My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have worked on this recipe for a long time, it is kind of a work in progress. The thing I like about it is I can add or change ingredients based on what am in the mood for...

Cathy's Chocolate Chip Cookies

5 cups white flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
2 cups butter (please don't substitute on this one)
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract (the real stuff please)
1-1 1/2 cups oatmeal
4 large eggs
2 cups mini chocolate chips
2 cups nuts
1 cup coconut

Cream butter and sugars.
Add eggs 1 at a time and mix well.
Add vanilla and almond extracts.
Add soda, salt and oatmeal.
Add flour 1 cup at a time. Sometimes it takes a little extra flour to get the cakiness of the cookies just right, so experiment.
Add chocolate chips, coconut and nuts.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake in a 375 degree oven or 350 degree convection oven for 8-10 minutes until light brown.

Now for the best part, you can substitute. Sometimes I do pecans and chocolate chips, sometimes white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts and orange flavored craisins for this one I change the almond extract to vanilla. Another fun one is to use hazelnuts and just 1 cup of chocolate chips semi sweet and then make sandwiche cookies using nutella as the filling. There are so many things you can do just use your imagination. Let me know what your favorite combination is.

Next recipe is the homemade bread recipe I found, you will never want store bought again...

Angie's Avocado Dip

Pulled Pork was a hit, we did decide that it needed more of a BBQ sauce so we added a Jack Daniel BBQ sauce and it was delicious.

Now on to today's recipe. This is a family favorite from my wonderful sister in law, Angie Neuberger. We love this as a dip with our favorite tortilla chips!

4-5 Roma Tomatoes seeded and diced
2/3 cup of cilantro minced
1 bunch of green onions chopped
2 cans black eyed peas
3-4 avocados diced
1/2 bag frozen white corn

Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 jalepeno finely minced
2 cloves garlic
2 limes juiced

I like veggies so I add a few things to my version, either way it is delicious.
I add:
1 chopped red onion
1 red pepper chopped
1 yellow pepper chopped
3-4 jalepenos finely minced or ground. This makes it spicier, so add this to your families taste
I also substitute 1 can black beans for one can black eyed peas.

Mix all wet ingredients and toss with chopped veggies, refrigerate before serving so that the flavors can blend. This is one of our favorite dips, and it is quite colorful on the table. Enjoy this at your next party it is wonderful!

Pulled Pork from Food Network Magazine

My garden is really doing well this year, so far we have harvested a fabulous crop of peas which went so crazy we had to share it with everyone we knew.  Just so that Dave doesn't feel bad about is wild banana squash, I guess that I should admit that I like spaghetti squash so we planted a couple of those as well as the banana's and mine are going just as crazy as Dave's banana's, so this winter we may only be eating banana and spaghetti squash for all of our meals.  Well, today I am home working and thought yummy pulled pork sounds like a great idea for dinner tonight.  So I purchased a roast (4 pounds) and found this recipe on the Food Network website (see the link for more info).

Pulled Pork Sandwiches...
8 pound pork shoulder roast
8 - 10 garlic cloves
1/4 cup paprika
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper

Cut 8 - 10 slits in the roast and stuff each with a clove of garlic.
Mix dry ingredients together with a whisk and rub generously over roast, wrap in saran wrap and place in fridge over night.

Soak 5 cups of wood chips in water over night.

Gas grill directions:
Place wood chips in smoker box and place on grill, turn the burners on to high only on the side of the grill with the smoker box, once grill is warmed up turn the heat down to medium.
Take meat out of the oven and place in an aluminum (I used disposable) pan with 1 1/5 cups of water.  Place on the cooler side of the grill.  Check meat and rotate every hour until internal temperature reaches 180 degrees. 
Now make the glaze:
1 Cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup ketchup
3 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp  each Worchestershire sauce, salt and pepper.

Brush pork every 20 minutes until it reaches 200 degrees (1 to 2 more hours).

Let rest 15 minutes.  Shred the meat and toss with more of the vinegar glaze.   Serve on rolls.
Here is the link for the food network:
Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Check back later to see if the family liked this recipe... I am still glazing as we speak!  lol

Long time No Blog... Zucchini Bread!

So I have really been slacking on my recipe blog.  It's not that I am not trying new recipes, it is that I haven't been posting them!!!!  Ooops, my bad.  So today we are making Zucchini Bread and Pulled Pork Sandwiches.  My garden is over run with adorable little (whoops, waited too long) giant zucchini so last night I harvested about 10, left 7 on the ground for the birds and took the other 3 in the house along with 2 tomatoes, 30 grape tomatoes and a cucumber.  Have I mentioned that David loves banana squash so he planted several plants and they are taking over the garden and the yard and climbing the fence and well, let's just say that they are everywhere!!!!!

So my zucchini bread recipe is delicious, I am going to have to credit myself with this one because I took about 10 recipes played with them, modified them and came up with this recipe, my family and friends say it is the best so I am going to go with them on this one and agree, thank you very much!  Here it is:

Cathy's Zucchini Bread
1 Cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 Cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 Cups grated, unpeeled zucchini
3 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 1/4 Cups bread flour
1 1/4 Cups pecans chopped

Slightly beat your eggs, add oil and sugar until blended. 
Add zucchini and vanilla, mix well. 
Add soda, powder and salt, mix well.
Add flour 1 cup at a time, mix well.
Fold in pecans.
Pour into greased bread pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Makes 2 medium sized loafs.

Just a note about a new discovery for me.  I have never used cast iron for much of anything except camping using dutch ovens to cook.  But David has introduced me to the joys of cast iron and may I say wow! He bought me 2 cast iron loaf pans and I started using them for all my bread making and well my loaves turn out perfect they are not too brown, they are a lovely light golden color the texture and consistency is perfect and well clean up is non existent.   I would highly recommend using cast iron for all your bread making, you will never be sorry (just remember you don't need to wash them, just wipe them out and re-oil them.)

My next 2 posts will be the pulled pork and a great dip recipe from my sister in law Angie Neuberger.
And just wait till I post the new white bread recipe I found, it is quick and easy and turns out perfect every time!


Happy Baking