Fabulous Outstanding Superb Chocolate Chip Cookies

It happens every year about this time. I get the itch to bake. I want to turn on the oven and make some mouthwatering desserts. Well, even though I paid an astronomical fee to the power company last month for the privilege of being cool, I could take it no longer. The oven came on. And cookies were made.

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

The secret ingredient? Yep…a cucumber!

Just kidding. No cucumbers! There is absolutely no veggies or fruit in these cookies. They consist of pure butter…chocolate…sugar…pudding…yep, all yummy stuff that the world says is no good for you. But…they sure taste good!

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!

Quiche: Easy, Quick & Versatile!

I have found a new love. This new love tempts me, beckons me and cajoles me into spending time with it every time an opportunity presents itself. It’s called quiche. I love that it is easy, quick and by switching a few ingredients, you can have varying dishes to meet everyone’s tastes.

Today, I made quiche for our ladies’ get together at church. I made three different kinds; Bacon, Mushroom and Cheese Quiche, Taco Quiche and Broccoli, Cheese and Ham Quiche. I’m not sure which one was better because I heard oohs and aahs over each one.

Here is the recipe for the bacon, mushroom and cheese quiche. Enjoy!

Prepare a 9in piecrust.

1 lb bacon
8 oz mushrooms (a variety is good…add some baby bellas…yum!)
4 oz shredded Cheddar cheese
4 oz shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Olive Oil

Fry bacon. I prefer to use my kitchen shears and cut the bacon before frying. Some people like to crumble it afterward. It’s totally up to you.

When bacon is crisp, remove from pan to a paper towel lined plate and remove most of the bacon grease. Add a drizzle of olive oil to the pan and add sliced mushrooms. Sauté until golden brown. Remove mushrooms from pan. (I did this in two batches so the mushrooms had plenty of room to brown nicely)

Add bacon to piecrust. Top with sautéed mushrooms and cheese. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Here is the recipe for the basic egg mixture. This mixture can be used with any combination of ingredients as fillings.

Drizzle of olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 8oz package cream cheese
1 cup half and half
Pepper
4 large eggs

Sauté onion and garlic in a drizzle of olive oil until tender. Add cream cheese and milk and pepper. Stir until melted. Set aside to cool.

Beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add a little bit of cheese mixture. (If you add too much the eggs will cook and we don’t want that!) Slowly mix in the rest of the cheese mixture and beat well.

Pour egg mixture over bacon, mushrooms and cheese in piecrust.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes until lightly browned.

Tips for preparing the taco quiche and the broccoli/ham quiche:

Taco quiche is a great way to use leftover taco meat. Layer piecrust with meat, add your favorite cheese and top with egg mixture above. Serve with sour cream and salsa or any of your favorite taco fillings. Easy!

When using ham in quiche, it is important to fry the ham a bit before adding it to your pie. Ham holds a lot of water and will cause your mixture to not set well. Frying will pull the water out of your ham before it gets mixed into the quiche. Broccoli should be steamed ahead of time to al dente. This quiche is great with Swiss cheese.

I took my camera with me with the intention of taking some pictures of the ladies eating their quiche. I got so involved in eating my quiche…I forgot! So sorry.

Strawberry/Spinach Salad with Candied Almonds

On Monday evening I met a friend at a local coffee shop. I had this wonderful strawberry spinach salad and felt compelled to come home and re-create the recipe. I have to say, it's as good as the one at the coffee shop.

Since I was talking them up on facebook, I am following through with my promise for the recipe for these yummy treats. I used sliced almonds although you could easily use whole and serve them as a snack.


Candied Almonds

½ cup water
1 cup sugar
1 tbs ground cinnamon
2 cups sliced almonds

Bring water, sugar and cinnamon to a boil. Add almonds and stir until all liquid is dissolved.

Cook until the sugar starts turning a nice golden brown and the liquid evaporates. The syrup left behind will coat the almonds.

Pour mixture onto a lightly sprayed cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes.

Break almonds apart and use in salads, as an ice cream topper or plain, as a snack.

I personally used these to top my spinach strawberry salad. Yum!

Top some fresh spinach with sliced strawberries and some crumbled feta cheese.

Poppy seed dressing, like the recipe below, is wonderful on this salad. Add dressing then sprinkle almonds on top. Enjoy!

Poppy seed dressing:

1/3 cup white sugar
½ cup white vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground dry mustard
1 tsp grated onion
1 cup grape seed oil
1 tbs poppy seeds

In a blender or food processor, combine sugar, vinegar, salt, dry mustard and onion. Blend for 30 seconds. Slowly add grape seed oil and continue blending until smooth. Stir in poppy seeds.

This is a wonderful summertime salad. Enjoy it!

Food from Pierogi Fest!

Last weekend a fellow author and I spent three days in the hot sun attempting to sell copies of our books to a crowd of people who only had one thing on their mind: Polish Food!

Lisa's husband, Charlie, made food runs every couple of hours. It was his primary job, and I can honestly say, he did a fantastic job. The first food we sampled was pierogies. Since I have never sampled this delicacy, it was a treat! We had mushroom, potato, meat and taco filled pierogies. We also had a large fried pierogi filled with meat, potatoes and cheese.

Lisa and Charlie eating their fried pierogies!


We also sampled alligator and the snow cones from the booth next to us. Charlie bought one of the silver mugs you see in the picture below filled with rootbeer. Nice keepsake!

Here a couple is enjoying potato pancakes, pierogies and polish sausage with kraut.

Cooking the sausages and kabobs in 98 degree weather...not fun!

Finally after seeing several plates piled high with homemade potato chips, we sampled them. They were good...but between the three of us, we couldn't finish a plate. That's a lot of potatoes!

These guys are enjoying a polish sausage sandwich and chicken kabobs. I'm not sure the kabobs are polish, but I do know...they were good!

After a long day of feeding thousands upon thousands of people, the alligator guy took a nap in this chair. His booth was right across from ours. Apparently, they ran out of alligator the first day. They made the 3 hour trip home to get more supplies and then had to prepare them before opening back up at 11am on Saturday. He was so tired, and so out of it, we were afraid he'd done bit the dust. Glad to say he woke from his nap and continued with the feeding of the masses.

After eating meat and starch all weekend, I told Lisa and Charlie I was going to go home and have a big salad. That is exactly what I did.

It was absolutely delish! I layered greens, cucumber, tomato, shredded cheese, red onion, craisens, chicken breast and some salad nuggets on a plate. Use your favorite fruity dressing and enjoy!

Cheesecake to die for!

Cheesecake is a favorite in our house. I make chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake, mocha cheesecake, and turtle cheesecake. I would have to say that the recipe that I am posting is my family’s favorite. It’s a plain cheesecake with a little whipped topping on it. Eat it plain…or top it with fresh fruit or chopped candies. Anyway you slice it, it’s divine!

I found this recipe some years back in the Taste of Home magazine.

I normally tweak recipes to fit our family’s likes and dislikes; this recipe needed very little tweaking. We love it!

I am making it today to take to some friends who have graciously invited me to lodge with them while we are participating in a book-signing event. Thanks Charlie and Lisa!

2 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 c sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ cup butter, melted

Filling:
3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 ½ cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs, separated

In a small bowl, combine cracker crumbs, sugar, and cinnamon.

I am using my batter bowl from Pampered Chef...my very favorite mixing bowl!


Stir in melted butter. Press into bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes. Cool.

Reduce heat to 325 degrees. In a mixing bowl beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add egg yolks and beat until just mixed. (Over mixing cheesecake results in extra air in your mixture. This causes the cake to crack while baking.)

In a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form.

Fold into cream cheese mixture.

Pour over crust and bake for one hour or until cake is set. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen the crust. Cool one hour. Refrigerate until completely cooled.

There are two topping options for this cheesecake.

The topping that came with the recipe is:

½ c sour cream
2 TBS sugar
½ tsp vanilla
½ c heavy whipping cream, whipped

Combine sour cream, sugar and vanilla. Fold in whipped cream and spread over cooled cake.

The other option is to beat heavy whipping cream, add a little sugar, and put a dollop on your cheesecake. Either topping is delicious. Today, I used the later.