Chocolate Chip Cookies

In high school after our hockey games I would bring these cookies for our team, we never won a game & really were the worst team you can possibly imagine. D always came back for more cookies, he kept eating them, I kept baking them and eventually kept him too.

Now I'm not saying these cookies will get you a husband, but...

This recipe is really my go to for any event - from stress baking to potlucks to surprise company, nothing is as sweet & welcoming as homemade cookies. They are like the little black dress of desserts if you will; a classic & a guaranteed win.

The recipe is simple, and here it is:
3/4 C Sugar
3/4 C Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1-1/2 TSP Vanilla
1 C Butter Flavored Crisco (you can use butter instead)

2-1/4 C Flour
1/2 TSP Salt
1 TSP Baking Soda
1 C Ground Oats - Regular or Quick Oats

2 C Chocolate Chips

Ah the goods. Preheat the oven to 375.

Put the sugars, vanilla, eggs & Crisco into a bowl.

Mix.

Put the oats in a blender and crush them. They should look like this. The ground up oats are what keep these cookies from being flat, this is my "secret" ingredient (if you can call it that).

Now mix the flour, salt, baking soda & ground up oats.

Some people use a separate bowl for the wet & dry ingredients, I need less dishes in my life so I don't do that noise. 

Mix all the ingredients together.

Add the chocolate chips. 

Mix it all up and drop globs of cookie dough onto your baking sheets (I use air bake sheets), don't roll the cookies, it's a waste of your precious youth.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until they look like this:

They should look a little gooshy in the middle. Let them sit on the pan for about ten minutes before moving them to a serving platter.

Here they are!

Happy baking (& eating too!)
~D&H

Bringing back the casserole!

To help prepare for our new addition, I wanted to create a few dishes that I could freeze & bake later. A great casserole seemed like the way to go. Now we've all had our bad experiences with casseroles, believe me I've been there, the last one I had was in the 90s and involved tuna (ew!), but this is not that kind of casserole.

I also had a few random items in my cabinets & fridge that I wanted to get rid of, like leftover blah salsa from a party. So this dish is the result of that - kitchen cleaning & nesting.

The first recipe today is for the Sopa de Arroz, or Mexican rice. This is how I make it and on the scale of authentic, it's not. It's just easy and good. The next recipe is for enchilada sauce made from salsa that I wanted to get rid of, turned out delicious! The last recipe is for the actual casserole. Casseroles are forgiving like soup so just take out the ingredients that you, your spouse or kiddos don't like and add ones they do. Okay, here we go!

For the rice:
2 C of white rice
2 TBSP Caldo de Tomate (think of it as tomato boullion)
2 TBSP Olive Oil
~4 C of water

Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the rice, stir the rice to coat with oil.

Brown the rice. BTW, you can't skip this part.

Add the water and tomato flavoring and bring the mixture to a boil.

Once boiling, give it a good stir, cover it, reduce heat to low and let it cook ~20 minutes. Confident cooks will just leave it the entire time....I'll typically check the rice once and give it a stir to make sure there is enough water because dry rice is nasty. I typically use about half a cup more of water per serving than the rice package says to.

Done.

Now for the enchilada
sauce:
Salsa
1 TSP ground cumin
1 TSP Paprika
1 TSP Cayenne Pepper
2 TSP Chicken boullion
Water

Dump equal parts water and salsa into a saucepan on medium low heat. I used two cups (ish) of each.  Add all the spices. 

Use a whisk to mix. Allow the mix to come to a gentle boil. Stop and smell your kitchen, inhale...exhale. Ahhhh.

Okay, that is done. 

For the casserole:

10-12 tortillas

1 can of beans (any kind) 

1 can of corn 

1 can of olives 

3 cups mozzarella cheese 

Mexican rice

Enchilada sauce 

Heat the oven to 375.

I used a round (12 inch?) dish for my casserole. Start with 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce in the bottom of the dish. Place three tortillas around the bottom of the dish for structural integrity and sprinkle about a cup of the rice on top.

Now add about half of each of the remaining ingredients and cover with cheese.

Pour a cup of the enchilada sauce on top. Place three more tortillas in the pan and repeat the previous steps. I only did two fat layers on mine since my pan isn't that deep. For the top layer layer three tortillas around the top of the casserole and add about 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce. 

Cover with foil, place on a cookie sheet (so nothing spills over into the bottom of your oven!). 

Bake covered for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 15 minutes. Let it sit for 10 minutes before serving. 

Cut a huge slice & top with sour cream. Enjoy! 

The casserole is back guys! 

Happy cooking! 

~D & H