Ranger Cookies

These are my favorite cookies.... ever.

Recipe:
1/2 Cup butter, softened
1/2 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
3 teaspoons vanilla
1/14 Cup flour
1 Cup rolled oats
1 Cup coconut, chopped
1 Cup raisins

Mix together. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or so.

Pizza Dough

My father-in-law made pizza every Friday night for his family. I love this. I love having a night of the week that we know what to expect and so we try to continue this tradition by having a family night every Friday... complete with pizza and a movie.

 

Simple Recipe:

2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 Cup warm water
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2 to 3 Cups of all-purpose flour
3 Tablespoons olive oil

Mix together yeast & water together and wait about 10 minutes for yeast to activate. Add salt, oregano and garlic powder. Then add flour in little by little mixing dough into a nice elastic ball shape dough. Cover and let sit in oiled bowl for 20 - 30 minutes to rise.  On a floured surface work dough into the shape you of pizza you like. Let rise another 10 minutes or so. Brush crust with olive oil.  Bake 425 for 10  minutes. Remove from oven and add whatever sauce, cheese and topping you like. Bake another 10 minutes. I usually broil my pizzas for about 5 minutes at the end to get the cheese all nice and bubbly.  Enjoy!

Blueberry Almond Struesel

There is an evil temptress in the grocery store... well there are many, actually. But lately, it has been anything made by Entemanns. Every time I walk by one of those blue and white boxes my mouth waters and I stare into the plastic window and pine after the fat sweetness that sleeps inside. Here is my own version of something sweet and beautiful.

 

I started with a simple Muffin Recipe.   Added 1 1/2 Cups frozen blueberries, thawed and 1 Cup of crushed almonds. I used almond milk in place of milk.   Then, I poured the (thick) batter in a greased 9" cake pan and topped with a small version of an adapted fruit crisp recipe:

1/2 Cup Oats

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon sugar

2 Tablespoons butter

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes. Check insides with toothpick to make sure it's fully cooked all the way through.  After the giant muffin was cooled I topped with yummy icing.

1 Cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla
2 - 3 Tablespoons vanilla almond milk

Mix together. Adding more milk to make thinner. Drizzle.  Enjoy!

Almond Biscotti

 

The last time I made biscotti was about 10 years ago. We were about to open our little coffeehouse. We thought muffins, scones and biscotti should be simple enough. 10 years later... we make the muffins. Making biscotti is time consuming.... But, if you have an afternoon and you are in the mood for baking, this recipe is fantastic. I drizzle a little bit of almond-vanilla icing over the top for a little extra sweetness.

Icing:
1 Cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 Tablespoon of almond milk
Mix together. Add more milk if you like it thinner, more powdered sugar if you like it thicker.

Enjoy!

Bacon & Egg Salad Sandwiches

Nothing fancy... just what we are eating these days.

 

Recipe:

makes 6 sandwiches. takes about 20 minutes to prepare

7 eggs, hard boiled
2 spoonfuls of mayonnaise
1 spoonful of relish
6 sandwich buns (yes... sadly mine are store-bought)
6 slices of bacon, cooked
lettuce
1 roma tomato, sliced

on the side: dill pickles and colby cheese 

Granola

 

Since I started contributing to this blog there has been one glaring habit that I realize about my cooking... I do not measure anything. I just add ingredients until it looks right. So I'm going to post a recipe for granola that was the inspiration for the granola that I made over the weekend.

From the book: Recipes for a Small Planet

1/2 Cup honey
1/2 Cup oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup sesame seeds
1 Cup soy grits
1 Cup wheat germ
2 C unsweetened coconut, grated
7 C rolled oats

This recipe calls for heating up the oil, honey and vanilla in a large saucepan or dutch oven then baking at 350 for 15 minutes. I don't do that. I did something like this:

6 Cups oats
about 1/3 Cup sesame seeds
about 1/3 Cup sunflower seeds
about 1 Cup raisins
about 1/3 Cup milled flaxseed
about 1/3 Cup honey
about 1/2 Cup brown sugar (I ran out of honey in the middle of this recipe)
about 1/3 Cup grated coconut
about 1 Cup of chopped walnuts
a bunch of vanilla (maybe 6 or 7 Tablespoons? that's totally a guess)
and enough olive oil to lightly coat the batch

I baked my granola in 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or so, stopping to stir the mixture every 7 to 10 minutes. This makes a huge batch. I fill up a one gallon container with a nice tight lid and we munch on it for breakfast, as a snack or use as toppings for desserts and muffins. I'll try to do a better job of making notes and keeping track of what I'm actually throwing in there in the future. I said try. No promises.

Carrot Oat Muffins

When I look up recipes for carrot muffins I find a lot of recipes for carrot cake..... What I'm looking for is a healthy yummy crunchy recipe that tastes likes carrots, because I happen to like carrots a lot. I haven't found one that I really like yet... so I made one up.

When I make up recipes from scratch I try to make them as simple as possible so that I can remember them without having to look them up again. I try to keep the measurements to something I will remember and that looks like the right proportion when I throw it in the batter. Sometimes this works out, sometimes it doesn't. This combination worked out extremely well for the first round.

If you want to try them out below is the recipe... but I warn you they do not taste like carrot cake. As much as I love pineapple and cream cheese I omitted them for something more breakfast-y. They taste like crunchy carrot granola bars in muffin form.... my sweet toothed kids loved them.

 (this particular batch of muffins are heart shaped)

Recipe:

2 Cups shredded carrots

1/2 Cup chopped walnuts

1/2 Cup ground up oats (I toss mine in the food processor first)

1 Cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 teaspoons vanilla

1 stick of butter, softened

1 Cup of wheat flour

1 Cup of all purpose flour

1/3 Cup flaked coconuts, chopped up

1/3 Cup milled flaxseed

1/3 Cup raisins

1/3 Cup of applesauce

Bake 350 for 20-25 minutes