The world's BEST chocolate chip cookies!!

I haven't made these in ages - but I just recently found the recipe card and wanted to post it right away so that I don't lose it again! Linda P gave me this recipe....the cookies come out soft and chewy and perfect.

4.5 cups all purpose flour

2 tsps baking soda

2 cups butter, softened

1.5 cups packed brown sugar

.5 cup white sugar

2 - 3.4oz packages of instant vanilla pudding mix (the secret ingredient!)

4 eggs

2 tsps vanilla extract

4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (OR I like to use 2 cups of white chocolate and 2 cups of semi-sweet choc chips)

Preheat oven to 345 F

Sift flour and baking soda together. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding and mix well until blended. Sir in eggs and vanilla extract. Blend in flour mixture slowly. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop rounded spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 min, or until the edges are golden brown.

Yummmmm.

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR: Jayne's Rosemary and Thyme Roasted Potatoes

I am so proud of my friend Jayne. From a girl that didn't know what a can opener was (well, maybe not that bad) to the lovely cook she's becoming ... she's come so far! When we lived together, a little over a year ago or so, she would help me cook often - my favorite moment, which I forgot about until she reminded me today, was the time I asked her to peel some carrots for me. I continued preparing whatever it is we were making, and I realize she's taking an awfuly long time to peel these carrots.... I look over and she's still working on the first one - peeling off layer after layer of this poor carrot that was now almost as flat and thin as a paper. Hilarious. Here's on of the sides she came up with all on her own:

What you need:
-However many potatoes you want to make (depends on how many people you are serving). I usually do 4-5 medium sized potatoes if I'm serving 3-4 people.
-A few springs of thyme
-Your desired amount of rosemary
-2-3 tablespoons olive oil (again, depending on how many potatoes you use.)
-Salt and Pepper
-Lawry's seasoning salt
-Parmesan cheese

Directions:
-Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
-Cut the potatoes into one 1/2 to 2 inch squares. Put them in a gallon size ziplock bag. Add olive oil, thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, and seasoning salt in desired amounts. Close the bag and shake well, making sure all potatoes are coated with olive oil.
-Spread onto large baking sheet. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the potatoes. Bake in oven for 45-55 minutes, or until golden brown.

Great with steak or grilled chicken!

Rosemary Chicken with Tomatos

I woke up this morning craving something with really strong, woody flavor. (It's kind of embarassing to admit that I woke up thinking about what I would cook for dinner. I'm a foody for sure, what can I say?) I remembered that I had a couple of tomatoes in the fridge that were too soft for me to enjoy fresh, but were really flavorful when I bought them so I didn't want them to go to waste and was planning on using for some pomodori gratin. Then I remembered that I had a new Bialetti deep sautee pan that I got yesterday and really wanted to try out, so I thought of this dish and gave it a shot and it's great! It's a great Sunday evening meal, when you've had a chill day at home (or a day of cleaning all day, like I did today) ....

PREPARATION: 2 hrs; mostly unattended for the last 1-1.5 hrs); SERVES 3-5

5-9 Chicken thighs/drumsticks
a couple of overripe tomatoes, chopped (I used vine-ripe tomatos, so if you use plumb or some other smaller tomato you might want to use a couple of more)
fresh rosemary (about 4 sprigs - or more/less depending on how into rosemary you are)
1 large shallot, roughly chopped
4 cloves of fresh garlic
1 small yellow onion, very roughly chopped
1 small can of tomato sauce
olive oil
salt and pepper

In a deep sautee pan, heat a few shakes of olive oil (maybe 1-2 tbsps) over medium high heat. When the oil's nice and hot throw in the shallot, onion and garlic and just a shake of salt and let that sizzle till it's nice and fragrant, tossing it around in the pan a few times. Throw a few shakes of salt and crack some pepper over one side of the chicken. Brown all sides of the chicken in the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium and throw in the tomatos and any juice they've made. Give the pan a few good stirs. Pour in about 1/2 a cup of water, stir and place over med-low/low heat. Place 4-5 sprigs of garlic over the chicken. Cover and let simmer till the chicken falls of the bone - around 1-1.5hours, stiring occasionally. I served over rice, but boiled or roasted potatos would go well with it to, and a yummy green veg of course!

Roast Pork Tenderloin with Savory Blueberry Sauce

There was an amazing pork tenderloin on special at my favorite supermarket (Fairway Market in Red Hook) and so I came up with this dish, which I made for my husband and some friends and it was a hit! I kinda winged it when I made it, so hopefully this is close to what I made that day...

For the pork:

3-5 lb pork tenderloin (I think they usually come in packs of two, but if there's one big honkin one just slice it in half so that it browns nicely and is more likely to cook evenly)
Salt
pepper
fresh rosemary
fresh sage
Adobo seasoning
tumeric
paprika
light brown sugar

In a large bowl mix together about a cup of light brown sugar, about a tablespoon of salt and fresh coarse black pepper, 1 tsp of tumeric, 1 tsp of paprika, a couple of shakes of Adobo all-purpose seasoning, a few leaves of fresh finely chopped sage and a sprig of finely chopped rosemary. Make sure there aren't any clumped up bits of brown sugar and that everything is nice and mixed together. (I like to mix it us nice with my hands rather than a fork cause that makes it easy to get the clumps out and I like getting my hands dirty.)

Rinse the pork and very lightly pat dry with a papertowel. It's good if the pork is not completely dry. Place the pork into the brown sugar mixture and rub it over the tenderloin(s) well. Let that set for 20 min or so.

Heat the oven to 450 degrees.

In a large frying pan/skillet, heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil (I like to use olive oil, but any veg oil will do) until it's just smoking, over medium-high heat. Brown all sides of the tenderloin (should take about 10 min in the pan). Be sure to keep any good stuff left over in the pan as you'll be using this to make the blueberry sauce!

Place the tenderloin into a big-enough baking dish. Bake for about 15-20 min, or until the pork reaches about 135 degrees in the thickest part. Take out of the oven; pour any juices that have settled to the bottom into your skillet. Leave the tenderloin in the pan, cover with aluminum foil and let it set while you make the blueberry sauce.

Blueberry sauce (I got this from a recipe online at http://www.cookingcache.com/pork/porkchopswithblueberrysauce.shtml?rdid=rc1)

4-5 oz fresh blueberries (or frozen if fresh is out of season)
olive oil
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
1 tsp. chopped fresh sage

Add a bit of olive oil (maybe a tsp or so) into the skillet. Warm over medium/med-low heat. Add all the ingredients (blueberries, sugar, parsley, thyme, and sage). Cook until the blueberries pop and the sauce has thickened... you dont have to wait until all the blueberries have popped - just till it reaches a nice consistency that you like.

Slice the tenderloin into medallions. Spoon the the sauce over and serve! Goes really well with couscous and your favorite green veg, maybe some fresh sauteed green beans or steamed asparagus.

Pea and Basil soup

I found this delicious recipe on http://www.goop.com/. It was part of a one week detox I did a couple of weeks ago - but it's sooo delicious and quick to make that I've incorporated it into my regular rotation.


SERVES: 2; TIME: 15 minutes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 yellow onion, roughly diced
about a 1 1/2 cups of peas (about 2/3 pound) ... fresh is great but frozen works fine too
2 1/2 cups water
coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
3/4 cup basil, roughly chopped
1/2 lemon
Heat the olive oil in a medium nonstick saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and sauté for just a minute or until fragrant. Add the peas and cook for four minutes or until bright green. Add the water, salt and pepper, bring to a boil, lower the heat and cover. Cook for eight minutes or until the peas are tender. At the end of cooking, mix the basil into the soup. Pour the soup into a blender and puree until quite smooth. Be very careful when blending hot liquids; start slowly and work in batches if necessary (you don’t want the steam to blow the lid off). Serve the soup with a bit of fresh lemon. Perfect for spring!

INTRO

I'm the worst blogger ever but I need a place to keep all my most favorite and delicious recipes (either by me or friends/family, or any other place I may come across them). Here goes...