My brother came over to make cookies at my house.  He asked if we could make gingerbread men and snickerdoodles.  As much as I like cinnamon, I’ve never been a fan of the snickerdoodle because it’s a pretty tame cookie as cookies go. Today, I have become a convert; I really love cinnamon and smelling it cooking completely changed my outlook.  I do admit to liking the snickerdoodle warm more than I like it at room temp, so I may just have to keep rolled snickerdoodle cookie balls in my freezer (Not uncommon, btw)

While we were at the store getting ingredients for the cookie making (and for my soup creation which was documented in another blog post) I thought about making a cookie for my brother.  He doesn’t eat many cookies, so I figured if I was going to make one, it better have all of his favorite things in it.  So I created a cookie called The Jason.  It is a chocolate cookie with chocolate chips, dried cherries and chopped (unsalted) pistachios.  I rinsed off salted pistachios and threw them in the oven to roast for a few minutes.  Depending on how much salty/sweet ratio you like, you could use salted ones.

The cookies also have a pinch of cinnamon in them. I don’t care for the combination of cinnamon and chocolate even though separately they are two of my favorite flavors, but Jason does, so I threw it in.

This is the first attempt at this cookie and I do think some adjustments needed to be made, but not many.  The recipe includes the adjustments, but I haven’t actually tested this a second time.  It mostly just needed more flour (I added 1/4 cup to the recipe) and maybe less choc chips.

I’m sure this particular cookie exists somewhere on the InterWebs, but I did not seek out a recipe. I like to gather ingredients and use what I know about other cookies to create things that taste good. I’m not claiming to be the first inventor of any of the cookies on this blog, but I don’t do a lot of research before I try them.  

Here’s the recipe with pictures and it will be repeated in full without interruptions at the end.

The Jason

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening (you could just double the butter or use full margarine too)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I use regular sugar and a 1T of molassess)
• 1t vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1t baking soda
• 1t salt
• 1/4t cinnamon (you could add more if you really like cinnamon)
• 2 cups chocolate chips (we thought it may be too many chips, so feel free to decrease amount)
• 1 cup pistachios – chopped
• 1 package dried cherries, chopped (approx 1 to 1 1/4 cups, but I’m not positive) I let the cherries soak in hot water for about 2o minutes and then I added about 2T of the cherry water to the dough mixture as I was mixing in flour. I’m not sure it’s needed, tho.

1. Cream together butter and shortening, add sugars and beat until fluffy.
   
2. Add vanilla and eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each egg.
   
3. Add cocoa powder and mix completely.
4. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
5. Add in small batches to the wet ingredients mixing completely. (Add cherry water at this time if you wish)
6. Depending on the strength of your mixer, add in the chocolate chips, dried cherries and pistachios and mix (you may need to mix by hand, but good luck with that)
   
7. I put the dough in the fridge to firm up before I rolled it and I still needed to dust my hands with flour.
   
8. Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes, watch carefully because you won’t see the cookies browning.  If you like them chewier, take them out sooner or leave them in longer for crunchy cookies.
   
   Here’s my brother enjoying his own personalized cookie.
   
   The Jason

Enjoy The Jason and if you try it, let me know what you think.

My mom is the BEST soup maker I know.  Her lentil soup with smoke sausage and spaetzle is one of my favorite foods. EVER. My sister also makes pretty great soups. I have not inherited the soup gene, but I did manage to create a soup from scratch today that in the words of my brother “Was AWESOME!”
Next time, I’ll make a few changes, which I’ll indicate in the recipe.

I package ground chicken (ground turkey will also work really well here)
1 packet taco seasoning (once I find a really good recipe, I’ll be making my own. I don’t care for all the salt and questionable items in this stuff, but for now, use it)
1T olive oil
1 vidalia onion – chopped
4 cloves garlic – chopped
8oz button mushrooms – chopped
1 jalapeno -chopped (ribs and seeds removed)
1 can Rotel (diced tomatoes and green chilies – I used original and almost burned my mouth to death, I’ll be using Mild from now on, but if you’re not a wimp, you can use the original)
1/2t salt
1/4t pepper
32 oz of reduced sodium chicken broth
1 can of black beans – drained and rinsed quickly
2 avocados
2 limes

First note:
I mixed half the seasoning packet into the chicken with about 3/4 c cilantro and made mini meatballs (roughly 24). Baked in the oven at 350 for 35 mins. Then I added them to the soup for the last 20 mins of cook time BUT the texture of the meatballs was off. Jason said they were “boingy” and I’ll try the next batch with browning the meat and mixing the packet in like regular tacos. (The key is to make sure you get equal amounts of meat in the servings.)

How To:

In your soup pot heat 1T olive oil over medium heat.
Brown meat with taco seasoning packet
Add onion, garlic, mushrooms, jalapenos and Rotel (diced tomatoes and green chilies) and salt and pepper
Cook a few minutes until all the veggies are soft.
Reduce heat to low.
Add chicken broth and bring to a simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Add the drained black beans and stir.
Cook for another 20-30 minutes.  (This is really a “simmer while you do other things recipe.” It can take as little as 30 minutes or you can drag it out for as long as 45ish)

Cilantro Lime Cream
1/2c greek plain yogurt
Lime -zest half, juice entire thing
a handful of chopped cilantro
Mix these ingredients together.

Heat oven to 350 – Spray 6 mini corn tortillas or  3 regular sized ones with cooking spray.  Cut into strips and lay on a tinfoil covered sheet pan. Bake for 10-15 minutes (WATCH THEM!).  Divide into 6 portions and top each bowl of soup with the baked chips. (You can do this ahead of time, possibly a day.)

To Serve:
Ladle soup evenly into 6 bowls
add chopped avocado
Sprinkle with chopped cilantro
Top with cilantro lime cream and baked tortilla strips
Squeeze fresh lime juice over the soup.

Eat! Yum!!

If my calculations are correct, each serving is 500 calories. That includes the baked chips AND the cilantro lime cream on top AND the chopped avocado.

Ok, ok, technically they aren’t homemade because I didn’t make the corn tortillas, but that may be coming sooner rather than later.  I did however bake these and season them so deliciously that I will most likely never purchase a bag of tortilla chips again. Unless there is a “tortilla chip” emergency and well, I’m sure there would be worse things that could happen.

I’ve made these a few times and the only thing that will make a difference is the thickness of the tortilla itself.  This couldn’t be easier and you can make them a day or two ahead and store in an airtight baggie.

This batch was ONE package of corn tortillas which cost about $1.00. (plus the oil, salt and lime I already had)

Brush one corn tortilla with a small and I mean, small! amount of vegetable oil on both sides.  You don’t need a lot.

Layer another tortilla on that one and brush the top with oil. You don’t have to brush the bottom because the one below it will transfer the oil.

Continue laying another 3 or 4 tortillas. I use half the package , about 6 tortillas per cookie sheet.

First cut in half, and then in thirds or quarters if you want skinnier chips.  I love this part because they do not come out looking perfect. They are different sizes and sometimes (whoops!) even different shapes.

Spread them out on a cookie sheet, trying not to overlap them. I didn’t spray the cookie sheet, but you could lay down parchment paper if you wanted even easier clean up.

Bake at 450 degrees for about 11-14 minutes.  This depends on the thickness of the tortilla. My first batches took 11 minutes and burned in 12. This batch took almost 15.  Just keep an eye on them.

This was one package of corn tortillas (minus the few chips I had to “taste” for quality control)

As soon as they come out, squeeze fresh lime juice over them and sprinkle with salt.  You could salt them before they cook too, if you like them saltier.  You can eat them warm or let them cool completely and store in an airtight baggie.  They should last a few days, if you can stop eating them.

mmm extreme chip closeup!

Enjoy!

Apple picking is probably my favorite Fall activity. I LOVE it. I could go every week. In fact, I think that may just be my plan this season.  Two weekends ago we went to the apple orchard to pick honey crisp apples right off the tree.  Eating apples that you’ve picked seconds before you take that first bite…ah it really doesn’t get much better than that.

I always pick more apples than I can eat.  This time was no exception. I came home with eight pounds of apples. Hmm, what to do? Fortunately, when I checked my mailbox that same day, I found a postcard from one of our cruise friends.

(Yes, I know the cruise post hasn’t come yet….JenTastic needs to add her two cents to my post before I publish it, but at the rate she’s going, we’ll need another cruise to refresh our memories before this one gets written)  

Anyway, that postcard happened to have a recipe for apple strudel, so that is what I decided to make.  I didn’t actually use that recipe, but I researched a bunch of them on the Interwebs and took a culmination of what I found.  That’s how I roll in the kitchen, people. Improvise.  Sometimes more successful than others.

I had completely forgotten how finicky filo, phyllo, whatever you call it, dough is.  That stuff will drive anyone crazy. It’s no wonder things like baklava are so incredibly costly, and rarely made at home!

So here’s my apple strudel – step by step, except for the steps where I crushed sheets of filo between my fingers, cursed at my ceiling and then threw them angrily into the trash. Sadly, those steps have been edited.  Tis a shame…they were pretty amusing moments.

I’ve never made strudel before, but I used to make apple pie all the time when I worked at a little grocery store after high school so I was fairly confident in my strudel making ability.  I always TRY to stick with a traditional version the first time I make something so I actually added raisins. I don’t usually include raisins in food that needs to be cooked because of a traumatic, childhood incident.   I love raisins, really I do.  As a child, I never went anywhere without my box of Sun-Maid raisins.  Everyone knew this, including my brother.  One day, my wonderful, caring, nurturing brother decided that he would rip the legs off ants, crush them and feed them to me as if they were my beloved raisins.  Apparently, I ate many an ant until Mom discovered what he was doing.  I learned of this later in life, thankfully (I have a bug issue, much like my friend Kim) but I’ve never been down with warm, plump raisins.

I really don’t want to think about that right now. I’d rather talk strudel.

Apple Strudel – made 2 strudels (filo was smaller than I remember, so you may have to adjust filling amounts)

5 medium apples – peeled, cored and chopped
1c apple juice
2T corn starch (maybe a little less)
1/4c sugar (may need more if apples aren’t sweet enough)
1 t cinnamon
4T butter – melted
1t vanilla
1/2c raisins
1/2c chopped pecans (or walnuts)
1/2c plain breadcrumbs
4-5 sheets of filo (or as many as you can separate fully and still have enough to work with) Filo should be thawed, but very cold.  Keep it frozen until day before you use it.  Keep in fridge until you’re exactly ready to use it and keep it under a damp, cold cloth when working with it. (got that?)

Add corn starch to 1/4c of apple juice to make a slurry – set aside.

Peel, core and chop apples. In a large saucepan combine apples, remaining apple juice, sugar, cinnamon and raisins.  Cook over low to medium heat until apples are softened, about 10 minutes.  Stir slurry to mix, add to apple mixture, stir continually for another minute. Add vanilla and remove from heat.  Stir in pecans.  Let cool.

I haven’t added the pecans yet, but here they are:

On a clean, dry surface lay out one piece of filo (I put a piece of parchment right on my baking sheet and it was very easy to move around.)  Lightly brush it with butter; a pastry brush OR your fingers will work…just be careful, it’s very fragile.  Sprinkle with bread crumbs. (Yes, I know! I didn’t realize this was a secret part of strudel.  You can also use cake crumbs if you happen to have them, but really who keeps cake crumbs around? I thought that’s what your mouth was for??)

Repeat with 3 or 4 more layers, butter, breadcrumbs, repeat.  Finally you’ll have a little stack of layers.  I added half of the filling just off center on my filo stack.

Then I carefully rolled it up (with more cursing and under the breath mumbling) and ended up with these beauties!  Don’t say a word about the misshapen one, you’ll give it a complex.  When it was all baked and sliced, it looked perfectly normal thankyouverymuch.

Brush the tops with remaining butter. Bake at 450 degrees for 15-18 minutes. I think mine took about 20.  Just watch them.

Oh la la!  Look how pretty they are! and NOTHING makes your house smell better than apples and cinnamon cooking.

I let them cool overnight and then I sprinkled them heavily with powdered sugar and sliced. Here are some glamour shots of my strudel.  Head shot.

Side angle.

That’s it! With practice, the filo will come easily, but as I was fighting with it, I was already thinking of back up plans. You could cut the filo in half and layer in muffin tins making strudel cups. I may try that next time, but I WILL be making more of this soon! I COULD have made one big one, but I’m not sure how I would have rolled it up. It was hard enough with these little ones.  I’d guess that as I get better at the filo, I can make larger ones.

These actually made perfect size slices. I took them to work and shared.  I did. Really.

See?

My cruise friend Julia, whose postcard sparked this whole idea, suggested topping it with a warm vanilla sauce or of course, vanilla ice cream.  Both sound good, but warm vanilla sauce is now on my “to do” list.

I bought a lot of beautiful red, yellow and orange peppers this week at the farmer’s market and then didn’t know what to do with them so I decided to try roasting them.  Turns out it’s easy, but a bit messy, to do!

I preheated my oven to 450 degrees and covered a cookie sheet with tin foil.

I put the peppers on the tin foil and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and then used my hands to cover each pepper with a little oil.

They went into the oven for a while. Honestly, I didn’t check the time because I was making dinner and I kept looking at them. I’d guess maybe 15 minutes and then I turned them over and cooked them another 15 minutes.  I have NO idea if this is too much time, but they turned out ok.

After they came out of the oven, I put them into 2 small brown lunch bags to steam.  Then I went to eat my dinner.

A little while later (maybe 20 minutes because I watched the last two rounds of Chopped) I started peeling the skins off and removing the seeds.  This is the messy part. It took me about five peppers before I figured out how to get the seed pod out without breaking them all over the peppers.

I put all the peppers in a container and drizzled with more olive oil and put in the fridge.  I will be making paninis or roasted pepper hummus with them soon. You could also slice them and put on salads.

Easy and delicious!