Ginger Crinkle Cookies

Hi guys! I made these cookies yesterday and they came out so good! They look and taste just like pepperidge farm or something. And Steve said that, too, not just me, so I'm not being prideful. This is from that same cookbook I've been working through, the Best of the Best one, and this one is from North Carolina, too.

Ginger Crinkle Cookies
2/3 cup oil
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
1 egg
4 tbsp molasses
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger

Mix oil and 1 cup of sugar thoroughly. Add egg and mix well. Add molasses. In separate bowl, combine dry ingredients together, then add to creamed mixture (it was very thick, hard to stir). Drop by teaspoonfuls into remaining 1/4 cup sugar (I didn't think this would be enough but it was) and roll into balls coated with sugar. Place 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Cookies will flatten and crinkle as they cool. Remove to wire rack. Makes 5 dozen (well that is a lie because mine only made 2 1/2 dozen. If you wanted to get 5 dozen cookies out of this they would have to be like quarter sized cookies or something. So next time I make these I probably will do a double batch to make it worth my time).

Sam, Steve, and I all liked these. And since they are non-dairy, even little Nathan had two bites. But, and this may shock you, Emma didn't like them. Said they were too spicy. Which they do have a little bite to them, but they are supposed to. There is a character on Strawberry Shortcake named Ginger Snap, and I told her that's what kind of cookies these were. That made her try them, but it didn't make her like them. Oh well.

Even though I made these cookies like twice as big as they were supposed to be, still they were done in the same amount of time (15 minutes). And they were quite easy to make. And yummy. So we'll count this as a keeper

North Carolina Chicken

Hi guys! Don't know why this one is called "North Carolina" chicken. Except it is from that state in the "Best of the Best" cookbook. Anyway this I really liked because I made it in the morning, then an hour before Steve was supposed to come home I just put it in the oven and it was ready. And it smelled so good while it was baking. So here it is....

North Carolina Chicken
8 oz (2 sticks) butter or margarine
2 envelopes dry Italian salad dressing mix
1/2 cup lime juice
1 tsp salt
5 lbs chicken pieces

Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in salad dressing mix, lime juice, and salt. Marinate chicken 3-4 hours or overnight. Bake @ 350 for one hour or until done (how helpful). (Mine took just the hour) Or cook on outdoor grill for one hour, turning and basting every 10-15 minutes. Sounds easy enough. And Jessi was here while I was making it, so even with distractions and much conversation it still turned out great. Steve liked it and took the leftovers to work today for lunch. Sam & Emma did eat it but I'm not sure they liked it. No fits, though. And I thought it was yummy, too. But why is this so North Carolinan?? Do they grow limes there or something? Or make dry Italian salad dressing mixes?

Cheater Chicken Pot Pie

Hello all (okay it's just you two. but it sounds nice). Back by popular demand is the New Recipe Night Newsletter. Mostly because I had a minute and last night was pretty good. So without further adooo

Cheater Chicken Pot Pie

2 9-inch pie crusts (of course I used store bought)

1 10 oz can of chunk chicken, drained

1 15 oz can of vegetables, drained (I used corn)

1 2.8 oz can of french fried onions (or, buy the big can and eat the rest while pie is baking)

2 10 3/4 oz cans of cream of chicken soup

1/4 tsp salt (I know you're thinking, why add more salt? Not sure, but I did)

Layer one pie crust in bottom of 9 inch pie plate (not deep dish). Mix all other ingredients in separate bowl and fill pie crust. Layer 2nd crust on top (by this point I know you are thinking "Duh"). Cut some slits in the top. Bake @ 375 for 40 minutes.

This was pretty darn good, but sodium city. I guess it would be good if you had a hankerin for pot pie but no left-overs. Or if Marden's had a flippin' sweet sale on canned chicken and you needed a way to use it besides chicken salad. Anyway, next time I make it I'm going to try using chicken gravy instead of the soup and see how it is. All in all, pretty good.

Do you think I should have my own blog site called new recipe night? I feel I have a lot to contribute to the doleful housewife who is tired of the same old same old. At least that's why I started doing New Recipe Night at home anyway. Maybe it would take off into things like Today show appearances and such. Or Rachael Ray. At least I know I would get 2 hits per week =). Have a great day you two and talk to you soon!!

Sweet Aromatic Chicken

Okay so last night we had the above mentioned recipe. I made it in the crock pot. Lisa gave me a crock pot cookbook for my birthday last year and I have been working through it, two recipes a month (since I do one a week, or two per paycheck, one recipe in each "pay period" has been a crock pot recipe. Now you know way more than you needed to about my seeeestem). Only one more to go in there after this one. Anyway we were gone all day between swimming and play date w/ the Coffins, plus it was stinkin hot, so I only made tater tots in the toaster oven to go with this, but I think it would have been better with one of those commercial Chinese rice thingies, like Rice a roni oriental or something. Because the chicken tasted very chinese buffet. And it smelled awesome once I got home. So here's the recipe:

Sweet Aromatic Chicken

1/2 cup coconut milk (not as expensive as I expected...$1.12 for a can the same size as a can of green beans)

1/2 cup water

8 chicken thighs, skinned (I only had 5. But that's okay)

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/8 tsp ground cloves

2 garlic cloves, minced (I always use the minced garlic in a jar that they have over by the fresh produce)

Combine coconut milk and water, pour into greased slow cooker (or use a crock-pot liner. I always do). Add remaining ingredients in order listed. Cover, cook on low 5-6 hours. And if either of you want to try this, I still have a whole can of coconut milk (minus 1/2 cup) in my fridge that I'll probably keep for a few more days. Probably neither of you will want to, but the offer's out there.

As a side note, Steve was reading the emails from last week's new recipe (snooper) and saw the idea for a blogspot (which I was half kidding about) and it totally all over it. So pretty soon I will have one and that will be fun. Stay tuned for the full story at 11.

Talk to you guys later!!

Apple Pancake

But it's just one big pancake, not a bunch of little ones. It's from a cookbook Mom got me for Christmas a couple years back called "Best of the Best from America Cookbook." This one's from Massachusetts. It's supposed to be baked in the oven in a 10 inch cast iron skillet, but I don't have one of those, so I used a 10 inch deep dish stoneware pie plate. This thing rises to nearly double while it's baking, I mean like 2-3 inches above the top of the pie plate. Surprising, the first time I looked in the oven to check on it. Not sure if it would do the same thing in cast iron, or if the sides are just taller in that so it wouldn't seem to rise so high but really it does. Anyway...

Berkshire Apple Pancake

3 apples

3 eggs, beaten

3 cups flour

1 1/2 tbsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

5 tbsp sugar

2 cups milk

3/4 tsp vanilla

3/4 tsp cinnamon

5 tbsp butter, melted

1/4 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 450. Peel and core apples. Coarsely chop 2 1/2 apples. Slice remaining 1/2 apple into thin spirals for garnish on top (I did not do this. I ate the last 1/2 apple while I was doing the other stuff). Brush spirals with lemon juice to prevent darkening (if you do that, I guess) and set them aside. Mix the eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and chopped apples together in a bowl. Mix until combined, although the batter will remain lumpy. Melt butter in 10 inch cast iron frying pan. Pour batter into pan, and arrange reserved apple spirals on top. Bake @ 450 for 15 minutes. Then turn oven down to 350 and bake for 40 minutes, or unitl toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (took like 34 minutes for me). Remove pan from oven & allow to rest x 5 minutes. Sprinkle w/ brown sugar, cut into wedges, and serve with maple syrup.

As I said, I used a pie pan, and the butter overflowed a bit from the edges when I poured the batter in. So that was kind of messy. I had to put a cookie sheet on the rack below the pie plate to catch the dripping butter. But by the time I turned the heat down, the pancake had risen up and the butter stopped dripping so I took the cookie sheet out. If I made it again (and Steve thinks I should) I would use less butter in a pie pan, but I think in cast iron that would still be the right amount.

Steve loved this, said it was good enough for company. Emma didn't like it, even though before it was set before her she claimed to love both pancakes and apples. She ate 3 bites, 2 of them under duress. Sam ate all of his and the rest of Emma's and said it was delicious. Oh yeah, I liked it too. But I think I won't make it for company, because unless it's family it's weird to have people over and serve breakfast for supper. I think. And even if we had houseguests sleeping over, it still takes like a total of an hour and a half between prep & baking times, so there's no way that's even practical for breakfast. Especially me and my not-morning-ness.

On a sad note, I used the last of my Watkins vanilla in this recipe last night. =( Now I'm on to the Pampered Chef vanilla I got as a freebie at some point. We'll see how that goes. Anyway talk to you both soon and have a great day!!

Berry Delicious Bread

Sounds like it's right out of Strawberry Shortcake, doesn't it? Well, Emma still won't eat it. Anyway this was my dessert for these two weeks, not really dessert-y, more like a breakfast thing, but I wanted to fit it in somehow. It's from the state of Iowa from the Best of the Best from America cookbook from Mom.

Berry Delicious Bread

1 10 oz pkg frozen strawberries, thawed

3/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup oil

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)(I opted for not)

Grease & flour (who ever does that? I did use crisco though) 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Combine strawberries, sugar, oil & eggs. Beat on medium speed x 2 minutes (or just hand mix like I did). Add remaining dry ingredients, stir until moistened. Pour into pan and bake @ 350 for 50-60 mins (mine took 54 minutes). Cool in pan x 15 minutes, then remove.

So I thought this was really good. It smelled very yummy while baking. The kids won't try it, who both claim to hate strawberries. But my trusty Steve did try it, even though I know he doesn't like strawberries, and he still said it was good. I don't know if he'll have more than the one slice he had with lunch yesterday. I might have to eat the rest myself. So probably I won't make it unless we have spend the night company or if I am making a meal for someone at church, because it is silly to make a whole loaf of bread just for myself. So that's the scoop here.

Chicken with Chocolate

This is what we had last night. It's from that cookbook mom got me, the Best of the Best from America, and this is from Nevada. It was more like chili sauce than I expected. No major complaints from the kids though (does that count as success?).

Chicken with Chocolate
1 (2 1/2 to 3 lb) fryer chicken, cut up (I used chicken breasts, cut in half, because they were out of whole chickens at Wal-mart when I went)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green pepper, chopped
2 8-oz cans tomato sauce
1-2 tsp crushed dried red pepper (I used 1)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp tabasco (I used like 4 drops)
2 cloves garlic, chopped (I didn't add more, because I just use that garlic in a jar and it's all
one shape, anyway)
1/2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, finely grated

Heat oil in frying pan or skillet to a moderate heat. Brown chicken pieces in oil. When nicely browned, remove chicken to a Dutch oven or casserole with cover. In the skillet in which you browned the chicken, saute onion, garlic, and green pepper for 10-15 minutes on low heat. Add remaining 6 ingredients, mixing well. Simmer about 5 minutes. Spoon sauce over chicken pieces and bake at 350 for one hour (since I used boneless breasts this only took like 35 minutes). Yields 5-6 servings.

This wasn't bad, but also not spectacular. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it was kind of like chili sauce, but no beans, hamburg, etc. I probably won't make this again, only because there are lots of ways to make chicken that I love, and this I didn't love. But Steve liked it (of course). So anyway there you have it.