He Doesn't Like Crispy Cookies

It took me about 23 years to discover my youngest son likes soft peanut butter cookies.  What?  How could he not like my mom's peanut butter cookie recipe, those nicely browned, crispy, fork crisscrossed gems of my childhood, of HIS childhood?  I think this makes him a little crazy in my book but I aim to please in the cookie department so I made some soft peanut butter monster cookies for him today. I like to bake more on days that I know I don't have to cook a meal.  Since he and his beautiful bride-to-be invited us over for dinner tonight I decided I would bake these cookies They both like soft cookies (a match made in cookie heaven I guess) and not much chocolate so these cookies seemed like a good option. What I really needed to do was get an opened half eaten bag of Valentine M&Ms out of my cupboard before I ate them all by myself.  That was actually the bigger motivation than being a thoughtful cookie baking mom.  They don't like chocolate nearly as much as I do so I left out the chocolate chips and added chopped cocoa covered almonds.  Those are an addiction as bad as chocolate!  I think they eat M&Ms, who doesn't eat those?

These turned out really well and taste good, truly peanut buttery taste and, yes, soft.  That being said, no recipe really compares to my mom's recipe for peanut butter cookies.  I will always love them best!  Anyone willing to share a batch of those with me?



Soft-Baked Monster Cookies 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup quick oats
• 3/4 cup M&Ms ( I used cheap after Valentine's Day ones)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips, coconut, raisins or chopped nuts

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper. .
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. I used a hand mixer for about 3 minutes.  Mix in the peanut butter, then the egg and finally the vanilla.  After scraping down the sides of the bowl, add the flour and baking soda slowly but don't over mix. Fold in the oats, M&Ms and chocolate chips or nuts, raisins or coconut.
3. Place rolled balls of 2 Tablespoons of dough onto parchment lined sheets.  This makes exactly 30 cookies.  Bake for 10 minutes ONLY!  I seriously questioned this because they don't look done at all but it works!  Press the cookies with a back of a spoon a little after they come out since they don't spread out much while in the oven. They will form some cracks on top when you do this. Cool on cookie sheet for 10 minutes before you transfer to cooling rack.

 

Soft-baked Monster Cookie recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction. http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/01/15/soft-baked-monster-cookies/

Who would have thought, a vegan restaurant/ brewery?

Over the weekend we attended the Northern Illinois Antique Association antique show in Love's Park, IL  My friend was one of the dealers and it is a nice show that I have attended before.  If you are interested in Midwest antiquing, food, travel or other interesting stuff you can follow her blog, Lady Antique Dealer . I didn't buy anything this go around but I will attend again next year not only for the show but to go to the restaurant we found for lunch.  Oh, how I wish it wasn't an hour away from where I live!  The good hubby actually found this spot online before we left.  I am pretty sure he first noticed it because it is a brewing company and not a regular chain restaurant.  The surprise was that it is a vegan restaurant.  We don't necessarily go out of our way to find vegan restaurants and I can only claim to be a part-time vegetarian anymore but a good vegan restaurant in our area is quite intriguing to find!  We had to try it.  NYC, where my son and daughter-in-law live, has great vegan restaurants that we go to when we visit.   I enjoy these restaurants immensely and though I like eating that way when we are there I can never maintain it myself.  I wish we had more options for this kind of restaurant where I live but since we don't I was very interested in trying this place.  We are so glad we did.

 

 

Pig Minds Brewing Co. was a great find.  I had a root beer since I am not really a beer drinker despite my Cheesehead background and the good husband had a beer called Blue Collar.....I think.  I don't know anything about beer so here ends the beer commentary.  It was really difficult to figure out what to eat because there wasn't one thing on the menu that I wouldn't have tried. There are burgers, wraps, pizza, salads and appetizers.  Everything made with great spices, sauces and dressings. There are many 'classics' that are vegan versions.  I knew the Macho Nachos were high on the husband's list and I got The Magic Mushroom sandwich.  I know we didn't venture too far into the unknown here but we had already made up our minds that we would go back so we played it 'safe' this first visit.  If you are looking for a vegan restaurant in the Rockford area, I recommend it.

 

 
 

Not my mom's banana bread

Banana bread to me has always just been banana bread..... until yesterday!  As always, I pick up a few bananas thinking I will actually eat them.  I eat one and then, I wait, I watch until the others turn that nice mottled color which means they are perfect for baking.  When my oldest son was in college I remember saying that it always seemed strange that there were always two uneaten bananas left on the counter.  He just laughed and said he was surprised that I had not already figured out why, thinking it was pretty obvious that when they left two I would always make banana bread or, better yet, my grandmother's banana cake with buttercream frosting.  Mystery solved.  Now that my kids have all moved away I still buy bananas even though I don't even really like them.  I guess I am secretly wishing for something to get baked.  My old stand-by banana bread recipe seemed a bit boring to me yesterday and I knew I had an excess of coconut because I had inadvertently purchased two bags instead of one on my last granola ingredients run.  I grabbed a bag before I started talking to someone in the grocery aisle and then grabbed the second when I finished talking.  Short memory.  I had some baking chocolate that needed to be used so I was hoping to find a banana/coconut/chocolate bread recipe.   Now, I am wishing my sons were home to share this one because I know I could eat it all by myself.

I made a few changes to the recipe which did not compromise it.  I only had 2 bananas(why did I bother to eat one?) so I used one 4 oz. peach/mango applesauce and I only had 2.5 oz. of chocolate instead of the 4.  Olive oil option was used and I didn't have the extra fine shred coconut for the top so I used regular and pressed it in a little because I thought it might burn, it didn't.  I had a difficult time 'swirling' the batters together because of the consistency so mine ended up more like two slightly swirled layers but again that didn't really matter.  Next time I might try putting the spoonful's of chocolate batter in the middle.  My oven runs hot and I have a dark finish bread pan so I baked mine at 325 degrees for 65 minutes.  You know your oven better than I do so adjust accordingly! 

 

 

 

Banana-Coconut Chocolate Swirl Bread
Makes one loaf

1 1/2	cups flour
1 1/2	teaspoons baking soda
1/2	teaspoon salt
1/2	cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2	tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil
1/2	cup granulated sugar
1/2	cup dark brown sugar
2	eggs
1	teaspoon vanilla extract
3	or 4 ripe bananas, mashed
4	ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
1	cup unsweetened small shred coconut
	Extra small shred coconut (for sprinkling)

1. Set the oven at 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.

2. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt to blend them; set aside.

3. In an electric mixer, cream the butter, coconut oil or olive oil, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until the mixture is light in color. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and bananas.

4. With the mixer set on its lowest speed, beat in the flour mixture until just blended.

5. Remove 1 cup of the batter and transfer to a small bowl. Stir the melted chocolate into the smaller amount of batter until well-blended. Stir the coconut into the larger amount of batter.

6. Pour the coconut batter into the loaf pan. Add the chocolate batter by spoonfuls on top. With a blunt knife, swirl the two batters together, making sure to cut all the way down to the bottom of the loaf pan. Sprinkle the top of the batter with extra coconut.

7. Bake the bread for 60 to 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes away with just a few small crumbs. Cool the bread on a rack for 20 minutes. Turn it out and set it right side up on the rack to cool.

 

 

 

Everything goes better with a mug of Earl Grey Crème tea!


Adapted from “Desserted: Recipes and Tales From an Island Chocolatier’’  by Kate Shaffer

Visit her blog, Black Dinah Chocolatiers  Another reason to love Maine besides it's blueberry pie and lobster rolls.

My Farmer's Market Dream

While I was lunching with a few friends this week the subject of where everyone does their grocery shopping came up.  We chatted a bit about which store has the cheaper prices(and do we really want to shop there even if it is cheaper?), which has the best produce and which bakery or store around us has good bread(that would be none!).  Suggestion....bake your own! We all have our preferences, of course, but I came away thinking I don't like any of my choices.  Things would be so much different if I could be shopping at the charming Old City Market in Saint John(never St. John), New Brunswick, Canada.  While on a fall colors trip to New England and Canada last year it was suggested in the literature to visit this market which is Canada's oldest continuing farmer's market.  It was a chilly, wet day so we had a good excuse to do something inside.  There is a fabulous Pedway system with escalators and elevators to get you to the market since the streets are especially steep when walking from the port.  This was a market I would love to shop in, it was just filled with good smells and fabulous fruits, vegetables, meat and baked goods.  It was rather sad that I wasn't buying anything to cook with!  I was absolutely enthralled by this great market.

 

 

 

 
 

During the American Revolution Saint John became a prolific shipbuilding center and the architecture of this 1876 building reflects this history. You can look up to the bright white  rafters and see that they are shaped like an inverted ship's hull.  My Viking heritage approves of this kind of architecture.  You would never have imagined it was such a dark gloomy day when it was so beautifully bright and open while we browsed through the aisles.  I guess I will be back to my suburban shopping experience tomorrow but today I will remember what a market should really look like and look forward to this summer's farmers' markets around here though they pale in comparison.

 

 

 

 

Don't cry over burned granola

 I decided that on a day like today with a layer of ice under a layer of snow I should just forget about going anywhere and make a nice batch of granola to fill up my nearly empty jar.  My decision to stay at home wasn't really my decision since the doors on my car are iced shut from sitting on the driveway.  It really wasn't worth my time and energy to deice just to go somewhere I really didn't need to be.  An unfortunate situation with a broken garage door spring and a ill-timed decision to replace the door when we get the spring fixed has plunked my car in the driveway for over a week.  I am a garage girl and my car is a garage car.  Call us spoiled.  We have had a perfectly precipitation free winter until the last couple of weeks.  In the last week we have had a little bit of everything including rain, sleet and snow.  My pampered car is also getting pelted with all the hundreds of mushy crab apples that fall off the tree when it rains and snows.  That tree is so very pretty for it's one glorious week or two in the spring that I can't cut it down.  On the upside, it is extremely pretty today. After a bit of shoveling and a somewhat treacherous walk around the neighborhood, I settled in to make granola.

 

 

All my ingredients ready except for the oat bran I forgot to buy yesterday while I was shopping from memory. I can hardly remember my telephone number let alone the list that I left on my kitchen counter.  Combine shopping without a  list, running through pouring February rain, a hello to an old acquaintance that turns into a half hour chat and trying to stay out of sight from an old neighbor and you forget things.  Did I mention I was starving.  Who can think when starving?

Going into the oven it looked great, I stirred it at 10 minutes, timed it for 10 more and walked away until I saw smoke.  I have never had granola cook that fast!  One pan was fine, the other not so lucky!  I got to open the window and enjoy the nice crisp winter air as my granola was burning!

 

 

Wait...I see a squirrel, I am going to throw some of this burned stuff his way to see if he will eat it.  After I scared the bejeebers out of him it appears he likes it.  I will go fill up "his bird feeder" with it later since he is out of birdseed and won't see any more now that I have a squirrel resistant bird feeder that actually works.  Sorry to say I missed getting a picture of him looking in the patio door begging for more!

Now that Kylie is staking out the door, Charlie and Charlene are contently eating the burned granola.  Is it any wonder I have the fattest squirrels in the city?  Oh Oh, Charlie appears to have vanished.  Has he gone off to invite friends to afternoon snack time?

This is turning into a comedy around here with Maiya trying to get the squirrel that is trying to get to more granola through the window.  I just missed a picture of it looking in the kitchen window like she can smell it! Cat lovers will appreciate this little cat & squirrel show.



 

 

Squirrels are gone, cats are on high alert and I am ready to share my burned granola recipe.  The only thing I was really planning to do today before I was interrupted by the show.

 

 

This recipe is now considered mine since I changed an ingredient and half of it burned.  The ingredient I changed did not make it burn but I deserve to have this named after me since I wasted so many ingredients.  Forever, it will be known as Beth's Burnt Granola.   Go ahead and make it nicely golden brown if you are inclined to eat it.  Mine is still going to be called Burnt.  Maybe I will try a Burnt Bundt Cake when the smoke clears out enough to see a recipe again.

My sister made this recipe and sent it to her daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter.  By all accounts hers was good enough to box and sell commercially.  Mine could be bagged for bird and squirrel food!  I bet it is hard to imagine I can actually cook, but I can.  I will post another granola recipe that is really good but not today.  The smoke is still clearing. and the squirrel just unlocked the back door.

 

 

BETH'S BURNT GRANOLA

Feeds 15 people or about 100 squirrels

4 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup wheat germ
3/4 cup oat bran(I forget this at the store and used Quaker multi-grain hot cereal stuff)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 cup and 2 Tablespoons honey
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries(I used a combo of dried cherries and berries)

DIRECTIONS

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment or aluminum foil.
2.  Combine oats through pecans in large bowl.  Combine salt through vanilla in saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, then pour over the dry ingredients and stir to coat. Spread on baking sheets.
3. Bake in preheated oven until crispy and toasted(or burned), ABOUT 20 minutes gave me burned!  Stir halfway through and don't wait until smoke is billowing before you check it!
4. Cool, add dried fruit and store in airtight container or throw it out to the squirrels, your choice.

Big Brother

It was twelve years ago that my brother died unexpectedly.  I still remember getting the tearful call from my sister as if it was yesterday.  A big brother is a wonderful thing, at least it is for me.  He was a big brother in every sense of the word.  Older by ten years and always towering above me and  larger than life.  I idolized him not always for what he did but often for what he didn't do.  He didn't shout at me, he didn't pummel me and he didn't make me feel like a dumb little sister.  I had five older sisters that could do that!  He tickled me and teased me but he was never mean and it was always in fun.

I can't say he never made me cry.  Though his intentions were good there was the time he made me cry for a week.  He loved to tinker, to disassemble without reassembling and he loved to PAINT!  When he was in high school he worked on an old car and decided to paint it a bright royal blue, a nice color for a boy I thought.  In our one car attached garage draped with plastic sheeting, the painting commenced.  My mother was thrilled about the whole process, no doubt, with the fumes and the mess.  I was too little at the time to think it was anything but exciting.   He finished the car but had extra paint.  Super!  He found more things to paint bright blue.  He started with the metal tool box, moved to an old metal stool and still had more paint.  He decided to paint my old beat up rusting tricycle blue.  Not just the frame, oh no, he painted everything blue, the handlebars, the tires, everything!  I hated this trike, really I did, it was one of those huge ones a 12 year old could have ridden. But it was ALL I had and now every inch of it was painted boy blue. I was devastated, my old bike looked stupid. Of course my poor big brother thought he was doing me a favor and couldn't understand why his surprise was making me sob.  I don't think I ever rode it again so I took a two-wheeler down the hill on the next street over before I was prepared to do it!  I didn't end up in Ina's fish pond so I guess it went well.  I wish I had that blue trike for my yard now but at the time I wanted it in the dump on the other side of town.  His heart was in the right place as it always was.

There are so many great stories about my brother. He was such a comical guy.  A favorite memory is the time he lived up to his 'big teddy bear' status!  My parents left us one night with the big kids being in charge of the little kids.  Kids from large families know how this arrangement turns out!  Dressed up in my mom's mink coat and lumbering around on all-fours growling and swiping his paws at his little sisters, he caused a bit of a ruckus. My sister, being older and supposedly wiser than me, decided to shoo him away with the kitchen broom handle.  Better yet, give him a whack with it!  He probably deserved it but the whacking ended up on the dining room light fixture rather than the bear.  The oldest sisters flew into action with the white school glue to fix the crack which my mother didn't notice until years later when the glue started turning yellow.  We kept good secrets in those days.

I missed my brother when he left for college even though it meant I would have a permanent place at the kitchen table instead of eating at the breadboard, the wonderful kind that pulled out from the kitchen cabinetry.  It was the same breadboard where the homemade bread was cut and where the dozens of homemade cookies cooled.  It is easy for me to remember how many cookies my brother could sneak in one swipe of his big hand and how my mom would chastise him but smile when she turned her back to him.  One of my older sisters didn't take as kindly to his cookie snatching and flung the wooden spoon still full of cookie dough at him as he left the kitchen.  Her aim wasn't perfect but the spoon stuck nicely to the wall.  I would love to see his mischievous cookie stealing smile again and hear him giggle.

I grew up believing he was my protector and that he would do anything for me.  He was and he did.  From moving me into my first apartments in college to being best man at my wedding, he stood by me.  He helped fill the void in my heart and life when our parents died.  I felt like he would always be there and then, one day, he wasn't.  Just like that and with no warning, life was different.  Life was better with him. One thing I know is that he loved me and I loved him and that will never change....ever.

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Come Back Soon

I know a new winter storm is brewing for tomorrow but right now the sun is shining, the ice and snow are melting and the birds are chattering.  It smells like Spring even though I know it isn't even close to arriving. Whenever I hear the trickling of water in the gutters and see the dripping from the icicles on the eaves I can't help but have thoughts of bulbs bursting, trees budding and robins nesting.  I love Spring, my favorite season.  Please come soon, I miss you.

National Cancer Day

Yesterday was National Cancer Day.  I imagine for a good portion of you a day like this is not popping up as a reminder on your smartphone or computer calendar. It isn't a day to make lunch plans to celebrate it or send a card to commemorate it.   National Cancer Day didn't come up on my phone  with All day written under it like Groundhog Day came up two days before!  Why didn't it display as National Cancer Day, All day, every day?  The article on National Cancer Day was the first thing to come into my line of bifocal sight as I starting looking at the online news highlights yesterday morning.  Taking cancer out of my everyday experience is almost impossible to do.  Of course I have the unrelenting physical reminders of what cancer has done to me and continues to do because of the medication I still take.  It isn't something I get a break from, a vacation from, ever.  Even when I try to forget it there is always some mention of cancer in the media or talk of it when people congregate.  There is always a new diagnosis, a new death or the hope of a new drug, a new treatment or "the cure".   Beautiful stories of strength, love and hope emerge and that is the part I like to focus on.

 

I considered writing a journal of my cancer journey as it was unfolding last year but quickly realized I didn't want to recount every minute of that kind of experience.   I would not have wanted to reread it and remember most of it and I knew most people would not have cared to read about incisions, chemotherapy and pain of body, heart and mind while reading their favorite blogs with their morning tea and toast!   Choosing to remember the good things, the many expressions of love and kindness from my family, friends and medical care givers is what I prefer to do.  I thought that a year out would give me greater perspective on how it really unfolded and I think that is proving to be true.

 

People can read about cancer on their own, I don't need to reiterate for you.  If you get anything out of National Cancer Day, get this, you can lessen your chances of cancer by maintaining a good weight, exercising and eating right!  If you are still smoking, your cigarette will be part of your fiber diet when I stuff it down your throat if I see you!  Continue to support individuals, foundations, institutions and charities that raise money, do research and provide services.  Send a card to someone you know who is fighting cancer.  Just send a card!  I cannot tell you how amazing that was to me.  Of course there are many things you can do but it really can be as simple as a card. 

 

National Cancer Day.  A day to remember but one I would welcome to forget.