Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is a cookie recipe I've elaborated on, and they were an instant hit with my **Seagulls! ;) 

1.5 cups old style oats

1.5 cups all purpose flour 

1tsp baking soda

1/2tsp salt

(I threw in a healthy dash of ground cinnamon)

2/3 cup softened butter

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

1 cup cranberries

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup dried cherries

1/3 cup crushed pecans

Preheat oven at 375.

Line cookie sheets w/parchment paper

Blend flour, oats, baking soda, salt, & cinnamon in a medium size bowl.

In another bowl, cream butter, and sugar together. Add eggs, vanilla, and mix well. 

Slowly incorporate wet ingredients into the dry.

Once homogenous, add berries, nuts, & chocolate chips; mix until well blended.

Using a (soup)spoon, dole out healthy dollops of the dough onto the cookie sheets. 

Bake for 10 minutes, of until golden.

Makes 2 dozen large cookies. 

My disclaimer is that these should be eaten still warm from the oven. Just so that the berries don't burn your mouth, and the chocolate chips are melty and gooey.

Darling likes to pop the day-old ones in the microwave for a few seconds, but to be quite honest, these usually disappear within the day I've made them :)

**My special little nickname for the famdamily whenever I'm baking or cooking. I swear they all hang out in the kitchen, hoping something will jump out of the dish & into their mouths! LOL!!! 

Polenta and Veggie Casserole: It's What's For Dinner

As the main family "Chef", I can honestly say that at least 5 nights out of 7, I ask myself "So, what should I make for dinner?". And it doesn't help when both our oldest, and hubby, have the same query when they respectively return from school and work. Being responsible for everyone's stomachs can be both daunting, and exciting. I've created some pretty amazing meals in our tiny kitchen, but some, well, not so much. 

This one here though, usually gets rave reviews. Save from the teen, who's all but refusing to ingest vegetable matter these days. I've never seen this dish anywhere, so I'm going to go ahead and claim it as my own little concoction. It came about from having very little time to throw together a nice healthy meal, and trying to use what I had on hand. I've always loved Ratatouille, and lasagna, and this is a sort of mashup of these two. 

Preheat your oven at 375C

Ingredients:

I used

2 medium zucchinis and 2 Chinese eggplants, sliced.

1 pack of polenta (I use the 'log' type from Aurora), cut into 1cm thick slices.

1 large can of diced tomatoes mixed with 1 can of pasta sauce of your choice (You can definitely use your own homemade tomato sauce instead, but like I said, this is a "Use What You've Got" type of dish)

About 1.5 cups of shredded Mozzarella (or any cheese you've got that melts well)

Some extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste.

I used a ceramic casserole dish, about 9"x12".

 

I start with oiling the bottom of my dish, and adding a splash of tomato sauce. I then begin layering with the polenta rounds, add a bit more sauce, then start laying down neat rows of sliced eggplant and zucchini. I like to add a bit of sauce in between each layer, just enough to cover, not drown the ingredients.

And you start again layering your ingredients, until they've all been used up. 

Then generously cover it all with your shredded cheese, add a bit of salt & pepper to taste, cover, and place in your preheated oven for 35 minutes. Uncover, and bake for an additional 20 minutes until the cheese is completely melted, and forms a lovely golden crust. 

When using tinfoil to cover, tent it a bit, to ensure that it won't eat up all the cheese.

Oooey Gooey crispy cheese perfection! I wish you could smell it! 

You can dole out and serve this on its own, or as a side with baked chicken breast, or a nice turkey meatloaf. As with most casseroles and other saucy dishes, this tastes even better the next day. And from a dish this size, I could easily serve out 8-9 very healthy portions.

I love experimenting with this dish too, sometimes adding thinly sliced red onion, yellow zucchini, tomatoes, large eggplant slices. And different fresh herbs, like large sweet basil leaves, or marjoram, oregano, rosemary, summer savory, or thyme sprigs. The possibilities are endless!

I hope your family will love trying this dish as much as mine does :)

TTFN!

Jewels

Mini Pita Pocket Treats

For those of you who may not know, we recently found out that our little family will be expanding by one more little Soul in July. This news came as quite a shock to Darling and myself, but, as with our last little addition, we welcomed the news with open hearts, and soon, arms :)

Sadly, I saw a repeat of Hyperemesis Gravidarum with this little nugget, which means that my energy levels, and desire to do anything around the kitchen were nil at best. On good days, I might be able to slap together one meal for the whole family. On bad days, which were most of them up until about a week ago, there was just no way I could even lift my head from the couch. It was a bit tougher this time around, as there was a wee toddler needing parental supervision. Let's just say, I've got a few new permanent pieces of toddler art on the walls, and some furniture... ;)

Here is one quick and easy "slap it together" meal that everyone seems to like, regardless of how many times I've offered it. I found these delicious little pita pockets at our local grocers, and not only are they perfect for for tiny toddler hands, they were perfect bite size bits for Dad and Mimi too.

I started by making a large omelet for everyone, but couldn't stand even looking at it, so when I spied these little pockets on the counter, I got an idea. I started by slicing one edge of them to open the pocket, and carefully filled each one with egg, leaving enough room for ketchup or anything else they might want to add to the pocket.

Everyone got 3-4 on their plates, thinking that would be enough, but then they all went for seconds. And thirds.

Come snack time, I still had a hungry horde (Honestly, it amazes me how much food my family can toss back; meanwhile, I was just barely able to breathe the food fumes...) I had a few of the pockets left, so I slapped something else together: I filled them with cream cheese and fresh sliced strawberries.

Now, you could get a bit fancy and add a sprinkle of cinnamon and maple sugar, but these strawberries were so sweet and flavorful, I just left them as-is.

And these, I was actually able to enjoy.

So there you have it, just a few quick and easy tasty treats. Hope you enjoy them.

TTFN

Jewels

Fancy Rice Crispie Treats

What do you do when you're stuck with a mondo huge bag of big fat pink marshmallows, and you know they'll go stale before anyone eats them? Why, buy a family sized box of Rice Crispies and get melting, that's what!

Mimi roped me into buying one of those bags of campfire marshmallows, those big honking massive ones. They were so big, I thought breaking them down into smaller pieces would help the melting process.
As with most of my recipes, there's a lot of slapping and throwing, so my measurements are more of an approximation. I started by throwing a big blob of butter in my biggest pot; about 1/3 of a cup, and slowly let it liquify. While that was melting, I was breaking apart the mondomallows into smaller pieces, which I dropped into the hot butter.

Let everything melt nice and slow, stirring constantly, until all lumps are gone.
Pour in your cereal of choice (My absolute favourite is SpecialK, but we went with Rice Crispies here. I've also used different Muesli mixes). I stir them in in small quantities, until the sticky mess is saturated in cereal, but you still see sweet strings of marshmallow in between. I like my treats gooey as opposed to dry. Drop the whole mess in a buttered baking pan, metal, glass, doesn't matter!

My trick to to pack it all down nice and dense without crushing the crispies is to smooth it down with a wet spoon, and I just re-wet it whenever it starts getting sticky again.

Toddler approved 😉

Bonus, they had a bit of a strawberry taste to them. Nice, light, sweet, ooey gooey treats that everyone loved! 

Jewels French Onion Soup

Okay, I've received a request for my supah-dupah French Onion Soup recipe, so I thought I'd share it with ya'll, thinking that someone else might be in the mood to attempt it. It's quite easy, but stinky! ;)

I make my soup slowly and carefully, and bring my onions to a caramelization point, where they get to a deep brown color. The cold weather is coming, and I can assure you, this is one hearty soup that will please many!

Ingredients (This will serve up to 6 people)

4 large onions (I like Spanish onions, or Vidalia)
2 tbsp. Olive Oil
3 tbsp. Butter
~ 2 Litres of beef stock (can be substituted for vegetable stock)
Sliced French bread
2-3 oz grated Cheddar or Gruyère cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

2-3 Bay Laurel leaves
Rosemary sprigs (either fresh or dry)

1. Peel and quarter the onions and slice  them thinly. Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan. Use one with a wide base, so you'll get better coverage with the onions.

2. Fry the onions on Med-High heat for a for about 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Reduce the heat to Medium, and cook until the onions become a light shade of brown. NOTE: The onions will gradually turn golden, then very quickly to brown. You only need to stir the onions on occasion at first, but as the onions brown, you'll have to stir more frequently. You need to stir them constantly when they brown, so they won't stick or burn at the bottom of the pan.

4. When the onions are a deep brown, this is where I add the salt and pepper, and the rosemary & Bay leaves. I stir it all for a few minutes, to let the flavours mix together, then I add the stock. Then you just let the pot simmer for about 30 or 45 more minutes.

5. While the soup is simmering, slice your baguette, and grill or toast the slices. Spoon the soup into ovenproof (or microwave safe) bowls, place a piece of bread in each bowl, and then sprinkle a generous amount of grated cheeze over each bowl. Grill in the oven at 250 for a few minutes until golden. Season with a fresh sprig of rosemary, and some freshly ground pepper, and Voilà ! French Onion Soup à  la Jewels!

Bon Appétit!

I hope you will like it as much as I do. It's delicious, very easy to prepare, and worth the wait. Perfect after a nice brisk fall walk.

Moi!