oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

I know that I just posted a recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, so this is fairly repetitive. I have been trying to use my new Joy of Cooking cookbook whenever possible, though, and my sister specifically requested oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. How can I say no to a simple request like that?

Blonde moment: forgot the oats. Seriously. I made it, noticed the consistency was a bit drippy while putting them on the cookie sheet, and put them in the oven. I turned around, tidied up a bit, and then noticed the very large and obvious cylinder of oats. Oh, ohhh, yeah. Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Well the first 6 weren't (and unsurprisingly were quite thin) and then the rest were. I hastily gave my sister the first 6 still hot (she was off to pick up kids to babysit), so I didn't get to try how they turned out (too crispy? too thin? off flavor?). The dough sure as heck was delicious and I liked the cookies too. The cookbook says not to put in the cinnamon and nutmeg if not making oatmeal raisin, but I like those flavors so I kept them to make the chocolate chip version more interesting.

Still don't notice something is missing...

 Growing suspicious about cookie dough texture...

 After realizing that they were missing the OATS!

 That's more what we had bargained for...

I made a half recipe, which gave me about 24 cookies. Below is the original recipe from Joy of Cooking 75th edition

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
3 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla until well blended.

Stir in dry mixture. Stir in raisins and oats. Shape into balls and place on cookie sheet (greased or parchment lined, I prefer parchment). Flatten into rounds. Bake until lightly browned, 12-14 minutes.

margarita pizza, with stone

I gave my boyfriend a pizza making kit for Christmas, and we finally got around to using it (finally only because we cook so often). I wanted to make homemade dough for it (memories of making pizza weekly with Eryn in Morocco and the giggles that accompanied all of our kitchen time), so I've included the basic recipe from SK, though I tweaked it a bit. I think using the whole wheat flour instead of some of the regular flour contributed to the thickness of the dough, as did some perhaps imperfect measurements on my part. When it was hot, it was good, but the crust part was a bit more chewy than normal. I haven't had this problem using the same recipe but all white flour, so if you follow it exactly, you shouldn't have a problem.

We first baked the dough on the stone with a bit of olive oil, garlic, herbes de Provence, fresh thyme, and black pepper. Once it was about halfway done, we brought it out and put on the tomato sauce (from a jar), mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, and tomatoes, and put it back in the oven. When it was finished, we sprinkled fresh basil on the top, and voila. It was very yummy. We even enjoyed it cold the next day (sometimes reheating in an oven [no microwave], though worth it when I do, is more than I'm bothered to try).

*I doubled this recipe for our pizza, but I have used this for two and its been good (and thinner)


6 tablespoons warm water (may need up to 1 or 2 tablespoons more water)
2 tablespoons white wine
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups flour [I used 1/2 cup whole wheat flour with 1 cup regular flour]


Whisk wine, water and yeast in a medium bowl until yeast has dissolved. Add honey, salt and olive oil and stir. Add flour and no matter how dry it looks, work it with a spoon and your fingers until it comes together as a dough. Add more water one tablespoon at a time if you need, but in my experience, this is almost never necessary.

Sprinkle some flour on the counter and knead the dough for a minute or two.

If you’re like me and always trying to reduce the number of dirty dishes left at the end of the night, wash the bowl you made the dough in, dry it and coat the inside with olive oil. Put the dough in, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rise for an hour or up to two, until it is doubled.

[Easiest way to tell if a dough has risen enough? Dip two fingers in flour, press them into the dough, and if the impression stays, it's good to go. If it pops back, let it go until it doesn't.]

juicing

After a few conversations about it with my boyfriend and a viewing of Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead (on Netflix instant watch, check it out), we decided to try out a juice diet/fast. Our original plan was 3 days, but we went 46 hours before deciding we wanted dinner. On the one hand, it was challenging, but on the other hand, I felt pretty good and most of my hunger wasn't real hunger. More on that later. I'd definitely do it again.

In the documentary, he goes on a 60 day juice diet and encourages several people to try it out with a 10 day juice cleanse. We decided on 3 days because we weren't as unhealthy as most of the people in the film who were trying it out, and I wanted to make sure that I picked a really feasible amount of time so that my willpower would last. Not to throw him under the bus, but while I was definitely hungry and ready for food, my boyfriend was the one who was really ready to eat. I felt hunger, but once I had a glass of juice, I was pretty full and could last a few hours before the next dose. I think some of the impact on our slightly different responses can be a result of

• gender (he needs more calories and we were drinking about the same amount)
• activity level (we both workout, but since I don't have a job, I'm not as out and about as much)
• muscle mass (going back to calorie needs)
• mental need for food

Don't get me wrong, I love food. I think about it, I almost exclusively watch the Food Network, the highlight of my day is usually cooking or going out to eat for dinner, and I spend a good amount of time with recipes thinking about what to make next. Like many people, a lot of my best moments have involved food and friends together. That said, it wasn't so hard for me not to eat it because I knew that 3 days would end relatively quickly and then it would be back in my life. It wasn't a radical lifestyle change, just an experiment. I would like to stress that I am a pretty healthy person in general, so it could inspire a significant life change and shift in eating habits for a lot of people who really need it. 

3 days of fruit and vegetable leftovers from my juicer

In the movie, everyone who tried it talked about how much better they felt, they quickly lost some junk pounds, their skin really improved (part of what inspired me to try it), and their systems got nicely cleaned out within a couple days (yes, I'm talking about poop - and not just any poop, but getting rid of things that have been clinging to your insides for a while). They say that the first few days are pretty brutal physically and emotionally. I can't really speak to that because I mostly felt fine, and other than obviously being aware that I was only ingesting juice and water, nothing really felt or seemed or behaved differently in my body. 

Was it worth it? Definitely. I liked getting to try something new and challenge myself a bit. I definitely felt healthy knowing that I was only putting good things in my body. I did feel awake and energized throughout the day, and I think hoping that it would make me and my skin better had a good positive thinking impact on how it went. 

Some important things to remember if you try it out:

• This isn't fasting - you can drink as much water as you want, and, as far as I understood it, as much juice as you want
• Store bought juice is NOT equal to the juice you should make for this. We bought a gallon of juice from a local juice bar (sort of a brutal flavor) that was made fresh for me and then used a juicer to make the rest of it. If you do this, drinking glass after glass of OJ and apple juice is not the correct thing.
• When we think of juice, we think fruits. This should be heavily vegetable based. Fruits are important for balancing the flavors and masking some of the vegetable taste (apples, citrus, and ginger are great for this), but they aren't the bulk of it. 
• Read up on it. We based ours mostly off the movie, some recipes for the Mean Green juice used in the film, and some basic internet searches. 

My fridge with our first batch of groceries for the juice fast:

oranges, green apples, lemons, strawberries, cucumber,

blueberries, blackberries, carrots, spinach, kale, ginger

 the juice we bought: the love cleanse

cucumber, celery, parsley, coconut water, spinach, kale

*it tasted very intensely like these veggies; we always mixed it with 

apple, citrus, and other items to help with the flavor so we could drink it

An example of one of our homemade juice meals (for two):

• 1/2 bunch kale
• 1/2 bunch spinach
• 2 oranges
• 2 green apples
• 1 lemon
• 1 banana
• 1-2 carrots
• handful blueberries/other berries

dad's strawberry shortcake

Ah, a childhood favorite. My dad made this a lot while I was in middle and high school, and it is one of my all time comfort foods. When I was in Morocco, I went on a trip to London and saw a box of bisquick in the store. I bought it and brought it to Casablanca with me, and Eryn and I loved making strawberry shortcake as a special treat. It is super simple and yummy and just makes me so darn happy. I always serve it with milk and sugar sprinkled on top, but to each his own.

*recipe from the box of bisquick


3 tablespoons white sugar
2 1/3 cups Bisquick baking mix
1/2 cup whole milk [or whatever kind you like]
3 tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 425 F. Combine dry ingredients. Mix in milk and melted butter. Shape into individual shortcakes. The flatter, the more cooked through they will be once they are golden brown. Cook 10-12 minutes.

snickerdoodles, redux

This was my first recipe that I made from my new Joy of Cooking cookbook. Unfortunately, I wasn't being a very good reader (or thinker) and instead of rolling the cookies in the cinnamon sugar mixture, I just added it in. Basically, I made cinnamon sugar cookies. But they tasted good, so who's upset? I was really surprised by how much they spread out, so my first batch made pretty giant, thin cookies. The second batch was smaller but still really thin, and I cooked them a bit too long. So keep an eye on them.

*this is the full recipe, I made a half version and got about 18 cookies

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs

1/4 cup sugar
4 tsp ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line 2 cookie sheets.

Whisk until well blended the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until creamed. Add the eggs and beat until well combined. Stir in the flour mixture.

Combine the sugar and ground cinnamon. Shape the dough into balls and roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake until cookies are light golden brown, about 12 minutes.

Nutritional information (for 1/36 of full recipe)
112 total calories
5g total fat
15g total carbs
1g protein

chocolate chip spice scones

I've made variations on these scones a few times, but this was the most improvising I've done. They really should be called everything but the kitchen sink scones because I did not have all the ingredients on hand by a long shot. I'll post the original recipe and my interpretation this time... They turned out all right, though. I did some with chocolate chips and some without, and I definitely thought the chips added something good and necessary to it.

Courtney’s Cardamom Ginger Scones

3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¾ tsp ground cardamom
1 egg
1 cup yogurt/crème fraiche
¼ cup chopped candied ginger
½ cup sugar

*my version

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

¾ tsp apple pie spice mix (ground cinnamon, cloves, etc)

1 egg

1/2 cup yogurt/crème fraiche

1/2 cup applesauce [I may have used more to get it to a workable consistency]

½ cup sugar

3/4 cup chocolate chips

preheat oven to 375
mix dry ingredients first
then add stick of butter (cubed into small pieces) [if you want to add butter, I don't usually]
add egg, yogurt, sugar, spices, and chocolate chips
mix together until thick dough mixture
bake in oven for around 25 minutes

mushroom risotto + roasted brussels sprouts

First of all, I always thought it was just "brussel" sprouts and not "brussels" sprouts. Not that it really matters because you get the s sound in there either way, but now I'm going to pay special attention to the way I say it. Anyway, I've never eaten brussels sprouts before, but I saw them pop up a couple times on food network and smitten kitchen, so when we saw them at the grocery store we bought a bag. And then they sat in my fridge for about a week, lonely and uneaten. Finally, just before they would probably go bad, we decided to make them and see how they turned out. I think roasting was good, and the more they were roasted, the better we liked them. Our conclusion was that our batch was a few minutes shy of what we would have liked but that overall, brussels sprouts are getting a bad rap and aren't so bad. Along with the brussels sprouts, we made risotto because, well, we love risotto and it's always delicious. Both the brussels sprouts and risotto recipes were from allrecipes.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

*we didn't measure and just put in the amount that we thought fit however many sprouts we had

1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and yellow leaves removed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

garlic, chopped [we added this]

parmesan, grated [we added this at the end after the oven]

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).

Place trimmed brussels sprouts, olive oil, kosher salt, pepper, and garlic in a large resealable plastic bag [or mix by hand in a bowl, like I did]. Seal tightly, and shake to coat. Pour onto a baking sheet, and place on center oven rack.

Roast in the preheated oven for 30 to 45 minutes, shaking pan every 5 to 7 minutes for even browning. Reduce heat when necessary to prevent burning. Brussels sprouts should be darkest brown, almost black, when done. Adjust seasoning with kosher salt, if necessary. Serve immediately [with parmesan cheese grated on top].

Mushroom Risotto

6 cups chicken broth, divided [we probably used 4-5 cups]

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 pound portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced [we didn't use this]

1 pound white mushrooms, thinly sliced [we used 8 oz regular mushrooms]

2 shallots, diced

1 1/2 cups Arborio rice

1/2 cup dry white wine

sea salt to taste

freshly ground black pepper to taste

3 tablespoons finely chopped chives [didn't use]

4 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

In a saucepan, warm the broth over low heat [or boil water and add bouillon cube].

Warm 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the mushrooms, and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Remove mushrooms and their liquid, and set aside.

Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to skillet, and stir in the shallots. Cook 1 minute. Add rice, stirring to coat with oil, about 2 minutes. When the rice has taken on a pale, golden color, pour in wine, stirring constantly until the wine is fully absorbed. 

Add 1/2 cup broth to the rice, and stir until the broth is absorbed. Continue adding broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring continuously, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is al dente, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove from heat, and stir in mushrooms with their liquid, butter, chives, and parmesan. Season with salt and pepper to taste.