The English Geek

Have a Cookie. Please. Or I Will.

Today's mental to-do list looked like this:

• Put away all Halloween decorations
• Get out Thanksgiving decorations

Instead, I did this (listed in no meaningful order):

• Four minute discussion with boys about turning their own socks right side out, complete with demonstration
• Laundry, laundry, and more laundry. (There is, alas, still more laundry to be done.)
• Started making thank-you notes
• Putzed around in the general creative frustration I am currently experiencing. I'm not really sure why, but it is hard for me to work on scrapbook stuff when Kendell is at home. This is a problem because A: he's going to be home for many more weeks and B: I am trying to work on a new Big Picture class.
• Tried to make my sewing machine cooperate for just one more witch. I want to finish this witch quilt so next year I can, you know, actually use it during October. My sewing goals are always larger than the time I allot for them.
• Took 47 pictures of Kaleb spinning on the swing.
• Costco, bank, craft store, Target, gas station, post office, another bank, grocery store.
• Made children do their jobs.
• Ran for the first time since my race...almost three weeks ago. Discovered endurance, strength, and lung capacity have diminished to that of an 89-year-old couch potato.
• Read Becky's blog about my dad and cried. Wished I could have gone with her yesterday (had to work) but am alternately glad I wasn't there, so she didn't have to share her moment.
• Tried to start reading my SDBBE novel three times. Afraid.
• Went to Haley's school to bring her some cough drops and ended up being finagled into taking her to Sonic for a slushy to bring back to class. (She has a cough but NO FEVER or any other symptoms and no: it's not the swine flu.) I still haven't decided if this makes me the dumbest mom ever, or the coolest. Admittedly, she was only gone for 12 minutes, and it was during Flextime anyway, but...I don't know.
• Coughed. A lot. (Again: just a cough. No fever, sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, puking, or oinking.)
• Read the newspaper and cried over the Fort Hood thing.
• Breakfast: Refereed the argument over who got the last Eggos. Poured cereal for the Eggo-less children. Made toast with butter for Kendell. Protein shake with raspberries for me. 
• Lunch: tuna fish, with pickle. I explained to Kendell that the reason I forgot the cheddar cheese on his tuna fish sandwich (with pickle...borrowed from my neighbor) is because tuna + cheddar is unnatural. He pointed out that so is apple pie + cheddar. Touche.
• Plus: the pulse-taking and pill-giving and post-sneeze-comforting and awkward sideways-getting-out-of-bed helping and other stuff that goes along with the heart-surgery-recuperation thing. Which has, admittedly and blessedly, been far easier than the hip replacement surgery he had last year. (I really, really, really hope he doesn't have another surgery next year.)  
• And other boring stuff.

My point? I didn't accomplish the two things I really, really wanted to accomplish today. But those other things I did are good too, right? And part of the laundry was the Halloween towels, which had to be washed before they were stored away 'till next year, anyway. And then, while I was making oatmeal-chocolate-chip cookies just now with Haley, I looked over at my pretty spot, and my favorite-ever Halloween decoration which I finally actually put together this year after talking about it for the two Halloweens before this one, and I thought even though it's six days past Halloween, I am going to blog about that decoration before I put it away. Here is my Halloween tree, which I love beyond reason:

Have I ever told you that I love, love, love Mary Englebreit's designs? When I saw this hot chocolate three years ago, I bought it just for the tin. The hot chocolate, which was orange flavored, was sort of grody, so I threw it away and kept the tin. Immediately I had my creative vision: spikey black twigs holding up little Halloween cuteness. I didn't find just the right ornaments until last year, and I didn't manage to put it together until this year. The twigs came right off my maple tree. I filled the tin with rocks and black beans (after putting it all together once using just florist foam and everything promptly fell over). And then, every time I walked into my kitchen this October, I fell in love all over again.

It's been a good long while since I have been enamoured of a decorative object.

I think maybe I love it because it is the rare piece that turned out just as cute in real life as it was in my head. And because it's one-of-a-kind. And because I got to use spray paint. (Which, by the way, you are ID'd for at the time of purchase! The last time I was ID'd...well, it didn't go as well as buying spray paint did, twenty-ish years later.)

At any rate. As a thank you to whomever is still reading this very odd and unfocused post, I'm going to share my super-secret chocolate-chip-oatmeal cookie recipe. Actually it's not very secret. But it is very good. One of the secrets: just a touch of cinnamon. Usually I'm all about adding extra spices to recipes, but this one? It's just a little bit, and a little bit is perfect. Subtly perfect, without overwhelming anything. It is, after all, an oatmeal cookie, not a spice cookie. What you must have to bake anything with oats in it: old-fashioned oats. The quick-cook kind are just....ehhhhh. Flavorless. So:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, with Apologies to Whatever Spot Your Weight Tends to Gather (mine is everywhere except the chestal region, of course, but hey: I'm lucky like that)

1 cup butter (shortening is an option here, of course, but I think I'd rather smoke a cigarette than consume shortening anymore...I need to blog about my trans-fat obsession)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
2 cups oatmeal*
2 cups chocolate chips

*if you, too, have a home that's bossed around by Pickies, you can put the oatmeal in the blender and process it until it's oatmeal flour.

Cream butter and sugars; add eggs one at a time and beat thoroughly between each. Add vanilla. Combine salt, soda, cinnamon, flours, and oatmeal, then add to creamed ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake at 375° for 10-ish minutes.
mmmmmmmmmmmm.

Maybe tomorrow I'll get it all put away. Have you put away yours yet?

 

The Guacamole Secret

Remember how I used to hate avocados, and then I had a spiritual awakening and began loving them? Well, when Jake and Haley and I were in Mexico, they had a similar awakening. The little restaurant by the pool served chips and guacamole, with the chips all poked into the guac on the plate. One of our fellow travelers got Haley to try it, and she liked it, and then Jake wasn't going to be outdone so he tried it, and he liked it.

My previously guacamole-abhorring children clambered for it every day of the trip.

I usually said yes because that guacamole was perfect. And because I wanted some, too. (And because I understand. When you discover deliciousness that you'd previously turned up your nose to, you want to begin, immediately, catching up on what you've been missing.) When we got home, they converted Nathan to the guacamole faith and I began trying to recreate what we'd had in Mexico.

I don't think I've got it exactly the same, but I do have to say: I make some fairly delicious guacamole.

Here's what makes me crazy, though, about the guacamole. I like to make a big batch (5 avocados' worth) and keep it in the fridge, so that if the urge strikes, it's already made. Only the top always turns brown. No matter how much lemon or lime juice I use: brown goo you have to scrape away to get to the good, bright green stuff.

But last night, in an inspired moment of avocado genius, I discovered the secret to keeping the brown stuff away. After you've made your guacamole, and everyone has eaten some and is groaning with post-guacamole euphoria, here's what you do:

1. Use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl, then smooth the top.
2. Get a piece of plastic wrap.
3. Smear some lemon or lime juice on one side of the plastic wrap. You don't need gallons of juice...just a glaze.
4. Place the wrap, juice-side against the guacamole, right on top. Smooth it down so that the edges are covered.
5. Put the lid on your container, then refrigerate.
6. Stir before you eat any more.

Voila! Green-goo-free guacamole!

Here's my recipe. Maybe you know a secret ingredient I am missing? If so, it's only fair to share!

5 ripe avocados
1 T whipping cream
1/4 red onion, diced very, very small
1/2 small tomato, seeds removed, diced very, very small
juice of 1/4-1/2 lemon or lime
cilantro (fresh is the best, but dried is a reasonable substitute)
chili powder
red pepper
red pepper flakes (just a couple)
salt
black pepper

Mix diced onion and tomatoes with the cream. Squish avocadoes out of their skins, then mash everything together with a potato masher. Don't mash too much; you want some small avocado lumps left. Add lemon or lime juice and spices to taste. (Start small with the spices and go up. You can't, I don't think, put too much pepper in!) Serve with chips.

Focaccia Bread, Working on Perfection

The Internet can be had for both good and evil. Take recipes, for example. Google what you want to cook and viola! Thousands of recipes to choose from. Recipes with reviews. The only problem with thousands of recipes? Thousands of recipes! Every single one claiming to be the best. The perfect one. They can't all be perfect though. How do you choose which one is really worth your time and ingredients?

Tonight I wanted to make focaccia bread.(To go along with the spaghetti I had planned; I was hoping the bread would counteract the inevitable Spaghetti War that happens every time I make my favorite meal; not so much.) I vaguely remember reading on someone'sblog about the. perfect. focaccia recipe, but I couldn't pinpoint whose blog it was on. So I started searching, and it seemed every recipe had a slightly different twist. Finally, I gave up. Hobbled together a few different seeming focaccia trends. What was I out, save a few minutes and a little flour? The result was surprisingly delicious. Probably not the perfectfocaccia yet (if you know the p. f. secret, you should let me know!), and not the texture I had hoped for. But delicious anyway. Mostly I'm writing it here so I can A: update my pathetically-neglected blog and B: remember how I did it, so I can tweak it in the future. Seriously, though: If you have the perfect focaccia recipe, will you let me know?

Not-Yet-Perfect Focaccia

1 T yeast
1 tsp olive oil
2 T butter
1 T sugar
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. water
2 1/2 c. flour
2 T dried rosemary
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dill
fresh black pepper
mozzarella cheese

Scald milk. Add butter and stir till dissolved. Add cold water and sugar. Allow to cool until it won't kill the yeast. (You know...it's warm but not hot on your inner wrist. Like baby bath water, without the Baby Magic. Or the baby.) Dissolve yeast in liquid, and let sit for about 5 minutes under a cloth. (I always stick the cloth in the microwave for a few seconds before I put it over the bowl, for extra warmth.) Add spices, then mix in flour. (For the pepper, I put in about ten seconds' worth of grinding, but I think next time I will put in more.) The dough will be a little bit on the soft side. Knead until smooth. Let rest under a warm towel for about 1 hour. Divide into two pieces. Place each in a square baking dish that's been sprayed with Pam and sprinkled with a little bit of cornmeal. Sprinkle the top with salt. Bake at 400 for 20-ish minutes. Halfway through, sprinkle some mozzarella on top.

The Good News

I have two pieces of good news to share tonight before I head off to bed:

1. Having burned off 8 out of 10 of my fingerprints*, I can now assume a life of crime

and

2. The lemon bars were worth the blistering (even though it is HARD to type with blistered fingertips)

Borrowed from Heidikin's blog, modified by me just a tiny bit.

Don't Burn Your Fingers Lemon Bars 

Crust
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, softened slightly
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Mix together using your little hand mixer. Sprinkle into a Pam'd 9x13 pan, then smoosh together into a crust. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, make the
Filling
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
zest from 1 lemon
1/4 cup lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1/2 tsp lemon extract

Combine the sugar and flour. Add remaining ingredients and beat until combined & creamy, but not frothy. Pour over hot crust and return to hot oven. Remember that the dish is hot so put on your oven mitts BEFORE lifting up the pan. (Unless you, too, want a life of lemon-bar-induced crime.) Bake for 25 more minutes. Sift powdered sugar over the top while still hot, let cool about an hour before cutting into bars.

*Please note that immediately after I was stupid and picked up the blazing-hot, right-out-of-the-oven glass dish with my bare hands, I was able to ask Nathan to leave the kitchen before I started cursing like a sailor.

On Cooking, with Recipes

A friend at work and I were talking the other day about recipe books with fast, speedy, quick, rapid, ready-in-15-minutes recipes in them. She said they depress her, because she doesn't want to have to cook quickly. "If I'm going to cook," she said, "I want to take my time and do it right."

I agree with her opinion. Plus, even with a cook-in-a-flash recipe, I still take forever to cook anything. Generally that's because once I start cooking, I don't want to leave it with just the one dish. I need bread, and a side or two, and of course (of course!) dessert. But it's also just...me, I guess. Take the first time I made risotto (once I had finally discovered where, exactly, one can find arborio 'round here). I used a Rachel Ray recipe. The one she did on her fix-this-in-thirty-minutes TV show. When she cooked it, she managed to do it in a half hour, plus a main dish. Ha! I only made the risotto, and it took 50 minutes. It was delicious, but seriously...how did it take that much longer?

I'm just slow.

Plus, I make big messes. Kendell has finally learned to just stay out of the kitchen when I'm cooking, because the big messes make him crazy. "Why can't you clean as you go?" he always asks, tidying up in three seconds what would have taken me 25 minutes. Imagine how much slower of a cook I'd be if I also cleaned as I cooked. Dinner would never be finished!

I don't cook as often as I'd like. Seems like, by the end of the day, I'm usually worn out, and so I just throw something easy together. Pasta and parmesan cheese, rolly-ups (like quesadillas, only rolled instead of folded in half), or even, on really desperate days, tacquitos---the kind in the box that comes from Costco. We used to eat fast food all the time for dinner, but we honestly never do that anymore, so I still feel better about my nights of cooking failure than I used to.

When I do manage to cook a good meal, I'm always torn: try something new, or stick with something I know is delicious (and, thus, worth the time, work, and cost). Tonight I did both: a new main course with never-fail biscuits and my current-favorite dessert, triple-layer lemon cake. When I had the cake in the oven and dinner half-way done, Kendell came in the kitchen. "You know," he said, "we appreciate you cooking for us, but you don't have to go to so much effort. We'd be happy with something easier."

I think he was trying to get out of eating the soup.

Because there are rules, people, when it comes to soup at my house. Rules! #1: soup must be thick. Period. Otherwise it's non-manly and a certain man won't eat it. #2: soup cannot have lumps. Period. Otherwise it's non-edible by four certain children. We don't eat a lot of soup at our house. But you know what? I love soup. And I wanted to try this one. So I modified the recipe to follow all the Soup Rules. And we had a delicious dinner that even Kaleb, once I got him to try it, loved. As we ate I wondered: is it worth it? The two-ish hours of cooking for a meal that's eaten in fifteen minutes? In my gut, I still say yes. In my gut, I was happy I cooked tonight.

Now, here are the recipes if you're so inclined.

Chicken-Corn Chowder
(I found this recipe on someone's blog, but I don't remember whose, so, if it's yours, let me know! Although, it's modified to fulfill the Soup Rules.)

3 chicken breasts
3 cans chicken broth, divided
2 tsp chicken base
juice of 1/2 lemon
pepper
1 T olive oil
1 T butter
1 medium onion, diced
3-ish tsp crushed garlic cloves
3 carrots, peeled and diced
1/4 cup flour
2 pounds corn kernels
1 cup cream
8 oz sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

Wash the chicken and remove all grody bits. Put in pan; add one can of chicken broth, the chicken base and lemon juice, plenty of black pepper, and 2 cups water. Cover, bring to a boil, and allow to simmer until cooked through. Meanwhile, dice the onion, press the garlic, and slice the carrots. Saute in the olive oil and butter until soft. Pour about half of a can of chicken broth into your blender, add the sauteed veggies, and blend until smooth. (You can skip this part if no one objects to lumps at your house.) (Although, I really liked the flavor and creaminess the blended-to-smithereens veggies added, and I would do it this way even without any lump objections. Carry on.) Pour back into the pan you sauteed in. Pour the rest of the can of chicken broth into the blender, along with the flour; blend until smooth. Add to pureed veggies along with the last can of chicken broth. Start warming over lowest heat.

Drain chicken, straining and keeping the broth. Add the broth to the other pan (the one with the pureed veggies & chicken broth); dice chicken. Add corn and chicken to the broth mixture and bring to a boil. Cook until corn is the tenderness you like and the broth is thickened. Remove from heat; add cream and sour cream and stir until smooth again. Salt and pepper as you wish. Serve with avocado and cheese on top.

Biscuits
(I love making biscuits and I think I make great ones. Not as good as Red Lobster's, but still.)

2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 T sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup shortening or butter or a combination of both
2/3 cup milk or buttermilk

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cream of tartar. Using a pastry blender, cut in the shortening/butter until a fine pebble. Add the milk/buttermilk. (If you use buttermilk, you might have to add just a titch more liquid...like 1 tablespoon or so.) Stir until everything clumps together, then turn onto a cutting board. Knead very lightly, just enough to get everything together, and then roll out. Cut until circles and bake at 400 for 10-11 minutes.

Two secrets for perfect biscuits. One: you really do need a pastry blender. There's always the "use two knives" option but it just doesn't work as well. And two: when you're cutting the biscuits out, don't twist the cutter. If you twist, it seals the edges and the biscuits don't rise as well.

And, of course, the dessert. Here's a photo (from Easter Sunday) just to grab your interest:

Triple Layer Lemon Cake
(This is my favorite dessert lately. I made it for St. Patrick's day (only I colored it green) and then I think I've made four since then. It's so good!)

1 1/2 c butter
6 eggs
3 2/3 c flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
scant 1/2 tsp salt
3 cups sugar
3 tsp lemon zest
3 T lemon juice
1 1/2 c buttermilk
3-4 drops yellow food coloring
lemon curd
lemon cream cheese frosting

Let butter, eggs, and buttermilk sit out for about a half hour, or until room temperature. Preheat oven and prepare pans. Mix flour, baking powder and soda, and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat butter on high speed for about 1 minute. Add sugar, lemon peel, and lemon juice, then beat until well combined. Add eggs one at a time.  Add flour and buttermilk, alternating between the two, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Add the food coloring with the first buttermilk turn. Pour into three pans; bake the first one for 25-29 minutes and the third for about 20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Make the lemon curd
(try not to swoon...I'm not a fan of pudding-esque anything, but this is DELICIOUS.)
1 c sugar
2 T cornstarch
3 tsp lemon zest
6 T lemon juice
6 T water
6 egg yolks, beaten
1/2 c butter, cut up

In a pan, whisk together the cornstarch, sugar, and lemon peel. Add the lemon zest, juice, and water. Whisking the whole time, bring to a boil, then continue to cook over low heat until thick and bubbly. Slowly pour about half of the lemon mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then return that to the pan. Continue whisking (geeze, enough with the whisking!) until it comes to a boil, then boil gently for 2 minutes more. (Since it's raw eggs, I am always careful with this part, and honestly: I boil for three, even though the recipe says two.) Remove from heat; add the butter and stir until smooth. cover and chill. Use as filling between the three layers of cake.

Frost the top and outsides with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp lemon juice (that says 1 teaspoon there, not one tablespoon, really, not that I figured that out the hard way at all. Or anything.)
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
4-5 drops yellow food coloring
4-5-ish cups powdered sugar

Juice and zest the lemon. Beat with the cream cheese and butter until soft; slowly add powdered sugar until frosting is stiff enough.

So Much Depends Upon the White Chicken

[None of your calories count today if you know which poem and poet I'm slanting at in my title.]

On Monday night, when I was trying to figure out what to fix for dinner, our neighbor stopped by to talk computer with Kendell, and I asked him what he made for dinner (testosterone cooks at their house, how nice would that be?). He'd made chicken tacos, which sounded great, only the conversation drifted back into computer geek before I could ask him what he put in his. So yesterday, still thinking that chicken tacos sounded yummy, I invented my own recipe.

And it turned out to be delicious! And super easy! And chock full of hidden nutritional things that, if they weren't blended into oblivion, would give my children hives. (Not real hives, but "I can't eat THAT, it's too lumpy/gross/disgusting/tomato-y" hives.) As it was, everyone ate without complaining, and a few wee ones actually complimented the chef.

I think I'll make these again!

Amy's Chicken Tacos

1 can black beans
1 24-oz jar salsa
3 1/2-ish pounds chicken
1 can chicken broth
sprinkle of dried red pepper flakes
sprinkles of cumin, cilantro, and chili powder

Blend the beans (don't drain them) until all hint of chunky bean-ness has dissolved; do the same with salsa. Combine with the chicken broth and spices (which I didn't measure!) in a crock pot. Remove all offending parts from chicken. Place into crock pot, add 1 cup water, stir, and cook on low for about 4-5 hours.

Remove chicken from broth. Shred, then return to broth. Turn your crock pot up to high and bring to a boil, letting the broth absorb into the chicken.

Serve with tortillas, corn, guac, cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, lettuce, and whatever else floats your taco boat.

Happy eating!

I Can't Stop Baking This,

even though it's more of a fall-type bread than something you'd bake in the spring. Maybe I need to find a good recipe for lemon-blueberry bread, which sounds pretty spring-type (share yours with me if you have one!), but for whatever reason, I'm obsessed:

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

4 eggs
2 cups sugar, plus more for pans
1 cup oil
1 cup apple juice or cider
2 cups canned pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup whole-wheat flour
2 2/3 cup white flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350. Spray two bread pans with Pam; sprinkle with sugar. (I sprinkle with sugar instead of flour because it makes a sugary-crisp crust instead of that white edge that sprinkled flour makes. But you could use flour if you wanted.) Beat eggs until thick and frothy, about 4 minutes. Slowly add sugar, then oil, pumpkin,apple juice, and vanilla. In a different bowl, mix together flours, baking soda and powder, salt, and spices. Mix until just blended. Pour into prepared pans. Sprinkle with streusel* if desired. Bake for about 1 hour, until toothpick comes out clean. (It takes 1 hour and 11 minutes in my oven, but, then, I need a new oven.)

*Streusel: mix 3 T brown sugar, 4 T flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon; add about 1 1/2 T butter (I don't really measure it) and cut until crumbly.

I've made this three times since March 6, when I made it for my father-in-law who'd graciously agreed to take care of Kaleb on his (my FIL's, not Kaleb's) birthday. When I left for work, there were two hot loaves on the counter, minus one slice for me. When I got home, there were only crumbs left. It's REALLY good. However, do NOT put chocolate chips in the bread, even if you are sorely tempted. I'm not sure why (someone clue me in if you know), but they all sink to the bottom and just make a big mess. A handful of chopped pecans is good, though.

I wasn't going to make this tonight, even though I WANTED some. But then, in the bustle of putting away leftovers after dinner, I dropped the container of eggs, and FOUR of them cracked. I took that as a sign. I had to do something with the eggs! 

PS, thanks for all your encouraging words re: the running/IT band thing. I have discovered that with daily IT massages (which are, by the way, excruciatingly electrifying) and stretching, and by running a little bit slower than my usual 9:30 pace (which, yeah, I know, is slow anyway), and by avoiding cement and sticking to blacktop, and also avoiding hills (sob) and taking lots of Ibuprofen, I'm fine. They've not really even twinged or complained since that Monday. So far I am back to six milers, and will stretch that up to eight and then ten before the race. It is definitely an imperfect training schedule---foolhardy, even. But I think it will get me through the race, and then I have learned my lesson: I won't ever wait too long to start training again!!! ;)

New Year's Eve Recipes

Start with two kids, age 11 (+ one day!) and 13; mix, stir, and shake them up with a coating of strep throat until fever, headache, and swallowing agony have made them miserable. Toss in the first dose of antibiotics. Add one 9-year-old disappointed over a cancelled ski trip and a 3-year-old who didn’t get a nap today as well as desperately needing to get back to a normal schedule. Blend in one frazzled mom whose own throat is also suspiciously achy and a dad who was hoping to enjoy his day off. Bake in a slightly-messy house until D.O.N.E.

Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right?

Nah. What sort of mother would I be if I couldn’t deal with sick Bigs, disappointed Nathan, and grumpy Kaleb with all sorts of aplomb? Well, and a nap. Lots of deep, calming breaths. An unexpected call from a good friend. New Year’s Eve sparklers out on the front porch, everyone bundled up in coats. Our favorite pomegranate 7-Up and, of course: some really good food. (Recipes if you scroll down a bit. Real recipes, I mean, not silly ones like my first paragraph.)

Our New Year’s Eve turned out just fine. Hope yours did, too.

Cheese Ball

2 8-ounce cream cheese bricks
1 jar Kraft roka blue cheese
1 jar Kraft Old English cheddar cheese
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 T dried onion
1 T dried parsley
3/4 cup chopped pecans, almonds, or walnuts

Using a hand mixer, blend cheeses together, then add spices. Taste and add extra as desired. (NOTE: I never measure the dried onion in any recipe. I just grab a palm-ful out of the #10 can of dried onions in my pantry and toss them in.) Divide between two bowls with round bottoms (I use Tupperware bowls for this part), smoothing the top out, then chill until firm. Carefully remove from bowls, maintaining the curved part as much as possible. Sprinkle with nuts. (Another NOTE: This makes a LOT of cheese ball; you can freeze the second half for another day.) Serve with crackers.

Dill Dip

1 cup sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
2 T dried onion
2 T dried parsley
2 tsp dried dill
2 tsp Bon Appetit

Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Serve with vegetables and potato chips for dipping.

New Year’s Eve Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 ½ cups oats
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
3 1.9 ounce Rolos, chilled and chopped
8 ounces white chocolate chips
1 ½ cups lightly-salted cashews, chopped

Cream butter and sugars till pale. Add eggs and vanilla one at a time. In a blender or food processor, process oats until finely ground. Combine with flour, powder, soda, and salt; add to butter mix, beating well. Stir in chopped candy, chocolate, and cashews. Shape dough into 1 ½" balls; bake at 375 on parchment-covered pans for 10 minutes. (NOTE: The parchment paper isn’t a necessity; it just makes it easier to get the cookies off the sheet, since the caramel from the Rolos tends to melt a little bit, and then get all crusty and buttery-sweet and delicious but also harder to get off the pan. Unless you, as the cookie baker, decide to just pick off all the crusty, butter-sweet delicious bits to eat all by yourself. Not that I would ever do that.)

Funny, Yummy, Peekie

Funny.

Last night, Kaleb was doing something around the Christmas tree while I was working on a few projects. He was happy and not hurting anything so I let him play. Then, last night when I turned off the lights on the tree, I noticed this branch, which was right next to where he was playing:

Think he likes the nutcrackers? He'd gathered every single one he could reach and put them all on the same branch.

Yummy.

I only bake these around Christmas because I'm certain they've got like a gajillion calories, so they're just a once-in-awhile treat. But they are DELICIOUS!

Double Chocolate Cookies

1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

white chocolate chips

milk chocolate chips

Melt the bittersweet chocolate chips over low heat until smooth. (You can use semisweet instead, but the bittersweet gives them more flavor.) Beat the butter and sugar until pale; add vanilla and melted chocolate. Beat eggs in one at a time, until light and fluffy. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt. Add a total combination of 3  1/2 cups white and milk chocolate chips. (I don't really measure this part.) Bake at 350 for 10-11 minutes. *The original recipe also calls for 1 cup pecan halves, very coarsely chopped, but if I put nuts in mine, no one but me would eat them. And that would be a problem.

(I used the Christmas-colored white chocolate chips today!)

Peekie

I have been working like an insane woman on something totally pointless. Actually, several totally pointless things. I'm not sure why I am doing this, as I have 100 million other things I SHOULD be doing. BUT.  The background in that picture of the cookies is a sneak peek of one of the pointless things. I should finish the other pointless thing tonight (or my family will murder me in my sleep) and then I will blog about Pointless Things and Why I Make Myself Crazy. (Because I know you were all sitting around wondering "Hey, what's making Amy crazy these days?)

Recipe: White Chicken Chili

Lots of stuff going on today, so I'm just posting a recipe. Some of the people in my ward asked if I'd share it after I brought it to our church Halloween party last week. It looks complicated but it really comes together quickly once the chicken is done. Sometimes I cheat and use a rotisserie chicken. This is one of my favorite meals, but since none of my kids like it (is anyone surprised by that?) I don't make it very often. Which is probably a good thing, as it's not the healthiest thing I could make. Still: delicious!

3-4 chicken breasts
3 chicken bullion cubes
juice of two limes
1 onion, diced
1 stick butter
1/4 cup flour
1 can chicken broth
2 c half and half
1 c milk
2 tsp green Tabasco
2 tsp chili powder
1.5 tsp cumin
red pepper flakes
salt & pepper
2 cans white kidney beans
2 cans diced green chilis
2-3 cups corn
1.5 cups shredded Monterey jack cheese
1/2 cup sour cream

Boil chicken in a broth made with water, lime juice, and chicken bullion. Shred. While the chicken is cooking, measure milk and half&half, then set aside to bring to room temperature.

Melt butter; saute onion till translucent. Add flour and heat until thick. Whisk in chicken broth, milk, and half&half until smooth and creamy. Add spices to taste. Drain beans; add with shredded chicken, diced green chilis, and corn. (If using canned corn, drain it first. If using frozen corn, just toss it into the chili still frozen.) Warm almost to boiling over medium heat, being careful not to scorch, stirring often. When hot, add cheese in small handfuls, stirring to melt between handfuls. Blend in sour cream just before serving.

Notes: Sometimes this turns out too thick, so I just add a few extra glugs of milk. Plus, I don't really measure the cheese, I just put some in. Finally, this does NOT taste the same if you use regular Tabasco. The green stuff is what makes it magical!