Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

These cookies are very soft, especially if you store them in a sealed container; they get softer after a day. I actually found it in a box of my stuff that my mom had stored for me.

2 1/2 c flour 1 tsp baking soda
1 cup margarine 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 brown sugar 1 pkg (4 oz) chocolate or vanilla instant pudding
1 tsp vanilla 1 pkg (12 oz) chocolate chips
2 eggs

Preheat oven 375. Mix flour and baking soda. In separate bowl combine butter, sugars, pudding mix and vanilla. Beat until smooth and creamy. Beat in egss. Gradually mix flour mixture in. Stir in chips {we actually only used like 1/2 bag}. (Batter will be stiff). Spoon onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake 8-10.

Veggie Pita Pockets

Perhaps one of my favorite ways to eat my vegetables.

Pita bread

tomato

spinach

onion

green pepper

hummus

(of course you can add anything else you like, such as ham, turkey, or cheese)

Slice Pita bread in half and spread hummus inside the pita. Slice tomato, onion, and green pepper and stuff into pocket. Add spinach. Eat and enjoy.

Lemon Basil Pasta

I've made this a couple times and Michael loves it! He says that it's one of his favorite meals of all time. I think it's pretty good too. I should warn you that the lemon flavor comes out VERY strong. I was a little taken back when I first tried it. It's best when served with chicken (or some other meat) to help balance the strong lemon-y taste.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 4 whole Grilled Chicken Breasts, Sliced
• 1 pound Penne Pasta, Cooked Until Al Dente
• ½ sticks Butter
• 3 whole Lemons, Juiced
• ¾ cups Heavy Cream
• ¼ cups Half-and-half
• 1-½ cup Grated Parmesan Cheese (or Romano)
• Salt And Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
• 20 whole Basil Leaves, Chopped

Preparation Instructions

Cook pasta, reserving 1 cup of hot pasta water when you drain. Set pasta aside in a colander.

In the same pot, melt butter over medium heat. Squeeze in the juice of 3 to 4 lemons. Whisk together. Pour in cream and half-and-heat. Whisk until hot. Dump in cheese and whisk until melted. Add salt and pepper. Check consistency, adding some of the hot pasta water to loosen the sauce if needed.

Pour pasta and sauce into a large serving bowl. Sprinkle remaining basil all over the top, then add sliced chicken breasts. Serve immediately!

Tomato Soup

As I sit here and eat my leftover Hearty Tomato Soup, I feel the need to share the recipe with you.
Its kind of tangy, but a fun twist on the basic condensed version. Its from the Betty Crocker's Cookbook.

2 TBSP butter or margarine
1 medium onion, finely chopped (1/2 c)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh or 1/2 tsp dried basil leaves
2 packages (3 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 c milk
2 cans (10 3/4 oz each) condensed tomato soup
2 cans (14 1/2 oz each) whole tomatoes, undrained

1. Melt butter in 3-qt saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic in butter about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender; remove from heat.
2. Stir in paprika, basil, and cream cheese. Gradually stir in milk and soup. Beat with hand beater or wire whisk until cheese is melted and soup is smooth.
3. Stir in tomatoes, breaking up tomatoes with a fork or snipping with kitchen scissors. Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until hot.

We served ours with french bread. Mmm!

Fluff?

Bonnie, I still want the "fluff" recipe! ;)

Rice with Summer Squash

This recipe is SO tasty and a great way to use all the summer squash you get from friends and neighbors with gardens. The veggies cook up really soft so it's great for little ones. This dish is more veggie than rice, especially if you use 2 squash as it asks. Oh yeah, and I use a bouillon cube and water for the chicken broth.

Try it!! It's delicious!!

Biscuits and Dinner Rolls

Baking used to scare me. I always thought any recipe with flour or yeast (especially yeast) was a disaster waiting to happen in the kitchen. Maybe I'm thinking to the time Carol and I tried to make pancakes and somehow we ended up with thick, hard pancakes. It was horrible. Emily and Cat would tease me saying how I can't make pancakes and somehow I generalized that to all things related to baking. I finally realized that it's not as bad as it seems.

Here are two recipes that I like to use. I found the biscuit recipe here. A friend gave me the dinner rolls recipe.

Easy, Flaky Buttery Biscuits

3 cups Flour

4 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

2 tbsp sugar

3/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup Butter, cold

1 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix Dry ingredients together. Cut in cold butter, until it is pea-sized. Mix egg and milk and pour into dry mix. Stir together with a fork. Combine all the dry mix with the wet mixture until it forms a soft ball. Turn out onto a floured counter. Pat down until 3/4" thick (NOTE: rolling will keep it from being flaky). Cut biscuits out and place on an ungreased pan.

Bake for 10-15 minutes.

**These freeze really well. So I like to save some of the dough since we hardly ever eat a whole batch.

Dinner Rolls

1 1/8 cup warm water

2 Tbsp milk

2 tbsp butter, melted

4 tbsp sugar

3 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp yeast

In a large bowl dissolve sugar in warm water. Add milk and melted butter. Add yeast and stir briefly. Let it sit for about 10 minutes until frothy.

In separate bowl mix salt and flour. Stir in the water with yeast. Knead dough and let it rest for 20 minutes. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface. Cut dough with biscuit cutter or whatever (I use a cup) and dip into melted butter. Fold each circle in half (well, not quite in half...it's more like 2/3 where the top overlaps the bottom) and place closely together in 8x8 pan.

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees.