Are You Nuts? Triple Chip Cookies

I'm back to blogging! Sorry I've been away. It's not that I haven't been cooking, I just didn't think I came up with a recipe that was worth writting about. Actually I have, I just got lazy. But this recipe I just had to write about. This isn’t the greatest cookie ever, but this is probably the greatest cookie I’ve come up with. The cookies didn’t ooze out while they were baking in the oven. The texture came out great with that slight crackle, and they really baked up beautifully. I’ve made some modification with my basic dough by adding ¼ cup each of sugar, plus an additional rising ingredient. With three different kinds of chips - chopped toffee, bittersweet, and semi sweet chips, plus chopped pecans... it’s just a party in your mouth.

1 cup butter at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp cream of tartar
3 cups flour
2 cups mix of chips = ½ cup or so of heath bar, 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli), ½ cup of semi sweet chocolate chips (Nestle)
1 cup raw pecan halves, chopped.

pre head oven to 375 degrees.

I took a two cup liquid measuring cup and filled it up with the heathbar - I used mini heath bars and chopped them up and they equalled a half a cup. A cup of the bittersweet chips ( I use the Costco bag of Ghirardelli, it rocks), and topped it off with a half cup of semi sweet chips (Nestle bag, also from Costco). Set aside.

Cream butter and sugars together until smooth, and eggs and beat until smooth and fluffy. Add the vanilla, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Mix Well. Add flour one cup at a time and beat in until fully incorporated. Then add the chips. I measured out one cup of pecan halves, chopped them with a knife a few times. Not too fine, I still wanted there to be nut pieces in there. Then added that in as well, nut dust and all. Mix. Scoop with a cookie scoop or rounded teaspoon on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. 12 fit on a sheet nicely without any sticking after baking.

bake 9-11 minutes at 375 degrees. 10 minutes worked out perfectly for my oven.

Marbled Brownies

OK so I have to admit that this is not entirely my recipe, and I nabbed it right from the top of the cream cheese box. It's brownies from a box too, but this mix is better than the brownies that I make. However, I have made some minor changes. I swapped out vegetable oil and used canola to make it less heart attack enducing, and decreased the cream cheese by two ounces because it's all I didn't have a full 8 ounce package, and it still turned out really pretty and tasty.

1 box or pouch of Ghirardeli brownie mix (Costco is the best deal on this)
1 egg
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup canola oil

6 ounces of softened cream cheese (allow to go to room temperature 3 hours earlier)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg

Pam cooking spray (or other nonstick cooking spray)
8 x 8 pan

In one large bowl, pour the brownie mix in, add the egg, oil, and water. Mix with a wire whisk until well incorporated and smooth - it wont be perfect because of the chocolate chunks, but the rest of the batter should be smooth and shiny.

Preheat the oven to 375

In another bowl with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese for about 30 seconds. Then add the rest of the ingredients, one at time: sugar, vanilla, and egg. Beat until smooth each time. This should take about 2 minutes.

Prepare the 8x8 pan with Pam, by spraying the bottom and sides of the pan. Pour the brownie batter into the pan. Spoon in the cream cheese mixture on top in different places. take a knife and swirl the batter around to make a pattern. If it is too white on top, take a spoon or use a knife to grab a little brownie from the bottom layer, move it to the top, and continue swirling until a desired pattern is achieved. Bake for 35-40 minutes (I baked for 38 minutes). allow to cool to room temperature (or as close to it as you can) before cutting. Refrigerate any leftover brownies.

5 Cheese Mac and Cheese

This is a heart attack on a plate. 5 different cheeses in one dish. Mmmm tis the season.

Serves a crowd

1 pound of pasta - macaroni or other short hallow noodle. I used pennette because the store didnt have macaroni
2 teaspoons of salt
1 stick (8 tbsp) of butter, divided
4 garlic cloves
3 tbsp flour
3 cups of milk
1 cup of half and half
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 cup smoked Gouda
2 cups Monterrey jack cheese
3 cups cheddar, divided
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp Parmesan Romano blend, divided

In a stock pot, boil enough water as directed. add the salt, and the pasta. cook as directed and drain.

While the water is boiling, heat on low a large pan with high raised edges. Melt 7 tablespoons of the butter (reserve 1 tbsp for later). Mince the garlic cloves and cook for a minute. Then add the flour, this makes the rue, and cook the butter flour mixture stirring frequently for about a minute. The butter will probably brown just at touch. Add in the milk and half and half. Increase the heat to medium. Stir in the mustard. Stir scraping the bottom of the pan with a rubber spatula. Bring to boil. Add the gouda, monterrey jack, 2 cups of the cheddar, and the parmesan-romano blend cheese. Gently stir and mix well until all the cheeses are melted into the milk.

Preheat the oven to 365 degrees. After the pasta is drained, place back into the pot. Drop in the remaining tablespoon of butter and mix into the pot until completely melted. Then mix in a 1/4 cup of parmesan romano cheese and mix. Scoop in the sauce into the pasta and mix. Reserve a scoop or two to top. Dump the pasta into a 9 x 13 baking dish. Pour the remaining sauce over the top. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup of cheddar. Then sprinkle two tbsp of the parmesan-romano cheese over the top. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes, or until the top is a little browned.

Corn Pudding

Oh my goodness I am so far behind! Well this recipe I just made last night. Growing up my best friend's mom Pat made this corn pudding during the holidays, and I absolutely loved it. I looked forward to it each season. Years later I asked for the recipe and I was so surprised how simple it is, and now I always make it during the holidays as well. It is the same recipe with the exception I added a little flour to give it some body, and some garlic for a touch more flavor.

Prep time - 10 minutes or less, cook time about 30-40

Serves about 6-8, or a crowd for a potluck Thanksgiving

2 cans creamed corn

1 can regular can corn - juices and all, do not drain

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1/2 tsp of baking soda

4 garlic cloves

salt and pepper

PAM cooking spray

9 x 13 baking dish

Preheat oven to 365. In a large bowl, open up the cans and dump in the corn. Put the butter in the microwave and allow to melt for a minute. In the meantime, mince 4 cloves of garlic. Pour the melted butter into the bowl, and also add in the garlic. add in the flour, eggs, sugar, and baking soda. Crack in some pepper and add salt. Mix with a whisk until fully incorporated. Spray you baking dish with Pam cooking spray. Pour mixture in. Bake in the oven, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until browned on top. I've also had success with this baking at 350 degrees for 50 minutes as well.

Banana Bread

This is one of my older recipes. I first made this in college, and this is my first baking recipe that was truly my own creation. It stemmed out of necessity because I would buy bunches of bananas at one time and I couldn't eat them fast enough. So I decided to over ripen them and turn it into bread. Basically, I ate a lot of banana bread in college. The bananas really should be over ripe, almost mostly brown or have LOTS of brown spots so the sugars are as naturally developed as possible. And I would recommend using an electric mixer or stand mixer to make this...even though back in college I was making this by hand.

Makes 1 loaf

3 bananas, very over ripe.
1 stick of butter at room temperature
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 cups of flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg - freshly grated with a microplane if possible
1/4 tsp cinnamon to top the bread
Pam nonstick cooking spray

In a separate medium bowl peel the bananas and mash them together. Set aside.

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees. With an electric mixer, beat the butter and eggs until incorporated. Add the sugars and vanilla and continue beating. Add the baking soda and powder and salt. Now add the flour 1/2 cup at a time, and completely mix in. By the time you reach three cups, the dough should appear pretty dry. Now add in the mashed bananas and continue to mix. Add in the cinnamon and nutmeg and stir until fully incorporated.

Prepare a loaf pan by coating it with Pam cooking spray.

Take a spatula to slowly pour the dough into the prepared loaf pan. Scrape completely. Sprinkle a 1/4 tsp of cinnamon on top of the dough. Bake uncovered for 1 hour. Do not disturb. After baking for an hour, take a knife and insert in the middle and pull out to check. If the knife is clean, it is done.

Easier Caprese Pasta Salad and Artichokes with Clarified Garlic Butter

This meal was inspired by a farm stand stop in Gilroy. We saw this place on the way up to San Jose, and I really wanted to stop on my way back. There was lots of amazing fresh produce, and some of the things I picked up were a braid of garlic, fresh mini heirloom tomatoes, and artichokes.

I have never clarified butter before, but thought I should give it a try because I wanted something to dip the artichoke in and look appealing. Clarifying butter is simply the process of removing the milk solids from the butter to create a yellow clear liquid. Something you would see on the side of you plate if you ordered lobster or crab at a restaurant. I created a garlic version of it, and it wasn't too garlicky at all. Or I am totally immune to it. I ended up putting the milk solids from the butter into the pasta. Why waste perfectly good butter. The pasta I served at room temperature

serves 4

Easier Caprese Pasta Salad - with butter solids.

1/2 pack (8oz or so) of penne pasta

1 pound of mix heirloom tomatoes (one small box)

5 tbsp EVOO - Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 large handful of basil (1/2 pack or so)

1 log fresh mozzarella

4 garlic cloves

Serves 2-3

clarified butter

3/4 stick of butter

2 cloves of minced garlic

Serves 2

2 steamed artichokes.

if you are steaming artichokes, I think it takes at least 45 minutes. Boil some water, drop in your steam attachment, lid it, and let it cook. I would turn it about every 15 minutes or so

on a separate pot, boil enough water for the half pack of pasta. add the pasta and cook as directed and add an extra minute or two. While the pasta is cooking, dice the tomatoes and mince the garlic. Julienne the basil. Cube the fresh mozzarella but set the aside to add in at the end. Drain the pasta when completed.

In a large bowl place the drained pasta. add the garlic, olive oil, and vinegars and toss. the oil and vinegars should unstick the pasta. Allow to cool for a couple minutes. add in the tomatoes and basil and toss.

in a small saucepan, meltdown the butter and add the minced garlic on medium low heat. when the butter is completed melted it should have bubbly white solids on top. Take a spoon and scrape the surface. Place whatever you scooped into the pasta dish. allow to cook for another minute and scrape the surface again. Repeat about 4 times or until the butter is clear. if there is garlic in it still that is fine. also if you scrape off some of the butter and placed that into the pasta dish, that is fine too, it just adds flavor. To serve, place a scoop of the pasta salad on a plate, with the artichoke, and place a serving of butter into the mini bowl to drip.

They Call Me Tater Salad

Makes 5-6 side servings

Goes well with the Waldorf Chicken Salad sandwich. I thought this came out pretty pretty decently for a 'simple' potato salad. But if I could do this again, I think a stalk of celery and 2 extra mini pickles would have been nice.

8 russet potatoes (these were small)

4 cloves of garlic

2 tsp dried dill

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp sweet pickle juice from the jar of pickles

6 mini sweet pickles

2 tbsp Dijon mustard
4 heaping tbsp mayo

salt and pepper

bring to boil several quarts of water, enough for the potatoes. Add in some salt.

In the meantime peel and clean the potatoes. Then dice into bit size pieces, but not too small. I like to cut the potato in half lengthwise, then cut into quarters, then cut the quarters either 3-4 times depending on the size of the potato. pile them into a bowl. add the taters in once the water is at a rolling boil. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until just tender for a fork to pass through. Drain in a coriander when complete.

While the potatoes are boiling... mince the garlic, and dice the mini pickles

Put the drained potatoes into a large bowl. add in the garlic, which should cook enough in the fresh hot potatoes. add in the pickles, dill, vinegar, pickle juice, mustard, and mayo. Mix gently so you won't mash the potatoes. Season with some salt and pepper to taste. Chill. Serve.