Happy Cookieversary to Us!

It's that time of year again.  The time of year when I bemoan the fact that I just don't make chocolate chip cookies like I used to.  But I'm thankful for Chloe who has taken up the joy of cookie-making, and while I was away, made a lovely batch with the babysitter.  So this evening Chris and I will enjoy some homemade cookies together, and remember our first romantic encounter in Grandma's kitchen .  Who would have thought on that day, that thirteen years later, we would have a daughter who was baking for us?

Chipsnsalsa!

Last July, for our Church picnic, Chloe signed up to bake a pie for the Apple pie contest. Considering that she can't bake on her own yet, that meant that *I* was signed up for the apple pie contest. The problem with this was that I had never baked an apple pie before. So, i set out on a quest to discover the best Apple Pie Recipe. But that's another story (although I *will* tell you that I --I mean chloe, won first place).

In addition to the apple pie contest, the church also held a salsa contest. Before I moved here, I never knew that people actually made their own salsa. But i've come to discover that making a good salsa is an area of great pride among many people in my community. Anyway, as I was hunting down apple pie recipes, it occurred to me that If I could make apple pie, maybe some day I could try entering a salsa contest! So I hunted for "the world's best salsa" recipe. Well, let me tell you... people have many more differing opinions about salsa than they do about apple pie. But I came upon an interesting recipe.

Apparently, there's a great restaurant in San Francisco, named Papalote, which is known for it's amazing salsa, and someone figured out how to mimic the recipe. So...I printed it up, and saved it for a rainy day, when I wasn't thinking about apples.

Last Saturday, when i was doing all of my lemon baking, I was re-inspired. As I was hunting down lemon recipes, I remembered my old salsa recipe that I was waiting to try. I looked it up again, and found an article that explained the writer's process of putting the salsa recipe together. The writer does such a great job of relaying her salsa adventure, that I would recommend you read her piece. Among other things, she mentioned that the owners of Papalote weren't about to share their secret family recipe, and that the last time someone offered to buy it, the price was $300,000!!! This must be some recipe!! So I made up my mind to make it as soon as I had time.

Because the recipe call for strange things that I had never heard of, like Pasillas, Pepitas, and Chiles de Arbol, I was sure I would have to go to a Mexican market to gather my ingredients. However, much to my surprise, my local Albertsons carried everything! I was so pleased that I promised the produce manager that I would share my salsa with him, after he found the Pepitas for me. That afternoon after picking up the kids from school, and putting away my groceries, and cleaning the kitchen and sweeping the floors, i cut up my chiles, and boiled my tomatoes, and roasted my pepitas, and made an amazing salsa! And as soon as it was done, can you guess my first stop? To Albertsons - to share this tastiness with Ed the produce guy.

Now I figure that if a recipe is worth $300,000, then some of you out there in cyberland may want to try it as well. So, without further ado, here is The Recipe. Once again, though, I strongly suggest that you read the article that goes with it, first, in order to get the feel for how special this salsa really is.

When life hands you lemons...

So the other day, a friend came over & brought some lemons that my kids had asked him to bring. But it wasn't just a few lemons... it was a trash bag FULL!

So this morning, I thought I would use the first lemons to bake some of my Grandma Joanna's famous lemon bars. (As a side note, last Thursday would have been her 91st birthday). Well, that recipe only used up half of a lemon, I had a long way to go, if I was going to use the other 48 1/2 any time soon (for those of you mathematicians out there, who feel the need to point out that 50 minus 1/2 does not equal 48 1/2, Gideon ate one lemon, raw, and Chloe used another to make lemonade). SO...I went online to look up some good lemon recipes, and came across the perfect website! lemonrecipes.net . This was exactly what I was looking for! As I was skimming the recipe for lemon pancakes, chloe came in, stating that she was hungry. This being a lazy Saturday, I thought it would be fun to make lemon pancakes for lunch. After all, the recipe looked pretty simple.

Lemon Pancakes recipe
Ingredients:
½ cup of sour cream.
½ cup of freshly-squeezed lemon juice.
1 tablespoon of unsalted butter melted.
1 x egg.
1 cup of self-rising flour.
2 tablespoons of sugar.
1 tablespoon of lemon zest.
Powdered sugar to sprinkle on top.

Preparation Instructions:
1. Beat the sour cream, melted butter and egg in a bowl. Add the lemon juice and half the lemon zest. Stir in slowly to prevent curdling.
2. Add the flour and sugar and stir carefully.
3. Preheat a non-stick pan. When the pan is hot, pour silver-dollar-sized pancakes. Watch for small bubbles to form on the surface.
Cook for 3-4 minutes per side.
4. Garnish with sugar and lemon zest.


So... first things first... Sour Cream. Oops.... I didn't have any sour cream! Not to worry. I was sure there was some way to substitute sour cream. [Thank you, Jesus, for creating Google!] so i found a great site which gave me several options. I could use buttermilk [darn. I just dumped out a bunch of buttermilk, because i had no clue what i'd ever use it for].... or plain yogurt [don't have any of that, either]... or cream cheese --yes! i was sure i had cream cheese! So i went to my fridge, pulled out the carton, and opened it up, only to discover that *someone* *cough-CHLOE-cough* had used the last of it, and put it back in the fridge, EMPTY!!! .... so my last option was evaporated milk... I thought i remembered buying some on accident, several years ago, so I hunted through my cupboards. Sure enough! it was there! [Check the expiration... hmmm... expired last month... that's good enough!]. So i opened the can [hmmm there's some gook around the top --never mind that. it'll be fine], and dumped it in my measuring cup. Now all i had to do was add a Tablespoon of vinegar. but i was all out of that, too!! and then i remembered some apple cider vinegar that i had in a cupboard. [that should do fine --what's the difference, anyway??].

Good! finally, i had sour cream. So I juiced my lemons, and got chloe started on grating the "lemon zest." I got my melted butter & my egg, and dumped in all of my "sour cream." [Waaaiiiit a second... that recipe says *half* a cup of sour cream, and i just dumped in a WHOLE cup! No problem... we'll just double the whole recipe!] So... I add in some more butter, and go to get another egg. [hmm...i think i just used my last egg a second ago.] so i send the kids to look in our other fridge (the one in the garage, where i keep my extra 6 gallons of milk, and other misc. things like eggs). Chloe brought me the last carton [i hope that's not the one that's been sitting in there for months, that I keep forgetting to use --oh well... i should be fine...right?]. Now i've got the eggs & the butter, and the juice and the "sour cream"

Next: the self-rising flour. [well, i don't have any of that, either, but i'm sure i can make something work. how hard can it be?] Back to google to find this site! So... i mix my flour and my baking soda, and my salt. [Great! this is going to work out fine!] now... if you will recall, when I made my "sour cream," i used Vinegar. And my "self rising flour" used Baking soda. Does anyone remember what happens when you mix baking soda & vinegar? As I poured my flour mixture into my batter, everything started foaming up! Thankfully, I was using an extra large bowl, and no messy disaster ensued.

After all that drama of making a very simple recipe, I think the pancakes turned out just fine! :)

We topped the pancakes with powdered sugar, lemon zest and strawberries, and they were *delicious!!*

If you decide that you'd like to try this recipe (which I highly recommend), I suggest using the proper ingredients. Also, I think it's essential to garnish with the lemon zest. it really makes it perfect! :)

Now i'm off to clean my crazy messy kitchen!

Happy fluffy cookie day!

you may remember my cookie lament some time ago. Ever since I got married, I have been unable to make a decent cookie. they always turn out WAY flat. i've tried all sorts of things! i tried a brand new box of baking soda...i've tried refrigerating the dough first. I even tried martha stewart's chewy cookie recipe, & i folloed the directions to a T... but no luck. the only thing i haven't done is substitue the butter w/crisco. that's my last resort.

anyway, the other day, i made cookies, & thought i'd try adding a bit more baking soda....maybe it would make them rise a little more. no luck.

not only were the completely flat, but they were hard & crunchy on the outside--almost burnt, and completely *uncooked* in the middle! >:( So before cooking the next batch, i added a bunch of extra flower. My cookies turned out perfect!
Chris even said they were the best cookies i've ever made. the truth is, the best cookies i ever made were before we got married, when i wasn't stuck to the Toll House flat cookie recipe, but whatever. Anyway.... this was a huge accomplishment for me.

Also, i thought i'd google fluffy cookies & see what i could come up with. I found this GREAT website that breaks down what the different ingredients do for a cookie. to summarize, " For light, puffy cookies, use shortening or margarine and cut back on the amount of fat; add an egg, cut back on the sugar, use cake flour or pastry flour, use baking powder instead of baking soda and refrigerate your dough before baking." it goes into a lot more detail, if you're interested.

... so i think the next time i make cookies, i'll make them w/a little less butter & a little less sugar, & see what that does.

but at least for now, i'm no longer a cookie failure.

What's for dinner?

Tonight, we didn't have a real sit-down-with-the-family dinner, because Chris is studying for a big contractor's exam that he has to take in the morning. So I got a whole cooked chicken from Costco (theirs are hormone & antibiotic free) and shredded it to make chicken salad. Chloe was able to help me with a lot of it, and we had lots of fun dancing in the kitchen while we worked. :)

Here's the recipe:

Chicken Salad

one whole shredded chicken
1 can crushed pineapple
2 or 3 stalks of chopped celery
2 med. apples chopped into small pieces
a tiny bit of diced onion
a couple dollops of mayonnaise
1T sugar dissolved in 1T vinegar
salt & pepper to taste

I served it with bread & cheese slices -- And cookies for the kids who ate their food. ;~)

What did you have?