Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

We recently found out our son is allergic to eggs. Luckily it isn't severe, but we're hoping that if we avoid eggs then he will outgrow his allergy, so there are no more eggs in my fridge. For his 1st birthday he got a Vegan birthday cake because I couldn't find any mixes without eggs. For Vegan it was delicious, but for the rest of us it left something to be desired. :) I immediately started the hunt for a good egg-free cookbook that was not vegan (I like to think the milk and butter will help with the flavor if it's egg-free). I've been happy with my "Bakin Without Eggs" book (I got a great deal on Half.com), but I've really missed my favorite Chocolate Chocolate Chip recipe. When I was a teenager my friend and I made these and I've been getting rave reviews ever since. This morning I decided to take a stab at modifying the recipe and couldn't wait to post my results!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies (egg free)
(Makes about 4 dozen)
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk (I add this as needed to keep dough moist)
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup cocoa
4 cups flour (this make a really thick cookie dough so you may need to reduce this if mixing by hand)
2 cups chocolate chips (the original recipe called for peanut butter chips)
See directions below.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies (the traditional version)
(Makes about 4 dozen)
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup cocoa
4 cups flour (this make a really thick cookie dough so you may need to reduce this if mixing by hand)
2 cups chocolate chips (the original recipe called for peanut butter chips)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar, then add milk. Add the rest of ingredients in order. Bake 12 minutes.


I was so proud of my results! This was definitely my best egg-free creation yet! They were more crispy than I expected, but next time I'm going to try this with applesauce instead of butter (and I'll probably need to reduce the milk) and then they will be nice and chewy. I even took a picture:

Good Cholesterol Salad

We have found that my husband's cholesterol levels are very influenced by what he eats (which is nice because it doesn't require medicine to keep his levels healthy, but does require us to be more conscientious about what we eat). He got his "bad cholesterol" down by eating healthy and eating lots of grapefruit (but be careful about doing this if you're on cholesterol medication - it could cause serious side effects so read your warnings from the pharmacy), but then his "good cholesterol" levels were too low so we added this salad to our diet. I am pleased to say I came up with this all on my own (and it did the trick for his cholesterol levels)! (And I'm happily ignorant of my cholesterol levels, but I'm sure this helps me too!)

Jamie's Good Cholesterol Salad

Romaine lettuce (my favorite, but I'm sure any kind will do)
1 cup chopped Walnuts (walnuts are high in good cholesterol, but also high in fat so be careful)
1 avocado, chopped up (again, high in good cholesterol but also high in fat)
1 grapefruit (helps lower cholesterol)
Honey

1) Toast walnuts by baking them at 375 for about 8-10 minutes, stirring once and keeping a careful eye on them so they don't burn. Toasting them really brings out the flavor.

2) I slice my grapefruit in half and section it, spooning out each section. Then I squeeze the grapefruit to add the juice to the fruit sections. (Once we peeled the grapefruit and then sliced it and it was super sour, so I'd avoid that method!)

3) We each make our own salad, adding our preferred amount of toppings and then drizzling with honey to help with the sour taste of the grapefruit. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Soup

I've been looking for new recipes, especially focusing on low-cost recipes. Since this doesn't have any meat it definitely fits the bill! I would serve it with a hearty bread on a cold day.

1 3/4 pounds sweet potatoes (about 2 medium potatoes)
1 small parsnip
1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Salt to taste
6 cups low-sodium broth (I used chicken, but vegetable would probably be better if I had some)
3 Tbsp apple juice concentrate
cinnamon, cloves, and salt to taste

Preheat oven to 375 F. Peel and cut potatoes into 1 inch cubes. Peel and cut parsnip into slightly smaller pieces (I found it took longer to bake than the sweet potato and hopefully this will help compensate). On a baking sheet, toss the sweet potatoes with the parsnip, garlic, olive oil, and salt. Bake for 45 minutes or until tender, stirring once.

I make my own chicken broth from bouillon (it's so expensive canned at the store!) so I boiled the water in a pot large enough for the final soup so I could reuse the pot. Often in soups I reduce the amount of bouillon so it isn't too strong, but since I used a reduced sodium broth 6 cups was just right.

In a blender, puree half of the vegetables with 2-3 cups of stock. (I poured my remaining broth into a large measuring cup to free up my pot.) Pour puree into the pot and puree the remaining vegetables with broth. Add the apple juice, cinnamon, cloves, and salt and heat through.

Changes I made to the original recipe: I don't have apple cider on hand, so I used apple juice, cinnamon, and cloves. I would decrease the garlic as it is very potent in such a large amount as she suggested (my husband suggested we better air out the house while it was baking!). I didn't have any green Tabasco sauce and wanted my soup my sweet than spicy. The parsnip gave this some spice and I didn't want it any more spicy than it already was.


I modified this recipe from Delish.com

Hamburger or Hot Dog Buns

I got this great recipe from my friend Brittney and I don't think I'll ever buy store bought buns again. (Okay, I'm sure I'll get desperate at some point when I need a ton, but I never want to buy them again.) She triples this and freezes the rest, but we don't have a lot of freezer space and my family prefers them fresh.

1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tsp yeast
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp oil (I always use olive oil, but I'm sure any kind is fine)
1 tsp salt
4 cups flour (I use bread flour, but all-purpose works fine too. You could also do up to half whole grain flour without needing to adjust the recipe.)

I just throw this in my bread machine on the "dough" setting (it's just a 1 1/2 pound machine, but since I don't cook the bread it can handle this large of a recipe). Then I shape them and cook them.

If you don't have a bread machine:
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the sugar and stir: in a few minutes it should start to foam (an easy trick to see if you have your water warm enough and your yeast is alive). Pour into a large bowl (I always use my mixer) and add other ingredients. Adjust flour amount so that dough clings to dough hook but is not too dry. Knead on low for 5 minutes. Cover and let raise until doubles, about one hour.

Shaping the buns:
Makes 12 hamburger buns or 8 (large) hotdog buns.
 I flour my hands and roll the hamburger buns into balls. For hotdog buns, be sure to make them very slender (I roll them like I would to make snakes with play-dough when I was a kid) because these rise very well. I try to make them the length of the sausages we're eating and this usually works well.
Allow to raise until they are the size you want, usually about an hour but sometimes I've found that they're rising so well (and getting so large) that I want to cook them sooner.

Bake at 400 for 12 to 14 minutes.

When I get store-bought buns and my meat (hamburger, sausage, whatever) is all gone I never want to eat the leftover bun, but not with these. And they are so easy!

Sonoran (thin) flour tortillas

I enjoyed my Texas Flour Tortillas, but wanted something thinner that was more like a traditional tortilla and found that these are called "Sonoran" tortillas (for the part of Mexico they are from). I searched for a recipe that did not use shortening or lard (there are some interesting ideas out there on how to make your own, more healthy lard!) and just decided to be brave and try something with oil and see what happened. It's essentially like the Texas Flour Tortillas, but water instead of milk and no baking powder so it won't raise.

Jamie's Sonoran Flour Tortillas (makes 12, so I usually 1 1/2 the recipe)
2 c. bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp oil
2/3 c. water

Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Mix the oil and water and then slowly add to the flour mixture. (Then the rest is like other tortillas.) Knead the dough for a few minutes to make sure it's all mixed together.

(Most recipes recommend you let the dough rest for 20 minutes or so here, but I'm not that patient so I skip this step.)
Divide the dough into 12 pieces, rolling them into balls. Cover with a damp paper towel and let rest for 10-90 minutes. (The more time you let it rest the more the dough softens up and makes it easier to roll out.)
Press the dough into tortillas (I use my tortilla press, but you can use a floured surface and rolling pin).
Cook in a skillet on medium heat (preheat your skillet for best results). When the dough starts to bubble up turn it and cook the other side (about 30 to 45 seconds on each side).  They taste best if you eat them when they're warm, but you can store them in the fridge for a few days and reheat them on the skillet or in the microwave (these reheat well) or wrap them tightly and store in the freezer (I use a gallon zip-lock bag).

A few things I've learned:
-Bread flour helps make thinner, tastier tortillas than all-purpose flour.
-Wheat flour really dries out this recipe so I prefer white flour (this is probably because my wheat flour is fairly coarse).
-You can reduce the oil to 2 Tbsp, but again it dries out the tortillas.

Texas Flour Tortillas

For Christmas I got a tortilla press and I've loved making home-made tortillas. I searched for a recipe that used oil instead of shortening and found this yummy one: http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2007/03/and-end-to-my-quest-flour-tortillas.html.

The tortillas really raise up and are more like a thick pita bread than the thin tortilla I expected. But they make for a delicious and filling breakfast burrito. I think sometime I might use them to make individual pizzas by covering them with toppings and cheese and baking them for 5-7 minutes.

I've adapted it for two reasons:
-I like large tortillas and the recipe didn't make very many.
-I found that it was too dry and needed more milk.

Texas Flour Tortillas (makes 16)
3 c. white flour
3 c. wheat flour
4 1/2 tsp (1 1/2 Tbsp) baking powder
2 1/4 tsp salt
6 tsp (2 Tbsp) oil
2 1/2 c. warm milk

Mix the dry ingredients together. Add the oil to the warm milk and slowly add to the flour mixture. Stir into a ball and knead for a few minutes. (Most recipes recommend you let the dough rest for 20 minutes or so here, but I'm not that patient and don't have that much time, so I skip this step.)
Divide the dough into 16 pieces, rolling them into balls. Cover with a damp paper towel and let rest for 10-30  minutes. (The more time you let it rest the more the dough softens up and makes it easier to roll out.)
Press the dough into tortillas (I use my tortilla press, but you can use a floured surface and rolling pin).
Cook in a skillet on medium heat (preheat your skillet for best results). When the dough starts to raise a bit turn it and cook the other side (about 45 seconds to one minute on each side). Because these are so thick they won't get big bubbles like thin tortillas, but keep an eye on them and it's pretty easy to figure out how long they need to cook. They taste best if you eat them when they're warm, but you can store them in the fridge for a few days and reheat them on the skillet or in the microwave (but they taste better fresh) or wrap them tightly and store in the freezer (I use a gallon zip-lock bag).

Workout Smoothie

(This is called a "Workout Smoothie" because it has some protein for the yogurt, unlike the other recipes.)

Ingredients:
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1-2 kiwi
2 cup fresh spinach
1 cup room temperature water
1/2 banana
1 cup collard

Directions: Place yogurt, water, banana, and kiwi in blender. Pulse and blend until smooth. Add greens and blend for one minute or until smooth.

This is my husband's favorite (probably because of the kiwi).

Variations: See Beginner's Smoothie.

***Warning: Do not gulp down a green smoothie! It will give you really bad indigestion because your body thinks you're just drinking a normal liquid. You need to "chew" (yes this sounds weird) it until it warms up and then swallow. Yes, it takes awhile to eat this, but think of all the health benefits you're getting (that you wouldn't have normally gotten.