Carrot Chocolate Chip Cookies

Actually, I’m not really sure what to call them. Technically I guess they’re Carrot Oat Apple Chocolate Chip. But that is a little long. A friend shared this recipe with me today and I decided to try it, with some alterations.

Original recipe:

¾ cup whole-wheat flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon coarse salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
6 tablespoons superfine sugar
6 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon water
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup grated carrot, from about 1 large carrot
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir to combine with a whisk.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

Add the egg, vanilla and water. Beat on low speed until well incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed to combine. Add the oats, carrot, and chocolate chips. Mix on low speed until combined.

Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 15 minutes, or up to 1 hour. 20 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using a tablespoon measure, scoop rounded spoonful's of the dough and roll between your palms to make a round ball. Press lightly to create a flat top.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool on a cooling rack.

Nutrition info per cookie: Calories 201, Fat 10.4 gram,  Carb 29.5 gram, Protein 1.9

Following is my version.

These two little munchkins thought they  looked good.

Combine: 1/3 c wheat germ, 1/2 c. white flour, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 3/4 salt. Set aside

Cut up one small apple (skin on) and put in food processor or blender with 2 Tbsp. plain yogurt. Puree. Measure out 1/2 cup (This is replacing the butter).

Combine apple puree, 1/4 c brown sugar, 2 Tbsp. honey in mixer and mix well. Stir in egg and 1/2 tsp. vanilla.

Add dry ingredients. Stir in oats, carrots, and 1/2 c. choc chips.

I didn’t refrigerate and made them right into cookies. It made 16 nice size cookies. Baked at 350 for 12-14 min. Remove to wire racks to cool

Nutrition info per cookie: Calories 100, Fat 2.9 gram, Carb 19.9 gram, Protein 2.5

They’re no toll house cookies, but I thought they were quite tasty if you don’t mind texture. I had 3, if that tells you anything.

And I think these guys agree! For those of you worried about their tootsies being cold it was quite warm and shoes were put on before they got down.

Freezer Club!!!

For those of you that have been anxiously awaiting this post, here it is! A couple months ago my friend Kara and I started looking into the idea of freezer meals. We got together one day and made Lasagna, Enchiladas, and Meatballs/Mashed Potatoes.

We were done by noon and each had 7 meals for our freezers. We decided that if we got 2 more people that were interested we could have a nice variety of meals. So, here’s how it works.

The “club” has 4 members, Kara, Myself, Jill, and Jodi. None of us really all “ran in the same group” but were acquainted through hockey. We wanted to pick people that had similar size families, and liked a variety of food. The exchange happens the first Monday of the month. At the previous month’s exchange a menu is made out so people can start on the next months meals at their own pace. This is what March’s menu looked like.

Kara- Sloppy Joes, Tater Tot Hot Dish

Jill- Steak Fajitas, Egg Casserole

Jodi- Meatballs/Mashed Potatoes, Chicken Breasts in White Sauce

Micah- Cheeseburger Soup, Chicken Tetrazzini

Each person made four batches of each recipe. The ones that could went into freezer bags (sloppy joes, steak fajitas, meatballs/potatoes, chicken, soup). The more “casserole” type dishes were put in disposable aluminum pans. Instructions on how to prepare each item was written on the package before it was frozen.

The ladies and the food. Left to right, Jill, Kara, Jodi, myself.

Close up of some of the food.

Everything here is precooked except the egg casserole and the fajitas. The fajitas were put in a bag with the marinade and brought with a package of tortilla shells so all that needs to be done is fry the meat.

Its such a great feeling having 8 home-made meals in the freezer ready to go!! Once summer comes we’ll tailor the menu for more grilling/marinade type items.

Chicken with Caramelized Onions on Focaccia

Last night I had one of those, “I have chicken out, now what should I make?” moments. So I decided an experiment was in order. I found a recipe for flat bread, here. Let me just say it is an AMAZING recipe. And SO easy. I’m not even kidding people. From someone that makes bread regularly this really was such a simple recipe. Anyone could do it, don’t let the idea of never making bread before intimidate you. And it’s healthy too! No sugar, and 1 Tbs of butter, which could be substituted with olive oil.

This is the bread after it was baked. I didn’t let it rise the additional 30 min after rolling it out because I wanted it flat.

 

While that was baking I sliced my chicken really thin and just cooked it up with some light seasoning. Fried up some bacon and then caramelized the onions in 1 Tbsp. bacon grease. (Just cause the bread is healthy doesn’t mean the whole meal was!)

I cut the bread into quarters and there you have it! This picture here actually was the sandwich before it was cut into quarters again. I had a half of a quarter and it filled me up! The kids enjoyed theirs open face with no onions.

I finished off the meal with a simple salad and oven roasted potatoes. Yum!

Cream Cheese Pastries

I have a husband who likes to bring in treats to work. My husband works with people whose wives aren’t big bakers. I. LOVE. TO. BAKE. Pretty nice combo, huh? Well, the other day we decided to see how much people really wanted me to send something in. Jerem sent out an email that said: Micah will be sending something special in to work but she needs 2 packages of cream cheese a pound of butter and your favorite pie filling. Within 2 hours he had 4 pkg’s cream cheese, 2 lbs. butter, and 2 cans of raspberry pie filling on his desk. So I got to work on this recipe.

1/2 c. butter

4 oz. cream cheese

1/4 tsp. salt

1 TBS powder sugar

1 1/2 c flour

Mix butter and cream cheese until smooth, beat in salt. Add sugar and stir in the flour in 1/2 c increments until a stiff dough is formed.

I multiplied this x 6. After  a workable dough was formed I cut it into 48 chunks and patted each one into a little circle before wrapping it in plastic wrap.

Then I stuck them in the fridge overnight, really all you need is an hour. This morning I rolled them out into nice 6 inch circles.

Spoon about 1 TSB of filling on one side, fold over and seal with a fork. I made a pwd sugar glaze that I brushed on and then baked them at 350 for about 12-14 min.

Once these are made up, BEFORE baking you could freeze them for baking later. Works like a charm. I can just imagine all the fillings that could be made for these if I didn’t want to do pie filling from a can.

Quite the yummy breakfast. Pastry, Kiwi, Honey Vanilla yogurt with Homemade Granola. Mmm…good!!!

New Purse

My sil-to-be found this pattern for me and I couldn’t wait to make one. The first one was for a friend willing to have a practice purse, second was for myself. Aren’t I nice?

Kara’s purse. I decided I didn’t like the dividers, they were a pain.

This one is mine. But I have enough fabric for 2 more similar to it, so I’ll be making more!

Granola

I grew up on this granola recipe. I certainly didn’t appreciate it then the way I do now! I don’t make it as often as I like, but when I do it’s such a treat.

Of course, growing up in a family the size of mine the recipe is in lbs (4 lbs of oats, 1/2 lb of coconut…you get the idea). So I pared it down for a perfect, one large cookie sheet recipe. Here you go.

MamaJan’s Granola

Mix together:

4 1/2 c. Oats

1 c. Coconut

1 c. Sunflower seeds

1/2 c. Dry Milk Powder

1/4 c. Seseme seeds

3/4 c Wheat Germ

Bring to a Boil :

2/3 c Oil

1 c Honey

1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Pour honey mixture over dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Spread on large greased cookie sheet covering bottom. Bake at 325 for 20 min stirring halfway through. Dump on newspaper to cool. Store in airtight container.

My favorite way to eat this since I was a little girl? With milk and a spoonful of peanut butter. YUM!

Instead of Cleaning…

like I SHOULD be doing. I decided to make this. I’m rather ADD at times. Anyway, I’ve been wanting to try one for awhile but have been intimidated by the idea. I finally decided just to give it a try and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be!

Yeah..ignore my messy house in the background. Remember..that’s what I was supposed to be doing.

I think it’s one Jerem won’t mind using either :)

Inside Out Stuffed Pork Chops

 

a.k.a Jerem’s Favorite Meal (so he says, I think he has many. but what do I know, I’m just the cook.)

Brown pork chops, not to cook through just to get some of that yummy browned butter flavor in. Do how ever many you need to make a meal out of. Depending on the amount choose the pan size. Sorry folks..I change this a little every time I make it. It’s just so easy though..you don’t really need  exact amounts. So. Pork chops have been browned. Put them in you pan so they are kind of squished in there. Prepare a box of instant stuffing mix. For a 9x13 use a full box, 8x8 or 9x9 a half a box. Spread over meat so it is completely covered and bake uncovered at 350 for about 30-45 minutes.

Results

Okay, so you’ve all been waiting to hear how Saturday went. Well, it didn’t really “go” at all. :) Turns out not too many people were interested in handmade baby items. Sold about half my breads and rolls which was fine with me. (I was kind of hoping I’d have some for the freezer). It was a fun way to spend the afternoon though. We came to the conclusion it was the wrong demographic. And really, there were only a handful of venders, most of them fundraisers or politicians or free-bees. We’re doing an honest to goodness craft fair in November and expect to do much better at that one. We didn’t have to pay a booth fee for this one though, so it was a good trial run to figure out our displays.

Jill did an awesome job on the signs. We had one in front of the table too.

My side.

Jill’s spread.

Martinson girls table. They really did awesome considering how poorly Jill and I did. They’re hair stuff is so cute! It was fun seeing little girls wandering around all day with clips they had just bought in their hair.

Prize for big spender of the day goes to Sarah! :)

Big Day!

Today is our big Potato day sale, and here is the baking I’ve done for it.  As much as I’ve enjoyed sewing lately my true passion is baking. I. LOVE. TO. BAKE.

I’ve run into problems with selling my baked goods relating to not having a commercially certified kitchen. Who wants they’re food tasting likes it’s coming from a commercial kitchen when it’s supposed to remind you of visiting grandma? Anyway, today I was told it didn’t matter by the people in charge. I took advantage of it.

Got up at 4:30 to bake these babies…yawn.

I love it that my kids’ appreciate my homemade bread. They walk in the door and say,  “oooh mom did you make bread? It smells so good in here. We LOVE your bread”.

Perfect for freezing and taking out for last minute meals.

My Mom always used to make these Sour Cream Twists. I decided to make them my own and added raisins to the dough. Super easy, recipe below.

Sour Cream Twists

Dissolve: 1 Tbs yeast into 1/4 c.  warm water

Stir in: 3/4 c. lukewarm sour cream

3 Tbs sugar

1/8 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 egg

2 Tbs soft shortening

3  c. flour

Turn dough on lightly floured counter and knead just a little. Roll into an oblong 24x6 inches. spread with butter, sprinkle half with brown sugar and cinnamon. Fold other half over. Cut into 24 strips 1 inch wide. Hold strips at end and twist in opposite directions. Place on greased pan 2 inches apart. Let rise for one hour and bake at 350 for 12-15 min. Drizzle with a vanilla or almond glaze.

Adorabibs!

“It’s not a Diego bib, its a-dora-bib!” At one time I wanted a name for the bibs. I thought of Adorabibs, but thought it sounded rather tacky. Then Derek O. came up with the slogan. Thanks Derek, but I think I’m giving up on the idea of “naming” the bibs. Anyway, here are a few of my finished ones. About halfway there, I have the rest appliquéd, waiting to be stitched around. Then the first attempt to sell will be Potato Days here in Williams. Not expecting many to go, but you never know, right?

Girl Bibs (above) Boy Bibs (below)

Welcome!

Hi there! Just wanted to put a quick welcome message out there. Hopefully I'll have my first "project" to share with you soon. Check back!