Binder Summer Sales Chocolate Chip Fantasticos

Ingredients

• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1  brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Hardware:

• Ice cream scooper (#20 disher, to be exact)
• Parchment paper
• Baking sheets
• Mixer

Directions

Heat oven to 350/ 375 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning.   DO NOT OVER- BLEND INGREDIENTS !!!!!!

Pioneer Hardtack

Hardtack is an old-fashioned flatbread or sea biscuit that was popular with pioneers and sailors because it was lightweight, compact, tasty, and stored well. And it is just as delicious today and handy, too, for hiking, backpacking, or snacking. Here is a recipe for hardtack:

4 cups flour (white, whole wheat, graham, rye, barley, or any combination of flours you like)
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups buttermilk, yogurt, cream, or sweet milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 400° and measure into large bowl.
2. Mix well and form dough into a ball, then divide dough and roll out a small portion (about the size of a tennis ball) at a time.
3. Roll dough on lightly floured surface as thin as you can. The thinner you roll it, the better the hardtack will taste.
4. Sprinkle rolled-out dough lightly with salt if you wish, cut to any shape desired, and place pieces close together on greased cookie sheet.
5. Bake until edges begin to brown. Remove cookie sheet from oven, turn hardtack over, and bake until it is crisp and dry and lightly browned.
6. As soon as the hardtack is baked, put on rack to cool. Store hardtack in airtight container, and it will stay fresh as long as it is kept dry.
This pioneer hardtack is delicious served plain or with jam, peanut butter, cheese, meat spreads, or whatever you like. Try seasoning the crackers by adding onion powder, cheese, barbecue sauce, bacon bits, herbs, or spices to the dough.

What's this green thing?? Chayote! Amazing recipe.

This edible plant (aka christophine, chocho, merliton, Mexican squash) belongs to the same family than squashes, melons and cucumber. Also great on sandwiches... or eaten as celery sticks...
Ingredients:
2 chayotes .2 chicken breasts, 1 thick piece ham , 6 slices mozzarella cheese, 3 cloves garlic, creme, chipolte sauce.

• Boil 2 chayote's and 2 chicken breasts until tender,  45 minutes , remove chicken after 25 mins.
• Peel chayote, cut them in half, discarded seeds and cut in slices. Shred chicken.
• Blended some chipotle pepper (O.K. There are no Chiplote chili's in Utah, Buy the sauce and add to your level of heat..:)  with 1/2 cup heavy cream and 3 garlic cloves.
• Sauté 1/2 onion, 1 or slices of ham cut in 1 1/2" pieces, and 1 1/2 cup shredded chicken over olive oil. Added the chipotle mix. Season.
• Arranged in a baking dish alternately chayote,  mozzarella cheese slices and meat in layers.
• Baked for 25 minutes at 350° F.

Buen provecho!

Key Lime Pie, Sorta Thanks Thepioneerwoman.com

Key Lime Pie. Sorta.

Jun. 8, 2009
Strict Key Lime Adherents: Please look away. I haven’t got time for the pain.
Everyone else: Let’s make Key Lime Pie! Using regular limes! Because that’s all I have available in my small town! And I don’t live in Florida! So I can’t grow my own! Key limes!
I’m still calling it Key Lime Pie, though—no one can stop me. Not even you Strict Key Lime Adherents.
But I love ya anyway.
Before I proceed, I would like to state that I am currently obsessed with refrigerator pies: pies that require refrigeration (to facilitate setting) before serving. These pies often have a graham cracker or other cookie crust, which I think is at the basis of my current obsession. They’re just making my skirt fly up right now. Can’t explain why.
I chose Key Lime Pie for today’s pie recipe (I have a second one coming tomorrow) because I love the movie “Heartburn”. At the end of the movie, just after Meryl Streep’s character, a food writer named Rachel, discovers that Jack Nicholson’s character, a political columnist named Mark, has just spent their savings on a down payment for a new necklace for his mistress, a tall, leggy European named Thelma with whom he’d had an affair months earlier, Rachel bakes a Key Lime Pie with the sole intention of smashing it into Mark’s face at a dinner party later that night.
And she does it.
And frumpy, disheveled housewives everywhere CHEERED!
And then we got really dang depressed.
But that’s what pie is for: movie-induced depression.
By the way, are you aware the story of “Heartburn” is loosely based on the marriage between Norah Ephron and Carl Bernstein?
Anyway, that’s why I decided to make Key Lime Pie.

We’ve got to begin by making a good graham cracker crust. Put 18 graham crackers (that means the full rectangle) into a food processor.

Pulse until totally crumbled. You could also put the crackers into large Ziploc bags, hand them to your sons, and say “Have at ‘em, boys.” It’ll just take a minute or two.

Pour the crumbs into a bowl.

Then throw in a little sugar.

Or a lot, if that floats your boat.
It usually floats mine nicely.

Some butter. Regular, please. This concoction needs the salt.

Melt it in the microwave.

Then just drizzle the butter over the crumbs.



Stir the mixture with a fork.

It should be moist, but still very crumbly.

Pour the crumbs into a pie pan.

Using your fingers, press the crumbs gently so that they form a crust on the bottom and sides of the pan. Again, don’t expect the crumbs to stick together like glue; the crust should easily crumble if you mess with it too much.
Now just bake the crust in a 350-degree oven for about 5 minutes. This will toast it up a little bit and cause the crust to set.

Grab some limes. If you have Key Limes, yahoo! If you don’t, grab some of these regular peasants.

Now zest a couple of them. You’ll need a heaping tablespoon of zest.
And if you don’t have a microplane zester, please obtain one at your earliest convenience.
And when you do: run the zester over the lime—not the other way around.

Now halve and squeeze the puppies until you have 1/2 cup of juice.

Now dig around your fridge until you find two eggs. Heave a sigh of relief. Then scribble “eggs” on your grocery list.

Separate the eggs. You just need the yolks for this one.

Now, throw the lime juice and the lime zest into the bowl of your electric mixer.

Then add the egg yolks and beat immediately on high for one minute.

Turn off the mixer, then pour in 1 can of sweetened, condensed milk.
It’s good stuff. I promise you that.

Mix it on high until thick and smooth.

If the mixture looks like it needs more zest, add it right in!

When it’s all mixed, just pour it into the crust.



Oh, honey.

I love you so much.
Now bake it in the oven for about fifteen minutes, or until no longer jiggly.
Then remove it from the oven, allow it to cool for a little while, then stick it into the fridge to chill for at least an hour. A couple of hours is better. You just want it to be nice and chilled and firm and perfect.

Like this.
Oh, how I love Key Lime Pie Sorta.
Now, here’s my stance on Key Lime Pie Sorta: it needs sweetened whipped cream. It could be that I’m overly sensitive to tart flavors and I need the whipped cream to balance it out. Or it could be that I just look for justification for putting more cream into my diet.
Either way, whipped cream makes it better.
And here’s how you make it:

Pour about a cup of cold, heavy cream into the (clean) bowl of the mixer. Then add in a healthy tablespoon or two of sugar. You can also add a little vanilla, but we don’t really need it here.

Then just beat it on high speed…

Until it’s very stiff. Perfect!

Now comes the fun part.



Mmmm. You can see that the crust is rather thick in relation to the filling. This is by design; as much as I love the creamy filling, I do find it pretty rich. With the ample crust and whipped cream on top, it turns out to be a really balanced piece of pie…and that lime flavor still really bursts through.

A little extra zest on top totally seals the deal.

Oh, man. I’m so ready for the next five (okay, three) minutes to happen.

It’s…it’s…it’s happening.

It happened.
And now it can happen to you!

Key Lime Pie. Sorta.

 

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Cook Time: 1 Hour

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 36

Ingredients

• Crust
• 18 whole Graham Crackers (the 4-section Large Pieces)
• ⅓ cups Sugar
• ⅓ cups Butter, Melted
• _____
• Filling *
• 1 Tablespoon (heaping) Lime Zest
• ½ cups Lime Juice
• 2 whole Egg Yolks
• 1 can (14 Oz) Sweetened Condensed Milk

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
For the crust:
Crush crackers in a food processor or Ziploc bag. Pour them into a bowl and stir in sugar and melted butter. Press into a pie pan and bake for 5 minutes or until golden and set. Remove from oven and set aside to cool slightly.
For the filling:
Mix lime zest, lime juice, and egg yolks in a mixing bowl. Add in condensed milk and mix on high until smooth and thick. Pour mixture into crust and bake for 15 minutes.
Remove from oven, allow to cool, then refrigerate for at least 1 hour—more if possible.
Serve with sweetened whipped cream and more grated lime zest.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Broccoli Cheese Soup

(Taken from a recipe blog I like, so I thought I would share.)

1 can chicken broth (about 1 3/4 cups of broth)
1 small onion, diced

1/3 c. flour
1/4 c. butter
Pepper to taste (I used about 1/2 teaspoon)

2 c. milk (I used 1% with great results)
1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese (the sharper the better for flavor - I used sharp cheddar and hopefully next time will have extra sharp cheddar on hand)
1/2 c. shredded swiss cheese
steamed chopped broccoli (the amount of broccoli really boils down to preference - I wanted a lot of broccoli in my soup, so I chopped and steamed approximately 2 1/2 to 3 cups of broccoli florets)

Simmer chicken broth and chopped onion for 15-20 minutes in a covered small saucepan, until onions are soft. Heat milk in microwave for 1-2 minutes. In a separate medium-sized stockpot, melt butter then add flour and pepper. Cook together for a couple of minutes, then whisk in warmed milk. Stir and heat together on medium-high heat until soup starts to thicken. Next add chicken broth and continue to stir until well blended. Add cheeses and steamed broccoli. Serve immediately.

Makes approximately 4 servings (with two adults and three kids, we finished the pot of soup in one dinner serving it in bread bowls, so if you are serving more adults or serving the soup in regular bowls, I would consider doubling according to the number of people)

Curry

Allison mentioned wanting to cook with curry more often. Here is a recipe my family loves. It is really, really yummy and not spicy. I usually throw everything in a crock pot and use the frozen chicken breasts or tenders from Costco. Easy and good.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Honey-Baked-Chicken-II/Detail.aspx

Also we use a curry block often. It is more spicy. You can buy it usually at the grocery store in the Asian section by the soy sauce etc. I think it's about $3.50. We brown chicken usually and throw in whatever veggies are around and sometimes fruit too. It has directions on the box, but you have to hunt for the English, it's mostly in ?Chinese? It looks like this....



One last curry tidbit....Gygi's (3500 South 300 West, in Salt Lake City) has cooking classes and they have one on Sat Feb 20 from 5:30 - 7:30. The only other info they have is....Mona Nisar from "Curry in a Hurry" is teaching how to cook some of her fabulous dishes here at Gygi's. Please contact her for information and registration.
801-898-2381
(This info was found at www.gygi.com)

These were a HIT!

Just wanted to say that we did Jalapeno Poppers with those FAB Jalapenos we got this week. They turned out FABULOUSLY and everyone LOVED them! Thanks. :)