Birthday Cookies

Over at Sweetnicks, they are celebrating a birthday! So, in honor of the SD I decided to make my entry to ARF-Tuesday a sweet...cookies! No, no birthday cake here today, but I hope that oatmeal cookies will suffice! I came up with this recipe after looking at several different recipes around the web. I decided to add some coarse sea salt to them because I think that burst of saltiness is a fun and different surprise. I made these twice and used 1/2 cup more flour the first time. The batter was really thick and didn't let the cookies spread ANY but I kind of liked the resulting cookies a little better...it reminded me of one of those restaurant cookies except with a homemade look and taste. You know, a bit chewy and "almost" undercooked? Anyway, here's a birthday cookies for Cate's SD! Happy Birthday! Oatmeal Cookies
4 T margarine
4 T shortening
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup AP flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 F. Cream margarine, shortening, and sugars together. When creamy beat in egg and vanilla. Add flours, tartar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in oatmeal. Add chips and stir. Place on baking sheets or stones in tablespoons. Bake for 9-10 minutes. Remove to cooling rack and allow to cool.

Snap, Sizzle, Pop

If you've read this blog for any time at all, you'll know that I have a thing for roasting vegetables. I just LOVE roasted eggplant, onion, sweet potato. Mmm! One veggie I haven't tried roasted is green beans. So, last night I decided to roast the fresh green beans that I got at Fresh Market this weekend. I figured that they would be a good side as well as a nice finger snack, which I'll probably take with me on call tomorrow! I imagine they'd be good with dip as well. They turned out great! These are my entry to Cate's ARF Tuesday at Sweetnicks. Stop by and check out all the great entries. Roasted Green Beans

1 lb. fresh green beans

drizzle olive oil

1 onion, diced

sea salt

garlic powder

Nature's Seasoning Wash the beans and snap the ends off the beans. Place them on a roasting pan along with the onion. Drizzle with olive oi, salt, garlic powder, and seasoning. Stir/toss with hands. Place in 425 degree oven and roast for 15-20 minutes or until wrinkled and at desired texture.

One Wedding, One Cookie, and One Link

This past Saturday, I went to the wedding of one of my brother's friends (This is NOT right...they're getting married and I have yet to date! Oh well!). The wedding was just SO much fun. I didn't expect to have fun, since it wasn't my friend, but the mood was happy, excited, and just fun. Marley, the bride, had great ideas for the reception. His last name is Jones, so they had Jones sodas for the wedding favors. Then, they had an entire table of candy, complete with M&M's, skittles, sour ropes, Jolly Ranchers, Air Heads, and chocolate dipped pretzels and marshmallows (SO GOOD!). Then, the main table had the traditional reception food, cheese, and fruit PLUS a make your own nacho area. So cute...to match Marley! Anyway, I knew that I was going to see my dad; so, being the loving daughter that I am, I made him some cookies. I wanted to try something new, so I went in search of a recipe and found this one at Anna's site, Cookie Madness. Let me just tell you...it was SOOOOO good! I think that it's one of the top three chocolate chip cookies I've ever had. It made a lot, so I split the batch and gave some to my brother's girlfriend. She wasn't sure if she would like it because of the coffee and was going to send them home with Philip if she didn't. Well, I got a note from her that said, "I hate to disappoint your parents, but I didn't send the cookies home with Philip. They were so good!" I just hope they gave her some energy for her finals! So, all in all, these are winning cookies. I highly recommend them. On another note before I give you the recipe, check out this new site, Chop, Stir, Mix. I haven't had a chance to look around a lot yet, but they look like they have some good recipes...PLUS, they're having a giveaway. Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies (from NM Cookbook)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cool room temp (I used one stick butter, one margarine)

2 cups (450g) golden brown sugar

1/3 cup (65g) superfine sugar (I just used regular sugar)

3 teaspoons instant coffee granules

2 large eggs (I used one)

4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups (490g) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon sea salt (I used 1/2 b/c I only had the crystals and was nervous about it...they kind of provided an interesting taste to this cookie)

3 cups chocolate chips (I used 2)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Cream butter and sugars. Beat in espresso powder and vanilla. Add eggs and beat until thoroughly smooth. Add dry ingredients and stir to combine. Scoop into tablespoon sized balls (or walnut sized). Flatten slightly. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until set and very slightly golden around edges. Please do not overbake...the gooey center is the best part!

Almost a Ruined Dish

Sometimes, my intentions in cooking don't go like I want them to go. A couple of weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to try and make chicken spaghetti-squash (i.e., chicken spaghetti made with spaghetti squash). So, I pulled together the chicken and veggie mixture, cooked the squash, and was about to combine them when I tasted the squash. OH MY GOODNESS, I don't know if it was the squash or if spaghetti squash and rotel tomatoes don't go together, but that was the worst taste I had had in my mouth in a long time. I mean, I almost involuntarily spit it out! I'm glad I decided to taste the squash first because it would have ruined the whole thing. So, instead of my attempt at a morph, I just pulled out the already opened box of whole wheat spaghetti and used that. It was less noodles than called for, but that's fine with me. This turned out really good except that I think I overcooked the chicken...it ended up a little tough. I did make a few changes (one intentional, the other accidental), which I'll not in pink below. With the peppers in this recipe, it's a good entry for Sweetnicks' ARF Tuesday. Check out her blog and give a little encouragement...she's got to have a root canal, which is not much fun! Chicken Spaghetti from my mom's recipe box

4 chicken breasts (I used 3)

medium onion, chopped (I used a bag fof frozen pepper and onion)*

small green pepper, sliced (I used a bag of frozen onion and pepper)

1/3 stick margarine (I just sprayed with PAM)

1 can mushroom soup, 98% fat free

1/2 can water

1 can Old English cheese (I used grated sharp cheddar - 1/2 cup, could have used more - I would stick with the Old English cheese, it makes it creamier, but if you want to make it healthier, just use some sharp cheddar - high flavor with less!)

1 can water chestnuts (forgot to get these and missed them)

small bottle sliced stuffed olived (forgot these, too...missed them as well)

small box angel hair pasta (I used whole wheat and less, because that's what I had...still would like to try spaghetti squash...what do YOU think?)

1 can Rotel tomatoes

Cook chicken until tender. Chop. In skillet, saute onion and bell pepper. Add soup, water, and cook over low heat. Add cheese. Allow to elt and add water chestnuts, olives, and toatoes. Remove from heat. Cook noodles. In a casserole put a layer of spaghetti, chicken, and sauce. Repeat layers (OR just mix it all together and pour in the casserole!). The casserole can be frozen at this point. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes.

*With the price of peppers right now, this is probably more friendly for the budget as well.

Quick Muffins

I haven't made breakfast for my Sunday School class in quite a while, so I decided to make some muffins this week. I think that these are probably the most semi-homemade you can get! It uses a cake mix...but made healthier by using pumpkin for the moistener. It is fantastic and so moist you'd never guess that wasn't any added oil. Because of the pumpkin, this is a great ARF entry for Sweetnicks ARF Tuesday. Check out the others at her site. Easy Pumpkin Muffins
1 box carrot cake mix
1 1/2 cups pumpkin
1/2 cup water
1 egg

Preheat oven to 375. Stir together mix, pumpkin, egg, and water. Scoop into greased muffin tin. Bake for 12 minutes (or until springs back) for mini muffins and about 20 minutes (or until done) for full muffins. I got 12 full muffins and 20 mini-muffins.

I "Popped" Out

Yes, I'm sure you've all see the cuteness of all the cheesecake pops that are circulating around the web. Well, I was supposed to do these little things but didn't. I didn't have an occasion to make them and my little apartment refrigerator is just not equipped to hold a tray of cheesecake pops in the freezer. SO, after doing 6 consecutive Daring Baker challenges, I have missed one. I'll be back in May, but if you want to see all the great participants out there, check out the blogroll! Enjoy!

Don't Forget the Sugar!

I love spending holidays with my family. However, this year Easter fell in the middle of one of my rotations, so I could not go to TN, and my parents needed to be at their church. So, I didn't get to spend Easter with them. I was really kind of nervous about what to do about lunch. You see, I knew that my parents' best friends would probably end up inviting me to spend it with them, but I kind of wanted to do something with people my age. So, one evening after our special music I asked a friend who is getting married in June what she and her fiancee were doing. I just assumed that they would be going to eat at her dad's because he lives in Madison. Nope...they didn't have plans. YAY! So, we made plans for them to come to my apartment. I asked a couple of other guys, but they both had plans. My roommate ended up eating with us as well, even though her family lives in town. I decided to make pork loin and almost had a fit because the meat appeared to be the normal cut I got but was really one of those that is cut lengthwise down the center to make two long, skinny loins. It turned out GREAT though...so flavorful and tender! Matt made green bean casserole and Kalyn made dirty (or brown as she called it) rice. I had tried a mashed sweet potato recipe but it was, um, gross...so that went in the trash! We cut up a fresh pineapple as well. Then dessert! Ah, dessert. I decided to make an angel food cake. I've done this before; so, when it was time to pour the "batter" in the pan, I thought it looked a little runny but decided to bake it anyway. OH MY WORD! That cake was a disaster. It was flat and oh so eggy. At first, I had no clue what went wrong...then I remember, oops! I forgot to put the other half of the sugar in with the flour. Amazing the difference. Thankfully, I had purchased and extra dozen eggs to dye (which I ended up NOT doing), so I whipped up another cake, and this one turned out great! We topped it with strawberries, cool whip, and chocolate sauce! A perfect end to a lovely day with friends! Angel Food Cake

1 cup cake flour

1 1/2 cups sugar, divided

12 large egg whites

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract Preheat oven to 325°.
To prepare cake, lightly spoon the flour into a dry measuring cup, and level with a knife.
Sift together flour and 3/4 cup sugar. Beat egg whites with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt; beat until soft peaks form. Add 3/4 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Fold in vanilla. Slowly add flour mixture into peaks and fold in. Be sure to fold all the way to the bottom of the bowl to distribute the flour evenly.

Spoon batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan, spreading evenly. Break air pockets by cutting through batter with a knife. Bake at 325° for 50 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Invert pan, and cool completely. Loosen cake from sides of pan using a narrow metal spatula. Invert the cake onto plate. Cut cake into 12 slices.