Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

*aren't they gorgeous? I took this picture right before inhaling half the cookies. So.Good. 

I get into these obsession-loops… basically, where I fixate on a particular ingredient or recipe and I can't stop thinking about it until I make it... especially when sweets are involved. Normally, I'm a regular old chocolate chip cookie kinda girl, but I went out for lunch with my sister-in-law recently and tried an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie.

It was ok, but just ok, and I thought for sure I could find a better recipe to make at home. I obsessed about it for a week before finally looking around, and this one from Allrecipes is really fantastic. Here is my take on oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

What you need:

1C butter, softened

1C brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2C white sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4C flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3C oats (I used old-fashioned)

1/2 C semi-sweet MINI chocolate chips (I add my chips by sight, you should too. Most recipes call for WAY too many chocolate chips.)

What you do:

Start by preheating your oven to 325 (or 350 if you're me and don't pay attention to anything ever).

Cream butter and sugars together until smooth, then add vanilla and eggs. Keep mixing until everything is nice and smooth.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda,  and salt.

Add flour mixture to butter mixture, stirring until just blended.

Add oats and chocolate chips, again stirring until just blended.

Drop heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges start to look golden.

Cool on baking sheet for five minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling (if you can resist eating them immediately…).

These cookies freeze and reheat very well!

Guilt-Free Apple Crisp

*sadly, not my photo. I found it on Allrecipes.com by googling "Apple Crisp". Mine totally looked this good though. I will prove it next time I make it! :)

About a month ago, I had a crazy hankering for apple pie. If you know me IRL, you'll know how bizarre and unlikely that is, given I don't actually like pie, especially apple. But anyway, there I was with no dessert in the house and a bunch of honeycrisp apples on the counter. No way was I attempting to make pie crust from scratch, so I googled until I found this Apple Crisp recipe from Chowhound. It ticked enough of the boxes that I decided to try it.

I have to say up front, however, that I did not actually follow Chowhound's recipe very closely, because it seemed to take what could be a relatively healthy dessert and make it into a relatively unhealthy one in a few steps. So, if you're looking for a LOT of sugar and butter with your apples, use the original. Mine's a little more spartan, but it turns out amazing every time and it's totally easy.

Also, the recipe below makes like 4-6 servings... if you want to make a smaller batch, just use fewer ingredients; you'll have to play around with it a bit to get the amounts right. Sorry, I know that's  not very helpful...

Start by pre-heating your oven to 350F.

What you need:

6 medium honeycrisp apples (I assume this would work with any apple, but I prefer the sweeter, crunchier varieties and honeycrisp is my absolute favorite)
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 C brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 C uncooked oats (I used old fashioned)
1-2 Tbsp butter, cold or room temp, plus a little more to grease your dish with

What you do:

Lightly grease an 8x8 glass dish with butter (canola oil or spray would work fine I'm sure).

Peel and cut your apples, either into 1/4" thick slices, or small cubes.

Add cinnamon and salt and toss lightly until apples are coated. Put apples into greased 8x8. Set aside.

In separate bowl, mix together butter, oats, and brown sugar. You may need to add a bit of extra butter; you want your mixture to be a bit like wet sand.

Once you have a consistency you like, spread mixture evenly over top of apples in 8x8 pan.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until the apples are soft and the topping is crunchy(ish).

Cool for a few minutes before serving. Apparently, it's great with whipped cream or ice cream, but I never get that far... I just eat it immediately the way it is.

Chicken Creole

A while back, I shared my version of this recipe for Shrimp Creole by Never Enough Thyme. It was a weekly staple at our house for quite a while, but eventually it faded as these things tend to do. I was recently stuck for dinner ideas and decided to try making it again, but I realized after I started that I didn't have any shrimp at home. Solution? Make Chicken Creole instead! So that's what I did… and the hubs and I both like it better than the shrimp.

What you need:

1 to 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast (bscb), trimmed and cut into cubes

2 Tbsp butter

3/4 C yellow onion, chopped (not as fine as dicing, but smallish pieces mmmkay?)

3 small celery ribs, chopped (see above.)

1 green pepper, cored, seeded, chopped (see above the above)

3 garlic cloves, minced. I used 3tsp of pre-minced garlic from a jar... you use what you like.

1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes (I use Meijer organic petite diced)

3 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried, but trust me, use fresh!)

2 bay leaves

12 dashes of Tabasco sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

2 servings of rice (we now use quinoa or  a combination of the two. It's awesome.)

What you do:

As advertised, trim anything undesirable and cube your chicken. Ideally, cut your chicken to the size of standard sugar cubes.

Cook chicken in a pan with a bit of olive oil over medium heat. Normally I will cook it until it seals, then take it off the heat and set aside. Always check your chicken's internal temp before eating!

Prepare your rice /  quinoa  / grain mix. You'll want that ready to go when the Creole finishes.

Melt the butter in a large sauté pan, then add the onion. Cook until the onion softens, but do not brown. Add celery, green pepper, and garlic, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often, or until the veggies are softened.

Add the tomatoes, thyme, bay leaf, Tabasco, salt, and pepper. Stir, then add your chicken. Simmer for 10 minutes uncovered, stirring often. You'll want some, but not all, of the liquid to evaporate; I would say this is one of those "evaporate to taste" kind of situations. Personally, I like it a little saucier, but you might want it drier. Your call.

Using a meat thermometer, test a few pieces of chicken to ensure they are cooked through (165F). If not cooked through after 10 minutes, cover and leave to simmer another 3-5 mins, or until meat is cooked.

Once cooked, remove from heat and let rest for a few minutes before serving over rice. Feel free to garnish with parsley if you're so inclined… I can't be bothered. 

For my take on Never Enough Thyme's Shrimp Creole recipe, click here.

Apple Spice and Everything Nice Muffins

*Yes, those are my muffins... a variation written below for your baking pleasure. Sidebar: don't buy those recipe cards! They're too thick and awkward... I really don't like them. 

About a thousand times a year, I lament the fact that I can never find really good muffin recipes. Like, you know those muffins you get at the coffee shop, or even from McDonald's... the big, fluffy, slightly sticky ones that are always way tastier than they probably should be? Like that. Every muffin recipe I have at home has been kind of meh. So I was really pleased when I had an insane apple-muffin craving last week and stumbled upon this wonderful recipe by Once Upon a Chef. 

My friend Kali over at Kali Kat Corner both made these on the same day, with different results (all good, though). Kali's (mostly) a vegetarian, and her blog is chock-full of amazing veg-oriented recipes. Please, take a moment and check her out. 

(...Don't worry, I'll wait. You'll be back for these amazing muffins, after all...)

Ok. Ready?

What you need:

1/2C butter
1/2C white sugar
1/4C packed brown sugar (dark)
1 egg
1C sour cream or plain yogurt
2C flour (I used AP, recipe suggested 1C each of AP and WW)
1tsp b.Powder
1tsp b.Soda
1/4tsp salt
1tsp cinnamon
1/2tsp nutmeg
1/4tsp cloves
2C peeled and diced apples (dice 'em how you wanna eat 'em)

A bit of extra brown sugar for sprinkling purposes

  

What you do:

• Preheat oven to 375
• Blend butter with both sugars until fluffy
• Blend in egg, then blend in sour cream / yogurt. Batter will look grainy.
• In separate bowl, mix dry ingredients and spices
• Add dry ingredients to wet, stirring just until blended
• Add apples and stir until blended
• Scoop batter into cupcake papers
• Sprinkle each with brown sugar
• Bake 20-25 mins or until tester comes clean
• Cool on wire rack (but eat at least one while it's warm)

Variations:

• use 2C of mashed banana instead of apple
• use a combination of mashed banana and diced apple, 2C total
• add mini chocolate chips (to taste) to any of the above
• use a combination of banana and apple AND add mini chocolate chips (I did, as pictured... So good!!)
• use mashed banana and add peanut butter chips (to taste)
• make something up and tell me all about it!

I really think this is going to make a great base recipe for all sorts of muffin types... Carrots? Berries? Mangoes!? You can always leave out the spices, too, and you'll have more of a white-cake style base... which would be great for all kinds of other applications. The sky is the limit here... enjoy! 

Mrs. Cameron's Home-Ec Muffins

*Yep, my picture and my muffins. Yum!

In middle school, we all had to take Home Economics (Home Ec). I don't remember learning much that was useful... We mostly made really terrible food and learned things like how to balance a chequebook.

Our teacher, Mrs. Cameron, was a very fancy lady. She was big and had huge blonde 80s hair and long nails and she always wore makeup. I remember she really seemed to like teaching, though she didn't seem to care much for children. 

Anyway, this is the one and only recipe we made in Home Ec that seemed worth repeating. Don't limit yourself to chocolate chips*, either... I've added blueberries and I've made these with gingerbread spices. The recipe is just for the basic plain-cake muffin... The rest is up to you. 

What you need:

1 1/4 C Flour (AP)

3 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1/3 C White Sugar

1 Egg

1 C Milk

1/3 C Canola Oil

1 C Chocolate Chips*

What you do:

-In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Make a well in the centre of the dry mixture. 

-In another bowl, blend the egg, oil, and milk. 

-Pour the wet ingredients into the "well" in the dry ingredients. Stir batter until just blended and no lumps. Do not over-mix.

-Stir in chocolate chips.

-Fill paper muffin liners 2/3 full. Bake for 16-20 mins at 400F (or until tester comes out clean.

-Cool on wire rack. 

Crispy Microwave Sweet Potato Chips

*Yep, I ate these. They were delish.

I had my mind blown today by an article in The Awl about using the microwave. The article also included a method for making sweet potato chips (and others, including beets) in the microwave.

In retrospect, I'm not sure why I was so surprised by how well this worked. After all, I used to make pita chips* all the time in almost exactly the same way. I guess I just never thought of it for vegetables before.

Anyway, my chips turned out extremely crispy and crunchy, which is exactly what you want in a sweet potato chip right!? Obviously, they're not quite the same as a fried chip, but I suspect these are a bit healthier (and, they had more sweet potato flavor, which I consider a bonus). I only prepared a sweet potato; it's up to you to read the original article if you want ideas for using other veggies.

What you need:
A sweet potato, or several, depending.
Olive or vegetable oil
Salt
Seasoning, if you're into that.

A mandoline slicer will help you immensely for this recipe. If you don't have one, you'll need to slice your sweet potato very evenly and super thin. I wouldn't recommend a knife; a vegetable peeler might be better.
You'll also need some paper towels, a microwave-safe plate or dish, and... duh... a microwave.

What you do:
Wash and dry your sweet potato. Leave the skin on, obvs.
Using your mandoline, slice the sweet potato into even, thin slices.
Place the slices in a single layer on a layer of paper towel. Place another layer of paper towel on top and press gently to dry your slices. You'll never get them totally dry, so don't try, just get as much as you can by blotting and move on.
Toss your slices in your oil or spritz the oil on if you've got a mister. You want to coat each slice but you don't want them dripping oil.
Place a fresh layer of paper towel over your microwave-safe plate.
Next, put a single layer of oiled sweet potato slices on top of the paper towel.
I recommend salting at this time, but you can play around with this. ((My first batch I salted after I finished cooking them and the salt didn't stick. The second batch I salted at the halfway mark, and they were a little saltier. Next time, I'd salt them right at the oiling stage.)
Put the plate in the microwave and cook on high for 2-3 minutes**.
Remove them from the microwave, flip each slice, and put back in for 2-3 minutes on high.
They're going to get a little brown in the middle. That's ok; just don't let them get too brown. Obviously, this means you have to watch them fairly closely while you make them.
Once cooked, take them out of the microwave and just let them rest*** for a few minutes. If you're using a seasoning, now's the time to add it.
Once they're cool, you can eat them right away. I have no idea how you'd want to store these yummies but I will update this recipe once I've tried a few methods. Feel free to leave suggestions below. :)

*To make pita chips: cut pita bread (the kind that is like a pocket) into pieces of the desired chip size. Place pieces on paper towel on a microwave-safe plate and nuke them for however long it takes for them to get crispy; I haven't done this in a while but I feel like I was doing 1-2 minutes on high per side in the past.

**As the original article says, all microwaves are different so you may need too experiment with cooking times. I did 3 minutes on high on one side, 2 minutes on high on the other. I tried 2:30 on the second batch and half of them burned... so play around and see what works for you.

**I actually used my wire baking rack to help cool them; I just lifted the paper towel and sweet potato slices right off the plate and set them on the rack. If you don't have a rack, you might consider putting another paper towel layer down on a cutting board or other flat surface and lifting your microwaved paper towel and sweet potato onto it.

Tasty Protein Smoothie

*That is my empty blender bottle. I liked my smoothie so much I guzzled it before I remembered to take a pic. Oops. Yum. 

I'm a huge advocate for eating "real food". I think it's important to practice portion control, eat a healthy variety of foods each day, and always avoid "pills, powders, and potions". 

I really mean it. I'm not going to put a big lecture here about why I'm against supplements and the three Ps; that's not what this blog is about. However, I am about to post a recipe for a smoothie that uses protein powder, so I figured I'd best explain it a bit. The brief version: I needed to make a radical change in order to actually lose pounds on the scale, so I chose a specific, short-term plan and incorporated a protein supplement in order to shake up my metabolism (or whatever it is that is helping me to lose... and it is, by the way, helping). I do not advocate using supplements or any of the three Ps long term, but I do believe that within a defined, short-term diet plan, they can be useful. 

The issue with using protein powder is it tastes awful and feels gross in your mouth. I hate it. It makes me gag. But I have found with this particular recipe that I not only tolerate but actually enjoy getting my protein in, and the added bonus is it satisfies me for a very long time. I'm less likely to indulge or over-eat after I have this smoothie, so I'm trying to have it regularly. 

What you need:
1/2 C of cold, strongly brewed coffee, plus a little more
1/4 C of 1% milk
4 tsp granulated sugar
1 scoop of chocolate-flavored protein powder. 

Approx 1/2 C ice cubes

Blender

Blender Bottle

Notes: 

Regarding the protein powder: I use Optimum Nutrition's Platinum Hydro Whey (chocolate). I admit, the reason I'm using it is that we had some in the house already from our former weight-lifting days. There may be better options out there for weight loss, but I have found that in terms of meeting my current specific goals (filling, low calorie, tolerable on the palate) it's fine. 

I brew a large pot of coffee on the weekends for use during the week. I use Panera's Italian Espresso because I find it good and strong without being too bitter. I put it in the fridge in a pitcher unsweetened once it has cooled.

What you do:

In my blender bottle first, I mix the coffee, milk, sugar, and protein. Shake vigorously, until the powder is (mostly) mixed in. I then add enough ice cubes to bring the total volume in the bottle up to just below the lip, then dump the entire mixture into my blender. If you're doing it this way, do not forget to retrieve your blender ball before you turn on the power blender. Metal in your shake? Not delicious. 

I use the "ice crush" setting on the blender and blend the hell out of the ingredients. It gets kind of frothy, which I think is a good thing. Once it's all smooth, I pour it gently back into my blender bottle. I use a big plastic straw so I can drink while I'm driving. Up to you how you get it into your mouth. 

That's it. The great thing is, it's about 240 calories and it fills you up for hours... I'm normally so full that I only want a little fruit or veggies for lunch, and I'm good until dinnertime. What I love about this recipe is that you honestly cannot tell there's protein in the smoothie at all... it gets so well-blended, it's just like drinking an iced coffee. Plus, I get my caffeine fix too. :)

One thing: be sure to hydrate well throughout the day. I've heard protein powders can have some less-than-ideal side effects in terms of digestive regularity. So drink lots of water... you should be fine. :)