Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies with Toasted Pecans and Dried Cherries

One of my New Year's resolutions is to make sure that my family is eating less processed foods this year. I admit it, I have fallen into a bad habit of buying convenience foods in the last 2 years. As a new mom and then a mom of two under two, it was just so much simpler. But I am determined to rid my house of prepackaged cookies, skillet meals, and frozen pizza.

Much to my husband's dismay, the junk will NOT be getting replaced in my pantry. Once it is gone, it's gone. Not only will the processed foods be vanishing from our home, I am also committing myself to a $500/month food budget.

As my family dives head-first into this healthier eating plan on a budget, I will be sharing my meal planning and any helpful tricks and tips that I come across.

As we have finished off the last of the Christmas cookies and my fridge is still stuffed full of leftovers from various family holiday celebrations, my first recipe to share is cookies.

I also needed an excuse to test out my new Nordic Ware baking sheets (http://amzn.to/2qiksCx) that are highly recommended in several cooking communities as being the best for even heating/browning. After years of using Wilton baking sheets, one batch of cookies on these beauties and I'm sold! (As an added benefit, these also have an optional lid that will be extra useful!)

These are one of my favorite cookies, packed full of good things that are even relatively good for you. The recipe was sent in an email from America's Test Kitchen quite a while ago. I've changed it just a bit to suit my personal preferences. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies with Toasted Pecans and Dried Cherries
Modified to America's Test Kitchen
Makes Approx 3 dozen cookies

3/4 cup chopped pecans

12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 ¼ cups packed brown sugar, preferably dark

1 large egg, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 ¼ cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 ¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped, or chocolate chips

1 1/4 cup dried cherries (I use unsweetened to avoid the added sugar)

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; preheat oven 350.

2. Toast pecans. Set aside.

3. In bowl of stand mixer, cream butter and sugar at medium speed. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula; add egg and vanilla and beat on medium-low speed until fully incorporated. With mixer still running on low, gradually add dry ingredients; mix until just incorporated. Gentle fold in

pecans, cherries and chocolate chunks.

4. Using dinner spoon place blobs of dough on baking sheet lined with parchment paper, about 2 inches apart. Bake for approximately 11 minutes for chewy cookies or 13 minutes for more crisp cookies at 350. The cookies will not be brown when done, but will have flattened out and may be a tad shiny yet. 

5. Cool cookies on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks and cool to room temperature.

It's been too long...

It has been over 2 years since I have updated this blog. Life has thrown a lot of curve balls my way and it's time to get back on track.

I lost my mom to cancer in the fall of 2015, had my first baby in the spring of 2016, built a small garage apartment for our family's living arrangements until we can build our dream house, fired 6 contractors, finished building my temporary home myself while 8 months pregnant, had my second baby in the spring of 2017, and have just been struggling to catch up with life for the remainder of the year. Hoping 2018 brings about a lot of positive changes, including the ability to get the remainder of the down payment needed to begin construction on my forever home.

In learning to adjust to my new normal, I have struggled with adapting to a TINY kitchen, a ninja toddler, a second baby, my husband's new job that takes him away from us 50% of the time, and life in general has just kicked my ass.

Since November, I have finally found a happy balance and have started cooking real food again. I've got a legitimate work from home job to supplement our income to help make our dream home a reality that much sooner.

My goal for 2018 is to give you, my awesome readers, at least 4 new recipes a month, posts filled with helpful kitchen tips and advice, and some product reviews as I slowly upgrade and replace much of my 10 year old kitchen utensils.

Best wishes to all for 2018!

What a summer it has been!

I wish I had a ton of delectable recipes to share with my readers. Unfortunately I do not. I am hoping that will change before the end of the year. I NEED this to change before the end of the year. I miss the freedom of tossing together random ingredients and creating something delicious. It is my therapy and I am not me without it.

It has been a very rough year. Moving states, incompetent contractors who don't understand the concept of using multiple nails to hold walls together, and my mother being diagnosed with stage 4 bladder cancer and her numerous radical surgeries, appointments, and procedures that have followed. Now I am in the position as an only child to do all I can to help her out.

In the midst of all that insanity, somebody threw out a cute little black lab-like puppy that my husband JUST HAD TO HAVE. Let me tell you. That PUPPY is not a puppy. It is a 1 year old, full grown dog with more energy than the Energizer Bunny. The vet said she is a boxer-lab mix. But somebody small and ridiculously hyper has sneaked its way into the mix. And let's not mention that the dog thinks my precious kitty cats are play toys for her.

In case that hasn't been enough of a whirlwind, I am currently 13 weeks pregnant with my first child.

I really hope that I can get back to regularly experimenting in the kitchen and posting all my delicious discoveries with you!

Come Read with Me!

Have you ever had one of those nagging feelings that won't go away? One of those that make you feel extremely compelled to do something, even though rational thought tells you it is insane? I had one of those feelings back in September. In October it became even more of a nagging feeling. In November, I went along with it.

I put my house up for sale in December. I came to Ohio and purchased over 60 gorgeous acres that has three gorgeous ponds on it. In March I found a contractor and got an estimate for my dream home, it would be a stretch but it was doable. Two weeks later I sold my house in NC. Dream house had to be put on hold. I hired a contractor to build a garage apartment as my temporary home until I could build up my savings again for my dream home.

Then I fired my contractor. He cheated on the size of windows. Walls fell over & leaned. Now my father is spending his days off helping to teach me how to build my house. I am also looking for a new contractor for my dream house. But I wouldn't trade this for the world, even though it leaves me without a decent kitchen to cook in and internet too slow to use.

After being back in Ohio for almost 3 months, my mother was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer and we are currently awaiting test results to find out if she is strong enough for surgery to remove the cancer and infected organs. She is already having too many problems to risk trying chemo or radiation. While this is a horrible thing to be watching her go through, I am beyond thankful to get to spend a lot of time with her over the last several months.

While I have very limited internet and have been cooking out of necessity instead of desire, it means that this blog has been put on a back burner for a while. I promise though, once I have a kitchen I can move in again, I will be back with full force and numerous delicious recipes to share!

As for now, I leave you with my extensive summer reading list. (Descriptions taken from Amazon)

Day Shift by Charlaine Harris (read the first in the series)
There is no such thing as bad publicity, except in Midnight, Texas, where the residents like to keep to themselves. Even in a town full of secretive people, Olivia Charity is an enigma. She lives with the vampire Lemuel, but no one knows what she does; they only know that she’s beautiful and dangerous.

Psychic Manfred Bernardo finds out just how dangerous when he goes on a working weekend to Dallas and sees Olivia there with a couple who are both found dead the next day. To make matters worse, one of Manfred’s regular—and very wealthy—clients dies during a reading.

Manfred returns from Dallas embroiled in scandal and hounded by the press. He turns to Olivia for help; somehow he knows that the mysterious Olivia can get things back to normal. As normal as things get in Midnight…

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
 
A heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty, The Paris Wife is all the more poignant because we know that, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.
 

At The Water's Edge by Sara Gruen
After disgracing themselves at a high society New Year’s Eve party in Philadelphia in 1944, Madeline Hyde and her husband, Ellis, are cut off financially by his father, a former army colonel who is already ashamed of his son’s inability to serve in the war. When Ellis and his best friend, Hank, decide that the only way to regain the Colonel’s favor is to succeed where the Colonel very publicly failed—by hunting down the famous Loch Ness monster—Maddie reluctantly follows them across the Atlantic, leaving her sheltered world behind. 
 
As she embraces a fuller sense of who she might be, Maddie becomes aware not only of the dark forces around her, but of life’s beauty and surprising possibilities.

The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins
Compulsively readable, The Girl on the Train is an emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller and an electrifying debut.

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

Wicked Charms by Janet Evanovich (read the others in the series)
Murdered and mummified nearly a century ago, notorious bootlegger Collier “Peg Leg” Dazzle discovered and re-hid a famous pirate’s treasure somewhere along the coast of New England. A vast collection of gold and silver coins and precious gems, the bounty also contains the Stone of Avarice—the very item reluctant treasure seeker Lizzy Tucker and her partner, Diesel, have been enlisted to find. While Lizzy would just like to live a quiet, semi-normal life, Diesel is all about the hunt. And this hunt is going to require a genuine treasure map and a ship worthy of sailing the seven seas . . . or at least getting them from Salem Harbor to Maine.

Miss Hazel & the Rosa Parks League by Jonathan Odell
Miss Hazel and the Rosa Parks League is a brilliant reimagining and republication of Jonathan Odell’s debut novel, The View from Delphi. Set in pre-Civil Rights Mississippi, and inspired by his Mississippi childhood, Odell tells the story of two young mothers, Hazel and Vida – one wealthy and white and the other poor and black – who have only two things in common: the devastating loss of their children, and a deep and abiding loathing for one another. Embittered and distrusting, Vida is harassed by Delphi’s racist sheriff and haunted by the son she lost to the world. Hazel, too, has lost a son and can’t keep a grip on her fractured life. After drunkenly crashing her car into a manger scene while gunning for the baby Jesus, Hazel is sedated and bed-ridden. Hazel’s husband hires Vida to keep tabs on his unpredictable wife and to care for his sole surviving son. Forced to spend time together with no one else to rely on, the two women find they have more in common than they thought, and together they turn the town on its head. It is the story of a town, a people, and a culture on the verge of a great change that begins with small things, like unexpected friendship.

The Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
Rich in detail and epic in scope, Orphan Train is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of unexpected friendship, and of the secrets we carry that keep us from finding out who we are.

The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

Pak Jun Do is the haunted son of a lost mother—a singer “stolen” to Pyongyang—and an influential father who runs a work camp for orphans. Superiors in the state soon recognize the boy’s loyalty and keen instincts. Considering himself “a humble citizen of the greatest nation in the world,” Jun Do rises in the ranks. He becomes a professional kidnapper who must navigate the shifting rules, arbitrary violence, and baffling demands of his Korean overlords in order to stay alive. Driven to the absolute limit of what any human being could endure, he boldly takes on the treacherous role of rival to Kim Jong Il in an attempt to save the woman he loves, Sun Moon, a legendary actress “so pure, she didn’t know what starving people looked like.”

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. He lives alone, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. But when a mysterious package appears at the bookstore, its unexpected arrival gives Fikry the chance to make his life over--and see everything anew. 

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

An historic literary event: the publication of a newly discovered novel, the earliest known work from Harper Lee, the beloved, bestselling author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Originally written in the mid-1950s, Go Set a Watchman was the novel Harper Lee first submitted to her publishers before To Kill a Mockingbird. Assumed to have been lost, the manuscript was discovered in late 2014.

Go Set a Watchman features many of the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird some twenty years later. Returning home to Maycomb to visit her father, Jean Louise Finch—Scout—struggles with issues both personal and political, involving Atticus, society, and the small Alabama town that shaped her.

All The Light We Cannot See  by Anthony Doerr
Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women's war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France--a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.

I hope you enjoy these books! I am looking forward to reading them myself. 

Creole Catfish Court-Bouillon

This is a story of compromise. My fiance loves catfish. I have made catfish 20 different ways and have never liked it. I can tolerate it, but I'd not be sad if I never had to eat it again.

Being the awesome person that I am, I decided to make him catfish tonight. To try to find a recipe where it actually tastes good, I asked the wonderful people on Cast Iron Cooking for suggestions.

Catfish Court-Bouillon was mentioned several times, so I gave it and decided to make it tonight for dinner.

For a hater of catfish, this dish was actually really good. I think it would be better with the addition of other types of seafood as well, especially some shrimp. While I didn't include them in the recipe, tossing in a few cleaned shrimp would be a good addition to this recipe as well.

Creole Catfish Court-Bouillon
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 tbsp. minced garlic
8 oz. tomato sauce
1/2 cup dry red wine
5 cup fish stock or water
2 cup diced tomatoes (or 1 can)
1 tbsp. sguar
1 tbsp. salt
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
4 tsp. cajun seasoning
black pepper to taste
4 cat fish fillets, cleaned

In a large Dutch oven over medium, stir together butter and flour, cooking until browned and resembling melted milk chocolate.

Add in remaining ingredients, except catfish. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Add catfish. Simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, until catfish is cooked.

Serve over rice.

TGIF! Let's Celebrate!

Already onto the second Friday of 2015! I am 9 days into my resolution of eating better quality food, as chemical free as possible with the American dietary standards. I am excited to be moving in the late spring/early summer to a beautiful spot, with few people and lots of land. I'm looking forward to gardening, canning, and freezing up a storm. I'm starting to research the best options for pressure canners for my late summer kitchen adventures!

Roasted Cauliflower with Cheese Sauce

Cauliflower is one of those poor vegetables that often gets neglected. You rarely see it on restaurant menus. There are limited recipes for this vegetable.

More than likely you grew up eating it steamed, smothered in Velveeta style cheese.

While I do love it just sliced thin and roasted with olive oil, salt, and pepper; this is a delicious new take on how to prepare a cauliflower. And it looks beautiful setting on your table.

Roasted Cauliflower with Cheese Sauce
modified from Joy the Baker

For the Cauliflower:
1 head cauliflower, cleaned
2 tbsp. salt
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
3 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 tsp. whole black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. smoked paprika
Water

For the cheese sauce:
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 cup whole milk
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. spicy brown mustard
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
salt and pepper to taste

Place cauliflower, salt, oil, lemon juice, butter, red pepper flakes, peppercorns, and bay leaf into a large pot or dutch oven. Fill with water until cauliflower is submerged. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. If you like a fairly firm texture, simmer until just beginning to soften. If you like your cauliflower fairly soft, simmer until easily pierced with a fork. Drain.

Meanwhile, in a 10 inch oven safe skillet, combine butter and flour for the sauce. Cook over medium-low heat until the roux is lightly browned. Stir in milk, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, cheese, salt, and pepper. Remove from heat. Place cauliflower in center of skillet, drizzle with olive oil or melted butter, sprinkle with smoked paprika and additional red pepper flakes if desired.

Place under low broiler for 3-5 minutes until cauliflower is beginning to brown.

Cut into wedges and serve!

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