amazing chocolate chip cookies

Today winter decided to remind us that it is, indeed, still winter by dumping several inches of snow over our freshly melted snow (or grass we finally could see after a few months).  So, similar to our last huge snowstorm, I decided to stay inside and bake cookies!  I wanted to pass along this recipe for chocolate chip cookies someone shared with me in college.  Every time I make them, people comment on how wonderful they are.  It's a simple recipe, but these are the best cookies in the world.  

Buttery Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2	cups butter or margarine, softened
1 1/4	cups granulated sugar
1 1/4	cups packed brown sugar
1	tablespoon vanilla
2	eggs
4	cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
2	teaspoons baking soda
1	teaspoon salt
1	package (24 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (4 cups) Heat oven to 350ºF. Mix butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs in large bowl using spoon. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop dough by rounded measuring tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until light brown. Cool slightly. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack; cool. The recipe is from Betty Crocker and, just like the name says, calls for a lot of butter.  Probably why they're so good.  One of the tricks is to use a wooden spoon to mix it all together (like it says) because I think that helps the butter not get so broken up and make the cookies taste yummier!  I also bake for just 11 minutes because I like my cookies a little on the softer side.  Enjoy!

recipe: sage-infused potatoes

In still trying to keep up with posting the recipes I recently tried, here is my next one.  

SAGE-INFUSED MASHED POTATOES

1.  Choose and prepare potatoes, either redskin (cleaned and cut into medium-sized chunks) or white (peeled and cut into medium-sized chunks).

2.  Cook the potatoes in chicken stock or broth until tender.  I use the Trader Joe's free range broth in the yellow container.  Using stock/broth adds an immense amount of flavor without the fat of cream or butter.

3.  When the potatoes are done, drain off about 3/4 of the broth (reserving some of the broth in case you end up needing more).  Mash the potatoes with the remaining broth.  If the potatoes are still dry:  add more chicken stock and a few T. of butter if you are using redskin potatoes OR add more chicken stock and some half & half/heavy whipping ceam if you are using white potatoes.  The more chicken stock you use, the more healthy the potatoes will be.  (You don't neccessarily have to add any butter or cream...)

4.  To taste, add dried sage (approximately 1 t. per 3-4 helpings in the batch), sea salt, and ground pepper.  Mash the potatoes some more after adding the seasonings and taste them to see if they could use more sage, etc.

5.  The redskinned potatoes taste great without any additional gravy, etc.  The white potatoes taste fantastic with added gravy.
 

For this recipe, I ended up using red potatoes (because they are my favorite).  I didn't use a lot of butter at the end--mostly stock--and I thought they still had plenty of flavor.  Matt preferred them with a little more butter, so I added a little more when we ate them for leftovers.  I made the potatoes with some marinated chicken (just some chicken I threw in the crock pot and poured dressing over).  The leftover dressing in the crock pot we used for gravy on the potatoes.  All in all, a good, easy and healthy meal!

recipe: California Beef Rice Skillet Dinner

I'm posting another recipe I tried when I asked for some meal ideas.  This one was definitely my hubby's favorite!  I'll add a few notes at the end.  Also, this is my 201st post.  I guess I missed it that it was my 200th one yesterday.  So, happy 201st blog post to me!    

California Beef Rice Skillet Dinner

Brown 1 lb ground beef with one chopped onion. Drain. Stir in 2.5 cups water, 1 cup rice, 3 beef bouillon cubes, pepper to taste, and half tsp. dry mustard. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until liquid is absorbed. Add 1 can diced tomatoes (or fresh if you have on hand) and top with cheese (we like the mexican blend or jack best). My kids are picky so I don't add much else, but you can also add green pepper with the tomatoes or even Rotel or salsa instead of the tomatoes.

We used ground turkey instead of ground beef (because I typically buy ground turkey).  I also ended up using chicken bouillon because that's what I had on hand.  And for the tomatoes, we used salsa per Jen's suggestion.  It gave it a good Mexican flair that we really liked!  We'll definitely be enjoying this one again.  Thanks Jen D!

recipe: angel hair pasta with chicken

As promised, I thought I would post the recipe for one of my meal plan days last week.  Here goes:

Angel Hair Pasta With Chicken

       2 Tablespoons Oil (preferably Olive Oil), divided

       2 skinless, boneless Chicken Breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes

       1 cup Carrots, sliced diagonally (can use more if you prefer)

       1 cup Broccoli or Asparagus (if you use broccoli, make sure that the      

       pieces are small enough to cook at an even rate with the carrots)  (you 

       can also use frozen broccoli florets, thawed)

       2 cloves Garlic or ¼ teaspoon Garlic Powder

       12 ounces Angel Hair Pasta

       2/3 cup Chicken Broth

       1 teaspoon Basil

       ¼ cup grated Parmesan or Cheese

1.    Heat 1 Tablespoon oil in a medium skillet over medium heat; add chicken.  Cook, stirring, until chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes.  Remove from skillet and drain on paper towels set on a plate.

2.    Heat remaining oil in same skillet.  Begin heating water for pasta.  Add carrot & broccoli to skillet; cook, stirring, for approximately 4 minutes.  Add the garlic powder (and broccoli if you are using the previously frozen florets); cook, stirring, for 2 additional minutes.

3.    Cook pasta according to the package.

4.    While pasta is cooking, add chicken broth, basil, and half of the parmesan cheese to the skillet.  Stir to combine.  Return chicken to skillet.  Reduce heat and simmer for 4 minutes, or until vegetables are cooked.

Drain pasta.  Place in large serving bowl.  Top with chicken & vegetable mixture.  Top with the rest of the parmesan cheese.  Serve immediately.

I changed just a few things based on what I already had in my cupboards and freezer.  First of all, I actually used both frozen carrots and broccoli (since I had them).  I just let them both thaw before I started putting everything together.  And, I know the recipe does call for angel hair...but we ended up having whole wheat spaghetti (again, because I had it already).  Both changes worked great and we really liked this one!  It was pretty easy to make and contained much of the staples I already had.  Enjoy!

Meal Plan Day 1: Success!

Yesterday we embarked on the first meal of my week of meal plans.  We made baked mac 'n cheese, a recipe given to me by Lisa J.  All in all, we enjoyed it!  I'll share the recipe and then make a few comments on it:

Baked Mac 'n Cheese

Take a 9x13 glass pan, put the noodles in (I like the spiral noodles the best, but you can use any kind) drizzle with olive oil (or melted butter/margarine, we prefer olive oil) mix it a little to coat the pasta. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add shredded cheddar cheese, about a cup? more if you like it cheesier. Pour milk in to cover the pasta. Bake uncovered at 325 for 45 minutes. SOOO easy to put together, and not a lot of mess to clean up.  The key is to use enough milk so the noodles don't get dried out.

I bought a box of rotini to use and had some shredded cheese on hand.  Instead of a 9X13 pan, I actually used my smaller glass casserole which seemed to work just fine.  I put everything together and baked it for about half the time before I checked to make sure everything was cooking right.  I decided to pull it out and add more milk (she was right--you really need to make sure you have enough milk).  In fact, it seems like it's way more than you need, but you basically just need to make sure the pasta is pretty much covered in it.  I also added a little more cheese at that point and stirred everything together so as the top noodles wouldn't get too dry.  I think I ended up using about 1 1/2 cups of cheese when all was said and done.  And it was maybe about 1 1/2 cups of milk, too, for those of you who like to measure (myself included...this was definitely going out of my comfort zone to not have actual numbers!).  I also maybe ended up baking everything for about 50 minutes.  Matt, Abbie and I all loved it and Miriam was so-so on it.  I think her taste buds have started to be unsure on olive oil, so I may just use a little butter next time instead (except that I love olive oil, so we'll see).  We even have some leftovers for lunch today!

So, thanks Lisa!  We'll add this to our collection of "go-to" recipes!