Christmas Eve Dinner

I love this soup.  It's delicious and looks pretty too.  The red pepper and green vegetables make it look a little Christmassy!  Though if you switch out the red pepper for an orange one and serve it in orange bread bowls, it's great on Halloween too!  This is what we have on Christmas Eve with this yummy salad (the dressing is incredible).  It's a nice winter meal.  Hope you like it!

-Em

Salt Lake Style Clam Chowder

4 Large Potatoes, Peeled and Cubed

4 Large Carrots, Cut into 1 ½ Inch Julienne Strips

½ Pound Bacon, Sliced into Small Strips

1 Large Onion, Sliced

3 Stalks Celery, Sliced, Leafy Tops Included

1 Red Pepper, Sliced into Thin Rings

1 10 Oz.  Pkg. Frozen Corn

3 6 ½ Oz. Cans Chopped Clams, Juice Reserved

½ Tsp. Coarsely Ground Pepper

½ Tsp. Salt

½ Tsp. Old Bay Seasoning (Optional)

2 10 ¾ Oz. Cans Cream of Potato Soup

1 Quart Whole Milk

2-3 Tbsp. Fresh Parsley

2 Cups Grated Mild Cheddar Cheese

In a large stockpot boil cubed potatoes and carrot strips in water and cover for 20-30 minutes.  Drain and return to pot.  Saute bacon in medium skillet until done, but not crisp.  Remove bacon and sauté onions and celery until limp.  Place onions and celery into the stockpot with the vegetables.  Add bacon, red pepper, corn, clam juice and seasonings.  Simmer for 15 minutes.  Add potato soup and milk; simmer for 15 minutes more.  Add clams and parsley 5 minutes prior to serving.  Allow to heat thoroughly.  Serve with grated cheese on top.

Green Salad with Pears

2 Heads Romaine Lettuce

1 Head Mixed Greens or Red Lettuce

½ Pound Bacon, Cooked and Broken Up

4-5 Ripe Pears, Sliced

½ Cup Almonds

1 Pkg. Craisins

4 Oz. Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese

Dressing:

2 Cups Sugar

2 Tsp. Salt

1 Small Onion, Chopped

2 Tsp. Poppy Seeds

1 ½ Cups Canola Oil

2 Tsp. Dry Mustard

1 Cup Red Wine Vinegar

Sausage Rolls (Beth)

These are my family's favorite breakfast food. So easy! I got this recipe off the back of a Hormel sausage package a couple of years ago. I usually make 2 batches of these. They go fast!

1 package (10) sausage links (I like to use Banquet Brown and Serve Turkey links)
1 package (10) biscuits
cheese
mustard

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pop open biscuits and flatten out. Place a very small amount of mustard on. (I smear it around the biscuit) Sprinkle some cheese on and then place the sausage on top. (I like to microwave the sausages for 2 minutes beforehand, so they aren't frozen in the middle of the biscuit. It takes longer for them to cook all the way through.) Roll up the biscuit and seal all edges. Cook for 10 minutes.

Virtually Fat Free Black Forest Cake (Beth)

Oh How I have missed swapping recipes with my incredibly amazing cousins!!!! I hope you are all having a wonderful new year and that all of your loved ones are healthy and happy!!!
I thought maybe I would post this recipe because I just came up with it a couple of months ago and everyone seems to be focusing on diet right now with it being the new year. So I'm giving you the opportunity to have your cake and eat it too!!!

1 can pumpkin (approximately 2 cups)
1 chocolate cake mix (I love Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate Fudge)

Mix together and bake in 2 9" cake pans according to package directions.

Let cool.

Black Forest Frosting:

1 tub fat free Cool Whip
3 containers black cherry yogurt

Mix together and frost cake.

This is so good, so easy and very guilt-free! I made this for a neighborhood party and it was the first thing gone! I also shaved some chocolate on top for decoration.

*You can also change the yogurt flavors for a different variation (strawberry, raspberry). But the pumpkin only works for chocolate cake. Unless you want to make maybe a pumpkin cake using a spice cake mix with vanilla yogurt frosting. That would be awesome!!! I just thought of that!

Here's your challenge:
What is your new low-fat, fat-free, low-cal, whatever recipe?

Creamy Chicken and Dumplings

Hello ladies,

Last night, I had no plans for dinner, no motivation, and no good ideas. Jed hates that I serve chicken 9/10 dinners. I say tough luck, and when I suggested we have chicken and dumplings (which I've never made before), he said "No," I glared, and he followed up with "I mean, sure."
So, I found this recipe online, and I was oh so pleasantly surprised. I knew it would be good, but it was delicious. Every time I make a new meal, I ask Jed to rate it 1 to 10, 10 being the best. Guess what he said-- 10! That is true success in my eyes. So, I know I will be making this recipe from now until the end of time.

I changed a few things along the way, so I will include my changes in parentheses.

Creamy Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken breasts (I used boneless skinless, but you can also use bone-in and skin-on, just cook for longer)
10 bouillon cubes (I used two cans of chicken broth and 4 cups of water, with 5 bouillon cubes... that's all I had)
2 quarts water (That's 8 cups, in case you're wondering. I added a bit of water during the process, so you might need to too)
2 cups Bisquick (I just made my own using this recipe)
2/3 cups milk
2 tbsp butter
4 eggs
2 stalks celery (I used carrots, onions, peas, corn, and celery. I love vegetables, so it equaled 2 cups of veggies total)
salt & pepper (I used kosher)

Place chicken breasts & bouillon cubes in a large pot & cover with 2 quarts of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 20-25 mins until chicken is done.

Meanwhile, boil the eggs. Then mix together the bisquick and milk until soft dough forms. When chicken is done, remove from pot and set aside. Drop spoonfuls of dough into the chicken stock. Simmer over low heat, covered, for 10 mins, then uncovered for 10 mins.

Meanwhile, dice 2-4 stalks of celery until you have approximately 1/2 – 1 cup of diced celery. Cut or shred chicken into bit sized pieces. Saute celery in 2 tbsp of butter for a couple of mins. Add in chicken & season well with salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Add the chicken and celery to the soup. Remove yolk from boiled eggs and chop whites and add to soup. Stir all to combine. Serves 4.



I thought the eggs would be weird, but they made all the difference. If you click on the link, you will find more detailed steps such as the best way to boil an eggs and other stuff.

No go make it, and LOVE it, like we do!

Adrianne

Sweet Potato Biscuits

I bought sweet potatoes at Costco because the whole box was cheaper than buying 3 at Walmart.  Alaska is awesome like that.  Anyways, I'm swimming in sweet potatoes and have been trying to find different ways to hide them in Sophie's food.  These were a major hit.  They are sooooo good.  They are especially delicious if you have them with Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter!  You can simply use the mashed potatoes in place of all the wet ingredients, but if you want you can add the milk and butter.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

2 ½ c Bsquick

1/3 c butter softened

1 c mashed or smashed sweet potatoes

½ c milk

Heat oven to 450°F. Stir all ingredients until soft dough forms.  Place dough on surface sprinkled with Bisquick mix; roll in Bisquick mix to coat. Shape into a ball; knead 3 or 4 times. Roll 1/2 inch thick. Cut with 2 1/2-inch round cutter dipped in Bisquick mix. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Serve warm.

Fresh Cranberry Salsa Salad

Still looking for another side dish for your Thanksgiving? I've never really gotten into cranberries on my turkey, so every year I look for a new way to use cranberries in a creative way, but this way is so yummy I think it may become part of our yearly Thanksgiving repertoire. I had three plates full of it for dinner tonight!

Fresh Cranberry Salsa Salad

any kind of salad greens you want
fresh cranberry salsa (see recipe below)
crushed toasted pecans and tortilla chips
honey vinaigrette dressing (see recipe below)

Fresh Cranberry Salsa

chop in a food processor or by hand if you have a lot of energy:
a bag of fresh cranberries
1/4 of an onion (any flavor)
6 sprigs of fresh cilantro or parsley

After everything is chopped mix in 1/2 a cup or more of honey or agave. Or white sugar if you don’t care about that sort of thing.

Honey Vinaigrette Dressing

1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup raw apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup honey

Shake or mix in a blender. You can use regular apple cider vinegar instead of raw but it won’t taste as fabulous. You can buy Braggs Raw Apple Cider Vinegar at a health food store like Good Earth.

I'll sure miss you all on Thanksgiving this year...almost as much as I'll miss all your yummy pies!

Pumpkin Roll

This recipe doesn't even need an explanation.  It's positively delicious.  Plus, every morsel screams of the holidays...and what could be better than that??

Pumpkin Roll

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel-the thin dish clothes with no fuzzies on them)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup LIBBY'S 100% Pure Pumpkin
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar (optional)

Directions

1. PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle towel with powdered sugar.
2. COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts.
3. BAKE for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.
4. BEAT cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.

ENJOY!

Tagine

A tajine or tagine (Berber: taǧin) is a type of dish found in the North African cuisines of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya, which is named after the special pot in which it is cooked.

I first had Tagine when I was living in London.  I had forgotten all about it until Logan's cousins came back from living in Quatar and made it for us.  I fell in love with it.  I have since tried several Tagine recipes, but then I saw that Mary (Beesley) Jolley had one in her book, so I had to make it.  It's delicious, it's beautiful with all the different colors, AND it's really healthy.  You have to try it.

Tagine is fantastic because you can pretty much put in whatever you want.  It can be a vegetarian dish or more like a stew.  Just make sure to serve it over couscous...that's a must!  It doesn't have to be cooked in a 'tagine' pot either; I just use a casserole dish with a lid.

Enjoy!

-Emily

Vegetable Tagine

2 medium Yukon gold potatoes

1 large onion

1 small butternut squash

1 red pepper

1 zucchini

1 yellow squash

½ c chopped carrots

1 can diced tomatoes in juice

2 cups chicken broth

diced chicken (optional)

drizzle of Olive oil

salt and pepper

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp cumin

¼ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp paprika

couscous

Chop all vegetables into bite size pieces.  You can pretty much use any fresh vegetables you have on hand.  Combine all ingredients except the couscous in a glass covered casserole dish. Bake at 400 degrees until vegetables are soft and tender (about 1 hour).  Season chicken well with salt and pepper. Cook chicken (if adding) on the stove top and then add to vegetables and cook for 15 minutes longer.  Cook couscous according to package.  Serve Tagine over couscous.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Pear Soup

Tonight my best friend came over and we made this delicious soup! It's like Tomato soup's older, more sophisticated, and more delicious big brother!

Not only is it healthy, but it is soooo good! I used ground thyme and ginger... but I bet the real stuff would make it even better!

Roasted Butternut Squash and Pear Soup
Shared by: Julie Brown
3 Points Per Serving

1 large or 2 small butternut squash, 3-4 pounds total

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 cups chopped onion

1 chopped shallot, about 2 tablespoons

1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger

1 fresh jalapeno, seeded and chopped, about 1 tablespoon

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoons black pepper

2 ripe pears, peeled, cored and cut into chunks, about 2 cups

6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

1/4 cup heavy cream

1. Roast squash: Preheat oven to 400ºF. Cut squash in half lengthwise and place cut side down on a nonstick baking pan. Pour 1/4 cup water into pan and roast for 45 minutes or until squash is tender when pricked with a fork. Remove from oven and allow to cool. (This step may be done the day before preparing the soup).

2. Prepare soup: remove seeds and peel from roasted squash. Place cooked squash in a medium bowl and mash coarsely. Set aside. In a 6 quart saucepan, heat oil and add onion, shallot, ginger, jalapeno, salt and pepper. Cook over medium-high heat until onion is soft and begins to turn light brown, about 10 minutes. Add pears and cook another 5 minutes. Measure three cups of cooked, mashed squash and add to the saucepan. Stir in broth, honey and thyme and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered for 15 minutes. Puree in batches in a blender or food processor, then return the soup to the saucepan. Stir in the cream and keep warm. Do not boil. Serve warm.

Makes 9 Cups

Calories: 169; fat 6 gm; protein 4.3 g; carbohydrates 30 g; fiber 6.7 g; sodium 381 mg; cholesterol 12 mg.

From pg 166 of the October 2000 edition of Country Living magazine.

Fall Food

Fall is already half over here in Alaska.  The leaves have changed and have fallen. I'm already craving all my favorite fall dishes.  I have to get them in before the snow comes.  Here is one of my favorites...

Apple Apricot Stuffed Pork Chops

6 Loin Pork Chops, 1 Inch Thick

½ Cup Chopped Onion

½ Cup Chopped Celery

1 Tbsp. Butter

½ Cup Soft Breadcrumbs

½ Cup Chopped Apple

1/3 Cup Golden or Dark Raisins

1 Tbsp. Brown Sugar

½ Tsp. Ginger

¼ Cup Apricot Preserves

Cut deep pockets in each pork chop.  In a skillet, cook onion and celery in butter until crisp-tender.  Add breadcrumbs, apple, raisins, brown sugar, ginger and 2 Tbsp. preserves and mix well.  Stuff each chop with about ¼ cup stuffing mixture.  Place in a un-greased 9x13 pan and cover.  Bake for 45 minutes at 325 degrees.  Uncover and spread top of chops with remaining 2 Tbsp. preserves.  Bake uncovered an additional 15-20 minutes or until pork chops are tender. Serve with smashed potatoes and green beans.

This recipe reminds me of my Grammy.  I think most of you have met my Grandma Laine.  She always makes her applesauce cakes at Christmas with cherries on top of the loaves.  I made her recipe into cupcakes this week and they turned out splendidly.  I'm not a huge fan of raisins, nuts, or cherries in my cupcakes, so plain with a little cream cheese frosting was heavenly to me.  Make them however you like!  They are also good with a caramel filling, with caramel and nuts sprinkled over the top (like a caramel apple cupcake)!  Yum.

Applesauce Cake – Grandma Elaine

2 c sugar (1 c white, 1 c brown)

1 c butter

3 ½ c flour

2 tsp baking soda (mixed in applesauce)

3 c applesauce

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

½ tsp allspice

2 eggs

1 c nuts

2 c raisins

1 tsp vanilla

Cherries for top

Bake in loaves or a cake pan for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.  If making cupcakes, fill tins 2/3 of the way full and bake at 350 for 19 minutes.  Freeze or refrigerate cakes if not serving immediately or before frosting with cream cheese frosting.

Happy fall everyone!

Em 

Mock Jam

Okay, this is awesome! A friend of mine gave me this recipe because her garden was exploding with zucchini and didn't know what to do with it other than zucchini bread. This Jam is made from zucchini and JELLO! Yes, jam made from zucchini! Now she feels guiltless feeding her kids pancakes because she puts this jam on it. Her kids love this jam so much, they call it ice cream jam.

Ingredients:

5 cups peeled, shredded, then blended zucchini. Be sure to peel it, so you don't have green flecks in your jam! Also, make sure you blend the zucchini so you don't have stringy jam! Ew!
5 cups white sugar, my friend uses less sugar, and she says it's fine
3 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
2 (3oz) pkgs Jello any flavor, the best are the berry flavors and peach

Stir the zucchini together in a pot over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture begins to boil, about ten minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and gelatin, and continue simmering 5 minutes more.
Ladle the hot jam into six sterilized, half pint jars. Process in a canner as you would any other kind of jam. Refrigerate any jars that do not seal.
Instead of canning the jam, my friend froze it in six containers, and she said it turned out just as yummy. In fact, she caught her little boy sneaking it out of the freezer and eating it right out of the container! Now, isn't this a great way to eat zucchini?

Love you ladies!
Di

Creamy Crab Quiche

This is one of my favorite quiche recipes ever, and I have a boat load of them.  I have one in my fridge right now.  It's perfect for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner.  I LOVE this recipe.  For lunch or dinner I eat it with a bitter green salad (with lots of tomatoes) and a simple red wine vinaigrette.  It reheats great!  One of the best things about quiches are that you can pretty much add whatever you want to them and they will always turn out great (once you have a good base recipe).  So feel free to add sauteed green peppers, mushrooms, or whatever else you fancy.  But I love this one cheesy, creamy, and perfectly delicious. 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk (or heavy cream if you really want to treat yourself)
• 1 cup crab meat (lump is clearly optimal but I've done the cheap canned kind and it taste fabulous)
• 1 cup diced Swiss cheese (regular Swiss or it will be too salty)
• 1/2 cup chopped green or yellow onion
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust (Pillsbury is my favorite)

Things I add that make it extra delicious (and I won't make it without):

• Cream Cheese
• A couple dashes of Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce
• Minced garlic or garlic powder
• 1+ tablespoon Old Bay seasoning (and sprinkle the quiche with extra as soon as it comes out of the oven)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Beat together eggs, mayonnaise, flour, and milk until thoroughly blended. Stir in crab, cheese, and onion. Pour into pie shell.
3. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Lunch ideas for Adrianne

Here is my favorite link for lunch ideas:
http://www.funkylunch.com/gallery.htm

I can see you and Jed having a lot of fun with that.

Seriously though, we mostly eat leftovers for lunches.  If I do make something to go, it's probably a chicken salad sandwich wrapped in a pita and chopped vegetables for snacking.  Hope that helps!

-Em

Easy lunch ideas

So, Jed and I no longer live 3 blocks from campus, and pretty much we will be leaving home between 6-8:30 a.m. and getting home anywhere from 4-11pm. What I am looking for is good ideas for lunches/snacks that are filling, easy to carry around, and yummy. I cannot go an entire day without eating, and I definitely don't want to get in the habit of buying fast food or yucky BYU pre-made food. Any ideas? Thanks!

Omelets in a Bag!

Jed and I spent last weekend at the Young family reunion and are unable to make it to the Goodrich camp out this weekend. So sad! So in honor of the occasion, I want to share with you a fun idea Jed's family does when they go camping (I had never ever heard of this, so maybe some of you haven't either).

It's called omelets in a bag. Basically what you do is put all of the ingredients you like in your omelets in a plastic zip lock bag (the size larger than the sandwich baggies... maybe it's a pint?).

What you need:
Eggs (2-4 fit well in a pint sized baggie)
plastic bags
magic marker (to write names on the top of the bags)
mushrooms
tomatoes
onions
peppers
cheese
chopped up ham
anything else you like on your omelets
S&P

Put everything in the bag, smoosh it to mix it all up, write your name on the top of the bag, and place it in a pot of boiling water (try to leave the top sticking out of the water... the bags tend to stay upright though). It could take anywhere from 5-15 min to finish. The bags start floating when the eggs are done, but smoosh it up a little just to make sure it is cooked through to the middle.

My Mother in Law chopped everything up and put it out, and we all assembled our own omelets. This is perfect for a large crowd because everyone gets to make their own. The best part? Clean up is a cinch!

You could even make these at home. They really are tasty and so easy too! Yum!

Adrianne

Best Taco Salad Ever!

I love salads, but being married to a carnivore prevents me from eating them as often as I'd like.

Maggie and I have a friend who writes an amazing food blog. She is a health nut, so she is always making the recipes more healthy and with less fat. Most of my dinners come from her blog... they are just sooo good.

So anyway, she posted a wonderful recipe for a cilantro/ranch dressing (cilantro is one of my very favorite things in the universe) and Mexican salad. I was super excited.

I used chicken, but obviously ground beef would be really good too (or the sweet pork recipe that has been posted on this blog before). This time I seasoned my black beans this time with cumin, chili powder, and garlic (powder, and regular salt) which I have never done before, and it was sooo goood. And I made my usual rice with lime juice and cilantro cooked in.

I placed my fajita-seasoned chicken on a bed of romaine, added the beans and rice. Then piled on the tomatoes, avocado, and green onion. (I forgot olives, cheese, corn, etc... Oh well, it was perfect the way it was).

Then i drizzled the delicious dressing on top with some crunched chips... and I was in heaven. My husband loved it too! Yyayyy!

Gotta try this dressing (Thanks England ladies for the food processor.. I am using it a ton!!)

Cilantro Lime Dressing (originally from Our Best Bites... another amazing food blog)

Ingredients:

1 pack (1 oz) Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix (ignore the directions on packet)
1/2 cup mayo (I used the reduced-fat olive oil mayo)
1/2 cup sour cream (I used fat-free)
1/2 cup milk
1 lime, juiced
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped (I left this out because raw garlic is really strong to me, but I used a little garlic salt)
1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
1/4 cup green salsa (I used the La Victoria brand)
Hot sauce, to taste

Directions:
Place all ingredients (except hot sauce) in a blender or food processor. Blend until all ingredients are mixed together and finely chopped. Sample and add hot sauce to taste. Allow to thicken in the fridge for a few hours.

my mouth is watering...

advice needed

I once learned from a friend who was an AMAZING baker and also had a master's degree in chemistry that the key to good cookies is how well the butter and sugar are creamed.

I need to know more about creaming. I don't really know what I'm doing. All I know is that my cookies don't turn out as good as I want them too. They are usually puffy and cakey. Also, I don't own a hand mixer. My roommate has a Bosch but I don't think it mixes that well. So do any of you have any tips on how to hand cream butter and sugar? How long is it really supposed to take and what is the final consistency supposed to look and feel like? Maybe someday I'll have a hand mixer so advice on how to cream with that is welcome too. Leave your tips in the comments or if you are feeling ambitious do a tutorial!

I'd appreciate the advice because I really want to make Di's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!

maggie

The best homemade vanilla ice cream ever!!!!

Vanilla Ice Cream

2qt. 4qt. 5qt. 6qt.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 cup 2 c. 2 1/2 c. 3 c. Milk
1 cup 1 3/4 c. 2 1/2 c. 2 3/4 c. Sugar dash 1/2 tsp. 1/2 tsp. 3/4 tsp. Salt
1 cup 2 c. 2 1/2 c. 3 c. Half and Half
1 1/2 tsp. 1 T. 1 1/2 T. 2 T Vanilla extract
2 cups 4 c. 5 c. 6 c. Whipping cream

Scald milk until bubbles from around edge. Remove from heat. Add sugar and salt. Stir until dissolved. Stir in half and half, vanilla and whipping cream. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes. Churn according to ice cream freezer's directions.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't remember where I adapted this recipe from, but it's been my favorite cookie recipe of all time. I think I got it from Joann McKenna. Can you McKenna girls verify?
Anyway, I have experimented with it through the years, and now I think they are perfect!


1 lb butter
2 c. Sugar
1 c. brown sugar
½ t. vanilla
¾ t. salt
4 eggs
4 c. flour
2 t. baking soda
1 ½ t. cinnamon
½ t. nutmeg
3 c. oatmeal
2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (milk choc chips don’t taste as good in this recipe)

Cream butter and sugars then add vanilla and salt and mix. Add eggs and beat until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Gradually, stir dry ingredients into butter mixture ( DO NOT use a hand mixer for this, you will break it). Stir in oatmeal then chocolate chips.
Bake 8-10 min. at 350.
The key to making these cookies moist is to keep the batter cold. I always refrigerate it for a few minutes before I form it into balls to cook. I keep it refrigerated as I cook each batch. Take them out of the oven when they are nearly done and let them sit before moving them. These cookies are good frozen as well. It makes a lot of cookies!

-DI

Mediterrean Pasta Salad

 Ingredients

• 1/2 pound fusilli (spirals) pasta
• Kosher salt
• Good olive oil
• 1 pound ripe tomatoes, medium-diced
• 3/4 cup good kalamata olives, sliced or diced
• 1 pound good feta cheese, medium-diced
• 6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped

For the dressing:

• 5 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 6 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, diced
• 1 teaspoon capers, drained
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 1 cup packed flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Directions

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water with a splash of oil to keep it from sticking together. Boil for 12 minutes, or according to the directions on the package. Drain well and allow to cool. Place the pasta in a bowl and add the tomatoes, olives, feta and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

For the dressing, combine the sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, garlic, capers, Parmesan, parsley, salt and pepper in a food processor until almost smooth.

Toss well and serve chilled.  Garnish with wedges of tomatoes and a sprig of parsley.

I absolutely LOVE this pasta salad.  It's vibrant, jam-packed full of flavors, colorful, and everyone is bound to love it.  I can't lie, I have an entire bowl of it sitting in my fridge that I plan on eating with me, myself, and I.  I might consider sharing, but I don't think it would ship well to Afghanistan.  

Enjoy!