d's delights- cooking and crafts

Minted Chocolate Chip Cookies A while ago, I bought a book all about the top 100 chocolate chip cookie recipes.   You would think there couldn’t possibly be that many recipes for chocolate chip cookies… but there are!   Anyway, one of my favorites from this book has some nice variations you can use to make some delicious chocolate chip (or any other kind of chip) cookies. You can use some varying ingredients such as:                Mint Chocolate Chips                Chopped Walnuts                Dried Cherry or Cranberries                Peanut Butter Chips              Butterscotch Chips                Pecans                Also, if you change the type of extract you use, it will change the flavor.   You can use Almond, Mint, Raspberry, Cherry, Vanilla… For today’s cookies, I used MINT extract, as I was out of Almond extract.   I used an 11 oz bag of milk chocolate chips, and I didn’t have any nuts… besides the ones I’m living with! Ingredients: 2 C and 4 Table

Wild Rice Soup Here is a new one that I decided   to try.   It is from the Taste of Home Cookbook.   I used to love getting a Taste of Home Magazine and searching through it for my next culinary delight.   I have never made a wild rice soup, so this was a new experience for me.   In fact, I’m not sure I’ve made “wild rice” anything.   This has a really smooth, velvety broth, and strong flavors of the rice and rosemary.   It wasn’t too hard to make, either.   I don’t like it when things are too complicated!   If you are going to make it for a crowd or large family, double the recipe. Ingredients: 1/3 C Uncooked Wild Rice 1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil 1 quart water 1 medium onion, chopped (I used 3 small) 1 Celery Rib, Chopped (I used 2) 1 Carrot, chopped (I used 2) ½ C Butter ½ C All Purpose Flour 3 Cups Chicken Broth (I used broth flavor packets and 3 C water) ** you can also use 4 cups of broth if that is how you buy it. 2 Cups Half and Half Cream ½ Tsp Dried Rosemary

Corn Choup Here is another Rachael Ray recipe that I decided to try.   I love making soup and then freezing some for later.   If I plan well, I can make a soup a week, and then have a variety to choose from for those quick lunches. Ingredients: 2 Tbs EVOO (olive oil!) 4 Bacon Slices, chopped (use kitchen shears!) 1 Onion 10 Oz. Frozen Corn or 4-5 ears of corn, cut off cob (I used a 16 oz bag) 1 Medium or 2 small Zucchini, chopped. 1 lb. Potatoes, peeled and chopped ½ Red Bell pepper, chopped 1 bay leaf 5-6 Thyme Sprigs (I just used some dry thyme) 1 Tsp Paprika Salt and Pepper to taste 3 Tbs Flour 1 Quart (4 c) Chicken Stock   (I used some liquid concentrate bouillon) 1 C Milk 1 C Heavy Cream ½ C Flat Leaf parsley, coarsely chopped (Just year up a bug ol handful worth) Chop the bacon and get it going in the pot with the evoo. Chop the vegetables (corn, onion, zucchini, potatoes, pepper) Add the vegetables to the cooked bacon, add seasonings (bay leaf,

South Beach Vegetable Beef Soup As it is Fall, it is once again time for soups and chilis.   I have posted several of my favorites on here, but here is one I haven’t posted.   It is from a South Beach Diet cookbook.   Its for phase one, so it is quite low in the glycemic index area.   Also, the cabbage and spinach are super good for you.   I don’t always like spinach or cabbage by themselves, but I like this soup.   It’s quite hearty… really more like a stew, or as Rachael Ray calls it, “Stoup.” I typically double the recipe and it makes a HUGE pot full.   I double it because I hate having leftover cabbage and spinach!   I just buy a cabbage already cut in half, and a smaller bag of frozen spinach!   It freezes well, so I have some for several months. Ingredients: Olive Oil 1 lb Steak (top round) cut in cubes.   You can also use pre-cut beef for stews. 1 Rib of celery ½ Large Onion ¼ lb Frozen Cut Green Beans 5 Cups Water ¼ Head of Cabbage, Shredded ¼ Bag of Froz

Pita Crisps Here is a quick easy snack for when you want something crunchy.   I’ve seen a bag of pita chips or crisps in the store for 6 dollars… seemed a bit pricey to me when you can have a whole package of pita bread for $1.50… Heat oven to 350.   Get out your pizza cutter, cut up the pita in square or triangle shapes, split pita open.   With the outside of the pita facing down, put the pieces on a baking sheet. Mix a tablespoon or so of olive oil with some canned minced garlic.   You can also add garlic powder if you like.   Brush the mixture on the pita pieces, sprinkle with salt, then bake at 350 for 7 minutes.   You can really flavor them however you like, or not at all… but this is how I like them! I do one pita at a time for a quick snack.   I also use the whole wheat kind. You can make up a whole bad of pita bread for a party, or just do one at a time for your own personal single-serving snack! You can do this same procedure with tortillas.  I prefer the t

A new twist on the old slaw… Here is another slaw recipe- with a spicy twist Moroccan Cabbage and Carrot Slaw Dressing: ½ C Mayo 2 tbs Fresh Lemon Juice (Basically the juice of one lemon) 2 scallions, thinly sliced 2 tsp granular sugar substitute 1 tsp ground cumin Salt and pepper 1 head of green cabbage, shredded (4-5 C) 3 medium carrots, shredded I got the bagged stuff at the store and also used red cabbage.   I also used all the greens of the scallions by slicing them julienne style and adding to the slaw. This would make a surprising new dish for a pitch in!

SB Slaw Here is the slaw recipe I made today.   I did not shred my own cabbage- bought the store bought shredded stuff.   I would prefer it fresh-   but sacrifices have to be made when you are trying to eat healthy while dealing with a toddler…I bought a small bag of regular green cabbage and a small bag of red cabbage.   The green cabbage had a few bits of carrots in there too.   The recipe calls for 4 cups each of shredded red and green cabbage. Dressing: 1 C mayonnaise 3 Tbs Dijon mustard (I always use a bit more) 3 Tbs cider vinegar 1 ½ tsp celery seeds 1 tsp sugar substitute.   (Ok I used the real thing here, but wound up using 2 tsp instead.   I like slaw to be a little sweet too.) Fresh Ground Salt and Pepper to taste Mix the dressing ingredients   together, then add it to the shredded cabbage.   Serve chilled. This was pretty good… I would have liked it a little sweeter, though.   But still quite good and easy if you don’t shred the cabbage yourself!

Red Leaf, Avocado and Apple Salad Dressing:                2 Tbs Olive Oil                2 tsp lemon juice              ½ tsp Dijon mustard                Salt and Pepper Red Leaf Leaf lettuce, washed and torn ½ Avocado, chopped or sliced ½ Large (or one whole small) Granny Smith Apple, chopped or sliced Shake up dressing ingredients.   I used more Dijon mustard because I like it. Tear up some red leaf lettuce, add the avocado and apple.   Toss in dressing. This was pretty quick to make, and it was yummy. Tips: To save half of your avocado, put some olive oil on the bottom of a plastic container, then put the avocado upside down in the container, making sure to seal in all the sides with the olive oil.  Put in fridge, and you can use it the next day. also, you can add some cucumber.

Memorial Day Grilling! We got a new grill!   Our old one had paid its dues and had worked quite hard for me since 2003…   This one has a side burner and a rack, which is cool. Aside from the frozen hamburgers we can throw on the grill at a whim, (we found our favorite at GFS) we can also grill veggies and toast the buns AND cook up the rice on the burner! One of my favorite things to do on the grill is to make kabobs!   So, here is my recipe for a marinade.   You can use pork medallions or chicken.   I use red, yellow, orange, green peppers, onions, tomatoes on the skewer as well.   Whatever you’ve got or whatever you like.   ¼ C Honey ¼ C Brown Sugar ¼ C Soy Sauce ½ tsp garlic powder ½ tsp ground ginger ½ tsp ground mustard Marinate meat in the mixture, then put on skewers, alternating the meat and veggies as you please.   (You may want to brush the veggies with some oil.) Grill, serve with rice!

I haven’t written a lot in a few months… I guess I have been “busy,” and by “busy” I probably just mean “distracted”   I just have not found a lot of inspiration or time to fulfill any inspiration that I do have. Will is a bonafide toddler now, so putting him in one place hoping he’ll stay there while I do something is just not an option anymore.   The only way to keep him occupied sitting down quietly is with the Iphone, which he has figured out how to play Angry Birds and PBS kids on. I’ve also been spending any spare time I do have on two projects for church: Cumberland Arts Goes to Market and our monthly Taiz é services. Yesterday, I made some Mothers’ Day/Grandpa’s birthday presents with Will.   They were, somewhat, Pinterest inspired.   They both involved finger/hand prints.   The one for Grandma is his handprint in green for stems, with little finger prints for the flowers.   I freehand cut a flower pot and added a bow.   Grandpa’s was bowlin