And it's comfort food season.  I see no reason why these things can't be combined into a yummy, healthy, and satisfying dinner.  Agree?  Good because this recipe does just that, serving up delicious veggies in a meatloaf made healthy with ground turkey and seasoned up to tasty goodness.  This is a great fall dinner paired with mashed potatoes and veggies to leave everyone with a full belly and loaded up on in season veggies.  That's the beauty of this recipe--use whatever you have on hand to incorporate 2 full cups veggies into this meatloaf and you'll have a unique meal every time.