Month: December 2020

Review: Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Original recipe can be found here.

I found this recipe for chocolate chip cookies and I just had to try them. I grew up making Betty Crocker cookies from their bagged mix. I really enjoyed them and I found this recipe be be similar in many ways, but also different. The recipe I made was a recipe from scratch and is standard, cream together butter and sugar, then mix in remaining ingredients. This created cookies with a crackled top. I also made my cookies about twice the size the recipe expected. This recipe didn’t say how big to make the cookies, and I guess I went a little large. Since I went large, about 2 Tbsp of dough per ball, my cookies took a bit longer. The recipe says 8-10 minutes for about 1 Tbsp balls, I found 12 minutes to be about right to keep some moisture in the cookies while still cooking the inside completely. My second batch I baked for 15 minutes, since I was waiting for a bit more browning, but that never came. They were delicious when slightly warm, but once they fully cooled, they were very crunchy, and needed to be paired with a glass of milk. So note with this recipe, not to over cook these cookies! However, this was the easiest cookie dough I’ve ever worked with. This recipe made 24 cookies 3-4 inches in diameter.

Chocolate Chip Cookies From Betty Crocker Recipe CardDownload
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What You Will Need

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, or 12 Oz bag, to your taste

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375 F. In a large bowl, add softener butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat until light and fluffy, and scrape down sides of bowl. Add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add Baking soda and a pinch of salt and briefly mix, then add your flour and mix until fully combined. Add in chips and stir until evenly dispersed.

2. Add 2 Tbsp balls onto 9×13 pans, 2 inches apart. Bake for 11-12 minutes, and not longer. Remove from oven and let cool for 4 minutes before remove from tray and transferring to a cooling rack or serving tray.

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0

Grilled Ham and Cheese with Mustard

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Grilled sandwiches are always great this time of year, and grilled ham and cheese is a classic. But that isn’t the reason I made this recipe. This recipe is different because it uses a new way to grill your sandwich. Instead of smearing mayo or butter onto your bread, this sandwich was made by adding oil and butter into the pan to accomplish the same thing. This is a special technique because normal butter would begin to burn very quickly, so butter and oil is used to give you more time before the butter is so hot it begins to burn. Otherwise, mustard, ham and cheese is a great sandwich to try this technique with and you won’t be disappointed! The recipe below is enough to make 2 sandwiches, enough for 2 adults.

Grilled Ham and Cheese with Mustard Recipe CardDownload
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What You Will Need

  • 1 Tbsp Butter
  • 2 Tbsp Oil
  • 4 Slices of Bread
  • 1 Cup Shredded Mozzarella
  • 1 Cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar
  • 4 Slices of Ham
  • 2 Tbsp Yellow Mustard
  • Frying Pan
  • Spatula

Directions

1. Assemble your sandwich, by layering with bread, cheddar, ham, mozzarella, mustard, then top bread. Heat pan over medium heat. Add oil and butter and heat until butter is melted.

2. Add sandwich and cook on the first side for 3-4 minutes until browned, flip your sandwich and cook for another 3-4 minutes until browned, and press on the sandwich. Remove from pan and plate.

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2

Handmade Christmas Swags

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Hello again. This is my first year making swags by myself, but for several years my family has been making them just for ourselves for Christmas. This can be a great option for a gift, or for a DIY home decoration. It is helpful if you have some evergreens on your property, but if that’s not the case, most neighbors won’t mind your trimming their bushes, assuming you ask first. Our property has several yew bushes, so that is the evergreen I used for my base. I also have a monstrous holly in the front yard that is easily 15 feet tall, so I trimmed it quite severely. Beyond that, you could get some holiday decorations from a craft store to stick into your swags, but that is your choice. I have a few bows from previous years, and some ribbon to make more as I want. I also added a third step to show you can also make grave blankets using this technique, and what I did with my excess cut holly. Please comment if you have any questions, and I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

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Directions

1. Cut a variety of different branches. Cut different colored branches, different sizes, and your favorite types of branches. Once you have your variety, lay down a large tarps to collect debris. Begin separating your branches into piles starting with the biggest branches on the bottom and stacking smaller on top. Once you have a stack, add an accent branch on top.

2. Once your satisfied with the way your stack looks, use some floral wire, beading wire, or quality twine to tie together the end. Try to weave around some of the branches to keep them from falling out, and wrap around several times. Tie it off once done. Finally, add another piece of wire, but leave some space during one of your wraps, so you can use that loop to hang your swag. Add any bows or decorations you desire, trim any unsightly branches, and hang.

3. If you’d like, you can also make a grave blanket using this same pattern, just alternating directions. You can see I made one. I also had lots of holly left over, so I used it to decorate my mantle for the season.

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0

Fried Pork With Asian Stir-Fried Veggies Over Rice

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When I made this, I cut the pork before breading and frying, but that was a huge waste of time. I also added them once fried to the wok with the veggies, that was also very unnecessary. The pork gets no additional flavor from going back into the wok, and this can damage the nice breading you spent time making. Otherwise this was a very delicious meal. Also, sorry for the lack of pictures lately. I’ve been having trouble staying on top of that, so some of the next few post will also have the same pattern until I can form the habit again. Thanks for your patience!

Fried Pork With Asian Stir-Fried Veggies Over Rice Recipe Card Download
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What You Will Need

  • 2 pork chops
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
  • 1 Cup Vegetable Oil
  • 2 cups Cabbage, chopped
  • 1 cup Green Beans, cut to 1 inch
  • 1/2 cup Onion, sliced
  • 1/2 cup Celery, diced
  • 2 tsp Ginger paste
  • 1/3 cup Soy Sauce
  • 2 Tbsp Oyster sauce
  • Wok
  • 3 Cups cooked rice

Directions

1. Begin by cooking your rice, and placing each ingredient in it’s own bowl: Egg, Flour, and Panko. Coat your pork in egg, then flour, then egg a second time, then panko, seat aside and repeat with the second pork chop. Place your wok over medium heat and add oil. Once the oil is shimmering, add one pork chop. Fry on each side for 3 minutes, then strain on paper towels. Fry your second the same way.

2. In the same wok with oil, add your onion, celery, green beans, ginger paste, and cabbage and cook for 3 minutes. Add the soy sauce and the oyster sauce, then stir to coat everything. Cut your pork chops into slices, then remove vegetables from heat. Plate with 1/2 cup rice, when top with stir fried vegetables and 4-5 slices of fried pork.

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4

Deer Season Recipes

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Deer season has begun last weekend where I live. It’s not something that we celebrate, but we understand food is food, and many deer in PA, where I live, would die of starvation of being hit by cars if their population wasn’t limited.

With that in mind, many times there are few recipes available for venison. It can be used in place of beef, but venison also has it’s own flavors that deserve to be explored. Below, I’ve listed some of the recipes I was able to make with venison that I enjoyed. Venison is also one of my most searched recipes on the site, so hopefully this will help those looking for these recipes. Beyond the standard recipes, I’m also adding a separate list for sous vide venison recipes, because not everyone has that available, and those that do, may be looking specifically at that. You will also see that many recipes include thin sliced venison or minute steaks. These were made by partially freezing a large cut of venison, then cutting it with a meat slicer.

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Sous Vide Recipes
Regular Venison Recipes
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