Travel on the cheap!

My fiance Jim is a big believer in travelling the world. I found a really fun link that shows you how to do it on the cheap, for real. I just thought I'd post it really quick mostly for him before I forget.

Tonight's dinner was spicy delicious pollo fajitas and Spanish rice and I made both pretty much entirely according to the directions, with some minor exceptions. I used about double the marinade and let the chicken sit in it for almost 45 minutes.

Now I adore Mexican, but I sometimes shy away from it because of all the extra calories that get added by the tortilla. But I came across these delicious low calorie babies at the store the other day!

Only 71 calories a pop!

For the rice, I didn't have any celery so I just used more green pepper and doubled the spices and the garlic, which is something I pretty much do as a rule.

For dessert, I addressed a dual-part problem that has plagued baked goods afficianados throughout the ages. Here's the problem, a) the concept of a "snickerdoodle" is great, but where's the snickers?!?! Now I've come across "real snickers cookies" recipes, but they all involve a peanut butter cookie dough. And b) my fiance Jim is probably the only non-allergic person in the world who doesn't love peanut butter. Crazy, I know. But since he is my main audience in addition to the main eater of my baking projects, I'm left with no choice but to pander to him. (Yes I know Snickers have peanuts in them, he loves peanuts, just not their buttery cousin.) So I addressed this two part conundrum with my first official cookie invention: Snicker Cups.

Ingredients

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 packages bite size Snickers

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture.
3. Drop by approximately tablespoonfuls into an ungreased mini muffin cup pan. Bake for about 9-10 minutes.
4. Immediately press one snickers upside down into each cookie and allow to cool in pan for about 3 minutes before removing to cooling rack. (If you have trouble removing these from the cups, I find a butter knife around the edges works wonders.)

This should yield about 50 cookies.