Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (or Bars)

The kids were asking for another pan of chocolate chip bar cookies, but usually when I make chocolate chip cookies I also make oatmeal raisin cookies, so I decided to make a half batch of each of them and try out my oatmeal raisin cookie recipe as bars, too.  They turned out so chewy and delicious!  We loved them cooked this way!
image courtesy From House to Home

Chocolate Chip Cookies (or Bars)

Nothing breakthrough here today. I’m sharing my chocolate chip cookie recipe, which is actually really Nestle Tollhouse’s chocolate chip cookie recipe, but over they years I have made some modifications to suit our family. 
image courtesy American Heritage Cooking

Last night, the kids felt like cookies but I didn’t feel like standing around scooping out and baking four pans full of perfectly portioned cookies.  Instead of making them the “normal” way, I decided to just press the dough into a cookie sheet and bake them as bars.  They turned out so delicious and moist, if a little bit thin, which reminded me that I used to do them this way back when and when I did I would double the dough for the same size pan.  I will try them this way next time for a bit thicker bar. 

Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

 

I don’t usually make mashed potatoes. :/

Honestly when I have made mashed potatoes I’ve used the Idahoan (dehydrated) mashed potatoes.  Always roasted garlic, four cheese or butter and herb because I don’t really know how to make gravy. 

I’m not so sure why I’ve been so hesitant to make them. They really aren’t that hard. I’ve watched my mother-in-law make the most delicious mashed potatoes and gravy several times now. She always uses a hand mixer and they turn out so smooth with little effort! So I decided to give it this recipe a try! Super yummy and SO easy!

One day I’ll give gravy a try. ;)

Slow Cooker Beef & Broccoli

This recipe is so easy, and my whole family loves this one!

  I love slow cooker dinners, and this one is a real winner because it literally takes probably 15 minutes to throw everything in and you’ve got dinner in the bag!  Use gluten free soy and oyster sauces (or all soy if the oyster sauce scares you) for an easy gluten free conversion!recipe and image courtesy The Recipe Critic

Thai Basil Fried Rice

Recently, I was looking for a simple side dish I could make to go along with my Thai Chicken Enchiladas.  I saw this one and it looked simple enough, so I decided to try it.  recipe and image courtesy Wine and Glue

This recipe, as it turns out, while simple to make, has a beautiful and very authentic complex Thai flavor profile.  I know this is one I will make again and again.  We liked it so much I might consider adding some extra chicken and making it a meal in itself next time.  I would also like to try subbing rice noodles for the rice and shrimp for the chicken sometime.  Yum!

Thai Chicken Enchiladas

Thai is by far my favorite of the various Asian cuisines.  There’s something about the combination of flavors that just sings to my palate.  Delicate, creamy coconut combined with the powerful heat of jalapenos or chilis.  Fresh, earthy cilantro or strong, licorice-y Thai basil.  The closes thing to flavor Heaven is certainly for me found in an authentic Thai restaurant.  image courtesy and recipe adapted from How Sweet Eats

I thought these Thai Chicken Enchiladas sounded kind of weird the first time I saw them, but at the time I was in the process of trying to learn more about replicating those restaurant Thai flavors in my own kitchen, and the ingredients list wasn’t full of things I didn’t have, so I decided to give them a try.  Boy, am I glad I did!  The Saucy Mister and I loved them but discovered that they got soggy too quickly for our liking.  I decided I wanted to try them again and try to prevent the sogginess we had trouble with last time.  I had made a note to either try them “eggroll-style” (by baking the tortilla-wrapped enchiladas without the sauce) then heating the sauce and serving it on the side for dipping, or to fry them like chimichangas and just spoon the sauce over the top just before serving.  This time when I made them I tried them both ways, and both ways turned out better (in my opinion) than the way the original recipe calls for them to be made.  Frying them in oil gives them a nice crisp, but I still like the lighter flavor of the baked ones better.  I just really prefer to bake them without the sauce on top and spoon it on there right before serving. 

Brown Butter Salted Snickerdoodles

I read that this recipe had been named “The Recipe of the Year” a couple years ago (by whom I can’t remember) and knew I had to try them.  I have made them several times exactly how the original recipe requests, using quartered caramel squares.  This, frankly, is a giant pain in the butt. 

 

While out grocery shopping during the holidays, I saw the Kraft caramel bits with new eyes, wondering if they would work in this recipe in place of the quartered caramel squares, and I’m glad I tried them.  They were so much nicer than unwrapping, cutting, and carefully placing all those squares.  Forget that!  Toss the bag of caramel bits in the mixer and consider them done.  That's what I did for the cookie tins for The Messy Mister's coworkers, and these were another much-loved favorite.

 

I’ve never really much liked the super sticky chewiness of the caramel in these cookies once they’ve cooled (the caramel is nice when they’re warm).  I decided to try a batch without any caramel whatsoever, and I discovered that I actually much prefer them without it.  Go figure!  So, bag the squares and use the bits instead, or forego the caramel altogether and enjoy them without it.  They’re good any way you make them!
recipe and image courtesy Two Peas and Their Pod