Chocolate Chip Cookies

I got this cookie recipe from a friend probably 15 years ago and it's the only one I use.  I have one copy* of it and I keep misplacing it, so I'm putting it on here for safe keeping!  Should you decide to make it, I like to add extra vanilla to make it extra delicious.

Tricia's Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 3/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 c. butter
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
chocolate chips

Sift together flour, baking soda and salt.  In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugars.  Add vanilla and eggs.  Add in dry ingredients and mix.  Add chocolate chips.  Bake at 375 degrees for 9-11 minutes.

*I used to have more than one copy, but six kids means things get ruined really quickly!

Best crisp ever

I've been having appetite issues the last couple of weeks and have been having to force myself to actually eat.  It turns out the best way to lose a quick 15 pounds is to eat nothing.  Imagine that!  Anyway, since it's rare anymore that something sounds good, I jump on the opportunity to eat when something actually sounds appealing.  Today it was fruit crisp.  I love me some fruit crisp and consider myself a master in the art of fruit crispery, but today's batch put all the others to shame.  I'm trying really hard to just use what I have on hand, so I used frozen peach slices and a frozen berry mix.  I mixed them up with a little flour and sugar, then topped them with a mixture of yellow cake mix, oats and butter.  I've never tried cake mix in a crisp and it is amazingly good.  It may be my new go-to dessert recipe.  I suggest y'all try it!

You make me happy

• Meagan's Bleu Cheese Salad Dressing (1 jar Best Foods mayo, 1 small thingie buttermilk, 1 thing bleu cheese crumbles, 1 tsp. garlic salt, 1 tsp. pepper)
• The British version of Skins. The MTV version sucks.
• Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper
• Italian Sweet Creme coffee creamer over fresh strawberries
• My Kindle
• Free ebooks for my Kindle
• Not having to translate semi-illiterate texts as though they were a foreign language. In case you were wondering, my name is spelled Kimberly, not Kimburley. And if you thought that was bad, let me give you an exact quote from one of dude's texts: "Hears haw it is, plain and simpel." Really? REALLY??? I am obviously not bitter at all!
• A full propane tank
• "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele
• The end of Hollywood's award season. Could the Oscars have been any more boring? (Could I have sounded any more like Chandler when I said that?)
  
• Jimmy Kimmel
• The Cosby Show
• Payday
• Chicken enchiladas
  

Fruit Crisp

Chop up a bunch of fruit (if it's juicy fruit, mix in a little flour) and dump it in a cake pan. Mix up some flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cut in some butter until it's chunky. Spread it on top of the fruit. Bake at 350ish until it's brown on top. That's a stupid direction-the mixture is brown already. Bake it until it's even more browned and looks done. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Sorry this isn't a more clear recipe, I just make it without thinking. It's a great way to get rid of extra fruit. Last night I used apples, nectarines and plums. My favorite, though, is rhubarb. I also always make about twice as much of the crisp part because that's my favorite. For the crisp part, I would say I probably use equal parts of flour and brown sugar, and then two parts of oatmeal. Actually, maybe one and a half parts of brown sugar. I don't know. Just make it however you like it!

Beef Taquitos

1 lb. ground beef
1 c. salsa
1. c. grated cheese
flour tortillas

Brown the hamburger, then add in the salsa and cheese. Put about 1/2 cup of the mixture in a flour tortilla and roll it up. Line them up on a greased cookie sheet, then bake them at 425 degrees until they're golden brown.

****I think this would also be good with shredded chicken and with enchilada sauce and cheese on top.

Cafe Rio Creamy Tomatillo Salad Dressing

3 tomatillos, peeled and quartered
juice of 1/2 a lime
1/2 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. mayo
1/2 c. sour cream
1 pkg. dry Ranch dressing mix
1 c. fresh chopped cilantro
6 green onions
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 T. sugar
1 jalepeno (How on earth do you get the little squiggly over the n?)

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Chill for 1 hour.

****I was eating it with a spoon before I chilled it and it was delicious. Had I not been serving it for dinner, I may have started drinking it right out of the food processor bowl. I've made other Cafe Rio knock-off recipes, and this is far and away the best. I also drizzled it over a slice of pizza and it was awesome. I'm pretty sure you could drizzle this stuff over anything and it would be amazing.

Green Poblano Rice

1 2/3 c. chicken broth
2 poblano peppers
12 springs cilantro
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T. oil
1 c. rice
1 small onion, diced
5 garlic cloves

Combine broth and peppers in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then partially cover and simmer on medium for 10 minutes. Pour into a food processor. Add cilantro and puree. Add salt. Heat oil in the same saucepan on medium. Add rice and onions. Cook and stir for about 5 minutes, or until the rice looks chalky. Add the garlic and cook for a minute longer. Add the poblano liquid and cook until the rice is done.

*** The directions said to strain the poblano liquid, but I wanted the extra color and flavor, so I didn't. I also added fresh corn partway through cooking the rice and a little bit of extra liquid because the poblano mixture didn't seem like enough liquid for the rice.

Jasmine Coconut Rice with Mango

1 cup uncooked Soft Jasmine Rice (or long grain)
1 can Coconut Milk
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 mango

Cover rice with cold water and rinse. Repeat until the water runs clear, about 3 times, and drain. In a medium saucepan bring 1 and 3/4 cups of water to a boil. Add the rice and stir briefly. Reduce heat to a low simmer and cover. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until the water is absorbed. In a saucepan, combine coconut milk, sugar and salt. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Pour the boiled coconut milk into the cooked rice. Stir well. Cover top of rice directly with wax paper or aluminum foil. Let rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. Peel the mango and cut into slices or squares. Spoon the rice, or scoop with an ice cream server onto a serving platter and decorate with mango slices.

Recipe from here.

vietnamese salad

This was delicious. I based it on this recipe on Goop.

bok choy
Napa cabbage
watercress
fresh basil
fresh mint
fresh cilantro
carrot matchsticks
cucumber slices
Thai red chili, sliced thinly
peanuts, roughly chopped
handful of bean sprouts
diced avocado

Roughly chop the greens and herbs. Toss all of the above together.

1/4 c. fresh lime juice
1 T. rice vinegar
2 tsp. soy sauce
1/4 c. fish sauce (Obvs not vegan-I have no idea what would work as a substitute, flavor-wise)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2-3/4 tsp. sesame oil
a few drops of Siracha chili sauce
a couple spoonfuls of brown sugar
minced garlic to taste
minced ginger to taste
finely diced shallot

Whisk together, drizzle over salad, then toss together.

delicious

For dinner tonight I made:

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

fingerling potatoes
olive oil
sea salt
pepper
garlic
seasoning of your choice

Peel the potatoes and parboil for like 8-10 minutes, then drain. Put them in a baking dish, then drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic, sea salt (you can use regular if you must, but I really like the bursts of flavor from the little salt chunkies), freshly ground pepper, and whatever seasonings you like (I used Greek seasoning because it is my favorite of all time.). Cover with foil and bake until done. Mine took about 20 minutes for about a dozen potatoes. BTW, I got a bag of fingerling potatoes at CostCo and it had several different varieties, including a purple one. I thought the purple potatoes were a lot more dry than the others, so next time I think I'll use those for something else that maybe has a sauce with it.

Italian(ish) Bread Salad

good bread (I used a baguette)
artichoke hearts
roasted red peppers
shallots (You can use onion; I had a shallot that needed to be used.)
garlic
tomatoes (I only had regular, but I would recommend that you use grape.)
spinach, torn into bite-sized pieces
olives (I used kalamata, it was just what I had on hand.)
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt (I used kosher)
pepper
seasoning

Rip the bread into bite-size pieces and combine in a bowl with the artichoke hearts, peppers, scallion, garlic, tomatoes and spinach. Drizzle with olive oil and vinegar, then season with salt, pepper and other seasonings to taste. I think for this kind of salad, you're supposed to wait a while to allow all the flavors to combine, but I liked the bread better at the beginning, when it was still a little chewy. It definitely had more flavor after it sat for a while, but I didn't like the texture as much. Fresh basil and other herbs would have been awesome in this, but alas, I was using what was around the house and I didn't have anything like that. (And yes, I did just use the word alas.) This would have also been delicious with fresh mozzarella, but that doesn't jive with the whole vegan thing, so yeah.


I'm sorry I don't have measurements for anything. I was just kind of messing around, using what sounded good.

delicious

I made broth with the leftover turkey carcass today and used part of it to make Turkey Pho for dinner. It was tasty. I love being able to add my own toppings to stuff. And I had a great time charring the ginger and shallots. I'm not entirely sure I did it correctly, but the pyro in me definitely enjoyed it. (You can read how to do it here.) I also had some pomegranates and persimmons that needed using, so I made this Kale, Pomegranate and Persimmon salad. Except Harmon's was out of kale, so I used spinach. This salad was sooooo good! I highly recommend it. For the dressing I used sesame oil and added peanut butter.

Balsamic Popcorn

In a saucepan, reduce a 1/4ish cup of balsamic vinegar by half. Add a tablespoon or two of butter, stir until melted, then spoon it over a bag of microwave popcorn.

I can't stop eating this stuff. It almost has a caramel corn essence to it. I don't know how to explain it. All I know is I think it's delicious. My parents don't agree though, so maybe it's one of those things where you either love it or hate it. Except they didn't hate it, they just thought it was too strong. If you're not a big balsamic vinegar fan like I am, you could always just use less vinegar.

Bread Soup with Cilantro, Garlic and Egg

3 T. finely minced garlic, plus 1 whole clove garlic
1 tsp. kosher or sea salt
1 c. chopped fresh cilantro
3/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
6 thick slices of coarse country bread
6 eggs
5-6 c. chicken stock
some water

In a mortar, combine the minced garlic, salt and half of the cilantro and mash to a coarse paste. Add 1/4 cup of the olive oil, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing until well blended. Spoon into 6 warmed soup bowls and keep warm. (I did more of this than the recipe called for because it just didn't look like much. I also don't have a mortar and pestle, so I just used a spoon and a bowl and I dumped in half the oil at a time. This probably wouldn't have happened with a mortar, but I ended up with quite a few chunks of garlic that added a nice bite to the soup, but have also left my tongue burning. I also didn't bother with keeping it warm since I was going to be pouring the hot stock over it.)

In a large frying pan over medium heat, warm about 1/4 cup of the remaining oil. Add half of the bread slices without crowding and saute, turning, until golden, 5-6 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Repeat with the remianing bread and oil. While the bread is still hot, rub both sides with the whole garlic clove, then cut into cubes. Distribute the cubes evenly among the bowls and toss with the garlic mixture. (We all had seconds and I found that it was best to put the bread cubes in at the very last minute so that they were still semi crunchy when you ate it.)

In a large saute pan, pour water to a depth of 1 1/2 inches. Bring the liquid to just under a boil. One at a time, break the eggs and carefully slip into the water. Cook until the whites are barely firm and the yolks are just glazed, 3-5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer them to a bowl of cold water. In a saucepan, bring the stock to a boil and then ladle most of it over the bread mixture in the bowls. Using the slotted spoon, place an egg on top of the bread mixture in each bowl. Gently ladle on the remaining hot stock. Sprinkle with the remaining cilantro and serve at once. (I didn't bother with the whole cold water thing. Instead, I just put them right into the soup bowl and poured the stock over them.)

Recipe from the Williams-Sonoma cookbook, "Savoring Soups & Salads." The last recipe for the spinach and kale soup was also based on a recipe in this book.

Spinach and Kale Soup

Soup
3 or 4 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 onion, diced
some garlic (two-ish heaping spoonfuls of the already chopped kind)
4ish cans of chicken broth
a bunch of kale, rip the leaf part off and get rid of the stems*
a little less than a bag of spinach*
salt and pepper
cumin
sour cream for topping

potato croutons
3-4 potatoes, peeled and in small dices
olive oil
cumin
salt and pepper

croutons
a bunch of good bread, cut into chunks
1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil
4 or 5 garlic cloves
salt and pepper
whatever seasonings you want

To make the soup, combine the potatoes, onion and garlic in the stock. Simmer until potatoes are soft. Add the spinach and kale, stir until it's all incorporated. It seems like a ton, but it cooks down a lot. Let it cook a couple minutes, then puree in batches. Put it back in the pan. Season to taste with the cumin and salt and pepper.

For the potato croutons, toss the potatoes into some hot olive oil in a frying pan. Season with lots of cumin and some salt and pepper. Cook until the potatoes are done-crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. It takes about 15 minutes.

For the bread croutons, toss the olive oil and garlic into a food processor, or something of the sort. I used a Magic Bullet. Blend it for a while until it's well, for lack of a better word, blended. Pour it over the bread cubes and mix it all together. Let it sit for a little while so the bread absorbs the oil. Season with salt and pepper and whatever seasonings you want. I used Greek seasoning, but you can use whatever floats your boat. I just use Greek seasoning on pretty much everything because it is delicious. Throw it all into a big frying pan. I think I added some more olive oil to the pan. I like juicy croutons. Cook it until the bread magically turns into croutons. Make sure you turn it a lot so it doesn't burn, which it tends to do if you aren't careful.

Serve up the soup and top it with sour cream, potato croutons and bread croutons. This probably made like 6-8 servings.

*You can pretty much use whatever kind of greens you want.

Tastiness

Have you checked out the Pioneer Woman's new Tasty Kitchen site? I'm slightly obsessed with it.

yummy beans

I made these baked beans today courtesy of the Barefoot Contessa, via The Amateur Gourmet. They're time intensive, but not overly difficult, and they're definitely not your traditional baked beans. They have chili paste and fresh ginger in them and that gives it a nice kick. The recipe also calls for real maple syrup, but I wasn't willing to spend that much (of my parent's) money, so I used regular pancake syrup. Kinda ghetto, but it turned out fine. I'd like to try this recipe again, but use different beans; maybe Anasazi. Kidney beans have just never been my favorite.

I need to vomit

I just made The Pioneer Woman's monkey bread and I ate waaaaay too much of it. It's that good. You should make it too.

Mmmmmmmm

Last night for a little FHE treat, Lorri and I made Glazed Carmelized Roasted Banana Bread Drop Doughnuts. Or, as I like to call them, little banana fritter things. They were delicious. Here's a link to some pictures. (Not my pictures though, as I don't really see the point in taking my own pictures when I can just link to someone else's.) As you know, I have issues with following directions; I view recipes as a jumping off point for experimentation. Here's what we did differently than the actual recipe:

• We didn't use cinnamon chips. This was mainly just because I couldn't find any at the store. Next time if I don't use the chips, I think I'll dust the finished doughnuts with cinnamon or cinnamon sugar.
  
• Lorri was in charge of roasting the bananas and she used probably three times as much butter and brown sugar. Lorri would not be Lorri without massive amounts of butter and sugar. This made the batter more moist (and flavorful) than it would have been otherwise, which made the doughnuts more fritter shaped than doughnut hole shaped.
  
• Instead of milk in the glaze, we used heavy cream that was left over from the batter part.
  
• We also ended up needing about one and a half times the amount of glaze the recipe called for. I think if you just make sure the doughnuts are cooled off when you dip them, they won't soak up as much glaze and you'll be fine with a single recipe's worth, though.
  

Bulgogi Beef

I love this stuff. I always get it at Dew in Provo, and I finally decided to try to make my own. It was delicious. I may never have to go back to Dew again.

Bulgogi Beef

1/4 c. soy sauce
3 T. sugar
1 T. vegetable oil
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. toasted sesame seeds
3 med garlic cloves
3 chopped green onions (including green parts)
2 lbs. sirloin

Slice the sirloin, against the grain, as thinly as possible. If you have a meat slicer you might want to try that, on the thinnest setting. Otherwise, just try to kind of shave off as thin a slice as possible. (This will take a while.) Mix together all the other ingredients and marinate the beef in it for at least half an hour. If you have a special Korean BBQ grill, use that to cook, otherwise, just pan fry with a little bit of sesame oil. Only cook a little bit of beef at a time, though, so you can keep your eye on it. You just want to cook it barely enough to be done, otherwise it'll be tough. Do NOT overcook it!!! You do not want to be eating shoe leather! (Unless you're my brother, and then actually, yes, you kinda do.) You can keep the cooked stuff warm in a bowl with foil over it while you cook the rest. Serve it with rice (preferably jasmine) and if you have any taste at all, tons of Kimchi (Found in the refrigerated area of the produce section. Not all stores carry it. Harmon's does. Smith's doesn't. I think Albertson's might.)

Special Kim directions: I added a little ginger to the marinade as well. I buy the already pulverized, in-the-jar kind. I used about a spoonful and a half, but I had doubled the recipe, so just do it to taste. I also used extra garlic and green onions. I ended up doing two batches of this stuff because the first was so stinkin' good. The second was even better because I sliced the beef way more thin and I marinated it for a couple hours longer. I also didn't bother to toast the sesame seeds with the first batch, but I would highly recommend that you go ahead and do that if you're going to try this recipe. It makes a difference.

stuff

I kind of got blogged out for a while there and had to take a little hiatus in order to preserve my sanity. Here's what's been going on in the last week and a half-ish:

• If I could stop Christmas from coming, I would. I'm just not feeling it this year.
  
• Last week in Primary the music lady was teaching the kids a new Christmas song and she asked the kids who Mary's husband was. One of the kids answered "Heavenly Father." I almost blurted out "He was her baby daddy, not her husband," but fortunately I realized how unbelievably inappropriate that would have been, and I stopped myself.
  
• Only one more week of classes left. I don't know if I can make it.
  
• Remember that Mexican Tomato Lime soup recipe I posted a few weeks ago? I made it again, but added black beans and diced green chilies and it was even better than the last time. You really should try it.
  
• "Swiss Family Robinson" was on t.v. today. I love the old Disney movies. They prepared you for real life. Kids today are spoiled by princesses and happily ever after. The real world just isn't that nice. Sometimes your dog gets rabies and you have to shoot it. That's just the way it goes.