Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are my go-to PMS chocolate pick-me-up.

WHAT YOU NEED AND WHAT TO DO:

• 1 c. margarine, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 2 c flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt 
• 3/4 c dutch coco 
• 2/3 c granulated sugar
• 2/3 c packed brown sugar
• 1 3/4 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325F.
In a large bowl, beat eggs, sugars, vanilla, and softened margarine. I use wooden spoon opposed to a beater. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Slowly stir dry ingredients into sugar, egg, and margarine. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop rounded spoonfuls of dough on to an unarrated cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. Allow time to cool before enjoying chocolates chewiness. :)

To make these the ultimate PMS cookie, add shredded coconut and walnuts.

Kale Smoothies

Last month I tried kale for the first time. I know, I am hopping on the kale bandwagon pretty late. I am sure there is already a new green all the foodies are fussing over....

Kale is not everyone's cup-of-tea. Especially those of us who hate vegetables. My first experience with kale was disappointing. During a hurried lunch break, I opted for a pre-packed kale cesar salad from a grocery store down the street. I could not finish it. I felt like my salad had to be drowned in dressing to mask the gritty blandness before consumption, but a week later I decided to give kale a second chance. Maybe my salad was just.... bad? Surely I could make something better in my kitchen!

Since then I have made kale potato salad, kale chips, mashed potatoes with kale and goat cheese, and now kale smoothies. My favorite way to make sure I intake lots of veggies is by drinking them! This smoothie is neither bland nor gritty, plus it is a beautiful green color. :)

WHAT YOU NEED AND WHAT TO DO:

2 c Unsweatened vanilla almond milk

1-2 c kale (3 large leafs), washed, stems removed, chopped and packed

1 ripe banana, frozen overnight and thawed for 30 min

1 cup frozen pineapple pieces

1 tablespoon organic honey

Combine almond milk and kale in a blender. Blend on high until kale is thoroughly chopped. Add banana, pineapple and honey. Blend on high until smoothie is creamy. Add more milk if smoothie is too thick for your liking. Recipe makes 2-3 10oz smoothies.

Gnocchi Pesto

Gnocchis are my Italian comfort food, and I like them the most when they are covered in pesto sauce.

Last summer, after my dad gave me a bunch of heirloom tomatoes and basil from his garden, learned how easy it is to make pesto sauce. Below is the easiest pesto sauce you will ever find!

WHAT YOU NEED AND WHAT TO DO: 

• 2 17 oz packages of gnocchi
• 2-3 c fresh basil 
• 3/4 c olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/3 c finely grated parmesan cheese
• 2 cups washed, halved mini heirloom tomatoes
• salt
• pepper

Boil water for gnocchi in a large pot. Sauté tomatoes in olive oil until soft. Salt and petter to taste. In a blender or food processor (I use a blender since I do not have a food processor. It works just fine!), combine basil, diced garlic,  parmesan cheese and remaining olive oil. Blend on high until the mixture becomes a chunky liquid and the basil is thoroughly chopped. Once gnocchi are floating, drain the water and dish them out with sauce and tomatoes. Done!

This recipe serves 4-6 people. Serve for dinner with antipasto, warm bread and wine. :)

If gnocchi are not your favorite, try this pesto recipe with linguine instead!

Organic Pumpkin Oatmeal Dog Treats

Happy New Year! My New Year celebrations were cut short by a lot runny poo-poo. 

My boyfriend and I returned from New Year's Eve fireworks only to find a very sad puppy sitting next to a pile of watery poo on the carpet. Maybelle kept us awake with diarrhea New Years Eve night and into the first few days of twenty-fifteen. We figured my dad or my brother-in-law snuck Mabelle some Christmas dinner underneath the table when we weren't looking. Or perhaps she got into my nephews' stockings. (Come to think of it, I did she her swipe an M&M off of the coffee table). Later  After awakening to the sound of puppy gagging in the middle of the night, we had finally found the perpetrator-- a chewed off fuzzy dog toy limb swallowed whole! The toy had upset Maybelle's digestion completely. Sorry for the grueling details about my dog's stomach issues, but I am sure most dog owners can handle the gross facts. With dog ownership comes gross poops and an array of weird things being ingested.     

For three or four days, my boyfriend and I tried just about everything to ease her stomach. We replaced her dog food with boiled chicken and rice (she hated rice), we had her fast for 24 hours, we gave her chicken broth one day, we tried cooked oatmeal (she hated it), and eventually we resorted to giving her Pepto bismol hidden inside of a piece of chicken twice a day. I realized she had to eat something else, and I could not keep going out to the store to buy chicken. Then I remembered what a wonderful digestive aid pumpkin can be after reading Home Cooking for Your Dog (A very handy Christmas gift from my Dad. Perfect timing, Dad!). Thankfully, I had an extra can of pumpkin puree lying around from making pumpkin muffins the night before. I gave a little bit of pumpkin to Maybelle on my finger, and she licked it clean. Pumpkin was my answer. I wouldn't say pumpkin cured her diarrhea, but it was another healthy option when we [at first] did not know the cause of her alignment. The following recipe came to be because of Maybelle's belly ache, but really these treats are good for any occasion.

WHAT YOU NEED AND WHAT TO DO:

• 1 15oz can organic pumpkin puree* 
• 2 tbsp organic honey
• 1 cup organic oats
• 2 cups organic whole wheat flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1 cup organic unsweetened soy milk 

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a large bowl, mix pumpkin, honey, and milk. Add flour, baking powder, and mix. Roll in the oats. Chill dough for at least 2 hours. For minimal clean-up, flour a piece of wax paper and scoop and handful of dough. Use more flour for less sticky-ness. Place another sheet of wax paper onto and roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Place on an un-greased cookie sheet and poke holes in the dough with a fork. Bake for 20-22 minutes. 

*Do not use pumpkin pie filling. It contains added sugar, and that is no bueno for dogs.

**Some dogs and people have soy allergies. You may use almond milk instead. When making this recipe, I used whatever I had in my refrigerator at the time.

Honey Roasted Butternut Squash

A few weeks ago I discovered my new favorite squash recipe courtesy of Jenn Laughlin of Peas and Crayons. Jenn's dish is exactly what I needed to add to my recipe collection: a warm, hearty and seasonal side to get me through these long fall and winter months. I needed a new comfort food, besides mac and cheese, and I think I may have just found that comfort in squash. This butternut squash recipe turned out so colorful and tasty, I could not resist photographing and sharing it! I did not do much altering to Jenn's original recipe, but the following explains exactly how I prepared her dish:

1 Large butternut squash

8oz Cranberries

2 Tbsp. olive oil

Pepper, to taste

Garlic powder, to taste

1/4 Cup crumbled feta

1 Tbsp. organic wildflower honey

1/4 Tsp. ground cinnamon

fresh parsley, garnish

Preheat oven to 400F.

Line a 13"x9" glass baking dish with foil for easier cleanup. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil in the  dish. Peel and cube the butternut squash and put in baking dish making sure each cube is not touching one another. Coast the squash with another drizzle of olive oil. Sprinkle garlic powder and pepper to taste. (I omitted salt from Jenn's recipe. I try not to use much salt in my cooking.) Cook the squash by itself for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and add cranberries all over the squash. Return to over for an additional 15-20 minutes, or until all of the cranberries have burst open and the squash can easily be cut with a fork. Spring cinnamon and drizzle with honey. Top with feta, chopped parsley and serve warm. 

Vegan Tea Cookies

Today I am sharing an old cookie recipe my mom and I used to make together whenever company came to visit. Little did she know this typical thumb-print cookie recipe is vegan-friendly. Really the only difference between this recipe and other tea cookie recipes is my mom's conscious decision to substitute margarine for butter or shortening. 

My favorite toppings for tea cookies are Wegman's Organic Raspberry Jam and Trader Joe's Organic Apricot Preserves, and a sprinkling of almond slices. Really you can use any preserves or nuts. My mom always made her  cookies with strawberry jan and walnuts.

WHAT YOU NEED AND WHAT TO DO:

• 1/2 c confectioner's sugar

• 1 c margarine

• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

• 2 c flour

• Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 325°F. 

Mix melted margarine, vanilla and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in salt and flour.

With your hands, roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and press your thumb into the center of the dough. Fill thumbprints with preserves and top with nuts. Bake for 15 minutes. Dust with confectioner's sugar once cooled.

Sweet OR Salty Sweet Potato Fries

One of my favorite things to do every Sunday is visit my local farmer's market in Society Hill. My boyfriend and I like to treat ourself to some delicious baked goods made by a woman we affectionately dub (since we do not know her name) "The Scone Lady." After chowing down on blueberry streusel muffins and cinnamon pear scones, we shopped for some seasonal fruits and vegetables, including one of my favorite fall veggies: yams. 

The only time my family ever cooked sweet potatoes was on Thanksgiving. Having sweet potatoes for dinner was a real treat, but why? Yams are such a common, sweet tasting vegetable that are not only easy to prepare, but also easy to incorporate into a meal. Sweet potatoes make a great appetizer, too. Deciding whether to make sugary fries or salty fries was only real challenge I faced when preparing my sweet potatoes. So I made both! Below is a step-by-step list of instructions explaining how to make sweet potatoe fries. I have included the ingredients list for both sweet fries and salty fries.

WHAT YOU NEED AND WHAT TO DO:

• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 Large sweet potatoes

FOR SWEET FRIES:

• 3 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon

FOR SALTY FRIES:

• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• ground black pepper corns (to taste)
• salt (to taste) 

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Line a baking sheet with foil for easy clean up. Cut the top and bottom off of the sweet potatoes and then cut them long-ways down the middle. Cut these halves in strips about 1/2 inch thick. (Trust me, 1/2 inch thickness is not too thick since the fries will shrivel up during baking). Place cut fries on to baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and flip. IF you are making salty fries, sprinkle garlic powder and pepper before baking. Bake for 25 minutes until crispy. Flip fries with a spatula halfway through baking. For salty fries, top with salt once removed from oven. For sweet fries, mix sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture on fries as they come out of the oven.