Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is my future Mother-in-law's recipe! These are fantastic and they make A LOT!!! Every one that has ever had one, loves them!!!

Ingredients

3 cups of flour 

1 1/2 tsp baking soda 

1 1/2 tsp salt 

1 1/2 cups sugar 

3/4 cups brown sugar 

1 cup butter 

3 eggs 

3 tsp vanilla 

1 pack of chocolate chip cookies

Directions

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix together dry ingredients and add to cream mixture. Blend in chocolate chips. Bake at 375 ̊ for 8 to 10 minutes.

Homemade Pizza and Garlic Fingers

This is as from stratch as I can get!! I love this pizza and what is pizza without garlic fingers? Just pizza, boring!! I wish I made more of this last night as the three of us ate it up so fast!!

Here's the recipes I used:

Pizza Dough
Pizza Sauce
Garlic Fingers

And here is the end result!!! YUMMY!!!

Yummy Granola Bars

These are a big hit!! They taste fantastic and are super easy to make! Keep in mind when making them to add a little bit more honey each time you add more dry ingredients. The honey will help keep the granola together.


Granola Bars - (Rogers Package)

• 2 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup nuts (I used peanuts)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup mini cho. chips (after it's cooled!)
• 1 cup dried fruit (I didn't bother)

* I added ground flax seed and crushed graham crackers (2)

Melt butter, sugar and honey in big pot. Add dry ingredients and press into greased pan and chill. If you would like, you can drizzle chocolate on the top! I did and it looks great!

Homemade Pizza Sauce

Pizza Sauce - Source

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/4 cup celery, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 small bay leaf

1 teaspoon fennel seed

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/ultimate-pizza-sauce-114392#ixzz1FCvM8Z9N

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/4 cup celery, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 small bay leaf

1 teaspoon fennel seed

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/ultimate-pizza-sauce-114392#ixzz1FCvM8Z9N

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/4 cup celery, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 small bay leaf

1 teaspoon fennel seed

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/ultimate-pizza-sauce-114392#ixzz1FCvM8Z9N

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter 
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped 
• 1 garlic clove, minced 
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce 
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste (I only add about 2/3 of a can)
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon dried basil 
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (I only add a small little bit)
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 small bay leaf

1. In a large skillet, melt butter with the oil. Add the onion, garlic and saute until soft and transparent.
2. Add tomato sauce and tomato paste and stir until smooth.
3. Add remaining ingredients and bring to slow simmer.
4. Simmer for 30-60 minutes (or not at all depending on your taste and time frame).
5. Remove the bay leaf and spread the sauce on your prepared pizza dough.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough - Source

• 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 package quick-rising yeast, (2 1/4 teaspoons), such as Fleischmann's RapidRise
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2-2/3 cup hot water, (120-130°F)
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1. In a large bowl place water and add sugar. Sprinkle with yeast and leave until foamy or for about 15 minutes.
2. Once yeast has grown and become foamy, add in oil and mix. Then add the salt and flour. If the dough seems sticky add more flour, if it seems dry add a little water. Knead the dough until you get a nice even dough.
3. Place dough in a floured bowl and cover. Let rise for an hour or until it doubles in size.
4. Roll out dough with a rolling pin, not necessary but it makes it even. Place on a greased pizza pan or cookie sheet. 
5. Add sauce, toppings and cheese and bake at 425 for about 10-20 minutes or until it looks done! Enjoy!

Maple Glazed Salmon

Here's a new recipe that I received in my email yesterday for salmon! I have only just started to really enjoy salmon and I enjoy having variety. Here's the recipe and the source.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 pound salmon

Directions

1. In a small bowl, mix the maple syrup, soy sauce, garlic, garlic salt, and pepper.
2. Place salmon in a shallow glass baking dish, and coat with the maple syrup mixture. Cover the dish, and marinate salmon in the refrigerator 30 minutes, turning once.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Place the baking dish in the preheated oven, and bake salmon uncovered 20 minutes, or until easily flaked with a fork.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Updated photo below! They turned out WAY better when I used smaller oats and didn't mix too well! Enjoy!

These cookies taste good but I made a few mistakes so they look funny! First of all, I used large oats which is a big mistake! Also from reading the reviews online, others have agreed that a little more flour is needed. So next time I will be tweaking the recipe. Either way I made these today and most of them are eaten already, so they can't be too bad!

Oh and I halved the recipe! Here's the source.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional, I didn't use)
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Who says you can't eat well while camping?

We went camping this weekend with friends for the long weekend and we had a great time plus we ate great food! My fiance loves to cook, even in the woods or in this case car camping! We took advantage of the fact that we did not have to backpack into the site and went a little over board!! Normally, we backpack for a few hours before we get to our spot and we DO NOT want much weight in our backpacks but this weekend we didn't mind! Hence, we bought a waffle maker for camping that's right we had waffles while camping! It was great! Here are a few pictures from the weekend. Please ignore some of the bad quality, I'm still learning and I had some settings messed up.

Just realized I didn't take any pictures of our waffles but let me just tell you they were fantastic and covered in strawberries and maple syrup!

Here's our supper Saturday night. It was bacon wrapped salmon with onions and BBQ sauce cooked in the fire!! YUM!

Here's our supper Sunday evening. We had pasta with spaghetti sauce that had bacon in it!!

Banana Chip Muffins

This is a recipe that I got from my soon to be mother-in-law. These are so yummy when paired with a glass of milk!!

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1 egg

1/4 cup oil

1/3 cup milk

1 cup mashed bananas (about 3-4 small)

Directions

Mix together first five ingredients. Beat egg until frothy. Mix in oil, milk and bananas. Pour into well. Stir only to moisten. Batter will be lumpy. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

Rosemary Monkey Bread

I made this bread to go with a roast dinner. The bread tasted fine but I didn't like the texture. I think the cornmeal made it dry up and feel kind of stale. I would tweak this recipe if I make it again.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup warm water

1 tbsp sugar

1 pkg. dry yeast

3 cups all-purpose flour (more if necessary)

3/4 cup cornmeal

1 1/2 tsp salt

4 tbsp olive oil, divided

2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary, or 1 tsp dried

1 tsp coarse black pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

Directions

1. Place warm water in small bowl and stir in sugar. Sprinkle yeast over top and allow to rest for 10 minutes, or until bubbly.
2. In large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal and salt.
3. Stir yeast mixture down and add 1 tbsp oil. Stir into flour. Add extra flour if necessary to form smooth dough. Knead for 10 minutes. Place dough in oiled bowl and cover. Allow to rise in warm spot for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in bulk.
4. Divide dough into about 12 balls. Combine 3 tbsp oil with rosemary, pepper and garlic. Roll balls in herb mixture.
5. Line large loaf pan with parchment paper and place balls in pan. Cover and allow to rise in warm spot for about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk. Bake in preheated 375 oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until puffed and golden.

Beacon Hill Park

We went to Beacon Hill Park yesterday and I got some ok photos. I'm still learning how to use my camera! We had a great day together. We went to Beacon Hill Park for a while then found a yummy ice cream shop. Well actually it was gelato, which I learned is only slightly different than ice cream - it's better for you too! On our way home we stopped into our favorite pizza place, Panago, and took two pizzas home for supper! Great day all around!

I LOVE this kind of flower!! They are my favorite kind of flower! They are called Narcissus, I believe. They remind me of daffodils which are also my favorite!

These little guys were so cute!! There were 6 of them with their mother.

So cute!!!

This Great Blue Heron was hilarious! He was staying SO still on this fountain top, people thought he was a statue!

BBQ Lemon Herb Pork Chops

YUMMY!! I didn't do this exactly right but they were still very yummy! And it was my first time BBQ pork chops! It recommends marinating them overnight or for at least 2 hours but I only did it for 45 minutes and they were very delicious and tender, next time I will try to leave them longer!

Here is the source.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 6 (4 ounce) boneless pork loin chops

Directions

1. In a large resealable bag, combine lemon juice, oil, garlic, salt, oregano, and pepper. Place chops in bag, seal, and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight. Turn bag frequently to distribute marinade.
2. Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat. Remove chops from bag, and transfer remaining marinade to a saucepan. Bring marinade to a boil, remove from heat, and set aside.
3. Lightly oil the grill grate. Grill pork chops for 5 to 7 minutes per side, basting frequently with boiled marinade, until done.

Creamy Tomato Pasta

Here is the meal we had tonight. It was made with homemade whole wheat pasta using a friend's pasta machine, thanks Kristin! The pasta dish was ok but only as a side not so great as a full meal. We paired it with lemon basil salmon, Caesar salad and had brushetta as an appetizer.

Homemade Pasta (WW)

 For each serving, use 1/2 flour and 1 egg. You also need Salmonella flour to coat. A pasta machine would definitely help but is not needed, you could use a rolling pin.

Yummy Brushetta

Mix diced tomato, chopped red onion, minced garlic, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil together. Sprinkle with oregano and basil. Place on sliced baguette and top with mozzarella cheese, bake at 375 for about 15 minutes then broil until cheese browns, do not burn!

Creamy Tomato Pasta - source

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 tablespoon dried basil leaves
• 3/4 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. In a saucepan, saute onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat. Make sure it doesn't burn. Add tomatoes, basil, sugar, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to boil and continue to boil 5 minutes or until most of the liquid evaporates. Remove from heat; stir in whipping cream and butter. Reduce heat and simmer 5 more minutes.

BBQ ribs, roasted beets, ginger veggies and rice

All I can say is YUM!! We buy our ribs at Costco they have the back ribs that are 

AMAZING! There is no real recipe for this meal but I'll try to tell you what we did.

BBQ Ribs

1 rack of back ribs

Bull's eye BBQ sauce (smoked hickory)

1 Bay leaf

Boil ribs with a bay leaf until they are coming away from the bone, about 35-45 minutes. Once ribs are done, BBQ until BBQ sauce is sticky and yummy!

Roasted Beets

1 beet, peeled and chopped

Basalmic vinegar

Olive oil

Orange juice

Mix altogether and place beets in the oven at 350 for about 45 minutes to an hour, check with a fork to make sure they are tender.

Ginger veggies

Basically fry veggies in sesame oil and ginger then garnish with sesame seeds.

Tomato Basil Soup

We have been making this soup for a while now and I can honestly say I'd give it 5 stars!!!! I used to love this soup at a local restaurant but recently ate there and did not enjoy it nearly as much! My fiance and I had this with a chicken Caesar salad with a multigrain baguette.

 

 

 

Rich and Creamy Tomato Basil Soup - Source

• 4 tomatoes - peeled, seeded and diced
• 4 cups tomato juice
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 14 leaves fresh basil
• 1/2 cup butter 
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Parmesan cheese (optional but very yummy)

1. Place tomatoes and juice in a stock pot over medium heat. Simmer for 30 minutes. Puree the tomato mixture along with the basil leaves, and return the puree to the stock pot.
2. Place the pot over medium heat, and stir in the heavy cream and butter. Season with salt and pepper. Heat, stirring until the butter is melted. Do not boil.     

Homemade Granola Cereal

My fiance loves having granola for breakfast with fresh fruit, yogurt and milk. When we finished up the store bought one this time, I said I would try to make him some from scratch. Here is my attempt at it, I hope he likes it! It smells really yummy!!

Ingredients

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup wheat bran
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp brown sugar

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl until oats are covered. Place on parchment paper covered cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes stirring every 5 minutes until browned. It makes about 6-8 servings (1/2 cup servings).

Stuffed Peppers and Sweet Potato Fries

If you asked me a couple of years ago if I would eat meat, spices and veggies stuffed inside a bell pepper, I would have laughed in your face! Now, I LOVE it!! I had to wait a long while before I made this because I had my fiance sick of them!! I love having these because it's a full meal and I get a lot of veggies at the same time. I have two variations of these one with spinach vs one with zucchini.

The sweet potato fries are also a favorite of mine! I enjoy them at restaurants more because I can't get them to taste as good and crispy but I'm sure mine are much better for us!

Stuffed Peppers (2-3 servings)

2-3 bell peppers, cut off tops and clean out (use yellow, red or orange)

2-3 sausages (could use ground beef also)

1/2 zucchini, peeled and diced

1-2 mushrooms (could use more but I don't like them)

3/4 cup Jasmine rice (could use any kind)

1/2 cup mozza cheese

1/4 cup cashews, finely chopped

1/4 onion, finely chopped

Cook sausage until done and add onion near the end. While the sausage is cooking, cook the rice also. Once rice is done add cheese and mix together. Add all the vegetables and cashews, mix well. Add the mixed vegetables to the sausage and onion, mix together. Stuff the peppers with filling, bake in oven at 350 degrees until peppers are cooked about 35 minutes.

Sweet Potato Fries 

1 large sweet potato, diced

Basil & Oregano, as desired

Extra Virgin Olive oil, just enough to coat the potatoes

To make them crispy, soak potatoes in water with 1 tsp of sugar and 1 tsp of salt. (It gets the moisture out). Leave soaking for about an hour, if possible. Drain, rinse, and pat dry. Drizzle with oil until well coated, put desired amount of spices on them. Place in oven for about 35-50 minutes on 375 degrees. Keep checking them and stirring them around.

Cinnamon Rolls

On Monday I made banana bread and cinnamon rolls, but my computer crashed and lost the recipe I had opened for the cinnamon rolls!! I do have a picture though. I'm going to try and remember the recipe. They were made with yeast instead of pastry with cream cheese icing. They were delicious!!