Aunt Kathy's Cookies

I really have no idea who Aunt Kathy is, but I love her cookies! When Chris was a student working at the lab, he used to come home and tell me about a coworker who always brought cookies in for everyone. He raved about how fantastic they were, so I kept bugging him for the recipe and he finally brought it home one day. They've been my favorite ever since!

Ingredients:

3 c. shortening
1 1/2 c. sugar
3 c. brown sugar
3 tsp. vanilla (Mexican vanilla if you have it)
6 eggs
3 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking soda
7 1/2 c. flour
2 packages chocolate chips. (I like to use one bag of regular chips and one bag of chocolate chunks)

Directions:

Cream together the shortening, sugars, vanilla and eggs. In a separate bowl, combine the salt, soda, and flour, mix well. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture and beat just until combined. Mix in the chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto a cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes at 375 degrees. I actually put mine in for about 7 1/2 minutes because my oven runs hot. You'll probably need to adjust the baking time according to how your oven cooks.


Here are a few tricks that I've learned along the way:

* When creaming together the wet ingredients, I make sure to let the mixer run for a few minutes. It really helps to add some air into the mixture so that the cookies end up nice and thick. Flat cookies = yuck!

* I take these out of the oven when they are just barely golden brown on top - it is my firm belief that chocolate chip cookies should be soft, not crunchy! The cookies will continue to bake as they're sitting on the cooling rack, so they'll be perfect by the time you're ready to eat them.


I just made this recipe on Sunday and I made about 8 dozen cookies (I was making them to give out at church for Father's Day). You may want to half the recipe, or you can freeze the leftovers and make them later :)

Bowtie and Asparagus Pasta

I may have mentioned this before, but my mom gave me her neighborhood's cookbook for Christmas and I've been trying all kinds of recipes from it. I just made this recipe last week and, mmm...so good. I loved it! It took a little bit of time to prepare, but for me, that always happens with new recipes. After I make this a few times I'll have a system down and it'll go much faster.

Ingredients:

1 box bowtie pasta

1/2 c. butter

2 garlic cloves, minced

3/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1-2 chicken bouillon cubes (I used 2)

1 pt. heavy cream (I only had a 1/2 pint, so I substituted the rest with fat free half and half)

Salt and pepper to taste

10-15 spears asparagus, blanched

1/2 c. bacon, crumbled

1/4 c. pine nuts, toasted

Fresh parsley (I used about a 1/2 c. chopped)

Parmesan cheese to taste

Directions:

Boil bowtie pasta in salted water until al dente. Do not overcook. In wok or heavy skillet, melt butter. Add minced garlic and sauté a minute or so. Add Parmesan cheese and bouillon cubes. When the bouillon cube is disolved, slowly stir in heavy cream until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add cooked pasta to cream sauce and toss until pasta is well covered. Add blanched asparagus. Sprinkle with crumbled bacon, toasted pine nuts, parsley, and Parmesan cheese then toss together. Serve immediately.

Serves 6-8

*I found that the chicken bouillon took awhile to disolve. I think the next time I make this, I'll use Better than Bouillon instead. Since it's a paste instead of a cube, it will disolve quickly; I think it'll give a better flavor to the dish as well.

This makes quite a bit of pasta; I should have known - it uses a whole box of pasta! You may want to half this recipe if you're only making it for a few people. My kids didn't eat it - big surprise there - so there was quite a bit left for me and my hubby. Surprisingly, it was still really good leftover. Normally I don't like dishes like this left over because the cream and butter separate and it just doesn't taste as yummy as it did when it was fresh. Besides, then you can see just how much butter you're actually eating and that's not appetizing. I prefer to conceal the butter as much as possible! However, this was still pretty good. The sauce did seperate some, but it didn't completely gross me out like, oh, I don't know...the way leftovers from Olive Garden do. :)


*Update - I made this again last night and the bouillon dissolved just fine, so really you could use either the cubes or Better than Bouillon.   :)  Oh, and Andrew actually ate the pasta - minus the asparagus.  Can't blame him though; I didn't like asparagus until just recently.

Grilled Pineapple Chicken Sandwiches

I've been dying to try this one for awhile and for some reason I haven't. Does that ever happen to you? Chris and I both love bacon and pineapple, so I finally decided enough was enough and I put it on the menu. It was great! I will absolutely be making this again :)

Ingredients:

2 bacon strips, halved

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (5 ounces each)

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp barbecue sauce

2 pineapple slices

2 lettuce leaves, optional

2 slices provolone cheese

Directions:

In a small skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove to paper towels. Flatten chicken to 3/8 in. thickness; brush both sides with oil. Grill, uncovered, over medium heat for 4 minutes. Turn; brush with barbecue sauce. Grill 3-4 minutes longer or until juices run clear.

Meanwhile, place the pineapple and rolls cut side down on grill; cook for 3-4 minutes or until browned, turning the pineapple once. Place lettuce if desired on roll bottoms; top with chicken, cheese, bacon and pineapple. Replace roll tops.

Serves 2

Nutritional Facts: 1 sandwich equals 556 calories, 23 g fat (8 g saturated fat), 103 mg cholesterol, 860 mg sodium, 40 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 44 g protein.

Weight Watchers Points: 13

Veggie Meatball Soup

My 5 year old loves meatballs, so I definitely had to try this recipe. We weren't disappointed - it's excellent and surprisingly low in fat!

Ingredients:

3 cups reduced-sodium beef broth
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
2 cans Italian diced tomatoes
18 frozen meatballs {give or take a few :D }
2-3 bay leaves
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup uncooked spiral pasta

Directions:

In a slow cooker, combine the first 6 ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or until heated through. Stir in pasta; cover and cook 20-30 minutes longer or until pasta is tender. Discard bay leaves before serving.


*The original recipe called for stewed tomatoes, but I used the Italian diced tomatoes to give it more flavor.


Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 cup) equals 125 calories, 1 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 2 mg cholesterol, 574 mg sodium, 24 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 5 g protein.


Weight Watchers points: 2

Grilled Bacon-Tomato Sandwiches

This is a little twist on a BLT sandwich - and I LOVE it. In fact, it's on the menu for dinner tonight, mmmmm.....

Ingredients:

4 slices Italian bread (1/2 inch thick)
4 slices provolone cheese (1 ounce each)
4 slices tomato
4 bacon strips, cooked and halved (I like to use the lower fat, lower sodium bacon)
2 teaspoons minced fresh basil or 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
2 tablespoons Italian salad dressing



Directions:

Top two slices of bread with a slice of cheese; layer with tomato, bacon, basil and remaining cheese. Top with remaining bread. Brush dressing over outsides of sandwiches.

In a large skillet over medium heat, toast sandwiches for 2-3 minutes on each side or until cheese is melted.


Yield: 2 servings.

Nutrition Facts: 1 sandwich (prepared with reduced-fat cheese and fat-free dressing) equals 360 calories, 18 g fat (8 g saturated fat), 44 mg cholesterol, 1,194 mg sodium, 27 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 24 g protein.

Weight Watchers points: 8

Cinnamon French Toast

Chris found this fantastic French Toast recipe and made it for me on Mother's Day. It's amazing with strawberries and whipped cream too :)

Ingredients:

1 egg

2 egg whites

1/4 cup milk

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

6 slices of Texas Toast

Directions:

In a shallow bowl, whisk egg and egg white until foamy. Whisk in milk, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Dip each slice of bread into the egg mixture, turning to coat thoroughly, and cook on a hot skillet until both sides are nicely browned.

*My Mom's version of French Toast is really yummy too - just substitute maple flavoring for the vanilla.

Pizza Dough

My BFF Camille has a Pizza and Movie night with her family every Friday and she makes her own dough! That's impressive.

A few months ago, I decided to start this fun tradition with our own family, but I since I was scared to death of making my own dough, I started out buying the canned stuff from Pillsbury. It tastes fine, but it's ridiculously expensive - even with a coupon. I switched to the dry pizza mix - I thought it was great, but Chris wasn't a fan.

So...I decided to be brave and make my own. I found a recipe on KitchenDaily.com and gave it a try. I was scared of ruining the dough, but it really was pretty easy.

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water (between 100 and 110 degrees so you don't kill, or chill, the yeast)
2 Tbsp active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
2-3 cups all-purpose or whole-wheat flour
toppings of choice



Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Measure warm water into a large bowl. Add the yeast to the water and stir until dissolved. Add sugar, salt, and oil and stir well.

Add the flour in small amounts and stir well after each addition. Add just enough flour so the dough is not sticking in clumps to your hands or the bowl, winding up with a well-formed ball.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface, and, using your hands, knead for 2-3 minutes. Let the dough rest 5 to 10 minutes to rise roughly double in size before using.

Once the dough is ready, spread it on an oiled pizza pan. Apply toppings of choice. Bake in oven for 20 minutes.


*I took my pizza out after 15 minutes because it was really getting done around the edges, but the crust wasn't completely done in the middle. Next time I'lll use either a cookie sheet or a bigger pizza pan - I don't think my Pampered Chef stone was big enough and the dough may have been too thick. I'll report back and let you know how it went :)


**Ok - quick update:  I tried this again last night and put the dough onto a cookie sheet rather than my round stone.  I made sure to roll the dough out fairly thin - I'm guessing it was about 1/4" thick.  I still only baked it for about 15 minutes.  I thought the dough would be thin and crispy, but it turned out nice and thick and it cooked all the way through.  It was so yummy I could have eaten half the pan, but I forced myself to stop after 2 pieces.  Ok...2 1/2 pieces.  :)