Category: Food

Yes indeed! This is a wonderful cookie recipe. I have made it twice now and took some over to a neighbor and their adult son came over with the empty container and told me he really liked them.

The first time I made them I added pecans and halved the recipe but this second time I left the pecans out and made a full recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp water
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
• 1 cup sweetened, shredded coconut (optional)
• 3 cups Old Fashioned rolled oats (Quick oats are okay, but not steel cut or instant)

Directions

1. Brown the butter by putting the sticks in a thick-bottomed medium sized stainless-steel saucepan. (It’s important to use a saucepan that has a light, reflective interior like stainless steel, otherwise you won’t be able to see the butter browning.) Heat on medium. Melt the butter, whisking so that the butter melts evenly. As it cooks, the butter will foam up then the foam will subside. Whisk frequently to check underneath the bubbly surface as eventually browned bits will form at the bottom of the pan and the butter will begin to smell nutty. At this point it’s very easy to burn the butter so be careful to watch not to burn it. When the browned bits begin to form, remove the pan from the heat. Pour the melted butter, with the browned bits, into a glass or metal bowl and allow it to cool while you prepare the other ingredients.
2. Blend the flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon together in a large bowl.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the browned butter (along with the browned bits) in a mixer bowl then add the brown and white sugars. Beat this on medium high speed for about 3 minutes until its smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla then beat for three more minutes on medium speed until smooth and light.
4. Using a wooden spoon (the mixture will be sticky), stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Stir in 2 tablespoons of water (note that if you are using jumbo eggs, and not large eggs as the recipe calls for, you will probably not need this much extra liquid.)
5.  Stir in the chocolate chips, pecans and shredded coconut. Stir in the oatmeal. (Note: the recipe then says you can refrigerate this dough up to a day and a half if you don’t want to bake the cookies right away.)
6. Butter two large cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper.
7. Spoon out a heaping tablespoon of cookie dough and lay it on the cookie sheet. The dough does not spread very much so you don’t need to have too much room between the cookies (maybe an inch?).
8. Bake at 350°F for 11 minutes, or until they are just brown around the edges but soft in the center. The cookies will continue cooking a little bit more while they are cooling. If you want crispier cookies, you can bake them from 12-14 minutes.
9. When you take the cookies out of the oven let them cool for 2 or 3 minutes on the baking sheet. Then, using a metal spatula, carefully transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Then — enjoy!!! I was so happy to come across this recipe from simplyrecipes.com.

Note: I tried using my hands to make the cookie into balls but it was too messy so using a tablespoon is your best bet.

What are gandules, you ask?  They are pigeon peas and my mother gives me a few cans every time I visit her because she says she can buy them cheaper in Chicago than I can in Minnesota (it’s true). Unfortunately, I don’t cook arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas) as much as many Puerto Ricans do so I tend to have cans pile up in  my cupboard.

Since my mother will be coming to visit next week (along with her two sisters) I was brainstorming with other people on what to feed them. One relative suggested making gandules soup. So I scoured the internet for recipes but found that most of them had ham in them and since I don’t eat ham, I had to concoct my own recipe.

So I ventured where no man, er, woman, has gone before (well, not really but it sounds good!) … I made up my own recipe. And so I will share my vegetarian gandules soup with you. I have to say that the soup tasted “the day after.”

Ingredients

• 1 can Goya gandules
• 2 cups vegetarian broth
• 4 red or white potatoes, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
• 1/2 package Sazon (if you don’t have sazon you can omit it and just add other seasonings like salt, pepper, thyme, etc.)
• Sofrito (to taste), this can be purchases already made or click here for my homemade recipe
• 1 cup of cooked rice
• Salt and pepper to taste

That’s pretty much it!  A very simple soup to make. Serve it with crackers or bread. Yum!

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These blueberry buttermilk pancakes have become my Sabbath (Saturday) morning go-to breakfast.  I’ve made this recipe several times in the past few months. The pancakes always come out light, fluffy and they can be made with apples, blueberries or anything else you want to add to them — even nothing at all.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
• 2 tablespoons (packed) brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted, plus a little more for the griddle

Directions

1. Combine the flour, cornmeal, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, add the buttermilk, yogurt and egg and blend them together.
3. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until everything is blended together. It will still be lumpy but avoid over-mixing it.
4. Add the melted butter to the mixture.
5. Add whatever else you’d like to the pancakes such as blueberries, bananas, nuts, etc. then fold them into the pancakes.
6. On a heated nonstick griddle over medium heat, spread a thin coating of butter and let it melt.
7. Drop approximately 1/3 cup of the batter on the griddle per pancake.
8. Cook the pancakes until they are brown on the bottom and bubbles form on top (about 4 minutes but check to make sure).
9. Turn the pancakes over and cook on the other side.

As the pancakes are ready, I place them in a casserole dish and put them in the oven (set to warm) until it’s time for all to eat.

The really nice thing about these pancakes is that you can serve them with or without syrup as they are delicious either way.

Yum!

I found this recipe at the strangest place — a bed and breakfast called the Azalea Inn & Gardens. Click here to go to their website.

Awhile back, I bought a large bag of Quinoa so I’ve been looking for new recipes to try. The one challenge I have is that I like quinoa but my husband has more of a “I’ll eat it if it’s served” mentality. That’s a big difference in how one looks at this “perfect” food (so called by a nutritionist I know because of its low carb high protein properties).

The Quinoa Stuffed Zucchini recipe that I’m posting was good and it serves two (2) people which was even better as I didn’t have to worry about leftovers sitting in our refrigerator. If you try it, let me know how you like it. My husband (who likes spicy foods) said it was too bland whereas I (who don’t like spicy food) thought it was perfect.

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup quinoa, well rinsed
• 4 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and ends trimmed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Salt & fresh pepper
• 1/3 cup chopped pitted black olives
• 1/2 cup pimientos
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup of dry bread crumbs

DIrections

1. Lightly oil a 9 x 13 inch baking pan and set it aside
2. In a large saucepan, bring the water to a boil over high heat
3. Add the quinoa and salt the water (if you wish) then return to a boil
4. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot and simmer until the quinoa is tender (about 15-20 minutes)
5. While the quinoa is cooking, scoop out the zucchini flesh but leave the shells intact and chop it up
6. Steam the zucchini shells until slightly softened, about 5 minutes, then set aside to cool
7. In a large skillet, heat one tablespoon of oil over medium heat then add the onions, garlic and chopped zucchini. Add salt and pepper to your taste. Cover and cook until the vegetables are tender, approximately 10 minutes
8. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
9. In a large bowl, combine the cooked quinoa with the onion and zucchini mixture. Add the olives, pimentos and parsley to the mixture. Mix everything together.
10. Stuff the zucchini shells with the quinoa mixture then sprinkle the top with bread crumbs and arrange the zucchini in the pan.
11. Add 1/4 inch of water to the bottom of the pan. Cover the pan with foil and wrap it tightly. Bake until the filling is hot approximately 20- 30 minutes.
12. Uncover the pan and bake 10 minutes longer to lightly brown the topping
13. Serve immediately.

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I found another delicious recipe. This one is vegan and the recipe made quite a bit for two people (for those who aren’t vegan, you can add chicken to the recipe). My husband thought this recipe needed more flavor but I thought it was fine the way it was.

Ingredients

• 12 ounces dried rice noodles
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon tamarind paste (see note below)*
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 pound extra firm tofu, drained, pressed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 small red onion, quartered and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
• 4 green onions, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 cup coarsely chopped dry-roasted unsalted peanuts
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 cup bean sprouts (for garnish)
• 1 lime, cut into wedges (for garnish) 

Directions

(I made the mistake of not starting with the tofu first which made dinner a lot later than it should have been,  so … here’s the directions for preparing the tofu first.)

Tofu Preparation

1. Remove the tofu from the package
2. Cut the block into slabs and place the slabs on a baking sheet lined with paper towels
3. Weigh down the slabs with a baking sheet topped with heavy canned goods and let it sit for an hour
4. After the hour (when most of the water has been removed from the tofu) cut the tofu into 1/2 inch pieces

Food Preparation

1. Soak the noodles in a large bowl of hot water until softened which takes anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes depending on the noodle you’re using
2. Drain the noodles well and rinse them under cold water
3. Transfer the noodles to a bowl and set them aside
4. In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, lime juice, sugar, tamarind paste, tomato paste, water and crushed red pepper. Stir this together and set it aside.
5. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over medium heat. Add the tofu and stir-fry until golden brown (5-10 minutes). Transfer this to a plate and set it aside.
6. In the same skillet, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat then add the onion and stir-fry for 1 minute.
7. Add the green onions and garlic then stir-fry for 30 seconds.
8. Add the cooked tofu and cook about 5 minutes tossing occasionally.
9. Add the cooked noodles and toss to combine and heat everything through.
10. Stir in the sauce and cook through, tossing everything together so it’s evenly coated with the sauce. (You can add additional water if it seems too dense for you — a tablespoon at a time …)
11. When the noodles are hot, put them on a platter and sprinkle with peanuts and cilantro.
12. Garnish with the bean sprouts and lime wedges.
13. Serve this meal hot.

*I wasn’t able to find tamarind paste locally so I used the substitution they recommended which was 1 teaspoon brown sugar (or you could use molasses) with 1 teaspoon of lime juice.

Quite a delicious meal! I decided to add some more veggies to the meal also — brocolli and carrots.  My husband had to wait an hour longer than normal for this meal as I thought I had read the recipe all the way through but didn’t account for the tofu preparation time.  Oh well … live and learn.

This recipe is from the 1000 Vegan Recipes Cookbook that I have found to be quite useful because of its tasty recipes.

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This recipe for chicken fajitas is quite tasteful but be careful if you don’t like your food spicy. I adjusted the ingredients for myself (because I don’t like spicy food) and it still had a wee bit of a kick to it. So feel free to adjust as you go along …

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
• 2 green bell peppers, halved and sliced
• 2 medium onions, halved and thickly sliced
• 1 tomato, quartered
• Cilantro (optional)

I hope you enjoy it as much as my family did.

Note:  Not sure where the original recipe came from …