Hub's Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie

To say this is his favorite is a big huge earthshattering deal. To compare anything I cook to the cooking of his mother, his grandmother, his sisters.....well, it's just not fair.  They are wonderful, wonderful cooks and bakers.  The gift of the "kitchen" has been given to them in a mighty dose.

 I almost think he was just wanting to make me feel better....but then again, they are really good.

They are called

CHEWY OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES.

The batter is very sticky....at some point, I have to take it out of my mixer and stir by hand.

They are thick, hearty, and chewy. A great combination!

 The recipe: (follow the steps, do not try any shortcuts or bowl cleaning savers....

I've done that and it just don't work ladies!)

Step 1:

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup veg. oil
Mix well.

Add in two eggs

and 1 tsp vanilla.
Mix completely.

Add 1 and 1/2 cups of quick cooking oats

and mix well

Step 2:

In a separate bowl mix

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Step 3:

Pour the flour mixture into the batter slowly. About half a cup at a time.
The batter will become thick and sticky.

Add 6-8 oz. of chocolate chips.

Mix by hand.

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. DO NOT let the cookies become brown in the oven.Take them out when they are light and just about to become brown.....chewiness! 

Spicy Chicken Taco Soup

It's been a while since I've posted a recipe, but this one I threw together.....a literal dump in the crock pot and let 'er rip......and it turned out so yummy! Beware - it's a tad spicy...that rotel does it all the time. Pair with cheddar and chips, and you gotta cold weather meal!

1 can chicken broth

1 can beef broth
1 can mexican stewed tomatoes

1 can mild rotel

1 can pinto beans

1 can corn

1 pkg. taco seasoning

1 pkg. ranch dressing seasoning

4-5 chicken breasts ( I don't even thaw mine...I put them in frozen) for about 4 hours on high shred the chicken when cooked and return to stew.

Enjoy!!

Quiche and Qousins

Here's the Quiche....

Here's the Qousins....

Here's My Quties!
I qould play on that "C" sound forever......qlass. Qlown. Qrazy...me? Yes.

It's Springtime and gone are the big, chunky casseroles and heavy stews. In come the quiches! They're quick, easy, and even my hubs admits he likes them
(they're the quintessential girl food, right?)

We had Grace's cousin Landrie over for the last of the Spring Break weekend. My sister and I....we don't know how to produce boys....but we sure know how to produce pretty girls!
I am a bit partial though.

Basic Quiche Recipe:
1 frozen pie crust
saute some chopped onions, minced garlic, and any veggie
(I use broccoli, squash or whatever's 'round the house....chop into little pieces)
Put the sauted items at the bottom of the pie crust
Add cooked chicken (I use about 2 breasts, cut into chunks)
Mix 1 cup milk and 3 eggs, salt & pepper
pour in the crust
Sprinkle a heap of grated cheddar
Bake at 400 for 20 min. Reduce to 300 and bake another 10-15 min.
It's ready when the center is firm. Cool 5 min.

*PS* The buffet is still available! I've had tons of emails on it, but no 'official' buyer yet. The Goodwill drop leaf table is nearing finishing, too. Check back for the drawing!

Orange-Tomato Couscous with Chicken

Okay, so my healthy recipe for the week was Orange-Tomato Couscous with Chicken. I paired it with fresh grean beans and a strawberry spinach salad. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to soak my chickpeas, so I went without.

Couscous....hmmm. I'm not sure about it. I'm a texture eater (hence the main reason why I cannot eat shrimp) and it's grainy texture in my mouth was....interesting. As a whole, the dinner was good. The orange in it was a different flavor that I'm not used to, but I'm trying to unnerve my tastebuds, right? Shock and rearrange 'em into healthier eating.

All in all, an easy, easy meal to prepare. I'll try it again with the chickpeas next time. And guess what? Not a hint of butter in the entire meal.......good stuff!

Recipe here.

Recipe-less Pulled Pork

I'm almost embarrassed to put this in my recipe link. There is no recipe. And yet...it's delicious....easy....a perfect crazy weekday dinner or Sunday lunch.

Grab a frozen pork loin (you don't even have to thaw it ladies!). Stick it in a crock pot, add a bottle of your favorite bbq sauce, and let it go. I put mine in at 7am. By 5:00 it was fall-apart, moist heaven! I had some this weekend where the hostess put a can of coke in with it - two helpings on that one for me. Perfect on a bun, with beans, and a coleslaw salad (Jenna...I'm coming for your recipe on that one!)

Like I said.......recipe-less.

Lovin' Me Some Lentil

Okay.....I won't lie. Sweet Potato and Lentil soup sounded yyyeeeeccchhhh. After searching for a healthy dinner that was smack full of protein minus all the beef, I reached for Alicia Silverstone's recipe from her Kind Life book.

Then, I had to find the darn lentils. What were they? A leafy green? Rice? I had no idea (shame!). A quick google and I realized the obvious - beans! So in the bean section, I found an entire bag for 97 cents. Certainly nothing good was gonna come from under a buck. Right?

I was wrong. After cutting, chopping, and throwing a few ingredients in the crock pot, 6 hours later, my hubs and I walked into the best smell our kitchen's had in a while! The sweet potato lentil soup was a hit. I'm actually calling mine a chili, because our version was a little thick and we ate it with crackers.

All in all? Flo's Lentil Love will hang around for a while!

Sweet Potato & Lentil Stew
3 cups sweet potato, peeled & chopped

3 carrots, chopped (I used about 10 baby carrots)

1/4 onion, chopped

2 cans chicken broth

1 1/2 c. lentils

1 tsp salt

tsp pepper

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp minced garlic

Add all to a slow cooker. Low heat 5-6 hours. Serve w/crackers. Salt/pepper to taste.

Giada!

There's no denying that I'm a little envious. This lady can not only cook, she has her own cooking show where she travels the world, and she's perfectly beautiful. Well, I might not can travel the world for a living.....I might not be drop dead gorgeous....but I can try to cook like Giada.

And try I did!

Giada's Chicken Tettrazini
(I actually chopped up Italian parsley! Ha!)

I made it! It was pretty good, too!

I had a few friends over to help chow down.
Thanks Giada, you can keep your day job!
You can find the recipe here.

Hawaiian Banana Nut Bread

We have alot of near black bananas at our house. I'm always buying bananas at the store because for some reason, they make me feel healthy. And when my kids eat them, I feel like I've done a good "mommy" deed. But, usually, one or two get old before we can eat them....so naturally, I've made a lot of banana bread.

This recipe is my very favorite so far. The reason its called "Hawaiian", I believe, is from the one can of pineapples that you add. So don't think you're gonna have to hunt down papayas, mangoes, or coconuts at the local farmer's market. Dole's crushed pineapples work great!

The Mix

One to Eat, One to Give Away (my sweet neighbor, Peggy, was the recipient of this one!)


Recipe Courtesy of One of My Favorite *and most used* Cookbooks: The Aggie Hullabaloo II (Ags CAN cook, ya'll!)

Recipe:
3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

3 eggs beaten

1 1/2 cups oil

2 near black bananas

1 8oz. can crushed pineapple

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup nuts, chopped

Combine first 5 dry ingredients. In another bowl combine next 5 liquid ingredients. Mix the two together. Add nuts. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 for about an hour!

If You Like McAllister's Broccoli & Cheese Soup...

....you'll want to try this recipe. I can't claim it as my own...I got it from Kellie Raspberry's website maybe 2 years ago. I've never tried it until yesterday (my pregnancy has gotten me craving soups of all kinds!.....but not "from the can" kind!), and I can say it was super easy and really good. (One note...if you don't want a ton leftover to freeze or give away, then half the recipe and it'll probably make 4-6 servings.)

The Players

It makes a TON!

Recipe:
1/2 cup butter
1 med. onion chopped
4 cans of swanson chicken broth with garlic
2 16 oz. bags of cut broccoli
1 32 oz. block of velveeta, cubed
1 cup milk
2/3 cup corn starch

Saute butter & onion. Add broth & broccoli and simmer until tender. Add cheese and stir until melted. Add milk. In a separate bowl, mix corn starch with enough water until it becomes a liquid, then add it to soup mixture. It should thicken instantly. Salt & pepper to taste.

On another note, this has been a pretty busy week for us.....lots of summer stuff going on. Next week, I think we're headed to Six Flags (no rides for me though, just eating alot of their fun stuff!). I'm trying to make the most of these last 3 weeks of "freedom" before school begins! It's amazing how fast summer goes when you're an adult.......remember it used to take forever when we were kids??

Bible Journey: Genesis 3:24-Gen 5:32
One quick note on how unbelievable to me it is that Cain, whose parents were Adam & Eve mind you, could have the audacity to talk to God in such a way as he did. "...Am I my brother's keeper?" he sarcastically said when asked by God where Abel was.....after he had murdered him. Wow...........

Yummy Strawberry Smoothie

I couldn't resist drinking some before I took the picture!

In a blender:

5 fresh strawberries, chopped

1/4 cup pineapple juice

1 tsp vanilla

1 T sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 large scoop of vanilla ice cream

8-10 ice cubes
blend and keep adding ice cubes/ice cream until desired thickness

OK. I know it doesn't have all the Protein Additions/Immune Blasts/Vitamin Boosters that some of those fancy smoothies carry....and I also know it could also be named a shake, since it has milk & ice cream, but darn it if this isn't a really refreshing drink on these doggedly hot days of summer! Is anyone else out there suffering? I'm pretty sure I cut short Grace's slip'n'slide adventure just because I was sweltering and didn't want to stay out there any longer (horrible momma!). Thank you to the inventors of air conditioning!

My bible journey is underway. It felt good to start at Genesis 1 today with a renewed commitment (and knowing I'd have bloggerworld seeing me succeed or fail!) I am not going to post everyday....a friend asked me that. I'm just not going to post a blog unless I can post that I've read in my bible. And I'm not giving myself a time limit. So this could take a while...here I go!

Bible Journey: Genesis 1-Genesis 3:24

Notes: I always am drawn to the creation of our world. I love how there was no need for rain in the beginning....how everything was perfect. I'm a visual person myself, so I can only imagine how gratifying it must have been for Him to create all the creatures, land and sea. To think it and then it IS. But my main focus was on the fall of man and how cunning the serpent was. How he began his lure with a simple act of falsely quoting God. In my notes, I put "Columbine" next to the part where he says to Eve, "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God..."(Gen 3:5). I imagine that's how satan tricked those students and endless others....telling them to do something and they'll be like God. Shane & Shane have a great song called "Embracing Accusations" where it paints a picture of the devil as the father of lies, pacing.....waiting. I'm thankful our God has control over all.

Easy Meals...

(OK, Keri...this one's for you!)
Sloppy Joes. Who doesn't love 'em? Well, to be honest...I really didn't until I found this recipe for sweet, sloppy joe sauce that is just yummy! It's a thicker mixture, so it's not quite as "sloppy" either....good for kiddos. Manwich...so long!

1 lb. ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. mustard
3/4 cup ketchup
3 tsp brown sugar
salt/pepper to taste

In skillet, brown beef, onion, pepper & drain. Stir in g. powder, mustard, ketchup & brown sugar. Mix & let simmer for 20 minutes. Season to taste.

Also, at the Ferrell household spaghetti is almost always on the weekly rotation. Sometimes I mix it up and use this instead of the ol'ground beef:

Newman's Sockarooni & chicken chunks

Mix together, add a little salt & pepper & parmesan cheese....yummy!

These aren't "Top Chef" recipes or anything, but they sure do make for a good meal!

Little Betty Crocker

Before I go into my next schpill....I'd like to take a moment here to acknowledge something. Yes, I only have one child. (And I'm patiently waiting for #2, if that's in His plan.) Yes, my one child happens to be a pretty well-behaved child(and makes me think that - because the world just works this way - my 2nd child will be terror on wheels!). And yes, Angela, again....I can do this because I have just ONE child. OK. Onto my story!

Grace loves to cook. She asks everyday, as I'm preparing meals, "Can I help you?". She'll drag her chair right up to the counter, somewhat close to the oven, look at me and say "I won't touch the oven." I say "okay" and casually remind myself not to get worried about the extra mess saying "yes" will create. Anyway, she especially loves to help me bake. She eats most of the dough, but I don't mind. These years are fleeting right? As she turns the "on" button of my kitchen aid mixer to SUPER HIGH and the flour goes flying everywhere....I remind myself of this fact, give her a hug, and tell her she's a great little baker. After all, she IS my only child.

Chocolate Chunk & Heath Bar cookies