best chocolate chip cooky ever

Well, I found the perfect chocolate chip cooky.

They are thick, substantial, sturdy, chewy, full of chocolate and exactly the type of cooky I love. 8 minutes left them slightly pale and chewy (like DH likes) and 9 minutes created golden brown, crispy outsides, (like i like). man, these are good.

This came to me via Tastespotting, but here is the link to the recipe

My Favorite GF, DF breakfast

This is one of my favorite breakfasts, especially in winter. It is so filling and warm and tasty.

I use coconut oil to fry the eggs in. I like my eggs over medium-the whites totally cooked, but the yolk warm and oozy.

I chose a long garnet sweet potato, peeled and cubed it, boiled until soft, then thru the ricer. I added a T of coconut oil and about 1/4 cup lite coconut milk. Stir together, then fashion a bed of this puree on the plate. Lovingly lay the eggs on top, cut the eggs so they yolk spill out and then enjoy them one bite at a time.

Sandwich Bread

I made sandwich bread from the recipe in Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.

I used a pain de mie pan, which I am not sure is necessary, and anyway, the pan made quite a large loaf. We didnt even finish it, though I think that has to do with the fact that I didnt use enough salt.

Also, it was a little too dense. When I took it out of the pan, it sort of caved in on one side since it was so heavy and full.

I will make another loaf this weekend using a regular small loaf pan and see what happens.

Dinner Party

We had friends over for dinner the other night. With all the kids, I figured the best bet was spaghetti and meatballs. I wanted to serve at least two vegetables as well, plus a green salad. For the salad, I thought I’d make a plate full of cut up veggies so that people could add what they liked to their lettuce. Some were raw, like the carrots and cukes. I also parboiled some, like the asparagus, radishes, celery and peppers. Oh, maybe I ate all the peppers before anyone arrived. oops. 

I went to get the lettuces and discovered I had put them too far back in the fridge and they all froze. ARGH! So, I kept the veggies out as an appetizer and added a few cups of dressing as dip.

I wanted to make garlic bread, and I had a loaf of sliced italian bread. I was going to put the spread on and wrap it in foil and bake it, but I knew it wouldnt come out crispy, like I wanted, so I went with another method. I put the spread on each slice and then sauteed it in a frying pan. For the spread, I made a mixture of palm shortening, olive oil, fresh pressed garlic, and some dried oregano and basil and salt. 

It was a big hit.

Another big hit was the brussel sprouts.

Last but not least, I steamed some zucchini and yellow squash sliced into coins and tossed with a little butter and salt.

There were hardly any leftovers at all!

Zuppa Toscana- Potato, Kale and Sausage Soup

I remember when the recipe for this soup was still being tweaked at the Olive Garden. Earlier versions has slices of sausage instead of ground chunks, as I recall. ( I worked there at the time!) Anyway, its been my favorite for many years, and I decided to make it at home.

I found this recipe online and tried it today.

From the site:

• 1 lb ground Italian sausage
• 1½ tsp crushed red peppers
• 1 large diced white onion
• 4 Tbsp bacon pieces
• 2 tsp garlic puree
• 10 cups water
• 5 cubes of chicken bouillon
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 lb sliced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes
• ¼ of a bunch of kale

1. Sauté Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients.
2. In the same pan, sauté bacon, onions and garlic for approxiamtly 15 mins. or until the onions are soft.
3. Mix together the chicken bouillon and water, then add it to the onions, bacon and garlic. Cook until boiling.
4. Add potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour.
5. Add heavy cream and cook until thoroughly heated.
6. Stir in the sausage.
7. Add kale just before serving. Delicious!

Notes:

To start with, I cut the liquid to 7 cups. I used about 3 cups of homemade chicken stock and the other half water plus 4 tsp of better than bouillon chicken stuff.

I omitted the red pepper flakes because I didnt have any, but if I did, I would have only used the tiniest amount. Like 4 flakes. Im sensitive to heat.

My russet potatoes were no longer ok to use, so I subbed a small bag of baby yukon golds. I sliced them, not thin.

I used only 2-3 T of half n half instead of a cup of cream.

So, it tasted really just like the Olive Garden soup. I went to the Olive Garden and had some the other day, so my memory was fresh. However, in the future, I will cut the amount of sausage by at least half. It was excessively full of sausage. Also, next time, I will saute the bacon first, remove the bacon, then sautee the onions in the bacon grease and add the bacon with the sausage. Sauteeing it with the onions was not good. It didnt brown, it just got puffy and fatty. The waxier baby yukons were really good here. I might quarter them next time. You dont have to peel them. A litte more kale would be fine, too.

Definitely a recipe Id make again.