Honeymoon Cookies

As you may already know, the Hubster got a pretty awesome internship gig at an incredible animation studio in Portland, OR for the summer. This left me in Savannah by myself on our 3 year anniversary. I knew I wanted to send him something special that would remind him of our honeymoon to Hawaii, so I decided to make an oatmeal cookie with coconut, white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.

The following recipe is for a double batch. I wanted to be sure send enough for him to share, and have a few for myself to take to a barbecue party here in Savannah.

Honeymoon Cookies (adapted from Quaker Oats oatmeal cookies)

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 pound (4 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
6 cups Quaker® Oats (old fashioned, uncooked)
1 package white chocolate chips
1 package chopped macadamia nuts (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 package sweetened flaked coconut

Heat oven to 350°F.

In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars with electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add flour mixture; mix well. Stir in oats, coconut, white chocolate chips and nuts; mix well.




Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.





Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely.





They turned out nice and chewy and sweet. Next time I'll cut back on the sugar a touch and perhaps add a few more nuts. The coconut and oatmeal gave the cookie a great texture and they lasted quite awhile without drying out.

Kringles

The first Christmas after the Hubster and I started dating, he took me to his Great Aunt Jeanie's house for their annual celebration. There were just a few of us there, Aunt Jeanie, my husband, his Uncle Mike, and his mother (and myself, of course). Since the Hubster was the only "kid" he got to request what kind of food was served. He requested a traditional Norwegian Christmas dinner (we didn't have lutefisk, so I'm not sure how traditional it actually was). What we did have was cod, potato pancakes, rosettes, and Kringles.

I learned that Kringles were a staple at pretty much ever single family gathering, and that Jeanie had learned how to make all of these delicious meals because her late husband was Norwegian.

After we had been dating a couple years, the Hubster mentioned that I should maybe learn how to make Kringles. He asked Jeanie if she would teach me (it was then that I knew he planned on marrying me, he thinks Kringles are special and that not just anyone should be able to make them).

Anyway, I learned how to make them but it has been years since my last batch. When I was doing my weekly grocery shopping I noticed that buttermilk was on sale and figured it was high time I tried my hand at them again, plus it gave me a chance to finally unpack my mixer!

Because the Hubster is so protective of these delightful little numbers, he doesn't like to share them, he also won't agree to let me give the recipe to anyone. I'm respecting his wishes for now, so I'll mention some ingredients but won't give any amounts. If you look for a recipe on google for Norwegian Kringles with Buttermilk, you should be able to find something similar. Don't be confused with the Danish Kringles, they're something else entirely, and my Kringles don't include sour cream.

Anyway, on with the show. First I creamed some butter, sugar, and eggs

When Jeanie first taught me how to make Kringles, she taught me to put the baking powder and baking soda in the buttermilk. This helps the powder and soda dissolve, and causes the buttermilk to foam. I think this is what gives the cookies their lovely texture.


After the sugar mixture is creamed, add the flour, flavoring extracts, salt,and buttermilk mixture until fairly smooth, but be sure not to overwork it! I then cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for a bit.

I put my dough together at the same time I put together our lasagna for dinner, so it had a chance to rest with the lasagna was baking, this meant I didn't have to heat the oven up twice.

After the dough is chilled, take cookie sized portions (about a teaspoon) and roll them into long, pencil like logs

a well floured work surface and cold dough make this much easier.

Once the dough rope is long enough, shape in to a figure 8 or B (or pretzel, depending on how you personally view it)

The worst part is moving formed cookie onto the baking sheet from the pastry mat.

Bake at 350 until just barely golden brown along the edges. Honestly, it's best to take them out just shy of that, the texture is so nice and light if you pull them when they're just baked but not yet golden brown.

Our batch yielded about 3 dozen cookies, and Andrew isn't sure he's going to let me share them with anyone. Looks like I'm baking up another batch on Saturday!

Peach Blueberry Crisp

Our good friends Pat and Rose hosted a World Cup viewing party on Saturday for the Ghana vs US game. Rose made delicious jambalaya and I decided to bring a dessert. I wanted to make something that could feed a lot of people (they ended up with at least 25 guests) and wanted to take advantage of the fact that we live in Georgia, and the peaches are fantastic right now. I decided that a peach crisp was the way to go.

I started out by waking up early on Saturday morning to walk to Polk's Market. It's a produce stand that I can literally see from my house. I bought about 13 peaches (10 for dessert and a few for Andrew to snack on, I'm honestly not the biggest peach fan myself) and then got to work.




I found a couple of different crisp recipes and kind of made things up as I went along. For the Filling, I settled on:

10 peaches
1 lemon, juiced and zested
6 tbs flour
1/2 c brown sugar
2 Tbs white sugar
1 Tbs vanilla
pinch of salt

I also remembered I froze quart sized freezer bags of blueberries when they went on sale a few weeks ago. I figured it would be a tasty combination and added them to the mix.



For the topping, I used:

1 1/4 c flour
1 1/2 c old fashioned oats
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c raw sugar (I had planned on using all brown sugar, but ran out)
1 stick butter (my topping didn't brown as much as I would have liked, so next time I would cut down on the amount of flour and add a little extra butter)
pinch of salt
2 or so Tbs of water to bring the mixture together.

I combined all ingredients and topped the filling, then baked at 350 until the filling was bubbly and the topping was browned. It ended up taking over a hour, just because it was a very large baking dish (I'm not sure of the exact dimensions, but it is larger than a 9x13 inch pan).


Everyone seemed to enjoy it, but especially the Hubster, he had three servings.

Chicken Ceasar Salad

Apparently I need some insurance for kitchen accidents. I'm notorious for cutting and burning myself. I've gotten better over the years (at least with my knife skills), but I rarely go more than a month without some kind of minor burn.

Unfortunately, my knife skills failed me recently when I was making croutons with old crusty bread (Sullivan St. Bakery recipe for No Knead Bread, made famous by Mark Bittman). I was sawing through it with a serrated knife, and before long I was sawing through my left index finger.

I'm finally to the point where my finger (which I sawed a nice big gaping wound in) is healed up enough that it doesn't hurt when I type. I've made lots of delicious meals since then but I figured it would be appropriate to revisit that evening and share with you my delicious chicken caesar salad.

First, I need to provide a disclaimer, I'm not good with amounts (at least when cooking, I'm a bit more careful with baking), I just kind of eyeball things until they look right. I just take a wild guess and taste as I go.

Ingredients

1 head of romaine lettuce (cleaned and torn into bite sized pieces)
2 cloves garlic
2 anchovy fillets
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 to 1 tbs lemon juice (depending on your taste)
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4-1/2 tsp dijon mustard (I used a spicy deli style mustard this time and it was quite good)
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (good quality is a must, get the real stuff if you can afford it!)
salt to taste if you need it, but I doubt you will. Anchovies, Worcestershire and Parm are all really salty.


Ok, first I started off with the croutons. You can use store bought if you want, but I had some leftover bread that I had made (if you do a google search for no-knead bread, it'll come up, there will be a link to Mark Bittman on New York Times. For some reason it won't let me link to it. It's the most amazing bread ever you should make it now!) so I took it out of the freezer, cut it up (it was still a little frozen, hence the sawing of the hand) drizzled it with olive oil, fresh garlic, black pepper and a little salt, and toasted it in the oven.


Meanwhile, I used a garlic press to process the garlic, then put the garlic in a bowl along with the anchovy fillets. You should use two forks to mash the garlic and the anchovies into a paste (you should also use a wooden bowl, but I don't have one, it would make things much easier). I could only use one fork thanks to my now useless left hand.


Next add the egg yolk, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce and whisk. Drizzle in the olive oil as you continue to whisk.


Finally toss in the greens, along with the Parmesan cheese. I served mine with the croutons and chicken I grilled on my stove-top grill pan (a Christmas gift from my parents a few years ago, it has proved to be one of my most frequently used kitchen tools).


Enjoy!

Now I'm off to start some cinnamon rolls and then head to the theater to see Iron Man 2!

Grandma's Potato Soup

First off, I apologize for the lack of pictures with this post. Next time I make soup I'll update it. I had several beautiful pictures of the whole process, and now they're MIA except for the picture of the onions and bacon, so that's what you get for now. Argh!!! Since I don't have pictures I'll try to be extra descriptive.

UPDATE: Found some of the photos. Yay!

My Grandma's potato soup is my ultimate comfort food. Each bowl comes with a flood of memories from my childhood, along with years of family history. Her recipe was passed from her mother (my Great Grandmother Martha), and my Grandma June made it for my brother and I often as children. Her sister Jeanette (one of the most special people I ever had the pleasure of knowing) also made the soup for us. I remember one time as a child visiting Aunt Jeanette and Uncle Carl, she made the soup with ham instead of the bacon my grandma liked to use, and I told her it was pretty good even though it didn't have any meat in it.

As I grew up, potato soup marked many occasions. Grandma always made it when I was home sick, or for an especially cold day, or when she just wanted to cheer us up. I cherish the memories I have watching Grandpa peel potatoes, and standing next to Grandma while she fried the bacon and onions (always hoping she would let me try a nibble!).

Before I left for college, I spent an afternoon in her kitchen really learning how to do it. I took my new-found knowledge to my brother's apartment and we made something that looked like Grandma's soup but tasted like potatoes in milk. Through the next several years and several conversations with Grandma, I've worked out a recipe that is pretty close to the one I grew up with (even though it will never be as good as hers).
Getting the veggies ready to go:

When I smell onion and bacon, I know it's time for potato soup!

The finished product! Note: the parsley floats on the top, so it looks like there is a ton of it. Also please excuse the pasta jar full of bacon grease. I live in the south now.



Potato Soup

4-6 slices of bacon-chopped (use a good quality thick-cut bacon)
1 medium onion-chopped
1 c chopped celery (I usually just use a couple of stalks)
8 medium potatoes-diced into approx 1/2 inch pieces
2-3 carrots, sliced
2T flour
Milk
Garlic Powder
Parsley Flakes
Seasoned Pepper
Salt to taste (it takes a good amount so don't be shy)

Saute bacon until crisp. Add onion and saute until golden. Drain grease and set aside. Put potatoes, carrots and celery into soup kettle with enough salted water to barely cover. Boil until vegetables are soft.

Meanwhile make a white sauce of 2T flour and 1 1/2 C. milk. Add to hot vegetables and bring to a good boil. After a couple of minutes, add enough milk to make amount of servings desired (but at this point be sure to turn down the heat a bit, because you don't really want the soup to boil anymore, you just want to heat it through). Add garlic powder, parsley flakes, seasoned pepper, and salt to taste. You can also add just a bit of butter to each bowl if your inner Paula Deen is shining through.

S'mores

Well, on a whim I decided to start a food blog. I figured this would A. Help me keep track of my recipes without having to search all over for them, and B. share them with my family and friends.

Andy and I just got the internet at our new apartment on Friday, and we're at his father's home in Wisconsin for the weekend, so I don't really have much of anything to post at the moment. We are, however, having S'mores later, and thanks to Nate my old boss at P.H. I have the best ever way to make S'mores and I will share it with you all, sorry about the lack of pictures!

"S'morgasms"
2 graham craker halves
1 marshmallow
1 small piece of good chocolate

If your roasting over an open fire, which is the only suitable way to make any s'more, poke a hole in the marshmallow with whatever tool you are roasting it with. Take the stick (or whatever you're using) out of the puffed confection and place the chocolate in the marshmallow. Put your roasting stick back in the stuffed treat and roast to your desire. Then place it between your two crakers and enjoy the melty goodness inside.