Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today, Maddie and I made chocolate chip cookies. Not just any kind of chocolate chip cookies mind you, but the most delicious chocolate chip cookies you will ever taste. It would seem that Maddie and I have gotten our groove on in the kitchen. I really enjoy baking with her.

These cookies are truly delicious. If it were not so, I would not tell you so.



Check out that new apron. Isn't it cool?


Here is the recipe:

1 c butter, softened
¼ c sugar
¾ c brown sugar, tightly packed
1 tsp vanilla
1 3oz package instant vanilla pudding
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
2 ¼ c flour
1 cup chocolate chunks (Ghirardelli works quite nicely!)

Mix flour and baking soda. Set aside. Chop chocolate bar into chunks.

(be careful not to cut off your husband's fingers as he steals chocolate!)



Mix butter, sugars, vanilla and pudding. Add eggs. Beat well. Gradually add in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chunks.

(I have to threaten the fam as they will eat all this dough resulting in no baked cookies!)


Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Slightly flatten.

(Please disregard the state of that cookie sheet! When we moved, my good ones accidently got donated to Goodwill. Someone is happy!)


Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes or until just set.

This makes about 3 dozen cookies.

(Now my husband tells me I should have made two batches!)


Enjoy!

Broccoli Salad

It's so much fun making delicious food to share with friends and family. This past Sunday we had a potluck at church. Gotta love potlucks. Where else do you get a great variety of food? (And don't even mention those nasty home cooking buffets where all the food tastes the same, not even a close second!) Whether it's tried and trues or brand new recipes to try out, there is always something for everyone. Even my picky eater ate his fill of fried chicken and mashed potatoes.

I made one of my very favorites. I can't make this recipe for home because no one in my house will eat it but me. Not even the bacon is enticing enough. Too many vegetables I guess.

Some one liked the salad though because my bowl had been washed by the time the eating was done. (Please pardon the pictures. I was so tired on Saturday, that we're all blessed the food got made! I did not take pics. So sorry!)

This is not a difficult recipe and it's oh so good. So, enjoy!



Fry up some bacon til crisp. I always cut my bacon before frying with kitchen shears. It is so much easier this way...in my humble opinion.



Cut the tops off a bunch of rinsed broccoli. Set aside to dry.



Spread slivered almonds onto a cookie sheet and bake in a 250 degree oven for 5-7 minutes until almonds are just turning a light brown. Do not burn them. This is easy to do, so be careful. Set aside.



Cut grapes in half.



Chop onion and grate cheese. (Or buy grated like I did this past week)

Dab excess water off broccoli with paper towel then transfer to a large bowl. Add grapes, onion and cheese.

In a smaller bowl, mix mayo, sugar, vinegar and Parmesan cheese. Pour over broccoli mixture and toss to coat. Refrigerate over night.

Just before serving, mix in toasted almonds and grapes.





Recipe:

Broccoli Salad

1 bunch of broccoli, tops only
½ red onion, chopped
1 cup red grapes, halve
2 oz toasted almonds
½ pound bacon, fried crisp
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

dressing:
1 cup real mayonnaise
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbs white vinegar
¼ cup Parmesan cheese


In large bowl mix broccoli, red onion, grapes and cheese.

Mix dressing ingredients and pour over broccoli mixture. Refrigerate over night.

Just before serving, add toasted almonds and crisp bacon pieces.

Enjoy!

School Fuel Chex Mix

A good friend of mine introduced me to my favorite chex mix of all time…it’s all caramelly and chocolately…and chocolately…oh, I said that already. Moving forward, it’s plain delish and you know that commercial that says you can’t eat just one? Well, this is the real deal…you can’t eat just one. Not possible. You’ll eat it until the bowl is empty and you’ll look into the bowl and wonder who stole your caramelly chocolately yum and go make some more.

And it’s just that easy too. Cause it’s made in minutes in the microwave. And that’s a good thing cause one batch just isn’t enough.

Did I mention this is great to take to superbowl parties? Well, it is.

Here is what you do:

In a large bowl (that will fit in your microwave) add 6 tbs butter, ¾ cup of brown sugar and 3 tbs light corn syprup. Microwave on high 1-2 minutes until butter is melted.

Stir. Add ¼ tsp baking soda. Stir.

Add 6 cups Crispix Cereal, ½ cup honey roasted peanuts, and ½ cup pretzel sticks to bowl. Gently mix to coat.

Microwave on high for 3 minutes, stirring to coat after each minute.

Spray Pam on two cookies sheets and divide chex mix between the two cookie sheets.

Melt 1 cup of chocolate chips in microwave on medium heat, stirring every 30 seconds until chocolate is melted. (I add 1 tsp Crisco to thin the chocolate out and make it drizzle…able.) Drizzle on chex mixture and chill until chocolate is set. Break into pieces and put in a big bowl and then hide it…cause it won’t last long!

Enjoy!

Recipe:

6 tbs butter
¾ cup brown sugar
3 tbs light corn syrup
¼ tsp baking soda
6 cups Crispix cereal
½ cup honey roasted peanuts
½ cup pretzel sticks
1 cup melted chocolate

Add butter, brown sugar and light corn syrup to large bowl. Microwave on high 1-2 minutes until butter is melted. Stir. Add baking soda. Stir.

Gently fold in Crispix, peanuts and pretzels to coat. Microwave three minutes, stirring after each minute. Spread onto greased cookie sheet.

Melt chocolate and drizzle onto chex mixture. Cool and eat.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cupcakes

This week Maddie and I made Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cupcakes. I found this recipe quite a few years ago in the Taste of Home Magazine. They are kind of like combining, chocolate chip cookie dough, brownies and cheesecake all in one package. How can you go wrong?

Gather your ingredients:

Beat Cream cheese and ½ cup sugar until smooth. Add egg and salt. Beat. Fold in chocolate chips; set aside.

Combine 1 ½ cups flour, ¼ cup cocoa, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 cup sugar, and ½ tsp salt. Stir.

In another bowl mix 1 cup water, 1/3 cup vegetable oil and 1 tbsp white vinegar. Whisk until blended.

(Maddie and I decided my hand mixer is psycho!)

Stir water mixture into dry ingredients until moistened.

Fill paper cups half way with batter mixture. Spoon the cream cheese filling into center of chocolate batter mix.

Bake at 350 for 24-26 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool.

Frosting:

(psycho mixer at work again!)

Mix 3 ¾ cup powdered sugar, 3 tbsp cocoa, ½ cup butter, melted, 6 tbsp milk, 1 tsp vanilla.

Frost cooled cupcakes and store in the refrigerator or not, you could always eat them. Right Maddie?

Recipe:

1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1 ½ cup sugar, divided
1 egg
1 tsp salt, divided
1 cup (6oz) semisweet chocolate chips
1 ½ cups flour
¼ cup baking cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp white vinegar

Frosting:

3 ¾ cup confectioners sugar
3 tbsp baking cocoa
½ cup butter, melted
6 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla


Prepare filling. In a small bowl beat cream cheese and ½ cup sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and ½ tsp salt until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

In a large bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and remaining sugar and salt. In another bowl whisk water, oil and vinegar, stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

Fill paper lined muffin pans halfway with chocolate batter. Drop filling by heaping tablespoons into the center of each. Bake at 350 degrees for 24-26 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool before frosting.

For frosting, in a large mixing bolw combine confectioner’s sugar, cocoa, butter, milk and vanilla. Beat until blended. Frost cupcakes. Store in refrigerator.

Lasagna Time

Lasagna Time!

We love a good batch of lasagna. No, we’re not super picky, well okay, maybe we are. We like good homemade food that will stick to your ribs. We love food that brings us together and causes us to linger over good conversation that builds relationships. So, yes, in that, we are picky.

Here is my husband’s favorite lasagna. He smells. He drools. He eats. And He always tells me it’s best yet.

I do have a confession. I didn’t take nearly as many pictures as I should have. I got carried away with the preparing instead of the pics. Sorry!

Brown 1 ½ lbs ground chuck, 1 lb of pork sausage and a small chopped onion in a large skillet. Add two 14 oz cans of tomato sauce and one 6 oz can of tomato paste. Swish each can with a little water to rinse then add the water to the pan. Add three cloves of garlic or two tablespoons garlic powder, two tablespoons onion powder, 4 heaping tablespoons sweet basil, and 4 heaping tablespoons Italian blend seasoning mix. This I bought at Sprouts. (Any basic Italian mix will do.) Also add 1 tsp Kosher salt and a drizzle of olive oil. Simmer.

Meanwhile, fill a large dutch oven with water and a sprinkling of Kosher salt and bring to a boil. Add 12 lasagna noodles and a tbs of olive oil. Cook noodles about till half way tender. About 7 minutes. Drain noodles.

Spray a 9x13 dish with Pam. Add a bit of sauce to the bottom of the pan. Then layer four noodles on top of sauce. Add more sauce then spoon on ½ container of ricotta cheese in dollops all over sauce. Next, add a good layer of mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese.

Add another layer of noodles, sauce, the rest of the ricotta, more mozzarella, parmesan, cheddar and one more layer of noodles, sauce and mozzarella, cheddar and parmesan.

Garnish with red and green pepper rings, cover and then refrigerate over night. Do not skip this step.

Before baking, cover lasagna with tin foil and place in oven. Then turn the oven on to 350 degrees. This gradually heats the glass up while the oven is heating and will prevent breakage in the glass dish. Bake for 50 minutes. The last 10 minutes, remove tin foil so cheeses lightly brown.

Let lasagna sit for 10 minutes while preparing bread etc. This helps the lasagna to hold its form when being removed from the pan.

Enjoy!

Recipe:

1 ½ lbs Ground chuck
1 lb Pork sausage
1 small onion, chopped
2 14 oz cans tomato sauce
1 6 oz can tomato paste
3 garlic cloves, minced (or 2 Tbs garlic powder)
2 Tbs onion powder
4 heaping Tbs Italian Seasoning Mix
4 heaping Tbs Sweet Basil
1 tsp Kosher salt
1 Tbs Olive Oil

Lasagna noodes
Ricotta Cheese
Mozzarella Cheese
Parmesan Cheese
Cheddar Cheese

Brown ground chuck, sausage and onion. Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, garlic, onion powder, Italian seasoning, basil, salt and olive oil. Simmer.

Bring water to a boil. Add 12 lasagna noodles, a little salt and a drizzle of olive oil. Cook till half way tender. Drain.

Layer noodles, sauce and cheeses until gone. Garnish with pepper rings. (optional)

Refrigerate over night. Bake covered at 350 degrees. Remove covering last ten minutes to brown. Let sit ten minutes to set.

Welcome to Aunt Merry’s Kitchen! Today begins Ms. Maddie’s very first cooking lesson with me and we’re making Dutch Apple Pies. Mmm…

Homemade piecrust might not be the easiest first cooking lesson, but I guarantee it will be tasty.

First we gathered together our ingredients for my great grandmother’s piecrust recipe. Of course, it wouldn’t be my piecrust if I didn’t tweak it just a little bit, but, hey…that is the measure of a good cook.

Gather together your flour, sugar, salt, shortening, an egg and vinegar. (I used apple cider vinegar but I figured, hey…I’m making apple pie so it should be just fine!)

This makes enough dough for two double crusts.

In a large bowl add four cups of flour, 1 Tbs. sugar and 2 tsp salt. Mix well. (Maddie is doing such a good job of stirring!)

Add 1 ½ cup shortening ( I used butter flavored) and use a pastry cutter to cut in shortening until mix is the size of peas.

Beat egg, vinegar and water. Sprinkle over flour mixture and mix well with fork.

Roll out on a floured surface and prepare pie pans for pie filling.

Peel and slice six apples (I used a variety of Jonagold, Granny Smith, Fuji and Gala…but I also doubled the recipe so it was a little easier to use four different kinds. Using different kinds of apples intensifies the flavor). Man I miss my apple/peeler/corer/slicer! Can't wait to get my kitchen stuff from Wisconsin!

In a separate bowl mix ½ cup sugar, ½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed, 2 tsp flour, ½ tsp nutmeg and 1 tsp cinnamon. Mix well.

Sprinkle a third of the sugar mixture on bottom of piecrust. Sprinkle the half of the remainder over apples and stir to coat. Pile apples into piecrust and then sprinkle remainder of sugar mixture on top of apples. Dot with butter.

Bake pie for 10 minutes at 425 degrees.

In another bowl mix ¼ cup flour, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, ½ cup packed brown sugar, and ¾ rolled oats. Mix well. Cut in ½ cup butter until ingredients are well mixed.

Take pie out of oven and reduce heat to 375 degrees. Sprinkle topping onto pie then return to oven and bake for an addition 30-35 minutes until topping is nicely browned and pie juices are bubbly.

Let cool.

Piecrust recipe:

4 cups flour
1 Tbs sugar
2 tsp salt
1 ½ cup shortening
1 egg
1 Tbs vinegar
½ cup water

Mix flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Cut in shortening till crumbs are the size of peas. Beat egg, vinegar and water and sprinkle over flour mixture. Mix well with a fork.

Makes 2 double crusts.

Apple Pie recipe:

6 large apples (variety)
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tsp flour
½ tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbs butter

Prepare piecrust. Preheat oven to 425. Peel, core and thinly slice apples. Transfer to a bowl. Combine sugars, flour and spices. Sprinkle 1/3 of sugar mixture on bottom pie crust. Toss apples with ½ of remainder of sugar mix. Fill pie pan with apples and sprinkle remaining sugar mix on top of apples. Dot with butter.

Bake for 10 minutes at 425

¼ cup flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup rolled oats.

Meanwhile, mix flour, cinnamon, brown sugar and rolled oats. Mix well. Cut in butter until mixed well. Sprinkle mixture over pie.

Reduce heat to 375 and bake an addition 30-35 minutes.