Pistachio Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies

As I've said before, I love cookies. When I first saw a recipe for chocolate chip cookies with pistachios and cherries I knew I had to try them. The only problem was that the recipe was not good. The cookies came out flat and salty. I decided the idea was too good to give up on, though, so I played around with adding pistachios and cherries to a couple of my favorite chocolate cookies recipes. After a few flops, I had success. I love the cherry flavor with chocolate and the crunch of the pistachios. Plus, I'm always happy to have some dried cherries left over afterward. Is there a better dried fruit? If you are in a pinch you could use dried cranberries, too.

Cream your butter and sugars with some corn syrup and vinegar, and then beat in eggs.

Stir in dry ingredients. Chop pistachios into chocolate chip-sized pieces. You can use already shelled pistachios, but these tend to be a little saltier than the ones in the shells so you might want to cut down on the salt added to the dough. Overly salty cookies are such a disappointment, aren't they?

Chop the cherries as well. They'll stick like glue to your knife, but just grit your way through it. The little cherry pieces taste good spread through the cookie instead of in big chunks.  Add both pistachios and cherries to the dough along with mini chocolate chips. Scoop onto cookie sheet.

Bake until lightly browned.

Enjoy with a big glass of milk.

Pistachio Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsalted butter

2/3 cup dark brown sugar

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 T light corn syrup

1 T cider vinegar or white vinegar

2 large eggs

1 T vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 1/4 cup flour

2 cups dried cherries

1 cup pistachios, shelled

2 cups mini semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream together butter, sugars, corn syrup and vinegar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. In a medium bowl, whisk together salt, baking powder, baking soda and flour. Add to butter mixture and mix. Stir in cherries, pistachios and chocolate chips.

Drop cookie dough by tablespoonful onto baking sheet. Bake cookies for 10 minutes, then remove them from the oven and let them cool on the sheets for 5 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

I found this little gem of a recipe in the weirdest cookbook I have ever owned. It was some type of a budget cookbook that was supposed to help you save money by making food and freezing it for later. I don't know why this saved more money than just eating all that food, but seeing how I was just starting grad school when I bought the book and was insanely concerned about money I followed the instructions and soon filled a freezer full of leftovers from recipes in that book. I never really wanted to go back and eat those leftovers, but my roommate's boyfriend often asked if he could. I think someone saved money from that cookbook, but it certainly wasn't me. Anyway, this is the strangest pancake recipe I've made. It uses a blender and includes cottage cheese. However, it's turned out delicious each of the many dozens of times that I've made it. The pancakes are light and fluffy and have just enough apple cinnamon flavor. I keep toying with the idea of making a pecan butter sauce or apple cider sauce to use on them, but having grown up in Vermont I can't really say anything would be better than a little maple syrup and some butter. Put it all together and you've got a great Saturday morning breakfast.

Despite the long list of ingredients, the pancakes come together quickly. Mostly because you put all of this . . .

 . . . right in here . . .

. . . and blend it all together.

Then you pour it right into a heated pan. . .

and cook until bubbles are starting to appear and burst over the whole surface of the pancake.

Turn, cook the other side and then serve.

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup flour
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup water and 1/4 cup of powdered buttermilk which is what I usually have on hand)
1 small apple, peeled, cored and cut in quarters
1/4 cup low fat cottage cheese
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. I find it easier to add the liquids and then the flour a little bit at a time because otherwise it makes a paste and the bottom that won't blend well.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with non-stick cooking spray and spoon 1/4 cup of batter at a time into the pan. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface and the edges appear cooked, about 2 minutes. Turn and cook another two minutes. Repeat with the rest of the batter.

Chicken Toquitos

I sometimes feel like Toquitos are the forgotten fruit of all mexican meals. I mean when you go to a mexican restaurant, do you order the tiny little, unsatisfying, fried, greasy toquitos? Neither do I! So when one of my friends led me to this recipe from, ourbestbites.com (best food website ever!!) I was a little skeptical! But then my friend had them sitting out at a Pampered Chef party and the plate was piled high, but that didn't stop every lady in that room from racing to the table to grab one. So I complied and tried one. WOW!! This little (actually quite big for a toquito) mexican gem explodes with flavor. So I made it for my husband last night--which happens to be the tester for if I add a recipe to this blog since when it comes to mexican he's quite picky (he hates cilantro--I know *gasp*!!) but he also loved these little guys. So here you are --enjoy!

Chicken Toquitos

1/3 cup Cream Cheese (I used the 1/3 less fat Nufchatel stuff and it still tastes great)

1/4 cup Green Salsa

1 tablespoon Fresh Lime Juice

1/2 teaspoon Cumin

1 teaspoon Chili Powder

1/2 teaspoon Onion Powder

1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder

3 tablespoon Cilantro, chopped

2 tablespoon Green Onions, chopped

2 cups chicken, poached and shredded

1 cup Pepperjack Cheese

Melt cream cheese for 30 seconds so that it's easy to incorporate the salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, and garlic powder.

Add the onions and cilantro. Then add the chicken and cheese. Now you can use corn tortillas but I just like these Mission 98% fat free flour tortillas. Both taste yummy! Now you'll just add a thin line about an inch wide of the filling (I'm not putting an amount here b/c it will differ depending on what type of tortilla you use ;o). ) Then wrap them up as tight as you can--I put a tooth pick in to secure them. Spray the tops with some vegetable oil, and sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake at 425 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.

Here are you ingredients

Chop up your choppies: (anything that ever needs chopping I always chop up first.) Lime, cilantro, and green onions.

Mix together the cream cheese, green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, and garlic powder.

Add your green onions and cilantro. Mix. Then add the chicken and cheese.

Put your filling on the tortillas.

Look--all my ducks in a row!

Bake and Enjoy!

Chicken Lime Tacos

You probably will start to notice a theme in my recipes, if you haven't already. I'd say 75% of what my husband eats for dinner is some kind of Mexican-inspired food. He's just picky about everything else so I don't even try sometimes. Anway, since I like to try new things and get some variety in our diet, I'm constantly trying out new Mexican recipes to expand the dinner possibilities at our house. This recipe was the result of a frantic search online to find something "different" for dinner and it's become a staple in our household. I like it because it's delicious and different from regular tacos, and because I always have the ingredients for it on hand so I can make it in a pinch.

It starts out, as you'd expect, with some chicken. I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Usually I buy these in family size packages and right after I get home from the grocery store I chop the chicken into cubes and divide it into 1 lb or 1.5 lb packages that I freeze. That way I always have some chicken on hand and can just thaw a package overnight if I want tacos or whatever the next day.

I start the tacos by heating the chicken pieces in a large skillet until they are just cooked through. If you are using chicken that has been frozen, you will want to pat your pieces dry with a paper towel before you cook them. Otherwise they will make a watery mess in the pan instead of browning.

Next, I add vinegar, lime juice, salt, sugar, garlic, pepper and oregano. I usually combine all this while the chicken is cooking to make things go faster. When I first read this recipe, the vinegar and oregano weirded me out. Somehow, though, it works.

At this point, you'll have chicken pieces cooking in a watery mixture. Yum-O. This didn't seem appealing to me, either the first time I cooked this recipe, so I tried scooping out the chicken and chopping it into smaller, taco sized pieces. The liquid in the pan has a chance to cook down some during this time, and when you add the chopped pieces back to the pan and stir for a bit, they soak up the extra juice and get even more flavorful.

It's a win-win.

You can serve this any way you want. As I've mentioned before, I'm a dork when it comes to eating tacos in traditional shells, so I usually opt for some kind of taco salad with chips. Soft shells work great as well for more coordinated people.

Lime Chicken Tacos

Recipe source: Allrecipes.com

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed

2T cup red wine vinegar

2 T lime juice

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp dried oregano

chips, flour tortillas, toppings.

Saute chicken in medium saucepan over medium high heat until cooked through. Add vinegar, lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper, garlic and oregano. Simmer 2-3 minutes. Remove chicken with a slotted spoon and chop into smaller pieces. Add chicken back to pan and cook and stir 2-3 minutes or until extra liquid in the pan has been absorbed.

Serve immediately over chips, taco shells or whatever your heart desires. Top with cheese, sour cream, avocado, tomato . . .

Keaton Cake (Baby Food Cake)

So, my son Keaton turned the big ONE last Sunday (yes that would be on the 4th of July) which is just so fun for me and for him. Meanwhile though, I have a pantry chalk-full of baby food! Yes the jarred kind that only a baby who hadn't tasted all the goodness of real food, could, or would enjoy. So what do you do with left over baby food? Make cake, of course! I'm starting to believe that you can make a cake out of aaaalllllmost anything! And I found this particular recipe on allrecipes.com by just typing in "babyfood" into the part where you can type in the ingredients that you desire to use, and it magically tells you what you could use for that ingredient/s. Genius!!! So use any combination of 3 fruity baby food jars and add it to this standard muffin recipe, and you've got Keaton Cake (or Baby Food Cake).

1. In a mixing bowl combine eggs, sugar and vegetable oil.

2. In a seperate bowl, add dry ingredients and then mix them with the wet ingredients.

3. Add baby food.

4. Pour into a greased 9X13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Enjoy! (Like how I cut off the top of my dalop of whipping cream?)

Keaton Cake

3 Eggs

2 cups White Sugar

1 1/4 cups Vegetable Oil

2 cups Flour

2 teaspoons Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Salt

1 jar Baby Food Applesauce (4 oz)

1 jar Baby Food Appricots (4 oz)

1 jar Baby Food Carrots (4 oz)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine eggs, sugar, and oil. In a separate bowl, combine flour,baking soda and salt. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients. Mix until just combined. Add baby food. Pour into a greased 9x13" pan. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. (Although I start checking it when it's been in the oven for 30 minutes).

Storing Cilantro

I love cooking with fresh herbs. It's amazing the difference in flavor between fresh herbs and dried ones. One thing I don't like, though, is how often the herbs I buy at the grocery store get brown and yucky on me before I get a chance to use them. Cilantro is one of the worst. I usually grocery shop on Saturdays, and I know if I want to cook something with cilantro in it I'd better fit it in the schedule before Wednesday or there's no knowing if I'll actually have fresh green cilantro leaves by then or instead have slimy green/brownish ones. I decided there had to be some way to keep cilantro fresh a little longer, so, being the good scientist that I am, I did a little experiment. I tried three different ways of keeping cilantro in the fridge. All three methods started out with washing the whole bunch of cilantro in a salad spinner and spinning them dry.

One set of leaves I cut about a 1/2 inch off the ends and put them in a jar of water. I covered the leaves loosely with a plastic bag and stuck the whole thing in the fridge.

The second batch I laid out on paper towels and loosely rolled up into a cylinder. I put that whole roll in a plastic bag and stuck in a drawer in the fridge.

The third set I just threw into a plastic bag in the fridge like I usually do.

After a week, here's what we had. The cilantro in the jar of water still looked great, with no signs of rotting leaves and fresh, stiff stems and leaves.

The cilantro in paper towels wasn't rotting, but the stems and leaves were getting wilted.

The cilantro in a plain plastic had about a third of its leaves getting brown and slimy. I didn't take a picture because at that point I just toss the whole bag in the trash as fast as possible and try not to dwell on how gross it looks. 

The winner, I'd say, is the cilantro in the jar in the fridge. It was convenient there, too. I could just pull a few stems out when I needed a bit of garnish or a little something for a recipe. Plus, it is so happy looking in the fridge. Like a little bouquet to spruce up the shelves. Definitely better than brown, slimy cilantro that didn't last a week.