Just a little ole working gal, who loves food

Monday, November 19, 2012

The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies!

I have been making these chocolate chip cookies forever...they are sooo good straight out of the oven, then they get super crispy and are divine when cooled, THEN they are super good if you freeze them as well! So diverse these cookies are!
In a mixer add 1 Cup Packed Brown Sugar, 1/2 Cup White Sugar, 1 While Egg plus 1 egg yolk, 1 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract and 3/4 Cup Melted Butter. The melted butter part is why I love this recipe...no waiting for softened butter.

 Turn your mixer on high and combine until it starts to slightly lighten in colour..about 2 minutes.
Add your Dry Ingredients. 2 Cups Unbleached Flour, 1 Tsp Baking Soda and a 1/2 Tsp Salt. Turn your mixer on low to JUST combine the dry ingredients into the wet. Do not over mix.

 With a spatula add your Chocolate Chips (1 Cup) and any other nuts or dried fruits. I added 1/4 cup of chopped pecans to this batch!
 Spoon out balls of the cookie dough onto a non-greased baking sheet. These cookies do spread quite a bit so make sure to leave a couple of inches between each dollop. Bake for 15-17 Minutes at 325F or until the cookies start to slightly brown around the edges.
Allow to slightly cool on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack. Or just eat them warm out of the oven with a big glass of milk!

Monday, November 12, 2012

Sweet Potato and Quinoa Tacos

This meal is brought to you by forgetting to defrost meat for supper! This meal was made up on the spot with whatever was not frozen in the fridge. It turns out that it was pretty darn delicious, super healthy...and pretty easy to put together!

 Cube 1 sweet potato and toss in olive oil, salt, pepper and cumin. Roast in a 375F oven until cooked through (about 30 Mins)
 Meanwhile take your wraps (I used Sun Dried Tomato Vegan Wraps) and top with whatever Burrito/Taco topping you like or have on hand. I used Sour Cream, Guacamole, Corn and Green Peppers.
 Top your Taco with your Quinoa and Sweet Potato's.
Garnish with Cilantro and voila! Super easy tacos when your in a pinch!

Monday, November 5, 2012

Spaghetti Squash au Gratin

I discovered a version of this on Pinterest the other day. And since Spaghetti Squash has become a staple in my diet..I decided to treat myself by making it in a more unhealthier version. And boy was I ever happy I did. Spaghetti squash can be on the bland side so this recipe was awesome for adding in all that cheesy yummy flavour to it!
Make this tonight...you will not be disappointed!
Take your squash and pierce it all over with your fork.  Place on a pan in the oven at 350F until the squash is soft to the touch. This was a small squash and I roasted it for about 40 Minutes. Set this aside to cool a bit.

 I a saucepan add 1 Thinly sliced onion to 2 Tbsp of butter. Season with Salt, Pepper a pinch of Hot Red Pepper Flakes and 1/2 Tsp dried Thyme. Saute on Medium for a few minutes.
 Once the onions become translucent add about 2 minced cloves of garlic. Lower the heat and continue cooking until the onions are cooked through.
 Now back to the squash. It should have cooled enough so that you can handle it. Slice it in half and scoop out the seeds in the middle. With a fork start scraping all the flesh out.
 Remove your onion mixture from the heat and add all the scraped out squash plus 1/2 Cup Sour Cream and 1/2 Cup grated cheddar Cheese.Mix thoroughly to combine.
 Pour the mixture out into an ovenproof dish and top the mixture with more cheddar cheese. Bake in a 350F oven for about 20 Minutes.
A lovely accompaniment to my dinner!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Weeknight Chicken Couscous bowl!

This past week has been crazy busy...and the weather has been less than inspiring to do anything but lounge around in pj's and catch up on some bad reality TV. When these slumps come around we make what we like to call "Chicken Bowls". We tend to always have some cooked chicken breasts hanging around for salads and sandwiches...and also for this dinner too!
Fill your bowl with some leftover grain...in my case we had leftover Israeli couscous. I have also used Rice, Brown Rice, regular couscous and quinoa. All are delish!

 Take some of your cooked chicken and roughly chop it up. Throw a bunch in the bowl.
 Add some Black Beans and Corn
 Top with Sliced Avocado, Chopped Green Onion and some shredded Old White Cheddar Cheese.
 Then I douse the whole bowl in my favourite Mexican hot sauce! You don't need it...but I like it!
Garnish with fresh lime wedges to squeeze over the whole bowl just before serving. Voila! Chicken Bowls! Perfect for those I don't wanna cook Thursdays!