Toll House Cookies

I have decided that these are my favorite chocolate chip cookies.  I have been trying out a million different recipes over the years and this is hands down my favorite.  I used to not like it as much because it seemed that they always flattened out in baking.  I now just add extra flour, cook one without chocolate chips and add flour until they are the thickness I want, based on how thick the first cookie turns out. The best thing about this is the dough!  So good.

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
• 1 cup chopped nuts 
•  
• PREHEAT oven to 375° F.
  
  COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
  
  BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
  
  PAN COOKIE VARIATION: Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan. Prepare dough as above. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. Makes 4 dozen bars.
  
  SLICE AND BAKE COOKIE VARIATION:
  PREPARE dough as above. Divide in half; wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Shape each half into 15-inch log; wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.* Preheat oven to 375° F. Cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices; place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.
  
  * May be stored in refrigerator for up to 1 week or in freezer for up to 8 weeks.
  
  FOR HIGH ALTITUDE BAKING (5,200 feet): Increase flour to 2 1/2 cups. Add 2 teaspoons water with flour and reduce both granulated sugar and brown sugar to 2/3 cup each. Bake drop cookies for 8 to 10 minutes and pan cookie for 17 to 19 minutes.
  

Cinnamon Bun Pancakes

I made these pancakes for my boys last week when we were on spring break. They were SO yummy! I found this recipe on this blog.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 Tbsp white sugar

1/2 tsp salt

4 tsp baking powder

1 Tbsp Cinnamon

In a medium bowl, combine these dry ingredients together

When these dry ingredients are mixed nicely, then you can mix together these remaining ingredients in a SEPARATE bowl.

Wet ingredients:

2 eggs (whole) beaten

1 Cup of milk (or a little more if your batter isn’t runny enough for you)

2 Tbsp Corn Syrup (I only had regular table syrup on hand – worked fine)

1/4 Cup butter or margarine, melted

1 Tbsp vanilla

Beat together these wet ingredients, then add them to the dry. Mix well.

Drop the batter by about 1/3 cup fulls onto the pre-heated/greased griddle and cook until the tiny bubbles JUST start appearing on top, then flip over. These only take a couple of minutes to cook.

Maple Icing Syrup

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cups butter – melted

1 Tbsp Maple Syrup

1/4 cup milk (more if you want it a little runnier)

Combine all of these ingredients and pour over your cinnamon bun pancakes.

This recipe makes about 10-12 medium sized pancakes

Maple Salmon

I am a afraid that our family doesn't have fish near enough.  The funny thing is that I feel like I have some of the world's pickiest kids and they ALL like fish.  Now that is strange.  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com (Love that site!)

1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound salmon

1. In a small bowl, mix the maple syrup, soy sauce, garlic, garlic salt, and pepper.
2. Place salmon in a shallow glass baking dish, and coat with the maple syrup mixture. Cover the dish, and marinate salmon in the refrigerator 30 minutes, turning once.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Place the baking dish in the preheated oven, and bake salmon uncovered 20 minutes, or until easily flaked with a fork. 

The only thing I did differently than this recipe is that I wrapped the fish in foil, poured the marinade on for 30 minutes and then I just put the whole foil packet in a glass dish and then baked it for 20 minutes.

MKC French Bread Rolls/Hamburger Buns

We seldom have anything for dinner that requires a bun. Mostly because I am not awesome at planning meals in advance (I am going to change that). I just never have them on hand so when my little Lincoln asked for Sloppy Joes, I almost said no and then I realized that MKC (the lady that writes this blog is one of my heros), has posted hamburger buns before. I have made hamburger buns before, but I just knew her recipe would be something amazing. Well, it was and I have made them 3 times since this picture was taken. Recipe found here. I have to be honest, after these come out of the oven, I always have one with butter (when nobody is looking or EVERYONE will want one :) I used this Sloppy Joe recipe.

*Makes about one dozen rolls

1 1/2 cups warm water
3/4 tablespoon instant yeast (or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour, give or take a few tablespoons

In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl by hand, combine the warm water, yeast, sugar, oil, salt and 2 cups of the flour (if you are using active dry yeast instead of instant yeast, let the yeast proof in the warm water and sugar for about 3-5 minutes until it is foamy and bubbly before adding the oil, salt and flour). Begin mixing and continue to add the rest of the flour gradually until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Judge the dough not by the amount of flour called for in the recipe but in how the dough feels (see a tutorial on working with yeast here). The dough should be soft and smooth but still slightly tacky to the touch.

Knead the dough in the stand mixer or by hand until it is very smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes in a stand mixer or 8-10 minutes by hand. Lightly spray a large bowl with cooking spray and place the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl with lightly greased plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until it has doubled (this usually takes about an hour).

Lightly punch down the dough and turn it out onto a lightly greased countertop. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and form the dough into round balls. Place the rolls on a lightly greased or silpat-lined baking sheet about an inch or two apart. Cover the rolls with lightly greased plastic wrap taking care not to pin the plastic wrap under the baking sheet or else the rolls will flatten while rising. Let the plastic wrap gently hang over the sides of the pan to fully cover the rolls but not press them down. Let the rolls rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 12-14 minutes until lightly browned and cooked through.

*Freezable Option: You can make a double or triple batch of these rolls. Once they are baked and cooled, place them in a zipper-lock freezer bag and put them in the freezer. You can either take them out a few hours before you need them or take them out frozen and microwave them for about 2-3 minutes on 70% power

Banana Muffins

I love a quick muffin to dress up a pretty lame dinner (yep we have 'em...more than I would like to admit). These muffins were a total hit. I had some very ripe bananas I needed to use, but I didn't want to have to wait for an hour for banana bread so these were the perfect solution. They are from this cookbook.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup bananas
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 recipe Streusel Topping (optional)

1. Grease twelve 2 1/2 inch muffin cups (do not use paper baking cups for this recipe) set aside.
2. In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar baking powder and salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside.

3. In another bowl combine egg, milk, and oil. Add egg mixture and bananas to the flour mixture. Stir until moistened (batter should be lumpy).

4. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups/muffin tin, filling each two-thirds full. If desired, sprinkle Streusel Topping (recipe below) over muffin batter in cups (I recommend this as it makes the muffins SO MUCH BETTER!) Bake in a 400 degree oven for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in muffin cups or on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups.

Streusel Topping:
Combine 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, and 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon.  Cut in 2 tablespoons butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Sir in 2 tablespoons chopped nuts if desired. 

Chicken Nuggets

Lately I have been letting my boys pick what they want for dinner. My son Hunter, decided he wanted chicken nuggets for dinner. I HATE chicken nuggets (even the dino kind :) I am not a fan of processed chicken at all. I mean they are fine when Josh and I are going on a date and I make them to give to the boys before we leave them with a babysitter. When I don't have to EAT them. Well, I decided that I would just cut up some chicken breasts, coat them in Shake N Bake and cook them for 30-35 minutes. Worked like a charm. The boys liked them, I could handle them and we were all happy. Just thought I would share as it was easy and quite a hit with the kiddos.

Not really a recipe, but whatevah.

Orange Syrup

I love novelties in any form. Orange Syrup is definitely a novelty that I fell in love with. I made this delicious syrup for my family for our General Conference breakfast. It was fun to have something different along with our maple syrup. This recipe is from here.

1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbs. butter
1 tsp. grated orange peel

In a saucepan, combine the orange juice, corn syrup, sugar, butter and orange peel. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat. Serve over french toast, pancakes, waffles, etc!

Beef Pot Pie

One of my favorite things is to reinvent left overs. To serve it to my family at another meal completely disguised as something else. This is what I do to my left over roast. If it is only roast and no potatoes or carrots, I put it in this stew and just add the potatoes and carrots. If it is roast, potatoes, carrots and gravy, I like to make this little number. When we were in England there was a lot of meat pies, so this recipe always reminds me of England.

It is pretty easy and doesn't really have exact instructions. My mom made it growing up and I always loved it.

2 pie crusts (homemade or store bought)
Left over roast
Left over potatoes
Left over gravy
Salt and pepper to taste
Sauteed onions are optional (I usually have left over onions in my mixture of veggies, but it does need a little bit more onion in my opinion).

I put one pie crust in my pie plate, put in the cut up cooked veggies and meat, pour the gravy over the top, put the other crust over it and cut some slits in it to let the steam out. I bake it with a strip of foil around the edges at 425 degrees for about 35-40 minutes (until the contents are hot). Take off the foil in the last 15 minutes of baking.

P.S. Many people in our family like this dish with ketchup. Just an idea :)

DIY Chocolate Peanut Butter Eggs

This picture is right before I froze them for one hour.

I made these for my family on Sunday and was amazed at how simple and how easy these were.
I got this recipe on this site.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Eggs

Ingredients

• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 cups Creamy Peanut butter
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 2-3 tablespoons milk
• 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon Shortening

Directions:

Mix together the powdered sugar, peanut butter, and butter. Add the milk one tablespoon at a time until it becomes a nice workable dough. It will be just like play dough, it will be really easy to work with. Form the dough into egg shapes, and place in the freezer for about an hour.

Place the chocolate chips and shortening in a glass measuring cup. Microwave 1 minute at a time stirring in between until completely melted.

Dip each egg in the melted chocolate and place on waxed paper until set. (I use a skewer and then slide the dipped egg off and cover the hole).

Once they are set you can trim any excess chocolate off that may pool at the base with a pairing knife to make them look pretty. You could also decorate them with royal icing and make a really special Easter treat

Meatloaf

Please pardon the picture. I am already photographically challenged when it comes to food and taking a pleasing picture of a slab of ground turkey wasn't happening for me. And on that appetizing note, this is THE BEST meatloaf that I have ever had. My boys are really picky eaters and my pickiest (who shall remain nameless), has this as his favorite meal. It really is that good. I of course substitute ground turkey for the ground beef (most of the time).

This recipe comes from a family cookbook that my awesome SIL Amy put together for us all for Christmas. Seriously one of my favorite gifts ever. My other SIL Stacey submitted this recipe and it has become our meatloaf staple.

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef (or turkey)
3/4 c. oats or saltine crackers
3/4 c. milk
1 egg beaten
1/4 c chopped onion or 1 TBS minced onion
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp minced garlic

Mix all ingredients together and put I put it in a bread pan (you could probably use a casserole dish too, never done it)

TOPPING: (Put this over the top of the meat loaf before you put in the oven)
1/3 c. ketchup
1 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs mustard
Bake @ 350 for 1 hr and 10 minutes

Velveeta Salsa Dip

I first had this dip long ago when Josh and I lived in Texas. We had a party and someone brought this heavenly little number. After than I sort of forgot about my amazing salsa dip experience. A few weeks ago we were excited to watch the BYU basketball game (too bad the game wasn't as good as the dip) and we needed some snacks. This dip came to my mind. I looked through my cookbooks to find something similar and guess what-I found the exact dip that I had tasted all those years ago. Serendipity huh? It is found in this cookbook (that I need to buy a new copy of because it is falling apart.)

1 lb Velveeta cubed
1 (8 oz) jar salsa or picante sauce
2 TBS chopped cilantro
1 (16 oz) can of refried beans (optional)

Stir Velveeta, refried beans and salsa in saucepan on LOW heat until cheese is melted. Stir in Cilantro.

*I have made this recipe a few times now and I change the quantities up based on the flavor we want. I like a more "salsa-y" taste.