My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

My ideal heaven would smell constantly of either fresh clean laundry or freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. If there is only thing that can beat the smell of a fresh baked chocolate chip cookie, it is EATING a warm gooey chocolate chip cookie right after it has come out of the oven.

So since I am a sucker for freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, I bake them frequently. My go to recipe comes from of course...CL! Knowing it is from CL makes me feel less guilty about eating a million cookies when I am baking..and besides they taste absolutely terrific!

Here is the recipe from CL.

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 large egg whites*
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees


Combine flour, baking soda, and salt, stir with whisk.


Combine sugars and butters in large bowl. (I am old school and do this with a wooden spoon, you can use a mixer if you like but I like to cream butter and sugars with a spoon so that everything is blended in nice and evenly)


Add vanilla and egg whites; beat one minute.





Add flour mixture and chips, beat until blended. With this recipe, I find that the dough turns out a little dry, so if it is too crumbly, I add a little bit of water to the mix.





Drop dough by level tablespoons 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for 9 minutes. I like my cookies just a tad underbaked, the recipe calls for 10 mins but I usually pull them out around the
8-9 minute mark so they are extra gooey!


*It is a good rule of thumb to have the eggs and butter at room temp before baking. I always forget this! Also if you don't have enough eggs, you can always just use one egg in place of two egg whites. One egg yolk isn't going to break the diet ;)

Quick Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce with Spaghetti

My friend Richa, who is a vegetarian, was coming over for dinner one night so I wanted to make a vegetarian pasta dish. I love cherry tomatoes and goat cheese so this recipe from CL seemed perfect! Plus the recipe takes at most a half hour to prepare and cook so it's a great recipe for a weeknight when you want a quick and delicious dinner!

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1988535

The recipe calls for roasting a pint of tomatoes for at least 10-12 minutes in the oven, or until the tomatoes look slight charred. I placed the tomatoes in the oven while I was waiting for the pasta to cook and they both were done in about 10-12 minutes.



The recipe calls for both flat leaf parsely and basil but I didn't really want to pick up parsely so instead of adding flat leave parsley, I just added more basil. For my goat cheese I picked a small log of tomato basil goat cheese so it would add more flavor to the pasta.

I added the goat cheese while the pasta was still in the pot and was still hot, so the goat cheese melted. It is not as pretty as the picture in the link but it still tasted great! In my opinion it was even better since there was more goat cheese flavor! Just make sure you combine the pasta with the goat cheese so it evenly coated.

A Post in Honor to My Bro's Two Fav places in Chicago

My brother used to live in Chicago, and at the beginning of the year, he relocated to Washington, DC. I was hoping he would get there, really hate it, and want to come back to Chicago, but he actually really seems to like it out there. :( So now DC is on my list for regular places to visit. My first visit there will be when we go in for our DC marathon.

There are two restaurants in Chicago that when I go there, I always think of my brother. We used to frequent these restaurants together for our brother/sister meals :)

My Uncle came in town a couple weekends ago and the last time he came, we brought him to one of my bro's fav places, Tank Noodle. After our dinner there, he asked if we could come back the next day. I thought he was kidding, he wasn't...and we went back the next day. This weekend, we also went there again twice!

Tank Noodle is located in the North side of Chicago, off the Argyle red line stop. I discovered this place several years ago, not too long after they had opened and there, I had my first hot steaming flavorful bowl of beef pho. After your first sip of this broth, you can feel it warming your insides and this sensation makes you feel like you have just gotten inside your warm house after being outdoors in the freezing cold and you were just enveloped with a warm and fuzzy blanket.




The spring roll is my favorite appetizer at Tank. Succulent shrimp, fatty thinly sliced pork, cilantro, vermicilli noodles and basil make this roll super refreshing. Plus I love that peanutty plum sauce it is served with!

Then the next night we went to Glenn's Diner. Located right across from the Montrose stop, and at first glance, this place does not look like it could serve seafood. My bro took me here for my first all you can eat crab leg dinners on Tuesday night. Shockingly enough, not only is it pretty nice inside (it reminds you of the oyster/seafood joints in Maine, but the service is great, and they keep the crab legs coming out nice and hot! Warning, these crab legs are sharp so your hands will feel a little numb after opening a couple of these.

Since we were there on a Saturday night, they did not have the all you can eat crab legs but my uncle got an order of crab legs and I ordered the seafood Choppino.
It was not a bad dish but definitely not as good as their crab legs!

I am telling my bro that when I come to visit DC, he will need to take me to a great crab place out there!

18 mile Training Run = Our reward....Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

Yesterday was the morning of our 18 mile run. I wish I could tell you that that marathon training gets easier each year that you do it, but sadly that is not the case. I still dread the long long training runs. Plus you never know what you are going to get when you train in the Chicago weather. Yesterday our forecast were thunderstorms and 60 degrees. We started our run at 7am, started around the northern part of the city (Irving park exit) ran 9.5 miles south with mile high winds blowing against us. At a couple spots, it felt like I wasn't even running forward because the pressure of the wind against us was so strong, I felt as though I was running in place! All that kept me going was the thought that once we turn around and come back, the wind would be at our backs. And of course when it was time for us to turn back and run 8.5 miles back, the wind had died down and we found ourselves running into clouds of gnats. It was lightly raining during our entire run so we were pretty much soaked to the bone after we got back from our run. After a run like that, I feel like it's only fair to treat ourselves to a HUGE homemade breakfast.

I still had a ton of buttermilk from making Dark Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache so I wanted to make something that would use up a lot of buttermilk. The solution - buttermilk pancakes! My BF had a bunch of frozen blueberries in his freezer and I asked him if we could use his blueberries so we could make some blueberry pancakes. I got the recipe online from Martha Stewart, these pancakes were amazing, they were fluffy and delicious! We served these with Aunt Jemima light syrup along with bacon and sausage. What a way to end our run.

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 TBSP sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 cups buttermilk
4 TBSP unsalted butter.

I put all of the dry ingredients (flour through sugar)in a small bowl and whisked them together. I cracked two large eggs, beat them lightly in a large bowl. Added the butter and buttermilk, then added the flour mixture to the wet ingredient and whisked until just combined. The recipe states that you should not overmix the batter so it should be a little bit lumpy still.

Heated my pan with some butter, and poured some batter in. Add the blueberries once the batter is in the pan. When pancakes have bubbles on top and the edges look dry, flip and then cook on the other side for a minute or so.

This recipe says it makes 9 six inch pancakes, but I made smaller pancakes and it made a bunch of pancakes! I would say at least 15!

Beer Can Chicken

My BF is a grill master :) And ever since he got his grill back, he has been showing me the wonders of grilling. It makes me wish that I could fit a grill in my apartment, although I have to admit, the thought of starting the grill makes me nervous! Plus since I don't have a balcony I am sure having a grill in the apartment breaks about a million fire code laws.

Anyways, my BF has been talking about making beer can chicken for a while now so over labor day weekend, we finally decided to make it happen.

We took the beer can recipe from his beer can chicken cook book. Yes, there is a book (and actually more than one!) that is soley dedicated to beer can chicken recipes. I was amazed when I learned there are many different variations of beer can chicken! (There is one for a Indian tandoori beer can chicken that made my mouth start to salivate as I read over the recipe....)

As this was our first time, we used the original beer can chicken recipe which required the following rub:

1/4 cup sweet paprika (we used regular since we didn't find any sweet paprika
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup kosher salt (we used regular salt as we did not have kosher salt)
2 TBSP black pepper

We bought 5 lb chicken for this. Rinsed the chicken in cold water and patted it dry. (Don't forget to take out the package of giblets and etc in the chicken!) We
sprinkled one tsp of rub inside the chicken cavity and 1/2 tsp of rub in the neck cavity. We drizzled oil over the chicken, brushed the oil to ensure it covered the whole chicken. Then we massaged 2 TBSP of rub onto the chicken. The recipe tells you to also pour 1 1/2 tsp of the rub into the beer. (Expect it to foam up, it's like a science experiment!) Then I just let my BF take over from there, he has a whole beer can chicken kit for his weber grill!



The chimney starter thingy for getting the coals hot! (Obviously, I am not a grill master since I am calling it a thingy)




My BF also has these side panel things for the hot coals. He said it is so the chicken does not cook under direct heat which would cause the chicken to burn. Also notice that the chicken has been situated over a round pan - instead of using a beer can for this, my BF has a special beer can chicken pan where there is an open cavity for the beer and the chicken is placed on top of this.A meat thermometer is key for this, and if you are planning on cooking roasts, tenderloins, or chickens, etc, it is a worthy and much needed investment!

The star of the show - our cooked chicken! We took it out when the thermometer read 180, but I suggest taking the chicken out when the thermometer reads 160 - that is the best temp for roasted chicken making the meat very juicy and tender :)


I found the beer can chicken recipe online if you would like the recipe in full detail!

http://www.barbecuebible.com/featured/recipe/basic_beercan_c.php

Whiskey Porkchops and Manchego Mashed Potatoes

My BF loves whiskey so I decided to try my hand in making the one bowl whiskey porkchops from CL. (recipe is listed below)


http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=223212

Here are my thoughts on the porkchops:

I added almost one whole cup of whiskey after reading the reviews that there was not enough whiskey flavor. I put it in the oven, then did the sour cream mixture and poured that into the pan afterwards. I used thick bone in pork chops and only baked it for half a hour since I was also worried the pork chops would dry out. If I had to do it over again, I would use a little more whiskey since my BF also mentioned he did not taste any whiskey and I would go a little lighter on the sour cream. I would also bake it for the full hour as it needed that full hour for the meat to get tender.

Now my favorite part of the meal were the Manchego cheese mashed potatoes. I love Manchego cheese! I found the recipe on food network from Rachel Ray. I halved the recipe and it still made a ton of potatoes! Manchego cheese can be hard to find, luckily I found it at my local grocery store so perhaps it is starting to catch on. It is a bit pricey but totally worth it!

Manchego Cheese Mashed Potatoes

1 lb baby red skinned potatoes
salt
2 TBSP butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cup shredded Manchego cheese
Black pepper

Cook potatoes in boiling water until soft. Drain and add potatoes back into the pot. Mash potatoes (I left the skin on), add butter, cheese, and black pepper and there you have it! It makes excellent leftovers the next day!

Porcini Mascarpone Risotto, marinated cherry tomatoes and Chocolate Cake

For my best friend's birthday, I wanted to make her and her new hubby, and my BF a special dinner. So the menu for the night consisted of:

Marinated cherry tomatoes with cheese
Porcini Mascarpone Risotto
Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache


Marinated Cherry tomatoes

I cup apple cider vinegar
1 TBSP oregano (dried)
1 tsp Black pepper
pinch of salt
lemon peel
1 pint cherry tomatoes
Feta cheese
Cheddar cheese

I purused the internet for some appetizer ideas and happened to see a couple of marinated cherry tomato recipes. Intrigued by this idea, I decided to take a combination of a couple recipes and do the following:

I added the apple cider vinegar,oregano, pepper, pinch of salt and a lemon peel into a large tupperwear container. I pricked each of the tomatoes on each side and threw the tomatoes in the marinade. Let it marinate for at least a couple hours. (the longer you can wait for this, the better, I would recommend you do this overnight if possible) Then I used toothpicks and skewered the tomatoes adding a little piece of feta and cheddar cheese on each end. I also poured a little bit of the marinade on top of the tomatoes after placing them on the serving dish.

Porcini Mascarpone Risotto

For the main entree, I chose a recipe from Cooking Light (huge shocker I know) and I pretty much followed the recipe to the T. The only thing is, if you are planning to use this recipe as a main course, I would recommend you double the rice amount. I chose to do this at the last minute since I thought one cup of rice was too little, and was very glad I did that! Between the four of us, we just had a little bit left over. I also bought extra broth and ended up using both cans of veggie broth for this recipe. This recipe is delightful, it tastes rich and and flavorful. The mascarpone does add a nice touch but it is not neccesary so if you can't find mascarpone, don't sweat it. I couldn't locate mascarpone in my local grocery stores so I had to trek to whole foods for this.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1949716

Dark Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache

And for the dessert, my best friend loves chocolate cake with chocolate icing so I decided to go all out and make her the chocolate cake with chocolate ganache from Martha's Stewart's website.

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/dark-chocolate-cake-with-ganache-frosting

A couple notes on this cake.

For the cake, I used larger cake pans, if you do this, I would recommend lowering the cooking time to 25-30 minutes. I put my cakes in for 35 minutes and they were over done and came out too dry for my taste. Also, if you cannot find dutch processed cocoa (which I did not) you can just use unsweetened baking cocoa and just leave out the baking soda. I used Ghirardelli chocolate and baking cocoa for this recipe. The ganache tastes amazing and defintely helped to add some moisture to my poor cakes that were overdone. I don't know if I would use this cake recipe again, if I did I would definitely cook it for less time, but I would definitely use this ganache recipe again!