Suzy's Drop Cookies

I've tasted several versions of these cookies but they are never as good as our family recipe.  Instead of flaky or crumbly or not chocolaty enough, this recipe makes cookies that are moist and chewy with just the right balance of chocolate and peanut butter.

The only catch is that these have a excellence half life of about 24 hours and their quality seriously begins to deteriorate off after 48.

Because I'm all about safety, I let my kids sit on the counter and stir.  Nora thinks it's awesome that I'm taking her picture.

You have to have the peanut butter and oats all measured out before you start or else the chocolate and butter will overcook.

After you dollop them onto your tin foil or parchment paper or whatever, you have to poke them every time you walk past and then eat 4 as soon as they are firm enough to pick up.

Or maybe that's just how I do it.

Suzy's Drop Cookies

Ingredients

 1/2 C milk

1/2 C butter

2 C sugar

1/4 C cocoa

3/4 C peanut butter

1 t vanilla

3 C oats

Combine milk, butter, sugar, and cocoa in a sauce pot.  Bring to a boil.  BOIL FOR EXACTLY 1 MINUTE (this is the key to great cookies).

Remove the pot from the heat and add in the rest of the ingredients.  Stir to combine then drop by spoonfuls  onto tin foil or parchment paper.

Depending on the size of your spoonfuls, you get between 1-2 dozen.

Meatloaf

I remember the day well: I was pregnant with Lillian and Tyler had requested meatloaf for dinner. That's fine, I like meatloaf as well as the next person. So, I mustered up what I remembered from making meatloaf from my mother, put all the ingredients into a bowl, and went to mix the thing up with my hands. I couldn't touch it. All that raw, red meat. I called Claire, trusty neighbor and friend, and she came and mixed up my meatloaf for me. That's really the definition of friendship, right there: mixing up your pregnant friend's meatloaf. The meatloaf was OK, I guess. Maybe I just didn't remember really well how to make it.

Ever since that day, I've been on a quest to find a recipe for a meatloaf I love. I've probably made at least 10 different variations, and tonight, I think I hit the jackpot.

It's a synthesis of many different recipes, and it was really good. Even Lillian ate it.

Here's how I did it:

1. Tear up a piece of bread and soak it in a couple splashes of milk. Meanwhile, mince up half an onion and a few cloves of garlic. Sauté until soft.

2. Mix up the bread, onions, garlic, 1 lb ground beef, one egg, two big handfuls of chopped up spinach (you could probably use frozen, I just happened to have fresh on hand), a few splashes of worcestershire sauce, 1/2 tsp Lawry's, 1/2 tsp salt, and a couple dashes of pepper. Form into a loaf and place on top of a broiler pan.

3. Wrap loaf in several slices of bacon. Make sauce* (3/4 c ketchup, 2 T brown sugar, and 1/2 tsp mustard powder), and slather about 1/3 of it all over the loaf.

4. Bake at 350˚ for 40 minutes. Slather another round of sauce on top and bake for another 15 or 20 minutes until done.

5. Serve with left over sauce for dipping.

*The sauce I stole from Pioneer Woman. Verbatim. It's delicious.

Thanksgiving

It was so good- I ate too much, and now I feel a little sick. This hasn't happened in a long time. It was all those yams my MIL makes. I'm pretty sure the recipe reads:

Yams+awesomeness=totally amazing.

You should try it out sometime.

What's a frittata with you?

I've started buying mass quantities of meat when it goes on sale. These 93% 2 lb chubs were on sale for $1.67 a pound a few weeks back, so I bought 4, cut them in half, and stuck them in the freezer. I pulled one out to make tacos a few days back, but when I went to actually use it, it was still frozen.


I looked in the fridge to see what else I could make and found these items: half an onion, 4 strips of bacon, and a jar of sun-dried tomatoes. Seriously, this was all we had.

I was not dismayed, because this sounded like the makings of a delicious frittata.


Frittatas are like omelets in that you can put anything you want in them. They are not like omelets in that they are far easier to make, and much tastier, I think.


I usually use 8 eggs. Fry up what you want to fry, in my case that's bacon and half an onion, and then beat into the eggs everything you don't want to fry, like some sun-dried tomatoes.


Oh, lookie here. This will also do nicely.


Once your cooking ingredients are all cooked, pour the eggs over and prod them along with a spatula. Don't get too crazy, just kind of poke it around and try to get the bottom all cooked, but not cooked on top.

A variation that I did not do this time around, but is very delicious, is to take come stuffing and mix it up with some oil (or melted butter if you're feeling daring), then put it on top. It makes a nice crunchy crust.

Also, you could put some cheese on top, but I put cheese in it... so I opted out.

Then you broil the whole thing for 1 or 2 minutes. Just long enough to finish cooking it and brown the top a little bit.


Then you slide the whole thing out of the pan. Mmmmmmm.

Dinners that Lillian ate

I've had two successes and one incredible flop in the dinner department. The flop was a falafel adaptation. After I finished frying the little croquettes, I gave one to Tyler to see if he would like it. He scrunched up his face, shook his head from side to side, then opened and closed his mouth like, 10 times. We ended up cooking a frozen pizza.

The two other dinners, while not quite the Most Delicious Food Ever, were easy to make and healthy(er). And, Lillian ate both, which never happens. (Amy noted that she ate a cupcake just fine, along with soda and cookies. Somehow, however, I can't bring myself to serve these things for dinner.)

Cumin Chicken with Black Beans

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 t ground cumin
2 T olive oil
1/2 c chopped red onion
1 anaheim pepper, seeded and chopped
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 c frozen corn, thawed
1 1/4 c cherry tomato halves
2 scallions, thinly sliced
2 T chopped cilantro (I used parsley because cilantro is the devil's herb)
2 t red wine vinegar

Place chicken between 2 sheets of plastic wrap; pound with a mallet to 1/2-in thickness. Rub cumin over chicken and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute chicken for 4 minutes per side. Remove to a cutting board. Return the skillet with pan drippings to medium heat. Add the onion and pepper and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add the beans, corn, tomatoes, and 3 T water and cook, stirring, 1-2 minutes until ingredients are just heated through. Remove from heat and toss with the scallions, cilantro, and vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Slice chicken and arrange on top of beans.

Serves 4.

Macaroni and Cheese with Cauliflower

12 oz multigrain elbow macaroni
1 head cauliflower
4 slices bread, dried on the windowsill overnight (I used left over garlic bread)
1/2 c fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 T olive oil
salt and pepper
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 c grated extra-sharp Cheddar
1 1/2 c reduced-fat sour cream
1/2 c milk
1 T dijon mustard

-Heat oven to 400. Cook the pasta, adding the cauliflower during the last 3 minutes of cooking; drain.

-Meanwhile, pulse the bread in a food processor until coarse crumbs form. Add the parsley, 2 T of the oil, and 1/4 t each salt and pepper and pulse to combine; set aside.

-Return pot to medium heat and add the remaining T oil. Add the onion, 3/4 t salt and 1/2 t pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, just until soft, 5-7 minutes. Mix in the pasta, cauliflower, cheese, sour cream, milk, and mustard.

-Transfer to a 13X9 baking dish, sprinkle with the bread crumbs, and bake until golden brown, 12-15 minutes.

Serves 6.

The Great Jam Fiasco

My mother-in-law makes jam every year. She gives some of this jam to us. She never gives us enough, and I get that: she's got better things to do than enable my jam and roll addiction. Last year (or two years ago?) I asked her to teach me how to make jam, and it seemed pretty easy.

Begin by buying a flat of strawberries. Our flat consisted of 4 2-lb cartons. Then put them in your french door refrigerator that you argued you'd need for platters and flats of strawberries.




I was really excited for jam. I cleaned and prepped the strawberries the day before we made the jam. When Tyler got home, he asked if I had "done the thing [my] mom did with the apple slices." What?

After a bit, I gathered he was talking about Fruit-Fresh. Way back in the way back time, my mom would line up seven brown paper bags every morning and make our lunches. Bless her, she cut up our apples and put them in a solution of water and Fruit-Fresh so that they wouldn't go brown during the day. Wasn't that nice? These are the types of things you don't think about until you get older and think, "wow, that was a lot of work." Also, these are the types of things that I'm not sure why I told my husband. When did this come up? Have we discussed Fruit-Fresh before? And, why does he remember this? Does he secretly wish I put his apples in Fruit-Fresh?


Anyway, Darlene discovered the secret to keeping your strawberry jam nice and red over the months is to dip the strawberries in a Fruit-Fresh solution and then in water before putting them in the food processor.

Too late. I guess we'll just have dark jam. This is lesson #1: Fruit-Fresh.

Here we are, day 2. I may as well mention lesson #2: Do not make a double batch in a single pot, you'll see why in a minute. I should have consulted Darlene on this point, but I didn't and it was pure folly.


Take 6 1/4 C crushed (it says in big letters on the recipe DO NOT PUREE) strawberries, one envelope of SURE-JELL pectin, and 1/4 C fresh lemon juice and heat it over med-high heat until you reach a steady boil.


Once you reach a steady boil, you need to add all the sugar at once, so have it measured out and ready. 7 3/4 C. This is double, remember. Also remember that this is a bad idea.



Add the sugar all at once and then return to a rolling boil. Once it hits a rolling boil, the mixture will roughly double in size and if you decided to make a double batch, it will overflow.


Here was our problem. You are supposed to boil this for EXACTLY 4 MINUTES, skimming any foam off the top with a metal spoon. How do you keep it boiling when it's overflowing?


We took that towel, the one on the left with the burned strawberries on it, and wiped down the stove, and then set the pot back down and boiled it for 3 min, 30 sec, and prayed for the best. Tyler fashioned a funnel out of a juice jug and we ladled away.


Put the jam into the jars (oh, you've been simmering the lids this whole time right? Good), wipe down the rim and the threads, put a lid on it, screw a ring on and then turn it upside down for 5 minutes.



After 5 minutes, turn them right-side up, and let them sit for 24 hours. I'm hoping that my jam will set up. It's been about 18 hours and it's still a little jiggly. I don't know if this is normal, but I'm suspecting we might have what the recipe calls SET FAILURE. Ah, live and learn, I guess.

Broccoli

Pretty much the only vegetables/fruits Lillian will eat are peas, corn, cooked carrots, broccoli, and bananas. That's it. (What little kid doesn't like apples?) So, I'm always on the lookout for new ways to cook these things to keep it interesting. I got this idea from Rachael Ray:

Roasted Broccoli

Cut up as much broccoli as you're interested in eating and put it in a baking dish. Mince a few cloves of garlic and throw those in there. Drizzle some olive oil and season with salt and pepper and toss the whole thing to coat. Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes.

Nutritious, delicious, and it makes your kitchen smell fabulous.

Angel Hair Pasta with Tomatoes, Pine Nuts, & Basil

I like making a meat-less dinner once a week or so (not counting when I don't feel like cooking and we eat grilled cheese sandwiches). I'd been eyeing this recipe for a long time, but I was always turned off by how much pine nuts cost. But I did it and it was so super yummy and it made a lot: enough for us to eat it two nights in a row (and me to eat it for lunch on the second day).

Ingredients:
1/4 c EVOO
1/2 c pine nuts
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 6-oz jars marinated artichoke
1/4 c red wine vinegar
1/2 c chopped fresh basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
one package angel hair pasta, cooked
Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Add pine nuts and saute until light brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. (They're not joking on the 2 minutes, don't walk away from the stove. I walked away to help Lillian turn on the Wiggles, and by the time I came back, mine had slightly burned.) Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes, artichoke hearts, vinegar, basil, and oregano. Heat through. Season with salt and pepper. Add cooked pasta to tomato mixture in skillet and toss thoroughly. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan.

Serves: 5 adults and one child who eats like a bird.

Mmmm, mmmm. So yummy.