Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

via Nestle

• 4 cups (2 – 12 oz bags) chocolate chips, divided
• 2 ⅔ cup All Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) Butter, softened
• 1 cup packed Brown Sugar
• ½ cup granulated Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 3 large Eggs

Preheat oven to 375° F. Melt 2 cups morsels in small, heavy-duty saucepan over low heat; stir until smooth. Alternatively, you can melt in the microwave. Remove from heat.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in melted chocolate. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in remaining 2 cups morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 8 to 9 minutes or until cookies are puffed. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

These cookies are amazingly fabulous. I have been making them for years — they used to be my staple (before the Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies). Let me know if you try them — and if they win over any men in your life!

Chocolate Brownie Larabars
slightly adapted from Running Upward

• 2 cups chopped pitted Dates
• 1 cup raw Cashews
• 1 1/2 cups raw Almonds
• 2/3 cup unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• pinch of Sea Salt
• 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened Coconut
• 3 tablespoons Vanilla Extract
• 2 or 3 tablespoons Water

If you have a food processor, you want to use it. I don’t so I had to adapt the recipe accordingly. Pulverize your dates in a magic bullet (or mini-prep food chopper) and then toss into stand mixer bowl. Do the same for the cashews and almonds. You want everything finely blended / almost turned into a paste. Mix together on medium for thirty seconds or so. Add cocoa powder and sea salt, blend. It should now look like crumbs. Add coconut and vanilla extract. Add water until it is a moist dough. Press into a glass dish. I think I used a 3 quart oblong pyrex dish. It was about 6 inches wide and 10 inches long (or so). Refrigerate for 30 minutes or so and then cut into squares. My recipe made 24 squares.

Wrap in saran wrap or parchment paper, either one works, but plastic wrap is probably easier. I just have a ton of wax paper, so I use that. Next time, I will tape the wax paper on the back, so it looks nicer!

Cutting and wrapping the bars makes it much more likely that you will grab them and go. If I leave them in the dish, they stay in the dish. These bars are getting gobbled up rather quickly, and I feel pretty good about feeding them to my man! Thanks for the recipe, Shari!

Balsamic Chocolate Truffles
adapted (just barely) from Krissy’s Creations

Place the chopped chocolate and heavy cream in a medium bowl.  Place the bowl over a pot of lightly simmering water and melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. I had a really hard time with this, but eventually it worked! Pour the melted chocolate into a small, shallow bowl, and stir in the balsamic vinegar. Transfer the bowl of chocolate to the refrigerator to cool until it has hardened, about 1 hour.  Remove the chocolate from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature until it is easily moldable. Place the cocoa powder in a small bowl.  Using a cookie scoop, scoop rounds of the chocolate into the palm of your hands.  Roll the chocolate into a round ball.  Place the chocolate ball into the cocoa powder and roll it around to completely coat it.  Repeat with the remaining chocolate. These truffles keep best in a sealed container in a cool area.  If left at room temperature, the truffles could soften.  You can also keep them in the refrigerator and then allow them to sit at room temperature for about 1 hour before serving. Krissy got this recipe from Giada De Laurentiis on Food Network.

These truffles were amazing! I was a little bummed that I could not taste the balsamic that much, so I might add more next time. I want to make more truffles, any other flavor suggestions?

Pecan, Brown Sugar, & Kahlua Baked Brie
via My Life As a Mrs.

This was definitely a hit. My Dad and I polished off one on Christmas Eve, and it took everything in us not to eat the other one until Christmas Day — but don’t worry, we helped out with that one too!

First, I should say that we were frustrated by throwing away food and money, and not knowing what to make for dinner after a long day of work. The problem was a lack of planning. Yet, when I looked at other meal plans, it seemed like it meant cooking every night of the week. That’s just not how we roll. Caught in indecision, we would rely on pre-made frozen dinners or boring routine dinners.

Now, it takes me about 10 minutes to plan for meals and less than 30 minutes to do the actual shopping. And when I drive home from work, I decide to make one of three recipes I had planned for the week. If it’s a busy night, we’ll stick to leftovers. It’s so nice not to have the dinnertime panic! Plus, that panic would often lead to the decision to eat out, so now we save more money by eating in.

Maybe it’s not glamorous, but eating at home can be quite tasty!

Here’s how we do it…

Collect recipes online. Not surprisingly, I use Pinterest to save recipes. I shop after work, so before I head out that day, I choose my three recipes, print coupons and make a shopping list in about 10 minutes. Plus, I can check on recipes from my phone just in case. You can also have your spouse save recipes to the site too!

Plan your snack food and lunches. So many meal plans forget snacks and lunch! Matt and I do our best to not eat out for lunch. We have started to portion our leftovers in lunch sizes so we can grab it, our snack (usually yogurt or fruit) and head out the door. If we’re tired of leftovers, there are also frozen lunch meals — can’t beat the $2 Fresh and Easy price! — as a Plan B. We used to always buy sandwich stuff for lunches, but would realize that we didn’t take the time to make them in the mornings. Don’t plan unrealistic meals!

Stretch out your trips to the grocery store. Don’t feel the need to stuff your fridge and freezer for when you’re snowed in … when you live in sunny California. (If you live where it snows, well, stock up for that snow storm that might actually keep you snowed in!) In between shopping trips, eat as much of the food you already have. Be creative with your bare bones pantry so you can start from scratch. You guys, I have never seen my freezer this empty and now we actually have room for the stuff we want. (It got to the point that it was so full that it couldn’t freeze it all well and my ice cream melted — in the freezer! Eating melted and then refrozen ice cream is no good.)

Also not glamorous, this is a rare sight: a nearly empty freezer! You never know
what you’ll find in the depths of your freezer unless you eat your way through it.

Stick to your list at the store. There’s no saving money if you’re not disciplined enough to not spend. I will say that I allow myself one “non list” item each trip; either it’s something I meant to put anyway or a special treat for the week.

Loosely schedule your meals. I don’t know why, but I felt pressure to keep to a strict schedule when I started meal planning. Yet, life doesn’t always go to plan, so make your meals on the nights that you can. If you have to work late or something — give yourself a pass with leftovers or a box of mac ‘n cheese that always manages to be in your pantry.

Portion out your snacks in advance. If you’re like me, you will totally forget that you had a moment of feeling healthy and bought baby carrots for your lunches. Instead of shoving in the back of the produce drawer, put those baby carrots (or whatever) in baggies on the refrigerator shelf so you can have an unobstructed view of what you should be eating.

I’m not a pro — yet! — but I can already see the benefits of meal planning — saving money and my sanity. Does anyone have meal planning tips to share?

My inspiration began with a recipe for a rosemary gin fizz cocktail (found via Pinterest), a bunch of tangerines and the desire to make a white wine sangria that was fit for a winter party. Please excuse the bad phone photo — I was too busy having fun at the party!

Rosemary Fizz White Sangria

• 2 bottles white wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc because it’s what I had on hand)
• 1/2 cup orange liquor
• 1/2 cup rosemary simple syrup (see below)
• 3 tangerines, sliced
• 2 cans lemon lime soda
• 1 heaping cup frozen raspberries
• 2 sprigs rosemary

For rosemary simple syrup –  by Sassy Radish

• Four sprigs rosemary
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup white sugar

To make the syrup, put rosemary, water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Then simmer over low heat for two minutes. Remove from  heat and let steep for 10 minutes, strain and chill. (Make it about 2 hours in advance to allow time to chill.)

For the sangria, combine white wine, orange liquor, rosemary syrup, tangerine slices and lemon lime soda in a large pitcher or drink dispenser. (You can make it in a bowl if you don’t have a large pitcher.) Chill for at least an hour. Before serving, add the frozen raspberries and rosemary sprigs.

Bottoms up!

Mom’s Black Eyed Peas Recipe

• 1 package (1 pound) dried Black-Eyed Peas
• 2 tsp. Celery Salt
• 2 tsp. Garlic Powder
• 2 tsp. Kosher Salt (or regular salt)
• 2 tsp. Onion Powder
• 7 thick slices Bacon, cut into 1/2 to 1-inch pieces
• 2 Onions, chopped
• 3 cups Chicken Broth
• 3 cloves Garlic, minced

Quick soak your beans with 1 teaspoon of each spice. (Bring water and beans to a boil for 2 minutes and then let soak off of the heat for one hour. Drain.) Return to pot and add chicken broth and remaining spices. In a frying pan, fry bacon until medium-crisp. Scoop from pan, leaving bacon fat in the pan. Add to the beans. Cook onion in the bacon drippings until soft, then scoop out and add to the beans. Add garlic to beans. Heat through, simmer for at least 30 minutes. They get better if they’re left to simmer for a long time.

Black Eyed Peas on the Stove

Matthew used to hate black eyed peas, but says these ones are really good. Don’t wait until Jan. 1 to eat them! They’re sure to bring you luck no matter when you eat them. Do you have any New Years Day traditions?

Later, when I met Matt, I found that he and his family especially loved sparkling wine. They love it so much so that they are members of Schramsberg, one of Napa’s premier sparkling wine producers. His parents taught me about the different styles and slowly I learned to develop a taste for it. For Matt’s birthday one year, we took a tour of Schramsberg caves and saw the process of how it was made. I was hooked.

Matt and I enjoying our tasting in the caves at Schramsberg.

Since it’s almost New Year’s Eve — one of the most popular times to drink bubbly — I thought I would share some tips on how to open a bottle. After all, the key to enjoying sparkling wine is to know how to properly retrieve it. While it might seem fun to shoot a cork, you are risking your eye and/or someone else’s. By incorrectly opening the bottle, you will also lose the quality of the wine itself. That, my friends, would be tragic. While I wouldn’t claim to be an expert, I have learned from the demonstrators at Schramsberg on more than one occasion, I have researched it myself and I still have both eyes.

Before we begin, let’s reinforce some of these ideas. First, the bubbles in most sparkling wine come as the result of yeast fermentation over a long period of time. This produces a lot of pressure — up to 90 psi — which is why the cork in a bottle of sparkling wine is much more difficult to remove than your non-bubbly white or red. It is estimated that a cork under that pressure can shoot off at about 50 mph. In fact, champagne corks are said to be the leading cause of most eye injures. So be careful or else you may be wearing an eye patch for the rest of your life.

Key things to remember:

• Make sure the sparkling wine has been chilled before opening.
• Don’t shake the bottle, it increases the pressure and speed of the cork.
• When opening, point it away from people, yourself and valuables.
• While keeping your palm over the cork, loosen the cage, don’t remove it completely. It acts as snow chains would to help you better grip the cork. While unlikely, the cork could break free after the cage is loosened. Do this step quickly and carefully.
• Keep the bottle at a 45 degree angle.
• Twist the bottle, not the cork, very slowly.
• Slowly guide the cork out of the bottle. You should hear a faint pop and no wine should foam over.

Here’s a video demonstration, if you’re more of a visual person…

Even if you’re a pro and/or have opened hundreds of bottles before, it only takes one slip up to lead to an injury. One New Year’s Eve I almost broke a mirror when opening a bottle that had a plastic cork. Even though I had followed all the rules above, it was so slippery that it shot out unexpectedly. You can never be too careful!

Happy New Year!

Andes Mint Cookies

• ¾ cup Butter
• 1 ½ cup Brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Water
• 12 ounces Chocolate Chips (that’s one package, you can also substitute mint chocolate chips, if need be)
• 2 Eggs
• 2 ½ cups Flour
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 1 ¼ teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1 package Andes mints (more than you need, but you’ll have some to snack on later!)

Melt together butter, brown sugar, water and chocolate chips, let stand 10 minutes to cool. Add remaining ingredients to form dough. Chill for at least one hour. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Scoop into balls (use a cookie scoop) and place onto parchment paper, making sure you leave room for the cookies to spread. Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes.  Remove cookies from oven and place half of an Andes mint on top.  Allow it to melt and swirl it on top of the cookie.

These cookies are quite tasty. I highly recommend trying them out. These will definitely be made for my birthday this year!

This year, Matt decided to switch it up a bit and add both orange and guava juice to his bubbly. (See above that Matt’s is more orange and mine is more pink.) The name is still out on the orange-guava concoction, Matt suggests ogmosa, as in POG minus the pineapple. A pogmosa would probably be pretty tasty, too!

Guamosa

• 3 parts dry sparkling wine
• 1 part guava juice

Variations: add a splash of orange and/or pineapple juice.

This would be perfect for new year’s day brunch or any brunch for that matter!