Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

I have been searching for the "perfect" chocolate chip cookie recipe for a few years now. I love the flavor of the recipe my Mom makes, but they are easy to overcook. So, I've been making cookies various ways for a few years and have come up with a recipe we love here in our house. 

Oats ground slightly in the blender

mix dry ingredients

Add dry ingredients into creamed ingredients

Stir in chocolate chips

Scoop dough onto baking sheet lined with silicone baking mat

This mat set can be found at costco as well.

Bake until just golden.

Cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

print recipe

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

by Christina Elton July-3-2017

Three years of perfecting this chewy, chocolaty deliciousness.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. Brown Sugar
• 1 1/2 c. Granulated Sugar
• 1/2 c Cream Cheese
• 1 c. Butter
• 3 Eggs
• 4 1/3 c. All purpose flour
• 1 1/2 c. Oats, measure then grind in blender
• 2 T. Cornstarch
• 1 1/2 t. Baking powder
• 1 1/2 t. Baking Soda
• 3/4 t. Salt
• 2 t. Vanilla Extract
• 1 1/2 c. Chocolate Chips

Instructions

Cream together brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter and cream cheese until well incorporated. Add eggs one at a time and beat in. Add vanilla Extract. In a separate bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients except chocolate chips. Incorperate dry ingredients into wet ingredients then fold in chocolate chips or any other mix ins you enjoy. Bake at 350 F for 8-12 minutes. Cookies should be light golden brown. Cool on rack and enjoy.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 12 mins Total time: 1 hour Yield: about 3 dozen

Read more...

Read more...

Wyoming in July

Read more...

Dad's Meat and Beans for a crowd

5 lb beef or pork roast
2 lb black beans (I actually like to do one lb black and 1 lb pinto)
1 medium yellow onion
2-4 cloves garlic
1 t. Oregano
1-2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
water

Sear meat in a hot oiled cast iron dutch oven or similar heavy pot, add onion and garlic. Add beans, spices and enough water to cover everything in about 1/4 inch of water. Cook at about 300 F for about 4 hours. I have found that if the cookware is tight enough it doesn't need extra water. If the lid is not a good fit it may need more water after an hour or two. Season to taste after beans have cooked. Enjoy with tortillas, limes, salsa and cilantro (unless you are like me and HATE cilantro!).

Read more...

Grandpa T's Chili

My Dad has always been a good cook. My grandma loves to tell stories of the messes he would make in the kitchen as a small child. He once wrote a recipe on the inside of one of the kitchen cabinet doors. Grandma said she didn't have the heart to remove it, it was there until they moved. So, as it would happen my Dad still makes some pretty great recipes. This is one of my favorites.

This recipe is a little different than most chili recipes because the recipe was made with the intention of serving it with salsa. YOU MUST SERVE IT WITH YOUR FAVORITE SALSA! Ok, so you don't HAVE to but it is best served with salsa.

1 1/2 lb. coarse ground beef  *I use a packaged precut stew meat sold as beef carnitas meat mmm.
1 yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
1 t. oregano
2 T. chili powder
1 1/2 t. cumin
1/2 t. salt
2 dashes seasoning salt
1/4 t. ground black pepper

*1/4 t. smoked paprika

*1/4-1/2 t. chipotle chili powder

28 oz can stewed tomatoes
14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes
16 oz can tomato sauce
oil for browning meat

1 lb dry beans, cooked

to cook beans separately:

1 lb. dry kidney or pinto beans

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

Sort and rinse the beans. Soak overnight and simmer for about an hour and a half. For crock pot instructions see this blog.

*if you don't cook the beans ahead of time you can add 4 cans instead, personally I like a mix of different beans.

Brown the meat with the onion, garlic, herbs and spices. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce and salt. Simmer an hour. Mix beans and chili together. Serve with salsa and your favorite garnishes.

* my additions to my Dad's original recipe.

Read more...

Aunt Fran's Recipes

 Aunt Fran's Split Pea Soup

1 lb bag                 Dried Split Peas

1/2                        Onion, chopped

1 medium             Carrot, peeled & diced

1 stalk                  Celery, diced

1                        Smoked Ham Hock or Smoked Turkey Wing or 1/3 Polska Kilbasa Sausage -                                                                       or if you have it a ham bone leftover in the freezer from your Easter ham

1/4 to 1/2 tsp            Ground Black Pepper

1/4 to 1/2 tsp            Dried Basil

1/2 tsp                      Dried Italian Spices

1/2 tsp                      Garlic Powder or Granulated Garlic

1/2 tsp                      Onion Powder or Granulated Garlic

                        Water

                        Salt, before serving.  Smoked meats can be salty, so, when soup is fully cooked, taste it and add                                     salt to taste.

Place split peas on table or cutting board to sort.  Look for small rocks, dirt clods or defective split peas.  Once the peas are sorted then place them in a Crock Pot.  Add onion, carrot, smoked meat, spices and seasonings and cover with water.  The water should be about 2 inches above the split peas. Turn Crock Pot on.  Cook on low . 

As split peas start to get soft they will need to be stirred with a wooden spoon or heat resistant rubber scraper being sure to scrape bottom of Crock Pot. The water will also be absorbed into the peas so, you may need to add more.

Eventually  the peas will look soft and cooked.  This is the time to pull out the smoked meat or ham bone.  Allow the meat to cool for a few minutes.  Take a wand immersion blender and puree soup.  Once the meat is cooled  then prepare it.  With ham bone, ham hocks and turkey wings, pull the meat off and chop. Discard the bones.  With polska kilbasa sausage, dice.  Return meat to soup.  Serve.

Notes: This recipe can be doubled if you have a very large Crock Pot.  It can be scaled down if you have a small one.  Also, leftovers can be frozen and reheated.

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000209 EndHTML:0000010072 StartFragment:0000003741 EndFragment:0000010036 SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/christinaelton/Downloads/Pomegranate_Jelly_and_Pomegranate_Syrup.docx

How to Make Pomegranate Jelly

Ingredients

• 4 cups pomegranate juice
• 7 & 1/2 cups of sugar
• 2 - 4 T of lemon juice depending on the sweetness of the fruit
• 1 bottle of liquid pectin (you can use the recipe on the bottle of commercial pectin to make jelly)

Preparation

1. Have your canning jars ready.
2. Measure juice, lemon juice and sugar into a large sauce pan and mix.
3. Bring to boil over hottest heat and at once add the liquid pectin and stir constantly.
4. Bring to a rolling boil and boil for exactly 30 seconds.
5. Skim, pour quickly into hot sterilized jars, and seal.
6. Makes about 11 8-ounce jars.
7. The recipe doesn't call for heat processing. However, every jelly recipe I've read says to use hot water bath process for five minutes. Better safe than sorry.

How to Make Pomegranate Syrup

1. Measure equal parts of pomegranate juice and sugar and let it stand for three days.
2. Bring to a boil, simmer 5 minutes, strain, pour into sterilized jars, and seal. Don’t forget the hot water bath.
3. The syrup may be used diluted with cold water to taste (I usually do a four to one ratio for fruit syrups) and served over ice. It's splashed over grapefruit and used in some cocktails. I suppose it would be wonderful over vanilla ice cream and so on.
4. The November ‘95 Saveur magazine has a recipe for pomegranate sorbet which looks divine. You could also boil it down and make pomegranate molasses.

The recipes are from the Cooperative Extension of the University of California’s Master Food Preserver program (tel. 916-366-2013). Most counties have a similar agency.

Read more...

Paint colors

I have been trying to find paint colors for our home and in the process of pinning I have found a common theme. Now to try and color match some of these beauties.....

Read more...