Category Archives: Recipes

Snickerdoodle Came to Town

Posted on December 30, 2010 | Leave a comment

Who’s feeling extremely guilty for not having cooked anything for too long?

Me. That’s who.

I thought I was going to make chocolate chip cookies (my favorite), but snickerdoodles came trumping along. It’s wifey’s favorite.

So, with a snickerdoodles recipe search completed, along with some overall planning including some tweaking of the recipe, away we go.

The ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 1/3 cup butter, softened
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 2 tablespoons white sugar and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (for the eventual balls of dough to be rolled into)

The directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Combine white sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and eggs. Mix well.
  3. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
  4. Shape dough into 1 1/2 inch balls.
  5. Mix the 2 tablespoons white sugar and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; roll balls of dough in sugar/cinnamon mixture.
  6. Place dough balls onto ungreased baking sheets 2 inches apart.
  7. Bake 8 1/2 to 10 1/2 minutes or until set; remove immediately from baking sheets.
  8. All this makes about 24 cookies.

Sugar and then more sugar.

Some butter.

Vanilla extract and a couple of eggs.

Mix well.

And this becomes that.

Leaving the rest of the grunt work to my assistant. Adding some flour.

Stirring in the flour.

Bringing in the electric mixer.

White sugar. Ground cinnamon.

Rolling the dough. Focused and committed.

Impressive combination of technique and finesse.

Not so circular after rolling the balls of dough around in the sugar and cinnamon, but that’s okay.

And here’s how they came out.

The toddler thought they were all right.

I liked them a lot!

The first batch (a dozen balls) to go on the baking sheet went in the oven for 8 1/2 minutes. The second batch baked for 10 1/2 minutes.

I didn’t use quite as much butter and salt as most snickerdoodles recipes call for, but these snickerdoodles were perfect for us. The clean up was quick and easy.

Wifey liked the moist chewiness factor in the middle of the cookies from the first batch, whereas I preferred the the second batch that baked a bit longer. Yes, they tasted better the next day.

I’m so glad that I made these cookies, and I’m pumped to cook more.

Wifey has been constantly raving about these cookies. I’m so glad that she liked them.

Always Grateful,

~Hubby

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Posted in Desserts, Recipes

First Go at Basic Crepes

Posted on November 14, 2010 | 8 Comments

It’s been way too long since I’ve last cooked, which in my book means spending more than 10 minutes actually making a meal. Previous attempts to consistently cook didn’t last. I even tried to make guest posts on Wifey’s wellness blog to compel me to cook more. Making guest posts on Wifey’s blog was great, and I received a bunch of unexpected, positive feedback. Unfortunately, I stopped cooking (and consequently guest posting) this past spring after making only a lemony pasta dish and a breakfast burrito meal. Sad. Embarrassing.

But attending the wonderful FoodBuzz blogger festival last weekend and deciding to be more active on this blog have pumped me up. So last night, I looked up some crepe recipes and found a very simple, basic one from Allrecipes.com. I shared my plan with Wifey and we agreed to tweak the recipe a bit. And earlier this morning, I made crepes for the family.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 3/4 Tbsp. melted butter
  • 1 cup flour

Directions:

  1. Whisk together milk, water, eggs, salt, melted butter, and flour until smooth.
  2. Over medium heat, pour about 1/4 cup of batter into a lightly oiled frying pan while slowly moving the pan around in a circular motion to spread out batter evenly.
  3. Cook crepe for about 3 minutes until the bottom is lightly browned; Turn and cook the other side and then serve hot.
  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to make another crepe.

Whisking together milk, water, sugar, and eggs.

The toddler saw what I was doing and really, really wanted to help.

The toddler whisking as I add cooled down melted butter and then flour.

I’m working that frying pan. I was really enjoying cooking.

The toddler was eager to deliver the first crepe to Mommy.

We kept everything extremely simple. This is what the first crepe looked like.

The simple strawberry crepe was delicious.

Here’s what the second one looked like.

The pumpkin butter crepe. Can’t get any simpler than that.

The toddler liked the crepes, as well as Wifey and I. We’ll <ahem> I mean… I’ll be definitely making more of these crepes.

These crepes were very simple to make, and a great start to my goal of cooking consistently.

Wifey has been ranting and raving about these simple crepes throughout the day. And that certainly has made my day.

Always Grateful,

~Hubby

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Posted in Breakfast, Recipes

Quinoa, Wild Salmon, and Cucumber Salad

Posted on January 8, 2010 | 2 Comments

The cucumber salad has become quite the staple in many of our meals lately.

For a recent dinner wifey prepared, the cucumber salad certainly went well with quinoa and wild salmon. The salmon was marinated in a lemongrass ginger sauce courtesy of Whole Foods.

And the following is wifey’s recipe for the cucumber salad:

  • organic cucumbers
  • Greek Yogurt
  • dried drill
  • brown rice vinegar
  • salt and pepper

I wasn’t the biggest fan of cucumbers and most vegetables prior to meeting, and during the first several years of knowing, wifey. But I have now truly grown to love most veggies, which I know is a very good thing.

Always Grateful (for Wifey),

~Hubby

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Posted in Health, Lunch-Dinner, Recipes