Top 5 Cooking Epiphanies, 2010 Version

5.  In my kitchen, cookbooks just take up space (don’t shoot me)!  I rarely use them and prefer tried and true recipes from friends or highly rated recipes at Allrecipes.com.  Now that I realize that, I’ll stop carting them around the globe! 

 

Here are a few of my favorites from All Recipes: JP’s Big Daddy Biscuits, Jay’s Signature Pizza Crust, Baked Teriyaki Chicken, Rhubarb Strawberry Jam (my kingdom for some rhubarb right about now!) and One Bowl Chocolate Cake.

Bottom Line: I stick with the tried and true and that is ok!

4.  Grating an onion doesn’t make you cry like chopping one does.  I am also less likely to injure myself with a grater than I am with a knife.  :) Not to mention the fact that my kids and onion hating brother-in-law are less likely to notice onions in this form!

Bottom Line: Am I the last person on the planet to figure this out??

3.  I can make it!  Whether it is rolling out a flaky pie crust, frying up some down home chicken or making Crispy and Creamy Donuts, it’s possible.  To me those foods seemed complicated and like they took special skill, but I finally just tried them!  Sure I’m not famous for any of these things (yet, lol) but but no one is complaining!   

Bottom Line: No more saying, “I don’t know how to make that!”  Just give yourself plenty of time and try it!

photo credit

2.  General Tsao’s Chicken made at home tastes JUST as good as the restaurant!  My husband and every single person I have made it for wholeheartedly agree!

Bottom Line: You want the recipe, right?

1.  Cooking is holy work!  My new mantra is “I don’t feed bodies, I feed souls!” and I think I’m going to paint that on the wall of my kitchen for those times when I forget that the heart of my work in the kitchen is NURTURING and LOVING my precious family and friends! 

Bottom Line: If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some souls to feed!

What have you learned about cooking in 2010?  I’d love to hear! 

Bakery Sugar Cookies

Living in the tropics, I gave up on making sugar cookies. By the time I got the chilled dough rolled out, it was already a soft disaster. So needless to say, I was very excited about being able to do cut out cookies with Darling Little Redhead(DLR) this year!


Just a little quality assurance goin' on here!

DLR only decorates cookies "Mountain Style". If you'd like to try it, simply pile up sprinkles carefully and painstakingly until you have a mountain. Additionally, please assure that very little, if any, frosting shows through your decorations. :)

My Mom used to work at the local bakery when I was a girl. Unfortunately, the bakery has been replaced by a Subway. Love Subway, miss the nostalgia of the town bakery (although I hear a group of men still gathers to drink coffee there in the mornings...gotta love small towns). But I digress.

One of the hardworking ladies who ran the bakery is a dear family friend. She used to let my sisters and I sneak to the back and help sometimes (hey, maybe that's where my love of baking began?). She shared the recipe with me as part of our wedding gift. It's tooooo-licious (as my nephew would say)!

Bakery Sugar Cookies
1 1/2 C. Powdered Sugar
1 C. Margarine (softened)
1 Egg
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 1/2 C. Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Cream of Tarter
Mix. Chill. Roll out and cut. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Yield 2-3 dozen cookies.

Double Chocolate Treats

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE TREATS

Super soft, perfectly crinkled and loaded with chocolate chips. They're "toolicious", as my three year old nephew would say!

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE TREATS
Ingredients:
1 cup butter (no substitutes), softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 1 T cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups chocolate chips
Additional sugar

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then, beat in corn syrup and vanilla.
Next combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in separate bowl; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
Roll dough into 1-1/2 inch balls then roll them in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks. Yield: 5-6 dozen.

These cookies are actually better the next day than they are fresh from the oven. Hope you'll give them a whirl! If you do, I'd LOVE it if you come back and let me know what you think! :)