Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

Justin and I used to do a long distance relationship thing. Hell, we did it for 2.5 years or so, and in that two year LDR thing, we used to send each other care packages. I would always bake him cookies, and he would always send me stuff like jelly belly jelly beans and Magic the Gathering booster packs. Occasionally, Justin would send me cookies that he made from a mix. I always made mine from scratch.

I sent Justin triple chocolate chip cookies, as a part of one of my first ever packages to him. He remembers these triple chocolate chip cookies in detail and cites them as his favorite cookies ever.

It's been about a year since we got engaged, so to commemorate that.... I attempted to make him... you guessed it... TRIPLE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. It's not the same recipe that I used back then since that hard drive has gone to the point of no return, but I think they taste just as good.

So... HAPPY ONE YEAR SINCE WE'VE BEEN ENGAGED, and 248 days left till our wedding :)

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour.

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup unsweetened baking cocoa

1 cup butter 

[or eight tablespoons, if that's easier to measure. It's typically two sticks]

3/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs or egg substituite

1 cup of milk chocolate chips

1 cup of dark chocolate chips

[or even white chocolate chips if that's your thing]

1 1/2 tsp espresso powder

1.   Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Cream butter and sugars

3. Stir in vanilla and add the eggs one at a time

4. Mix in flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and espresso powder.

5. Stir in the dark and milk chocolate chips.

6. Drop by teaspoon onto the cookie sheets

[NOTE: this recipe makes about 2 dozen cookies, so if you want less than they, cut the recipe in half.]

7.  Cook for 11 minutes.

Let the cookies cool for about ten minutes or so before removing them from the cookie sheets, or they'll fall apart. Of course, I like them all gooey and stuff, so I taste tasted them before they cooled... THEY'RE LIKE MELTED BROWNIE BATTER IN COOKIE FORM. YUM.

Then Enjoy :)

 

 

Tuesday Tastiness: Toffee Oatmeal Cookies

So Julep sent me an email today stating that my July Box would be delayed because they can't send nailpolish via airline mail, so it has to be delivered via ground mail... Which is fine and all, but how did they send me my polish before? Is this flying rule a new one or something? Regardless, it is what it is, and they credited me with some joules, so I suppose I'll get it whenever it gets here.

On another HAPPY SUBSCRIPTION  BOX NOTE, my FMLA will be over at next pay cycle... Well technically, it's been over since May 27th, but they'll be done taking all the money from my paychecks to repay for my benefits and whatever they took it for, by July 15thish, so I'm hoping I can slowly reintroduce certain boxes into my monthly subscription selection aside from Julep and Ipsy. I definitely want Starbox back, my favorite subscription that I love to hate. Then there's my Birchbox, which is only ten dollars! I go back and forth about wantable, I do think I want it eventually, but I think I also need to wait till I've paid off some of the medical bills and such before resubscribing to everything I used to subscribe to. Then there are also NEW subscriptions that I've been eying.

Moving on... I did say I was posting a recipe, right?

I LOVE BAKING COOKIES, I've always loved baking cookies. I used to bake them all the time when I was living in NJ. I'd bake a double batch and send half away to Justin, my then boyfriend [now fiance], who lived in Texas, and leave the other half for my family. I would bake, at least twice, a month. I did ruin cookies like I tended to ruin other things I attempted to make... although, I've gotten MUCH BETTER in the kitchen since those Jersey days.

Then I moved to Texas, and stopped baking, not really for a lack of wanting to bake. I just didn't have an electric mixer, and never wanted to spend the money to buy one because subscription boxes are so much better I'm cheap. Then, for Christmas, Justin's mom got me a mixer, this year, and I hadn't touched it since she bought it for me till I made her those gluten free chocolate chip cookies... and that reopened a part of myself that had been repressed since I moved to Texas... and now I want to bake cookies, at least once a week or every two weeks... so I bring you.... TOFFEE OATMEAL COOKIES.

Ingredients:
* 1 cup margerine or butter, softened  

[which to me means leave it in the microwave till it melts, about two minutes, if you're curious.]

* 1 cup granulated sugar

* 1 cup brown sugar 

* 2 eggs or 2 eggs worth of egg substituite

* 1 tsp vanilla extract

* 2 cups all purpose flour

* 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

* 1 tsp baking soda

* 1 tsp salt

* 3 cups of oats

[I used Kroger whole grain oat, but I don't think it makes much of a different, which sort of oats or oatmeal you use]

* 1 cup of Health Toffee Bar Bits

[The entire toffee bar bits package is like 1.5 cups, so I just dumped the entire bag in. And if you don't like toffee, I'm sure chocolate chips or whatever would work out just as well.]

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 375 degrees

2. Cream butter/margarine and sugars until smooth.

3. Beat in Eggs and Vanilla

4. Combine and blend flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.

5. Stir in oats and toffee bar bites.

6. Drop by rounded teaspoon onto greased baking sheet. 

7. Bake 10-12 minutes, I found that 11 minutes worked great with my oven.

8. Eat them. They tastes amazing.

Some warnings, THIS RECIPE MAKES A SHIT TON OF COOKIES, it literally made me like 40 cookies! We're drowning in toffee oatmeal cookies! Luckily they're delicious.

I'm tempted to make care packages of cookies to mail to my family and friends because we have so many!

Therefore, you may want to cut the recipe into half, if you want less cookies.

So there you have it, the random cookie recipe that I thought I should bake, last night, so I did. I do not regret this decision, and I don't think Justin does either.

I'm tempted to add more to my blog... Like vacation descriptions? Justin and I went to Schlitterbahn Galveston, Friday, and I could write up a review for that.  And our honeymoon will be a CRAZY road trip through the United States. So we shall see.

Till then, enjoy the cookies.

Thursday Treats: Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Nope you read that right, Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I personally, don't have an issue with gluten, but my fiance's mom came over for dinner [I served the balsamic chicken and the roasted broccoli recipes that I've posted.] yesterday, and she has Celiac Disease, so she can't process gluten. I wanted to make something for desert, that she could eat... and hey, I LOVE EXPERIMENTS, especially baking ones, so I tried my luck at gluten free chocolate chip cookies... and know what? THEY DIDN'T SUCK! And I think she appreciated it.

 Ingredients:

* 3/4 cup of softened butter

* 1 1/2 cup of brown sugar

* 1 egg or egg subsituite

[Note: I used egg-beaters instead of eggs because they're less fattening, and I developed a taste for them because my grandpa used to love them.]

* 2 1/4 cups of gluten-free baking flower

[Note: The brand I used was Hodgson Mill, and it worked pretty well. I've also heard good things about King Arthur Brand, but my store didn't carry that one.]

* 1 tsp baking soda

* 1 tsp baking powder

* 1 cup chocolate chips

[Note: I used dark chocolate chips because I think they're tastier]

Preparation:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

2. In a medium-sized bowl, cream butter and sugar.

 2. Add egg and stir till blended.

3. Add the gluten-free flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir/Mix till it's all well blended. 

 4. Stir in the chocolate chips.

5. Drop teaspoon sized cookies onto the prepared baking sheet [use pan to grease it or whatever] and bake for about 8-10 minutes. [I baked mine for 8]

The recipe made me about twenty two cookies. This is just one tray of two.

 6. Let cookies cool before taking them off the sheet. 

The cookies were really good. I couldn't really taste the different between them and regular chocolate chip cookies. They might have been a tad bit saltier than regular chocolate chip cookies, but the salt mixed with the dark chocolate tasted amazing.

I refrigerated mine overnight before serving them, and I think that made them cool off better and taste better. 

This has made me want to try to bake other gluten-free recipes, so this gives me excuses to invite his mom over for dinner, just so I can experiment with such things. 

Anyhow, enjoy :)

Munchie Monday: Roasted Broccoli

The sky has darkened, at least, four shades since I got into the shower, and came out of the shower, which means, we should be getting a thunderstorm, I LOVE SUMMER THUNDERSTORMS.

Anyhow, moving on with my recipe posting.

And as I typed that sentence, it started pouring, which is good, it's been dry in Tejas lately.

Today's recipe is a side dish. Again, my fiance has the tastes of a five year old... actually I think five year olds probably eat more vegetable then him. He basically only likes broccoli and carrots... and mashed potatoes, which hardly counts as a vegetable. 

I used to make broccoli au gratin, which was really good, but when you cover vegetables in cheese, it sort of takes the nutrients out of the vegetables and adds about a hundred or so calories... Therefore, I began to look for a broccoli recipe that I thought Justin would eat, that wasn't covered in cheese, and I found this recipe for roasted broccoli, which only has maybe 65 calories per serving, IF THAT. 

Ingredients:

* 1-2 heads of broccoli 

[or more if you want, just double or triple the ingredients...]

[Note: I buy organic broccoli, but regular broccoli works too]

* 2-3 Cloves Garlic

[Note: I just buy minced garlic from the supermarket, it's usually by the vegetables in the product section.  1/2 a teaspoon equals one clove of garlic.]

* 3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil [EVOO]

* 1 tsp salt

* 1/2 tsp pepper

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees

1. Drizzle the EVOO over broccoli, add garlic, salt, and pepper. Then hand-toss it to coat all the broccoli with the mixture.

2. Transfer the broccoli to a baking dish. ***OPTIONAL: I sprinkle either Garlic Powder or a Garlic and Herb mixture over the broccoli before I put it into the oven***** and transfer it to the oven.

3. Roast for 20 minutes.

There you go, EASY PEASEY LEMON SQUEEZY [as my first graders would have said] roasted broccoli that's simple to cook, and delicious.

Just those three steps, and you have a delicious, and fiance approved veggie side dish. 

Justin likes this dish so much that he requests it all the time, and it really is delicious... Something about broccoli and garlic JUST MAKES SENSE.

Enjoy :)

Tasty Tuesday: Basalmic Chicken

I've decided to expand this blog. Since, my district doesn't seem like it wants to pay me anytime soon, therefore, my subscription box addiction will have to be put on hold until probably... July?

 Then there's my Pokemon addiction, and my quest to get all Eeveeloutions, but I beat Pokemon X, months ago [with a team of all Eevees], and Pokemon's remake of sapphire and ruby aren't going to come out until probably fall... THOUGH I AM EXCITED about that, since ruby/sapphire are two I haven't played... I HAD ruby, but the game cartridge was fucked up and wouldn't save my game, so that never went anymore... Plus, if you're hankering for a pokemon fix, there's always Twitch Plays Pokemon, they're on black and white now.

So what can I blog about?

Let's see...  my new-found interests include cooking recipes my fiance will actually eat that are reasonably healthy for you, therefore  I've decided to post random recipes.

My fiance has the tastes of a five year old. He doesn't like healthy foods or vegetables, and his favorite meals include burgers, grilled cheese, and milkshakes. We used to live entirely on a diet of frozen lean pockets and lean cuisines, but in the past few months, we've decided to venture down the path to cooking, in hopes of eating healthier, especially since we have a wedding in... 270 days!

My goals... to find decently healthy, and EASY recipes that my fiance will eat, and I won't go crazy cooking since I lack talent in the kitchen department. 

So all these recipes are fiance tested and fiance approved.

The first recipe I'm going to post is EASY balsamic chicken, each piece of chicken has 170 calories.

Note: I DID NOT INVENT THIS RECIPE, I don't know where I found it, I literally transfer any recipes I like into a word document entitled: FOODS JUSTIN WILL EAT.  It was from a google search, but I don't know the exact website. 

These are the ingredients needed:

2-3 Skinless and Boneless Chicken Breasts

 [Note: I ONLY buy organic hormone free meat because when I got cancer, the doctor told me to stay away from hormones, and since a lot of meat is hormone-treated, I prefer to buy free range hormone free organic chicken and beef, this is a personal preference though]

1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar

1 tablespoon olive oil

[Note: I tend to buy organic EVOO, which is extra virgin olive oil, a lot of recipes call for EVOO, though I don't know what the difference between VOO and EVOO is.]

1 and 1/2 teaspoon Italian Spice 

[Note: You can probably use whatever spice you prefer... like oregano or basil, etc, I just use Italian since it mixes everything together]

2 garlic cloves minced

[Note: I just buy minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon is equivalent to 1 clove of garlic. I think it tastes better, and it's less effort than me mincing garlic myself. You can usually find it by the fruits/veggies in a  supermarket. I USE THIS IN EVERYTHING.]

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

cooking spray

[just to spray the pan before you stick it in the oven]

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, put vinegar, oil, Italian seasoning, garlic, salt, and paper, mix it until it all combines.

2. Put chicken in a Ziploc bag. Pour the vinegar mixture in bag with chicken, seal bag,and spread marinade all over the chicken.

3. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to Overnight.

[Note: I find that the longer you refrigerate it for, the stronger the taste it. I have refrigerated it for 30 minutes, 24 hours, and 8ish hours, and I thought the taste was better when it was refrigerated for the longer periods of time, although it is still good after 30 minutes, just the flavor is weaker.]

4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, spray a baking dish with cooking spray. Place the chicken in the baking dish and pour the marinade all over the chicken. Cover the chicken [I usually don't cover it, I haven't had any issues]. Bake for 35-40 minutes [I tend to go for 40 since it's chicken].

5. Let sit for 5 minutes, and then serve it.

There you go... EASY TO BAKE, Balsamic chicken breast.  It's really delicious, and really simple to make. 

Enjoy.

And, whenever I cook, Gandalf the Gray watches me.