chocolate chip cookie

i realized i don't make cookies to often, so to make up for that i've been baking a lot of cookies lately. i'm trying to find a good chocolate chip recipe and this is definitely one of them. i like recipes that ask for coffee in them. it brings out a nice subtle flavor. usually i never have instand espresso or coffee powder so i use used coffee grinds instead. it works perfectly.

ingredients

# 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
# 1 cup light brown sugar
# 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
# 1 large egg
# 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
# 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
# 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
# 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
# 1/2 teaspoon salt
# 1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder
# 1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips



Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds)

2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.

3. In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.

4. Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie.

Yield: 2 dozen cookies

Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

i had an urge for oatmeal cookies. i wish i had my mom's recipe but i found the second best oatmeal cookie recipe i could find, odie's oatmeal cookie recipe. actually it's not his recipe but it is a recipe he found on the quaker oats website. so i found it, baked them up and sadly they're not as good as his. ryan said it must be cuz it lacks beard hair. it is a good recipe anyway.

Ingredients


* 1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons butter, softened
* 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
* 3 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
* 1 cup raisins


Preparation

Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and raisins; mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Baked Shrimp with Feta and Tomato

ryan recently volunteered at a shrimp boil and brought home some free shrimp. i realized i haven't eaten shrimp in the longest time and i really missed it so i bought more shrimp and made this recipe.

Ingredients

* 1/4 cup butter
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic
* 1 1/2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined
* 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
* 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
* Salt to taste
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
* 3/4 cup dry vermouth
* 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
* 4 ounces crumbled feta

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Put the butter and garlic into a large skillet, and place over medium-high heat. Once the butter has melted and the garlic begins to sizzle, stir in the shrimp, red pepper flakes, and oregano. Cook until the shrimp are firm and opaque, about 5 minutes. Season with salt, then stir in the chopped parsley, and pour into a casserole dish.
3. Pour vermouth into the skillet, and simmer until reduced by half. Add chopped tomatoes and continue cooking until heated through. Spoon tomato mixture on top of the shrimp and sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese.
4. Bake in preheated oven until the cheese softens and turns golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

so the things i changed for this recipe included that i used only 1 pound of shrimp. i didn't want to buy two bags of shrimp because i wasn't sure if that particular shrimp was going to be any good. i also used powdered red pepper instead of flakes because i'm not too fond of red pepper flakes. i think that worked to my advantage because it evened out the spicy flavor instead of only tasting the spice per flake. i used 1/8 cup dry parsley instead of fresh, because i misread the recipe and thought it said dry so i didn't buy any fresh parsley. i didn't have dry vermouth so i used white wine vinegar and i found a can of diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil included, which was great because i thought i had garlic at home but i didn't so that helped me out a lot. i bought some random pre crumbled feta cheese which was all right but i wish i had bought the feta from tucumcari mountain cheese cuz it's da bomb but none of the stores that sell it are open on sundays. i served this with fettucine alfredo but it would taste just fine over plain pasta.

my poor chess pie

i attempted to make chess pie today and i don't know what happened but it was all fucked up. i've made chess pie before but this was a new recipe i used. first, i made a homemade pie crust. afterward i filled it and followed the oven directions in the recipe. i took it out of the oven and it was liquid with a cornmeal crust top. i let it sit for a while and it never congealed. it was just liquid buttery sugar. what a waste. it would have been so yummy but i couldn't fix it.
afterward i didn't feel like cooking anything else so i went to the cornerstone deli and got a green chile roast beef melt (on top of a fresh wheat roll and what may have been garlic mayo) and their homemade chocolate frozen custard. that shit is da bomb. that place should be making more business because cornerstone deli > all the shitty restaurants in town.

my fifth catering gig

i always forget to take pictures of what i cook when i cater because i'm usually in a rush. today i cooked honey mustard bbq pulled chicken over biscuits with a side of bacon, green chile & cheese cornbread and butterscotch blondie bars for dessert. i was a bit worried about the cornbread cuz the cheese made it seem so moist i thought it didn't cook all the way through. i left it in the oven for another 15 minutes to be sure but it was fine. i only ate a little plateful and a half of a blondie and i'm soo full.

butterscotch blondies
Ingredients

* 1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
* 1 cup unsalted butter
* 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* About 1 1/2 cups butterscotch chips
Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9 by 13-inch glass baking dish.

Put the sugar in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a small skillet or in the microwave in a glass measuring cup. Stir the butter into the sugar until smooth, cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, in another medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together.

Beat the eggs and vanilla into the sugar mixture. Add the flour mixture a bit at a time and mix until a smooth thick batter forms. Fold in the chips, as desired.

Spoon the batter to the prepared dish and spread to evenly fill the dish. Bake until the blondies are light brown around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. Invert onto a rack and cool completely. Cut into squares and serve.

apple cinnamon waffles

i remembered i had a waffle iron therefore i should be using it all the time. it kind of sucks but it'll do for now. i love waffles. they're the perfect i-got-drunk-then-went-to-the-diner-and-ordered waffles kind of food (so are disco fries). me and waffles go way back. when i worked at the slaughtered lamb a customer nicknamed all the female employees after food and mine was waffles. i wish that nicknamed stuck. i also remember an english teacher in junior high school told us she had a pet racoon named waffles. well here is an easy recipe for apple cinnamon waffles.

* 1 1⁄2 c flour * 1 T Sugar * 2 t baking powder * 1⁄2 t Ground cinnamon * 1⁄4 t Salt * 2 Egg yolks * 1 c Milk * 1⁄4 c Cooking oil * 1 c Apple, peeled -- chopped * 2 Egg whites * Maple syrup * butter Or margarine * Fresh fruit -- optional Cooking Bohemian apple waffles 1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour ,sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. 2. In another bowl, beat egg yolks slightly. 3. Beat in milk and cooking oil. Add the egg yolk mixture to the flour mixture all at once. 4. Stiri just until combined, but still slightly limpy. 5. Stir in the chopped apple. 6. =20 in a small bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form ( peaks will stant straight). 7. Gently fold beaten egg whites into batter, leaving a few fluffs of egg white. 8. Do not overmix. 9. Pour some of the batter onto grids of a preheated lightly greased waffle baker. 10. Close lid quickly. 11. Do not open during baking. 12. Bakei according to manufacturer"s directions. 13. When done, use a fork to lift waffle off grid. 14. Repeat with remaining batter. 15. =20 serve with warm maple syrup and butter.

strawberry and cheese blintzes

i was craving blintzes like whoa. for some reason i thought it was going to be complicated to make so i've been putting off the craving pretty much since i moved out here. well ryan had bought some strawberry preserves and i happened to have leftover cottage cheese so i figured what the hell let me find a recipe and make it. well i did and it was awesome and everything i wanted to eat for breakfast yesterday. holy shit fuckin blintzes mmm

cheese blintz
Ingredients

Crepes

* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 cups milk
* 3 tablespoons butter, melted
* 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* additional butter (for pan)

Filling

* 1 cup cottage cheese
* 1 cup farmer cheese, soft or softened cream cheese
* 1/4 cup powdered sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Garnishes

* sour cream
* strawberry jam or preserves
* powdered sugar

Directions

1
Use an electric mixer to blend together all the crêpe ingredients (except the butter for the pan) in a large bowl. Blend just until smooth. The batter will be very thin.
2
Combine the filling ingredients in a medium bowl and mix by hand. Keep the filling nearby.
3
Preheat a 10-inch frying pan over medium heat. (This size pan tapers to about 8 inches at the bottom.) When the pan is hot, add about ½ teaspoon butter.
4
When the butter has melted, pour 1/3 cup batter into the pan. Swirl the batter so that it entirely coats the bottom of the pan. Cook for 1½ to 2 minutes or until golden brown on one side.
5
Use a spatula to lift an edge of the crêpe. Grab it with your finger, slip the spatula underneath, and quickly flip it over. Cook for another 1½ minutes or until a bit lighter shade of brown than the first side, and then slide it out of the pan. Repeat with the rest of the batter and stack the finished crepes on top of each other to keep them warm.
6
Heat the cheese filling in the microwave for 1 to 2 minutes or until hot. When ready to fill the crêpes, place each crepe, dark side down, on a plate. Pour 2 to 3 Tablespoons of cheese filling across the center of the crêpe. Fold the sides in and turn the entire blintz over (to hide the seam) onto a serving plate.
7
Serve 2 to 3 blintzes on each plate with one dollop of sour cream and two of strawberry preserves. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

my fourth catering gig

yesterday was my fourth catering gig. they gave me a little bit more money this week so i was able to make a lot more food. i was being really lazy yesterday cuz it was my day off so i didn't start cooking until 4pm and i had to be ready by 6:30pm. i really had no idea what to make so i figured i'd make a ton of potatoes because they are easy to cook, filling and cheap to buy. i also had nilla wafers in my house for the longest time that i would never eat so i made banana pudding. in the end i made a spinach cheese bake, ground beef stew with boiled potatoes and homemade banana pudding. the entree seemed greek inspired. i should have used feta on something. here's the recipe for the spinach cheese bake. everyone ate that up.

Cheese Spinach Bake ingredients list:

3 medium eggs, beaten.
20 oz of frozen chopped spinach.
4 oz of cheddar cheese, grated.
1 cup of cottage cheese.
¼ cup of butter, softened.
2 teaspoons of flour.
Salt and pepper.
Instructions for Cheese Spinach Bake:

Cook the spinach as directed on its packaging, then drain.

Mix the spinach, cottage cheese, cheddar, butter, eggs, flour, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix throughly.

Spoon into a greased baking dish and Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 50-60 minutes.