Misson Complete

I guess I've completely my mission to find the best cookie, because the husband told me that these triple chocolate chip cookies are the perfect cookie. Seriously, go make them! You won't be disappointed.

Ratatouille

I searched high and low for a meatless meal that I know my husband would eat. It's really starting to become a real challenge. I stumbled across this recipe and it looked really good. Then I discovered that it had a lot of cheese on it, and I recently discovered I'm lactose intolerant. No meat and no cheese in a meal. What can you eat? None the less I went a head and made the meal. Half with a lot of cheese, half with a sprinkle of cheese. I really enjoyed this meal. So did said husband, for being meatless.

1 T olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 chopped onion
2 c peeled and chopped eggplant
2 c chopped zucchini
1 chopped green bell pepper
1 can diced tomatoes
1 T basil
1 T parsley
1/2 t salt
1/8 t black pepper
8 0z frozen cheese ravioli (I didn't use frozen but a bag and followed the directions on the bag)
3/4 c shredded mozzarella cheese


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 2 1/2 quart baking dish with cooking spray. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir garlic, onion and eggplant until vegetables are soft. Stir in zucchini, bell pepper, tomatoes, basil, parsley, salt and black pepper, bring to a boil and stir frequently. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until vegetables are tender. Cook ravioli according to directions on package. Spread cooked ravioli in a layer on the bottom of the baking dish. Spoon vegetables over the ravioli and sprinkle with cheese. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes, or until cheese is bubbling. Serves 6

Chicken Pot Pie

I've always wanted to make a chicken pot pie. I really like chicken pot pie, mostly the crust. Every time I think of chicken pot pie I think of Marie Calendar's frozen chicken pot pies, which honestly aren't good and I don't know why I think of those. This recipe was delicious. I used a frozen bag of vegetables, frozen peas and fresh celery. I also made my own pie crust, which can be a little tricky and if you aren't up to it don't feel ashamed using prepackage crust.

(photo courtesy of allrecipe.com)

Crust

1 c shortening
2 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 t salt
1 c cold water

Mix shortening, flour, and salt together with a fork or a pastry blender until very crumbly. Add as much water as needed to hold together, and mix lightly with a fork. Roll gently, one crust at a time, on a floured pastry cloth, to about an inch larger than pie plate. Fold carefully in half. Lift to pie plate, and unfold. Fit into pan. Makes 2 pie crust.

Filling

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1 c sliced carrots
1 c frozen green peas
1/2 c sliced celery
1/3 c butter
1/3 c chopped onion
1/3 c all-purpose flour
1/2 t salt
1/4 t black pepper
1 3/4 c chicken broth
2/3 c milk
2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.) In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside. In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside. Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

One of my favorite things to make is chocolate chip cookies. I always use the Nestle Tollhouse recipe but I make my own adjustments to what I think will make them better. So far I've discovered using half butter (real, unsalted butter) and half shortening plus a teaspoon of baking powder. Ever since I was younger and made cookies for my brother I was always on a mission to have the best chocolate chip cookies. This time around I made it with three types of chocolate chips; semi-sweet, white, and milk chocolate. They turned out really good! Everyone who likes a different type of chocolate will be satisfied with one cookie.
2 1/4 c all purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t salt
1/2 c butter, softened (very important it's only soft)
1/2 c shortening
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c packed brown sugar
1 t vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 c milk chocolate chips
1/4 c white chocolate chips
1/4 c semi-sweet chocolate chips (or you can do it in any variation, we prefer milk chocolate)

Preheat oven to 375 and spray cookie sheets with cooking oil. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. In a larger bowl beat butter, shortening, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoon. Bake for 11 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool on wire racks.

For High Altitude: Increase flour to 2 1/2 cups. Add 2 t water to flour and reduce both sugars to 2/3 cup each.

*You can wrap dough in plastic wrap and then again in foil and freeze. Then let thaw to make cookies for another day.

Lasgana Cassarole

When I had my little boy back in February we got this delicious meal from a friend one evening. It was really good and what I think of comfort food. Just what I needed after having a baby. I got the recipe a while back but never got around to making it, as you can see it makes a lot of food for just two people. The only problem I ran into is no grocery store in the area sells provolone cheese in block form. So I bought deli slices and used my magic bullet blender to shred the cheese. It's really simple to make and it's great for left overs, which we'll be having all week. Warning: it's definitely not low on fat! But high on taste. 1 lb ground beef
onion flakes (to taste)
8 oz shredded provolone
8 oz shredded mozzarella
4 oz shredded Parmesan
1 c sour cream
1 lb rotini noodles
jar of marinara sauce (I used Trader Joe's)
parsley

Cook noodles. Cook beef and onion until done then add marinara sauce and simmer for 20 minutes. Mix noodles with beef and marinara. Take 1/2 of noodle/beef mixture and spread in a 9x13 pan. Spread 1/2 c sour cream, then 1/2 provolone, mozzarella and Parmesan. Sprinkle with parsley.. Repeat steps one more time. Cover and bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Uncover the last 10 minutes to make a little crispy. Serves 6-8.

tip: you can half the recipe for smaller servings