Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have to admit I have been very lazy about cooking lately. I have been very busy too this last week. Tonight my sister made a very good dinner with chicken rice, veggies, and pot stickers. She rescued me from a bowl of cereal. I was very busy getting Jake ready for his Junior Prom. Of course I wasn't cooking for just me and didn't have time to cook for everyone. I am really getting spoiled having my sister back here and her cooking too.

Today I took some time out of our busy day to keep a promise I made to Zach. We baked chocolate chip cookies. He had found his apron in his box he unpacked earlier this week and wanted to cook. I let him and Dakota do most of the work and they turned out great!!

Dover Sole, Rice, and Green Beans

It was my turn to cook tonight. I thought I would go the lighter side. I found some dover sole on sale and cheap.

Here is the recipe I used for the rice.

 1 cup Texmati brown rice

2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
1/4 cup Champagne or rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon good olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pound ripe tomatoes, large-diced
1 cup packed basil leaves (1 large bunch), chopped
Directions
Bring 2 1/4 cups water to a boil and add the rice and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Return to a boil, cover, and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, until the rice is tender and all the water is absorbed. Transfer the rice to a bowl.

Whisk together the vinegar, sugar, olive oil, remaining teaspoon of salt, and a pinch of pepper. Pour over the rice. Add the tomatoes and basil. Mix well and check the seasonings. Serve at room temperature.

For the fish I took it and layered it in a shallow buttered baking dish, then sprinkled it with salt and pepper. In a small bowl mix 1/4 cup melted butter, the juice from 1 lemon, and minced onion. Pout that over the fish, then sprinkle with paprika. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 30 minutes or fish is done. Garnish it with fresh chopped parsley.

For the veggie, I took fresh green bean and blanched them for 5 minutes.

This was very simple and yummy! Of course my nephews didn't want any part of it.

Stuffed Chicken, Potatoes, and Veggies

Tonight my sister invited Jake and I over for dinner. I can't lie, I really enjoy not having to cook every night. She is totally spoiling me.

On the menu for tonight was stuffed chicken( stuffed with cheese and bacon), baked potatoes with butter and sour cream, squash she used a veggie kit with it that consisted of cinnamon, almonds, and oats (I believe). She also served a chicken cesar salad, and this yummy sun dried tomato bread. Dinner was great! I hope this happens more often.

For some reason I can't upload my pic tonight.

Stay tune for tomorrows dinner, I will be cooking. On the menu is dover sole, rice, and some sort of veggie. I haven't decided what I am exactly doing yet.

Chicken and Beef Tacos

No pic tonight it was crazy. I didn't cook my sister Elena did. She made ground chicken tacos, with homemade spanish rice, and black beans. Her hubby made some fresh guacamole. It was a very yummy dinner. I did cook the ground beef only because I was bugging her to help.

For dessert I made a Heavenly Delight Chocolate Dream Dessert

( This is an ALL time favorite in my home!)
Ingredients
• CRUST:
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup cold butter
•
• OR….A pre-made Graham Cracker Crust (My family prefers)
•
• FILLING:
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided
• 1 package (3.4 ounces) instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 package (3.9 ounces) instant chocolate pudding mix
• 3 cups cold milk
• 1 chocolate bar, grated
Directions
• In a bowl, combine the flour and pecans; cut in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Press into a 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan.
• Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Place the cream cheese, sugar and half the whipped topping in a large bowl; beat until smooth. Spread over crust.
• Whisk pudding mixes and milk for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Spread over cream cheese mixture; chill until firm. Spread with remaining whipped topping, then sprinkle with grated chocolate. Refrigerate until serving.

I have not yet tried this yet, but everyone else said it was very good. I did use the pre made graham cracker crust.

My other sister(Paula) made some very good margaritas. 

Puttanesca with Red Pepper Spaghetti.

Tonight dinner was picked by my nephew Dakota(12 years) and made by him and Jake. I am not totally sure how they made the whole thing but I know they did a couple of things their way. For one it called for dry vermouth but Dakota will not cook with alcohol. they switched out the capers for green olives. The other thing they changed was the anchovies. Instead of using the actual anchovies they used anchovy paste.

For the sauce they heated 1/4 cup EVOO in a deep large skillet, then added the anchovy paste, cooked it for a few minutes. Next stir in 4 thinly sliced cloves of garlic and 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes. Add the 1/3 cup of chicken stock and the juice of 1 lemon, stir for 1 minute. Add 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes. Increase the heat a bit, stir in a handful of finely chopped flat leaf parsley, a couple of leaves of fresh basil, 1/2 black olives, and 3 tbls chopped green olives. Bring the sauce to a bubble cook to thicken while the pasta water comes to a boil and pasta cooks.  Save a 1 cup of the pasta water before draining. Drain pasta mix it in with the sauce. Add in the pasta water to help mix it together.

They also made chicken meatballs. They took ground chicken, mixed in 1 egg, garlic, dried thyme, oregano, basil. bread crumbs, and parm cheese. They made round balls and baked at 400 for 15 minutes. This was a great dinner, but they followed it up with dessert. Jake taught Dakota how to make the chocolate souffle. I can't tell you how because Jake hasn't shared his recipe with me.

Chicken Vesuvio

Tonight I thought we would cook a family dinner at my sister's house. She has air conditioning and I don't.
Jake and I gathered up everything a headed over there. Jake helped me with prep, cubing potatoes, chicken, and chopping a lot of garlic (a whole head). The other things I used are, oregano, thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, white wine, and chicken stock.

Heat a large skillet with 4 tbls EVOO, add potatoes, garlic, rosemary, thyme, oregano, salt and pepper. Cook until potatoes are brown and tender. Meanwhile heat a large oven safe pan over medium high heat, dust the chicken in flour, add cubed boneless skinless chicken breast( I did prefer when I made this with the thighs instead of the breast, it was juicer with the thighs), cook the chicken in small batches so they brown properly, after all chicken is browned return all of it to the pan, deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup white wine, then add 1 cup chicken stock, add the potatoes to the chicken, cover and cook for 15 minutes or til chicken is done in an oven that is preheated to 375 degrees.. The recipe calls for frozen peas to be added 5 minutes before it comes out of the oven. I chose to serve green beans on the side...I hate peas!.

It was so nice having a nice family dinner again. Our next big dinner will be Saturday, when Dakota is picking what we are cooking and Jake will be making souffles. Sorry forgot the pic tonight.

Busy Day

Today was a very busy day. First work, a tad bit better than yesterday, no lifting a kid. Then leaving work rushing to get Jake at school, then to his luncheon, him back to school, me back to work. Finished work with out to much grief from my student.

After work I went to pick up a very cute 7 year old for a date at the ice cream shop. It was funny when his mom said she was going and he said no, she ended up coming any way.

Then off to pick up Jake from school and take Zach back home. Jake needed to go order a tux for prom on the 11th. His friend told him of this place in Orland(about 10 miles away) it was suppose to be cheaper than the Men's Warehouse in Chico(35 miles away). Off the Orland, we got there and that place had closed down. I was going to head to Chico from there, but Jake didn't have a $30 coupon with him, so back home then off to Chico. We got the tux all done, of course he had to get an expensive white tux, but whatever. By then it was after 5 pm, so we stopped for a burger. Back home then to my sister's house to help so more. Finally home at 8 pm and totally exhausted.

We are planning a nice family meal this weekend.