Whole Wheat Chocoloate Chip Cookies...sorta

It has certainly been an incredibly long time since my last post! I must admit, I go through cooking phases. I will get really into it for a while and then suddenly I'm bored of it again. It's not that I haven't cooked anything in the last few months, it's more so that I've been too busy (lazy) to go through the work of posting it in my blog.

A while back, I tried a new chocolate chip cookie recipe. I thought they turned out quite nicely, and so decided to add them to my blog so I wouldn't forget the recipe! My husband loves the recipe I've been using for a long time, but frankly, I'm tired of those grease bombs. I prefer my cookies to be soft, but not so greasy that you can barely pick them up without them falling apart. I found a recipe that promised a better cookie, and as I began to whip them together, I realized I should have checked my available ingredients first! Haha :)  I didn't have enough all purpose white flour and had to substitute it with whole wheat flour. Surprisingly, it did not ruin the cookie, in my opinion!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies


Ingredients:
*1 stick butter, softened
*1/4 cup cream cheese, basically 2 oz., softened
*3/4 cup brown sugar
*1/4 cup sugar
*1 large egg
*2 tsp. vanilla
*1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
*1 cup whole wheat flour
*2 tsp. cornstarch
*1 tsp. baking soda
*1 pinch of salt
*2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:
*Cream butter and cream cheese together.
*Add in both sugars, egg, and vanilla and mix until light and fluffy.
*Scrap down edges of bowl before adding dry ingredients.
*Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl and slowly add to wet ingredients until just combined.
*Fold in chocolate chips with spatula.
*Chill in refrigerator for two hours before baking.
*Bake at 350 degrees on a greased cookie sheet for 8-9 minutes.

I've found that cookie dough bakes better if you allow it time to chill in the refrigerator beforehand; otherwise you can wind up with flat greasy pancake cookies :/   This recipe made 24 perfectly sized cookies. If you want smaller or larger cookies, you will need to adjust your baking time. I also rolled these cookies into balls then pressed them down a bit to flatten them out. I'm not sure if this affected how they baked, but just thought I'd throw that out there. Using the whole wheat flour gave the cookie just a tiny bit of that grainy-ness associated with wheat flour. Because of this, I think some nuts added to the cookie would be awesome! Also, I don't actually ever measure my chocolate chips. I just add them in until I think the dough looks right. As for the cornstarch, this is a first for me in a cookie recipe. I read that it works in much the same way a pudding does in dry pudding cookie recipes...without actually having to use the pudding.

Sorry, no photos of this one. Just take my word for it that they look and taste great :)

Servings: 24 cookies
Calories: 193 per cookie

Mexi Corn Dip

So, a while back I was at a party at a friend's house and she had this amazing dip that was so addicting and delicious! I have been making it ever since for different occassions and get-togethers. I make it just slightly different than my friend, but they are almost the same thing. Yummy and easy Mexi Corn Dip!


Not a great pic, but was trying to get somewhat close up!

 Ingredients:
*1-8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
*1 cup mayo
*1 cup sour cream (I use lite)
*2-15 oz cans mexi corn, drained
*1-10 oz can Rotel, drained (original, mild, hot--any works, just get what you prefer...I use mild)
*1-4 oz can diced green chilies
*1-8 oz pkg shredded cheddar cheese




Directions:

*Make sure cream cheese is softened enough to stir. Add mayo and sour cream to it and stir by hand until the three ingredients are well blended.

*Drain mexi corn and rotel. Add to cream mixture, along with the green chilies, and stir until combined.

*Add shredded cheddar cheese. Stir. Can set a sprinkle on cheese aside to garnish the top of the dip with.

I prefer to chill my dip for a couple hours to stiffen it up a bit before I serve it. This dip goes best with Corn Chips, the Scoops kind, but also tastes good with tortilla chips. Heck, I'd eat it right out of the bowl with a spoon!

Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza on Whole Wheat Crust

The other night my husband told me he was in the mood for homemade pizza for supper. Me, being the amazing wife that I am, rounded up the only ingredients I had to make a pizza. This is one of my favorites that I came up with a few months back. My version of Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza!

Typically I buy a packaged crust that only requires you to add water to it; however, I didn't have any in my cupboard so I was forced to make dough from scratch. And since I was making it from scratch, I figured I might as well make it slightly healthier than a typical pizza dough.

Ingredients for Crust:

*1 tbl sugar

*1 1/2 cups warm water

*1 tblsp active dry yeast (1 pkg)

*1 tblsp extra virgin olive oil

*1 tsp salt

*2 cups whole wheat flour

*1 1/2 cups white flour, divided

I hate the idea of having to let a dough rise for an hour, only to punch it down, knead, and then let rise again for yet another hour. I'm so impatient, and besides that, I really didn't have time for that last night. The way I did it worked fine for me, and afterall, it is just a crust...it doesn't have to be perfect, right? Good.

Directions for Crust:
*In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Add yeast to sugar water and let sit for about 10 minutes. It should start to look bubbly/foamy.
*Stir in oil and salt.
*Add the wheat flour and 1 cup of the white flour. Don't add it all at once, instead, slowly add it a cup at a time so you can work it in together when stirring.
*Once the first 3 cups are incorporated fairly well, pour the remaining 1/2 cup of white flour out onto a clean surface. Dump the dough on to it and work/knead it until the flour is completely incorporated into the dough. Should take 5-10 minutes.
*Place ball of dough in a greased oven safe bowl, roll the ball around to coat with grease, and then cover with wax paper. Place the bowl in the oven and turn oven on to 175 degrees. Do not close the oven door; leave open a few inches.
*While the dough is in the oven, get out a large pizza pan...the biggest one you have, and grease with cooking spray. I prefer using round pizza pans.
*After roughly a half hour in the oven the dough should have risen about twice the size. Take it out and turn oven temperature up to 400 degrees. Then, spread pizza dough out over your prepared pizza pan. Use a fork to poke the dough.
*Brush crust with olive oil, not a lot, just a little.
*Place the pizza pan in the oven for 5-7 minutes. Remove and top with toppings.

Toppings:
*1 can Campbell's Cheddar Cheese condensed soup, other any other generic brand
*About 1 pound ground beef, browned and drained
*5 slices cooked bacon, crumbled (Travis kept eating it, so I'm not sure how much I actually put on the pizza...just saying!)
*1/4 cup diced/chopped dill pickle, kind of up to your own tastes
*1 cup mozarella cheese (can use whatever type of cheese you prefer)

Directions for toppings:
*Basically, add the ingredients onto the par-baked crust in the order listed above :)
*Bake pizza with toppings until the cheese is melted to your liking. I kept mine in at 400 degrees for somewhere around 12 minutes.

This makes a very large pizza with 12 good size slices. Nutritional information is here.

Thanks for looking! Hope you give it a try sometime on pizza night :)

Healthy Banana Bread, Oil & Sugar Free!

My freezer is practically overflowing with bananas. I tend to buy more than I can consume before they over-ripen for my tastes. I blame this on my husband because he rarely ever helps me eat them no matter how much I try to get him to eat healthier :)
So, instead of throwing two more bananas into the freezer I decided to try my hand at a healthier version of banana bread. This banana bread is oil and sugar free, mostly due to the fact that I'm out of sugar...haha, and I've also been wanting to try the whole applesauce in place of oil thing. This is my version of a Healthy Banana Bread, Oil & Sugar Free:

Ingredients:
*1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce, heaping
*1/2 cup honey
*2 eggs
*1 tsp vanilla extract
*1 cup banana, mashed (2 large bananas)
*1 1/4 cup flour
*1/2 cup ground flax seed meal
*1/2 tsp salt
*1 tsp baking soda
*1/4 cup hot water
*chopped nuts, optional

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease bread pan with cooking spray.
*In large bowl, mix together the applesauce and honey until combined.
*Add eggs, one at a time.
*Add banana and vanilla extract.
*In separate bowl, combine flour, flax sead meal, and salt.
*Add baking soda to hot water and stir together.
*Slowly add flour mixture to bread batter. Then, add the hot water and baking soda. Mix until combine.
*Pour batter into prepared bread pan. Bake in preheated oven for about 1 hour, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool on wire rack before cutting.

This bread is moist and pretty good; however, if you are looking for a really strong banana flavor, then you will need to add more mashed banana to the recipe. This has just enough banana for me and you can really taste the flavor of the honey coming out. I also think adding walnuts to the batter would be an excellent idea, but my husband hates them, so I of course am not allowed. But, now that I think about it, he probably won't particulary care for this healthy version, so I should have just added the darn walnuts anyways. Dang, wasn't thinking there!

1/12th of this bread contains only 146.7 calories and only 2.6 grams of fat. I use a website to calculate calories and other nutritional information. Click here to see nutrition for this recipe. Now, remember, this bread contains no oil or sugar, and not even much white flour. It is low calorie and therefore has a different taste than what you are used to. If you don't like it, then that is probably why. Hope you all are brave enough to try it :)

**Update--I like the flavor of this bread much better when it has cooled overnight. The honey taste isn't as apparent. It is moist and yummy. I got the stamp of approval from my lady co-workers :)

Strawberry Yogurt Cake

I've been wanting to make this recipe ever since I found it on Pinterest. It is a Strawberry Yogurt Cake, original recipe found here. I changed it up just a touch because I can never leave well enough alone :)

Ingredients:
*2 sticks butter, softened
*2 cups sugar
*3 eggs
*1 tsp lemon juice
*1 tsp almond extract
*1 3/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup flour
*1/2 cup ground flax seed meal
*1 tsp salt
*1 tsp baking soda
*1-6 oz container strawberry Greek yogurt, I used Chobani
*about 2 cups sliced strawberries, I used frozen

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease bundt cake pan with cooking spray.
*In mixer, combine softened butter and sugar until fluffy.
*Add eggs one at a time until combined.
*Add lemon juice and almond extract.
*In a separate bowl, combine 1 3/4 cups flour, ground flax meal, salt, and baking soda.
*Alternate adding dry mixture and yogurt to egg mix until all is incorporated.
*Toss strawberries in 1/4 cup flour. I used a collander to shake off the excess flour. Carefully fold strawberries into cake batter.
*Evenly distribute cake batter in bundt cake pan. Use a spatula to smooth it out if needed.
*Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool for a bit before tuning it out of cake pan. The strawberries make kind of a gooey texture on the top of the cake, and they need time to set up.

Icing Glaze:
*Whisk together 1 cup powered sugar, 1/2 tsp almond extract, 2 tsp lemon juice, and a few tblsp milk. It all depends on the consistency and flavor you prefer. Pour over cake after cooling.

A couple things to keep in mind...when you bake with ground flax seed meal it adds a distinct darker color and it's own flavor to whatever it is you are baking. I have been incorporating it into some recipes because flax seed is supposed to be good for you. Basically, all I do is cut out 1/2 a cup flour and replace it with the flax seed meal. If you prefer not to bake with it, simply substitute flour back in place of the meal when following my recipes.

Also, even though this recipe contains Greek yogurt and flax seed, two healthier options, it is still loaded in calories from the flour, sugar, and butter. Please, do not eat the whole cake! 1/12th of the cake contains around 410+calories. So just do what I do...bake it, eat one piece, then take the rest to work and have your coworkers eat the rest. Just don't tell the females how many calories are in it :)

Blueberry Lemon Muffins

After my husband got called out to plow snow tonight, I got an itching to do a little baking because my attempt to spend the day scrapbooking failed when I ran out of glue tape about an hour into it. I'm a better baker than scrapbooker, so in the end it all worked out for me. The recipe I came up with is an absolute winner and is even on the healthier side! Here they are, Blueberry Lemon Muffins...can I hear a YUM!

For this recipe I wanted to make some larger muffins as well as some regular sized ones. You can see the difference in the picture above. I will be sure to post separate baking times so you can do either way confidently.

Ingredients:
*2 eggs
*1 cup sugar
*1/2 cup oil (I used vegetable oil)
*1/2 tsp almond extract
*1 tsp lemon extract
*1-6 oz container Greek lemon yogurt (I used Chobani)
*1 2/3 cup flour
*1/3 cup ground flax seed meal
*1/2 tsp salt
*1/2 tsp baking soda
*1 1/2 cups blueberries (I used frozen, simply because they are easier to handle)

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin tins or line with baking cups.
*Mix eggs together and gradually add in sugar, then oil.
*Mix in the almond and lemon extracts.
*In a separate bowl, combine flour, ground flax seed, salt, and baking soda.
*Alternate adding small amounts of dry ingredients and greek yogurt to the egg mixture until all of it is combined together.
*Carefully fold in blueberries. Batter will be thick and somewhat sticky.
*Spoon batter into muffin tins, filling them roughly 2/3 full. If you want larger muffins, but don't have a large muffin tin, you can use 4 oz ramekins, which is what I used.
*Bake regular sized muffins in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from center. Bake large muffins or ramekins for 35-40 minutes; check with toothpick.

The above picture is a close up of the large muffins I made. The tops got a super nice golden color, but the rest of the muffin is so moist and delicious. I like the larger muffins because of these two reasons alone. You can also make mini sized muffins; just reduce bake time. I would begin checking them after 10 minutes.

These muffins are seriously so easy and so delicous. I've never tried Greek yogurt until tonight, and I actually really like the lemon kind I used in this recipe. The lemon flavor comes out so nicely and pairs wonderfully with the blueberries and almond extract. I didn't start using almond extract until a couple months ago, and I have to say, it's my new favorite ingredient. It makes almost everything I bake taste better! I've been trying to cook healthier, so this was my first attempt to actually BAKE something that was a little healthier as well. By using the Greek yogurt and substituting some of the flour with ground flax seed, I think I accomplished my goal. I hope you give this recipe a try; happy baking :)

Peaches 'N Cream Bars

I love being able to make simple and delicious recipes that take little effort whatsoever. This morning I made these Peaches 'N Cream Bars, and they were scrumptious!

Ingredients:
*1 package dry cake mix, I used yellow, but could use white or french vanilla
*1/3 cup butter, softened
*2 large eggs, divided
*29 oz canned peaches, drained and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
*1 8oz package of cream cheese, softened
*1/3 cup sugar
*1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 9x13 pan with cooking spray (I used a glass pan).
*Mix cake mix, softened butter, and 1 egg in mixing bowl until crumbly. Reserve 1 1/2 cups for the topping. Press remaing cake mix into bottom of greased pan. Bake for 10 minutes.
*Spoon cut peaches onto semi-baked crust.
*In mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, 1 egg, and vanilla until creamy. Pour over peaches.
*Sprinkle reserved cake mix over the top of the peaches and cream.
*Bake in over for 30 minutes.
*Allow to cool for an hour before serving. Refrigerate leftovers.

This would taste superb with some vanilla ice cream, so I'm kind of bummed that I don't have any in my freezer! This is a fool proof recipe that even kitchen 'dummies' can make. Happy Baking, All!

Lazy Day Cookie Bars

I was craving something sweet today, but had absolutely no ambition to bake anything. Then I remembered that a while back I had seen a recipe for super easy cookie bars that virtually take no effort at all. I knew it was perfect for the mood that I was in, so I got right to it.

These are probably one of the easiest bars I have ever made. It took me a matter of a couple minutes to throw the ingredients together and the oven did the rest. Here's the recipe for these fool proof, Lazy Day Cookie Bars!

Ingredients:
*1 box yellow cake mix
*2 large eggs
*5 tablespoons melted butter
*1-2 cups mini M&Ms (can use whatever you want, choc chips, nuts, whatever you have on hand)

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 8x8 pan with cooking spray.
*Dump cake mix in mixing bowl.
*Add eggs and mix together on low.
*Add melted butter and contiue to mix until the three ingredients are incorporated together.
*Stir in mini M&Ms.
*Scoop mix into greased pan and flatten out evenly.
*Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

I baked mine for 25 minutes and after allowing them to cool and cutting into them, I realized they could have been baked for a smidge longer. I checked mine with a toothpick and it came out clean, but they were a tad doughy yet. Just and FYI :)

Happy Lazy Day Baking!!

Raspberry Pie Bars



I give you Raspberry Pie Bars. I have to admit, I did not come up with this recipe on my own. The original recipe was called Blueberry Pie Bars, and they were a-maz-ing! I tweaked the recipe a bit to make it easier for me and just because I thought they were better this way. This time around I wanted to try a fruit other than blueberries since I already knew those rocked. I chose raspberries because I thought they would work much in the same way as the blueberries, but would make the bars a bit sweeter. So, keep in mind that if you don't like raspberries but you do like blueberries, just swap the two ingredients. These bars are so good! The raspberries add a tartness that the blueberries didn't. I would also like to try this recipe with cherries and peaches, but I'll save that for another day :)

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/8 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter (softened)

Filling:

2 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup sour cream (can be lite)

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp almond extract

12 oz frozen raspberries

Directions:

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 pan with cooking spray and set aside.

*For the crust, add flour, sugar, and salt to mixing bowl and mix together briefly.

*Cut butter into tablespoons and add to mixer. If butter is chilled, after cutting, microwave for 15 seconds to soften. Mix together until butter is cut down and incorporated well with the flour mixture, about a minute. Crust should be crumbly.

*Set 1 1/2 cups of the crust mixture aside for the topping. Press the remainder into the bottom of the greased 8x8 pan.

*For the filling, whisk the eggs using mixer and whisk attachment.

*Add sugar, sour cream, flour, and almond extract.

*Remove bowl from mixer and gently fold in raspberries.

*Pour filling over crust, then sprinkle reserved crust evenly over the top of the filling.

*Bake between 1 hour-1 hour 15 minutes. Allow them to cool for about an hour so they can fully set up before digging in.

Cooking times may vary depending on your oven. You may want to start checking them after 45 minutes or so just to get a feel for where they are at. When the bars are golden brown and no longer jiggle in the middle, they are done.



Creamy Garlic Baked Potato Soup

My husband has been bothering me for literally months to make him potato soup. I, of course, kept saying that I'd eventually get around to doing it. Well, today was the day that seemed like the right time to get creative in the kitchen. I did not follow a recipe for this version of potato soup; I simply threw some of my favorite ingredients together and what I came up with was very, very YUMMY! I give you Creamy Garlic Baked Potato Soup.

Ingredients:
*7 medium potatoes
*9 slices thick cut bacon
*2 tbl butter
*3 garlic cloves (use less if you aren't a huge garlic fan, 2 cloves will work)
*3 tbl flour
*5 cups milk (I used 2%)
*24 oz velveeta cheese (3/4 a box)
*1/3 cup sour cream
*4 tsp cream flavored soup base (optional)
*Parsley
*1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Directions:
*Scrub potatoes and wrap in tin foil. Bake in 425 degree oven for about an hour. After baked, unwrap tin foil and set aside to cool. It helps to cut them in half also.
*Fry bacon in pan and let drain on a paper towel.
*Cut up cheese in 1 inch cubes and set aside.
*Melt butter in large pot on medium heat. Grate garlic cloves into the butter and cook for about a minute. *Turn heat down to medium low after that.
*Add 1 tbl flour and 1/4 cup milk to butter and garlic and whisk together.
*Slowly add in velveeta cheese and the remaining 4 1/4 cups of milk. I alternate, allowing time to melt the cheese and heat the milk. Be sure not to burn the cheese or milk by heating slowly and stirring periodically.
*When the cheese is melted, whisk in the cream flavored soup base and additional 2 tbl flour. It may be lumpy for awhile, but will eventually break down.
*Whisk in the sour cream to the mixture.
*Cut up the potatoes into chunks. I like to leave the skins on some of my potatoes, but remove from at least half of them because the skins make it harder to cut them. It's okay if some of the potatoes fall apart. Once you have them cut up, add them to the soup (which should be creamy by this point, but not real thick) and carefully stir.
*Cut up bacon into small piece. I use scissors because thick cut bacon is harder to crumble. Add this to the soup as well. Save some aside if you want to use as a garnish.
*Add some parsley just for looks basically.
*Allow the soup to cook on low for a good 20 minutes so the flavors can come together.
*When serving, add some cheddar cheese to the top and some bacon pieces.

Soup is chunkier than it looks, but it is hard to get a great picture.

Now, you can also add onion to your soup, but since neither my husband nor I care for them, I skipped putting them in the recipe. If I did like them I would use them as follows: Chop up red onion into small pieces. Add to melted butter in beginning of process and cook down with the grated garlic. I would also use chives as a garnish and for color.

Hope you like my soup and give it a try next time there's cold weather!