Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ok, I have a history with chocolate chip cookies. I started to bake chocolate chip cookies when I was 7 years old. I got really good at making them. I figured out how to make it so they were the perfect texture and oh so tasty. I had... "the magic cookie touch."

And then I moved to Utah. And something happened. I lost the touch. They always turn out flat and lame texture. They taste alright, I guess, but... they just aren't super great.

By far the BEST cookies I've ever had are my sister-in-law Anna's: ah, so perfect. Good volume (not cake-y, but not flat), a nice lovely color, perfect size... and just utterly delicious. Anna has mad skills... "the magic cookie touch." :) Sadly, I do not have such skills (it MIGHT be Utah's altitude, I'm not sure). I've tried to replicate her recipe with not such good results (it is better then mine from my childhood, but I still can't do it as well as she can.)

So, that being said, I have discovered a "dummy proof" chocolate chip cookie recipe! Basically, all you do is replace 1/2 cup of sugar for a package of vanilla pudding mix. Here's the recipe:

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

I cut the recipe in half because this makes a LOT of cookies. I am curious as to what different flavored pudding (like white chocolate) would taste like. So, if you have lost the "magic cookie touch" like me, you can make these!

My new favorie recipe!

Pumpkin-Spiced With Chicken Chili!

I have already made this twice, and I only discovered the recipe a week ago. SO GOOD. Jordan and I don't even LIKE chili that much... but this recipe is AMAZING. And pretty healthy! And fairly cheap! It's basically the perfect recipe.

About 2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breasts and/or thighs, roughly chopped into bite-size chunks
3 15-oz cans of Cannellini beans (or Great Northerns), drained and rinsed
1 large sweet onion, chopped
2 4-oz cans of chopped green chiles
2 heaping Tablespoons of canned 100% pumpkin
2 cups fresh or frozen corn (about 2 cob’s worth)
1 ¾ cup low-salt chicken stock
1 12-oz can of low-fat evaporated milk
4 Tablespoons of olive oil
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons of fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)
¾ cup sharp cheddar, grated (optional)

Directions:
1. Rinse chicken and pat dry. Chop into bite-size chunks. Sprinkle with a little salt, pepper and a pinch of chili powder.

2. In a large heavy skillet, heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil over med-high heat. Saute the chicken until starting to brown on all sides and cooked through (no longer pink inside). About 5 minutes.

3. In a large stock pot, saute the onion in two tablespoons of olive oil until soft and tender (about 8 minutes). Stir frequently to avoid burning. Add the garlic, green chiles and all the dry spices – stir another 5 minutes.

4. Add the cooked chicken, beans, corn, stock, milk and pumpkin. Combine well and simmer for about 30 minutes. Taste from time to time and adjust seasonings as desired.

5. Garnish with cilantro and cheddar (if desired) and serve hot.

If you have a chance, try it. Seriously.

Pumpkin Bread

Ok, I can't take credit for this recipe, it's really my aunt Renee's. She eats it like a moderately healthy muffin. I, being the brilliant baker that I am (with no consideration for my arteries), basically turned it into cake by adding chocolate chips and frosting it with cream cheese frosting. I love it because it's really easy and basic, and really nice and pumpkin-y tasting. And I really love the cream cheese frosting. A lot. It tastes like cheese cake on steroids.

Pumpkin Bread
3 1/3 c. flour
2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. nutmeg
3 c. sugar
1 c. oil
4 eggs
2/3 c. water
2 c. pumpkin

Mix all together and pour into 2 or 3 large loaf pans. Bake at 350 for one hour. You can also do mini loaves or muffins (the time is a little bit questionable, just check regularly). I like to add 1 cup and a half of semi-sweet chocolate chips (milk chocolate is a little too sweet...). Then, after it's cooled, I frost with cream cheese frosting:

1 package of cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
3 cups confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Cream butter and cream cheese. Add sugar, mixing one cup at a time. Add vanilla.

I frost pretty generously, but I pretty much LOVE frosting, so that's not very surprising. This makes for a pretty rich dessert, so if you like something lighter, just try the bread part. That's also delicious.

Fall Cooking!

It's fall! And that means my favorite time of year to cook! I love the spices, pumpkin, the warm, cozy feeling that all food this time year brings. Of course, it's a little insane for me to be cooking like I have with a new baby like this... I spend a lot of time stopping half-way through recipes to go feed her, which can frustrate some recipes, and instead of sleeping when she sleeps I've been cooking, which is probably pretty silly... but I can't help it!

So, here's a few of my favorite recipes. The first is a beef stew that Jordan LOVES! Well, I love it too. It can be done as a slow cooker recipe, but I like the texture of the different foods and I feel it all gets too mushy in a slow cooker.

Beef Stew

• 2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 clove garlic, minced
• 2 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon marjoram
  
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup cooking wine
  
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups beef broth
• 3 potatoes, diced
• 4 carrots, sliced

1. Mix flour, seasoned salt and pepper. Put in gallon size bag, and add beef, shaking until beef is coated in flour mixture. Sauté coated beef in 1-2 tablespoons olive oil until browned. Add chopped onion to beef to sauté and soften.

2. Put diced potatoes and carrots in the pot. Pour water over potatoes and carrots until just covered, boil to soften. Discard the water.

3. Mix beef broth with Worcestershire and ½ cup red wine. Add beef, broth, Worcestershire sauce and red wine to potatoes and carrots. (I like my beef a little bit more liquid, so I might add a little more broth to make it the consistency I like).

4. Add garlic, bay leaf, paprika, marjoram to stew. Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until desired thickness. Then enjoy!

This is a pretty basic beef stew that you can add or remove things based on your preferences. Jordan doesn't like onion, so I usually use a minimum amount. You can play around with the spices, add stuff you like, etc. And it's absolutely delicious for a nice fall evening.

I am alive!

Clara will be 3 weeks old tomorrow. I feel like she's getting bigger right in front of my eyes. It's amazing how different I feel like she looks, even now. She's definitely longer, with chubbier little cheeks and legs. Jordan and I spend a good part of our days just snuggling with her and obsessively discussing how she's the cutest baby ever. She's just lovely.

I'm recovering well. There were some rough days there at the beginning when I was still feeding her obsessively every 2 or 3 hours (like, waking her up to feed her) and she would fall asleep while nursing. I was really worried she wasn't getting enough to eat. She surpassed her birth weight at the 2 week appointment, so no worries! I'm sleeping longer at nights, and she's sorta starting to develop something of a nap schedule... kind of.

I'm also really proud that I haven't let the apartment (in terms of cleaning) get away from me. I knew this would be important to my sanity, and I figured out a way to do just enough so that I don't go crazy, but not so much that I'm obsessive. I'm a much better housekeeper as a mom than I was before, which is strange...

Jordan's been such a blessing to have around. I actually have to be careful I don't use him TOO much, because he really has work and studying to get done. We've been blessed to have tons more work hours avaliable to us this month (and probably for the next few months), which means we finally aren't totally broke! WOOT! Jordan's also working towards taking the third actuarial exam in early November, so he's really busy. But he always have time to change Clara's diaper and cuddle her for a bit so I can grab a shower or a quick nap. I'm SOOO lucky... :)

Clara

She's here! And she's sooooo cute!

Born Tuesday, September 28th at 1:01am at 7 bl 13 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. And the baby's a GIRL! I still can't get over it. I really, really thought it was going to be a boy. Right after she was born, I was so exhausted from pushing and so surprised that she was a girl that I didn't have the typical outpouring of emotion. I just kept looking at Jordan going, "A girl? Really? Are you sure? It's really a girl?" At one point the nurses wanted me to look at her, exclaiming how cute she was. I was a little... loopy, I guess, because all I could say is, "I can't see her, I don't have my glasses on." Yeah, that's a loving mother for ya. :)

In my defense, right after she was born, there was a sudden flurry of activity and so much was going on and I was so shocked that I had a really hard time deciding what to focus on (I know, the baby probably should have been my first choice... come on, I just pushed the 7 pound baby out!). She ended up having some trouble with her lungs. She was breathing, and I heard her cry, but her lungs weren't fully inflating. I got to hold her for about 3 minutes before the whisked her away to the NICU for some sort of breathing treatment on the CPAP machine. We got her back about 2 1/2 hours later (now 3:30 am), and at this point I had come to my senses and all I wanted to do was snuggle her.

Since then, she's doing pretty well. She's a bit jaundiced, so she looks quite yellow. We've had to go in for a blood test the last three days, but no lights yet. And Jordan and I just can't get over how pretty and sweet she is. We just love looking at her and cuddling with her.

Every night that we've been home has gotten better. The first was the worst: I was the human pacifier. Since we've introduced a REAL pacifier, she sleeps better and only eats every two hours, NOT every hour (thank goodness!). We're both pretty sleep deprived, but we're in good spirits and surviving. I struggle to remember to eat and shower, but I figure after we get through these first two "survival" weeks, I'll get much better about being presentable. All in all, I'm SO happy she's here!