Pam's Chocolate Chip Cookies

One of my favorite things growing up was eating cookies at my best friend's house. Emily's mom made the best cookies on Earth! They were especially delicious straight out of the oven with a tall glass of milk. I have so many fond memories visiting over cookies. Recently she divulged the recipe to me. Thanks Em! Normally I prefer milk chocolate over semi-sweet, and fewer chips in my cookies. But for some reason, maybe it's the nostalgia, I pack in the semi-sweet chips, the more the better. I crave these more than I should.

Cream until Fluffy:

•    1 cube margarine (soften in microwave)
•    1 C Crisco
•    1 C white sugar
•    1 C brown sugar
•    1 tsp. vanilla
•    2 eggs

Mix, then add:

•    3 heaping C flour
•    1 tsp. salt
•    1 tsp. soda

Stir in:

•    semi-sweet choc chips

Bake at 350-355 degrees for 9 minutes (or until the first sign of golden brown)

Makes approx 4 doz.

Grilled Chicken

Perfect over pasta or salads.

• Chicken breast
• Extra virgin olive oil, light tasting
• Sea salt and cracked pepper

Drizzle olive oil, sea salt, and pepper on both sides of chicken and grill over low heat for 30 minutes, turning once.

Candied Toasted Almonds

These are perfect on any salad. Recipe can be used for other nuts like pecans and walnuts.

• 3 Tbs sliced almonds
• 1 tsp butter
• 1/2 Tbs sugar

In a ungreased frying pan over medium heat, toast almond slices until slightly browned on both sides. Watch carefully so they don't burn. Once toasted, add butter and sugar evenly over almonds. Remove from heat immediately to cool.

Bechamel

I use this recipe as a base for many sauces and soups. I don't usually measure but go off of appearance, but for the benefit of documenting a recipe, here is an approximation.

• 2 Tbs butter
• 3-4 Tbs flour
• about 2 cups milk

In a saucepan over medium to medium-high heat, melt the butter. Whisk in flour until it becomes a doughy consistency. Add about 1/2 cup cold milk and whisk until it thickens. Add another 1/2 cup milk and whisk until it thickens again. Do this until until you have enough sauce.

For thicker sauces, use slightly more butter and flour, maintaining the doughy consistency before adding milk.

Add vegetables and cream cheese for a creamy soup, or add cheddar or other cheese for pasta sauces.

Strawberry Chicken Salad

I love a good hearty salad for dinner!

• a handful of spring mix lettuce
• a couple of thin slices of a red onion
• 3-4 slices fresh chevre (or about 1/8 cup feta)
• 6-8 strawberries, quartered
• 1 grilled chicken breast, cut up
• 2 Tbs toasted almonds
• poppy seed dressing

Assemble in order and drizzle with dressing.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

I adapted this recipe from HERE.


Vegatables:

• 8 oz button mushrooms, quartered
• 1/2 sweet onion, quartered
• 2-3 orange, red or yellow bell peppers, chopped
• Broccoli florets
• 1 carrot, sliced or julienned
• 6 cloves of garlic (leave the skins on for roasting)
• 1 small zucchini, sliced
• 1 small yellow squash, sliced
• Olive oil
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
• Dried basil
• Dried oregano

On a tin-foil lined cookie sheet, spread out all of the vegetables and drizzle olive oil over then and bake all but the zucchini and squash at 400 F for 20 minutes, then add zucchini and squash for additional 10 minutes. When done, remove skins from garlic, slice, and add back to vegetables. Set aside.

Ricotta Mixture:

• 1 16 oz container of fat free ricotta cheese
• 3-4 tbsp mozzarella cheese, grated
• 3-4 tbsp parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 egg
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
• Dried oregano, to taste
• Dried basil, to taste
• Dash of nutmeg

Combine all of these ingredients. Set aside.

Assemble lasagna:

• 1 package whole wheat lasagna noodles, pre-cooked
• 1 large can Hunt's mushroom marinara
• roasted veggies
• ricotta mixture
• 8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 oz grated parmesan cheese
• dried basil

In a glass baking dish, spray with cooking spray. Layer in this order: some sauce, noodles, 1/2 ricotta mixture, 1/2 roasted veggies, noodles, sauce, remainder of ricotta mixture, remainder of veggies, noodles, sauce, both cheeses, and sprinkle dried basil. 

Bake at 350 degrees, 30 minutes covered, then 5 minutes uncovered. Cool for a few minutes before serving.

Thai Pineapple Chicken Curry

I modified this recipe from one I found on allrecipes.com. Almost as good as what you'll get at a Thai restaurant. Don't forget the jasmine rice! This will make about 4 servings.

• 1 chicken breast, cut into pieces
• 2 Tbs cooking oil
• 1-2 Tbs red curry paste
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 1 can bamboo shoots, drained
• 1 red pepper, julienned
• 1 carrot, julienned
• 1/2 small sweet onion, chopped
• 1 can pineapple chunks, drained

Heat oil in large saute pan and cook the chicken pieces through. While chicken is cooking, mix the curry paste with about half a can of coconut milk until it's well blended. Add the mixture, the rest of the coconut milk, sugar and bamboo shoots, simmer for a minute or two on medium heat while stirring occasionally. Add pepper, carrot and onion for about 5 minutes until softened. Add pineapple for about a minute.


Serve over jasmine rice! Enjoy!

Avocado and Corn Salsa

No tomato salsa!

• 2 ripe avocados, diced
• 3/4 cup sweet corn
• 1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and thinly diced
• 1/4 red onion, thinly diced
• juice of 1-2 limes
• 2-3 Tbs chopped cilantro
• salt to taste

Combine all ingredients and serve with tortilla chips.

Chicken Pot Pie

Crust:

• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 Tbs ice cold water
• 1/2 cup shortening

In a small bowl mix flour and salt. Add cold water and then blend the shortening with a pastry blender until crumbly. Ball up and put in plastic wrap and let it chill in fridge while you prepare the filling.


Filling:

• 1 large chicken breast, sliced into bit-size pieces
• 5-6 red potatoes with peel, cut into chunks
• 2 large carrots, peeled, cut into chunks
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 large yellow onion, cut into chunks
• 1 can chicken broth
• 5 oz cream cheese
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 Tbs herbes de provence*
• salt and pepper to taste

*I know I'm a Frenchy and have a staple of this in my cupboard but this can be easily replaced by thyme, rosemary and other savory spices.


1. Add potatoes and carrots to large pot of boiling water to soften.
2. While those are softening, cook chicken chunks in a frying pan until almost golden (this saves time as opposed to cooking the whole thing first then chopping it). Add onions and garlic until onions start to soften slightly.
3. Drain potatoes and carrots and return to pot. Add chicken broth, cream cheese, chicken and onions from skillet, peas, herbs, salt and pepper. Let simmer until cheese is melted.
4. While that is simmering, take out your crust and roll out to the size of your casserole dish (I roll it with plastic loosely on top and bottom, so I don't have to worry about flour and transportation is easy).
5. When filling is ready, pour into casserole dish and top with your crust. Make a couple slits onto the crust.
6. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Let cool for a few then serve!


Makes about 6-8 servings.

Zucchini Bread

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup finely shredded unpeeled zucchini
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp finely shredded lemon peel

Combine dry ingredients
Combine wet ingredients
Mix both together

Pour into greased and floured bread pan and bake at 350 F for 55-60 minutes

I spread butter on the top just after taking it out of the oven and sprinkle sugar on it.