Author: roamingbecca

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Shortly after I moved back from Italy and moved in with my husband, I baked him cookies.  Little did I realize this would unleash the inner cookie monster he had kept hidden from me for all of those years of long-distance dating!  

I found this recipe in the Kitchenaid Best-Loved Recipes cookbook that was given to my husband by his mother for Christmas one year as encouragement to use a Kitchenaid mixer she got him that same holiday.  Funny story, she thought he wanted a Kitchenaid mixer, when really he was looking for one for ME for Christmas!  That was his main gift that year, but I like to think that the is pretty happy with the way things turned out (lots of cookies!).

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

2 eggs

1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups all-purpose flour

12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Makes 4 1/2 dozen cookies (fewer if you make them larger…)

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Place butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla in bowl of electric stand mixer.  Turn on low and mix about 30 seconds.  Stop and scrape bowl (if not using beater blade).  Turn on medium-low and beat about 30 seconds.  Stop and scrape bowl.  

Mix baking soda, salt and flour in a separate bowl.  Turn mixer on low.  Gradually add flour mixture to mixer bowl 1 cup at a time.  Once all flour mix is incorporated, mix 2 minutes.  Stop and scrape bowl.  Add chocolate chips.  Turn on low and mix about 15 seconds.

Drop cookie dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheets about 2 inches apart.  Bake 10 to 12 minutes.  Remove from baking sheets immediately.  Cool on wire racks.

Note:  I make my rounded teaspoons more like rounded tablespoons. If you choose to do this, bake a bit longer (1 – 2 minutes) until light brown on edges.  A few years ago I discovered the wonders of parchment paper instead of “greasing” baking sheets.  Makes cleanup SO much easier!  

Also, I’ve added chopped nuts to these, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips (husband’s favorite), white chocolate chips, and ALL of them turned out delicious!  Just a great basic cookie recipe.  What can you make them with?

Simple & Fast Egg Drop Soup

All families have their own “cures” for those times when sickness strikes.

My family: cup-a-soup, saltines, and 7-up were the cure-all remedy.  In my husband’s family:  egg drop soup, Nilla wafers, and Gatorade.  Hey, to each his own!

A while ago neither of us were feeling so hot, and we had NO cup-a-soup or even canned chicken noodle in the house (I know, I know, bad wifey!).  So born out of necessity with ingredients I usually have on hand, here is a simple Egg Drop Soup recipe. It is easy, fast, delicious, and definitely comforting!

Ingredients:

2 cans low sodium chicken broth or stock (or homemade if you’re crafty like that)

1/2 Tbsp cornstarch

2 large eggs

Bring chicken broth to a low boil on stovetop.  Remove half cup of chicken broth and mix in cornstarch with a fork until incorporated to make a slurry.  Pour back into boiling broth and allow to boil for 5 more minutes to thicken.  While that boils, beat three eggs with a fork in a separate bowl (kind of like you would if you were going to cook scrambled eggs).  Broth should look a bit thicker now, so with broth at a good strong boil, drizzle egg into boiling broth from the end of the fork tines.  Tip: the skinnier the strings of egg are that go in, the smaller the strings of egg in the final soup.  Continue to do this until all egg is in broth.  Allow to boil for 2 more minutes and remove from hot stovetop.  Serve while warm.

Note:  You could “fancy up” this recipe by adding spices, using homemade stock, or adding veggies.  But on a sick day, the plainer the better!

Marmee’s Grape Salad

Sometimes you just need a little comfort food, and this is one of my favorites.  My mother, AKA Marmee, came into town for a very short, way too fast visit in October 2012.  My husband’s best friend requested her special grape salad, first seen by our friend’s at my husband’s 30th birthday party.  Marmee likes to make people happy, so here is a photo of the remains and the recipe:

Marmee’s Grape Salad

Ingredients:

2 lbs.  green grapes, pulled from vines, washed and dried

1 8 oz. cream cheese (I use reduced fat or Neufatchel)

1/2 cup sugar (I substitute equivalent of Truvia baking mix)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 8 oz. sour cream (I use reduced fat)

1/2 cup brown sugar (I use Splenda brown sugar baking mix)

1 cup chopped pecans

Mix cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract together in large bowl until combined.  Fold in sour cream.  Add grapes to bowl and combine to coat grapes well (I use a spoon and stir from the bottom up).  Spread grapes in pretty dish or bowl, I like using see-through Pyrex because it looks pretty from the side. Sprinkle brown sugar all over top.  Sprinkle chopped pecans on top of that.  Eat immediately (because it’s awesome!) or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Hello world! Welcome to my little space on the internet.

Hi!  I’m glad you found me out there in the world wide web.  Oddly enough, I created this blog as a project for a grad school class because I love reading blogs and wanted to give “blogging” a shot, or at least learn a bit about it in the process.  I’ve been working on this since 2012 and recently migrated to WordPress from Blogger (I know, behind the times a bit!).

Not really sure of what I’ll be posting, but it may include recipes, craftiness, travel and probably pictures of my dog.  Because why not?   Hope you enjoy the content!