Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hi there!

It has been too long. My fault.

I went to Tennessee and dug some stuff up. I made pasta (more on this later) and marshmallows. I made another quilt (I know I am obsessed, pictures coming soon). I drank some drinks with my dear friends as they celebrated their birthdays. My car had expensive surgery. I might have cried (about my car's health problems). It has sort of been a momentous couple of weeks.

Pasta!

This is a funfetti birthday cake I made from scratch, cause I am way too cool for cake mix (apparently).

I made this bag as a birthday present for a special someone. It reminds me of sunshine.

In a month I am going to visit my love. As part of my vacation, we are going to go on a week long meta-vacation to Belgium. My plans involve beer, frites, waffles, and sprouts (in my head, Brussels sprouts are just sprouts when you are actually in Brussels). I am sure we will do other things. Mostly it is a chance to relax with my love. It has been over a year since we got to take a real vacation together and, even then, I am not sure two nights in an inn after our wedding counts as a vacation.

If anyone has Belgium suggestions please help!

Max's idea of having his picture taken is attacking the camera strap (this is a photo shoot "out take").

I also made cookies. I am not sure how to describe these cookies. They taste like chocolate chip cookies, but they have this vague coconut flavor that is just enough to make the you look at them twice. They are chewy and chocolatey and everything a chocolate chip cookie should be plus some.

They are comforting and exotic all in one bite.

Coconut Oil!

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes about 24 cookies


2 1/4 cups (300 g) All-Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon (6 g) Baking Soda
1 teaspoon (6 g) Salt
3/4 cup (150 g) Granulated Sugar
3/4 cup (142 g) Brown Sugar
1 cup (227 g) Coconut Oil (melted and slightly cooled)
2 Large Eggs
1 teaspoon (57 g) Vanilla Extract
2 cups Chocolate Chips
1/2 cup Unsweetened Dried Coconut Flakes

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

3. In another bowl, whisk together the sugars, coconut oil, eggs, and vanilla.

4. Add the sugars (wet bowl) to the flour. Then add the coconut flakes and the chocolate chips, stir until just combined. The batter should not be smooth.

Cookie dough. Why do you taste so good?

5. Scoop out golf ball sized balls (maybe slightly smaller) onto a parchment (or sil-pat) lined baking sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes, rotating the tray once at 6 minutes, until the cookies are golden brown. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes and the move them to a rack to cook completely.

Ready to bake.

Cookies!

Time to eat. End of story.

Swiss Chard and Winter (in a manner of speaking)

Is that swiss chard in that sandwich? Brilliant.

It is winter here in North Carolina.

Winter is hiding just like the fuzz (sorry couldn't resist posting this picture).

Well, that is not exactly true. It would be more accurate for me to say it is February in North Carolina.  Winter implies a certain amount of cold miserable weather, which has just not happened. I am okay with that. I have decided that if I can not ski I do not care for winter. All it does is kill my favorite vegetables.

Except this year it has not! I mean, I am not eating tomatoes or anything, but certain winter greens have been coming to the farmer's market every week (that's right, we hippies in the south have a year round farmer's market). It is certainly not the bounty we get in summer. In February, I will take it.

I have many favorite winter vegetables. I love carrots, brussels sprouts, squash, and I have even developed a soft spot for kale (prepared properly). My favorite is swiss chard.

Reasons swiss chard is kick a** (this blog is PG, sort of):
1. It is beautiful (I know it comes in rainbow and plain, as with most things, I prefer rainbow). I love bright colors and this is one vegetable that can give me that in spades.

Rainbow Chard! I have no idea why my cell phone is right there. I am probably checking Facebook or something else essential. A glimpse into my fascinating life.

2. It is versatile. Soup, gratin, tossed with pasta, sauteed with [insert favorite seasonings here], and many other applications all taste wonderful.

3. It makes me feel healthy. I know that chard is not healthy when doused in cream, covered in cheese, or cooked with olive oil, but a girl can convince herself otherwise. This is a vegetable. Healthy.

Garlicky Swiss Chard Grilled Cheese
Serves 2 to 4 depending on how much chard you get

1 Bunch of Swiss Chard (I like rainbow, but it really does not matter)
2 cloves garlic
Olive oil
Salt
Butter
Bread (I prefer sourdough sandwich bread, but a whole grain bread would be healthier and anything will really do)
Cheddar Cheese (I like a sharp white cheddar, but make it your own!)

1. Remove the swiss chard from the stems and roughly chop it into approximately 2 inch square pieces. Peel and chop up the garlic cloves. If you are a better person than me chop up your stems and use them too. I am going to save these for something else because I do not like the texture in the sandwich.

Tasty chard and so beautiful

2. Heat a heavy pan to medium heat with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Toss the chard, garlic, and a pinch of salt in the heated pan. Stir to get everything combined. Cook for about 1 minute like this then cover the pan and reduce the heat to medium low. Cook this way until the chard is tender and droopy (about 5 minutes). These will need longer if you added the stems. Remove the lid and let all of the water cook off. Take the chard out of the pan, but leave the pan on the heat.

Before

After

3. Take two slices of bread and butter one side. You can be as generous or stingy as you would like here. I try and straddle a very fine line between gluttonous and boring. More butter = more crusty deliciousness.

Buttering bread. What's that Sarah, an apple cider? I am going to start calling it chef juice (thanks Gilmore Girls).

4. Slice your cheddar to taste and place it on the unbuttered side of one of your bread slices. Cover this cheese with a generous handful of chard. Add the other slice of buttered bread on top (butter up). Repeat process with all of the sandwiches you wish to make.

Assembling sandwich.

5. Put this sandwich on the heavy pan. No grease necessary, remember the butter. Cook until the bottom is golden brown and the cheese has started to melt. Sometimes I use the lid for part of this time to speed up the cheese melting. Flip the sandwiches and do the same for the other side.

Sandwiches in the pan.

6. Remove and serve with tomato soup, roasted potatoes, by themselves, the world is your oyster.

Served with roasted potatoes. Winter dinner. Done. 

Pecan Pie for the Holidays

I am not the cool kid.

I mean I had friends and everything, I do not deserve your pity.

I was in band, I had really good grades, my backpacking buddy was my dad, and I worked for the science department (for three years!). No one hated me (they really liked me when they needed help with their science homework).

I am trying to say, I was not mocked. I just did not get invited to the cool kid parties (you know the ones with the booze).

That did not matter at all, because I had a great group of girlfriends and did not need to be cool to have fun. I did not miss it at all. I did not even really know we were not cool.

I am saying this because my bestest high school friend came to spend Thanksgiving with me. She is amazing and beautiful. Spending the weekend with her was good for my soul.

I made this tart for her. It has bourbon in it (for the win). You should make it for your loved ones for this holiday season.

Bourbon Pecan Tart
from Bon Appetit

1 12-inch round tart crust (I am going to just link to this amazing tart crust recipe that you should use for every sweet tart, this women is amazing)
3 large eggs
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons bourbon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups pecan halves or pieces (I prefer halves)


1. Follow the directions on the tart crust recipe to completely bake the tart recipe. The crust should be golden brown. 

2. Place pan with crust on rimmed baking sheet. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
3. Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar in a medium bowl. Beat in the corn syrup. Add butter, bourbon, vanilla, and salt. Beat until these ingredients are blended. Stir in the pecans (do not use the blender for this).

4. Pour the pecan filling into the crust. Bake about 25 minutes or until the filling is set (I find this takes a bit longer for me). Cool tart on a wire rack for one hour, then remove pan sides. 

5. Eat warm or at room temperature. This gets stale (soggy) if you make it too far ahead. I would not let it sit for more than 8 hours.

Penne with Creamy Tomato-Chipotle Cheese Sauce on a Lazy Sunday

It is Sunday.

It is cloudy outside.

I am going to Nashville tomorrow. For 23 hours. Total. That is the whole trip.

How did I decide to spend this day?

There were many things I should have done. I should have cleaned the bathroom, paid bills, raked leaves, and done a million other things tormenting me from my to do lists (note the use of the plural). I did do some of these things.

Then, I needed a break. You ask, "how did you decide to take this break?" I made pasta and watched a made for TV movie (starring James Van Der Beek, no joke) with Max on the couch. Don't judge me about the movie.

This pasta recipe is perfect for happy comfort times. It is fast and simple. This is one of the pasta sauce recipes that taught me that pasta and sauce belong together. It is smokey, hardy, and creamy. So satisfying.

I used to think pasta sauce came out of a jar. You open a jar, heat up the sauce, boil the pasta, then you serve pasta and sauce at the table. It turns out that pasta tastes better when it is finished in the sauce, then it absorbs some of the sauce and flavor. Sauce does not need to come in jars all finished. It comes from ingredients, ingredients that do not necessarily need all day to cook. Not necessarily complex.

This is it. Pasta + ingredients = pasta in sauce.

Penne with Creamy Tomato-Chipotle Sauce

modified a little from A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 medium garlic cloves, minced

2 small chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, minced (these exist in almost every grocery store)

1 tablespoon of the adobo sauce (from the jar)

2 14.5 ounce cans of diced tomatoes

salt

1 pound penne, rigatoni, or any tubular pasta

2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro leaves

5 ounces feta cheese or a fresh goat cheese

1. Bring 4 quarts of water to boil in a large pot. I have always heard that the water should be as salty as Mediterranean... I am not sure I ever remember specifically tasting the Mediterranean, but I think the water should be salty because it seasons the pasta and then you need less salt later.

Garlic and chipotle chiles are really all it takes to flavor this pasta.

2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When the oil is warm, add the garlic and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. The garlic should be golden and delicious smelling. Then add the chipotles and adobo sauce. Cook this until fragrant (about 1 minute)

3. Add the tomatoes and a three fingered pinch of salt to the chiles and garlic. Now we have a sauce! Bring this to a simmer and allow it to cook for 15 minutes.

These are home canned tomatoes. Derek and I spent hours making these this summer. When I opened up the can, it smelled like summer again. Was it worth the time? Questionable.

4. When there is about 10 minutes left for the sauce, add the pasta to the boiling water. Cook it for about 2 to 3 minutes less than the package says. You want it to be too undercooked to eat when you drain it. Trust me. Before you drain the pasta reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water. Drain the pasta.

5. Crumble the cheese into the sauce and combine. Add the pasta to the sauce and stir it up. At this point, I usually add about 1/2 cup to 1 cup of pasta water to the pasta and sauce. This helps get the sauce evenly distributed and the starches in the pasta water help thicken up the sauce. Stir the pasta constantly into the sauce until the pasta absorbs the sauce and the pasta is cooked to your taste. Stir in the minced cilantro.

Pasta water is miraculous.

6. Eat! Preferably with Van Der Beek and a kitten.

P.S. - His forehead is really huge. What a man.

Sweet Potato Dumplings

My life is really pretty simple most of the time. I get up in the morning, go to work, work, come home from work, cook dinner, watch Netflix, read the Kindle, and go to bed. With no Derek on the continent, my life has gotten even simpler. No one cooks complicated meals for themselves, me included. If they say they do, they are lying.

Then sometimes (okay, a lot of times) I go away for work. As I have mentioned before, October was really complicated. I was on the road.

When I get home, I just want vegetables and home cooked food. My friends want to see me and they want to go out (very flattering). Sometimes, I make them come over and cook them my vegetables, the more the merrier. Right?

My recipes have been gathering dust at home. This might be because every time I get home I have about 4 things going bad in the refrigerator. You could say mold and decay are inspiring me to figure out recipes to use decaying food. This is my real life.

Last week I made my friend come over, and I made dumplings. Inspired by the sweet potatoes under my counter. I am proud of this recipe. These were real good. They are vegan too. That was not on purpose, they just did not need animal protein. True.

Sweet Potato Dumplings

Makes about 20 dumplings

3 small sweet potatoes (about 1 pound), peeled and diced into 1 inch cubes

1 jalepeno, minced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 teaspoon red chile powder

squirt of sriaracha sauce (to taste)

dash of soy sauce (to taste)

dash of fish sauce (just do it, leave out if you really want to be vegan)

1/4 teaspoon of salt (I used a little less)

Wanton wrappers (your grocery store probably sells these)

Sauce:

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 heavy squirt of sriarcha (to taste)

2 tablespoons (approximately) sesame oil

1. Boil a large pot of salted water. Add the sweet potatoes to the boiling water. Boil until they are soft (about 10 minutes). Drain the water.

2. In a large bowl, combine the cooked sweet potatoes, garlic, jalepeno, red chile powder, sriaracha sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Mash the potatoes using a fork, potato masher, or pastry blender (if you are me).

3. Open the wanton wrappers, cover the open package with a damp paper towel so they do not dry out. Fill up a small bowl with water. Remove one wrapper, put a large dollop of the potato mixture on the wanton.

4. Wet a finger and coat the edges of the wanton wrapper. Bring all four of the corners of the wrapper together and pinch it closed.

5. This is where you have to make a decision. Do you want your dumplings steamed or pan fried? If you want the dumplings steamed it is now time to heat up your steaming apparatus. If you want to fry them heat up your frying pan to medium with about a tablespoon of canola oil in it.

6. When you have finished making all of your desired dumplings (this should make about 20 dumplings), add the dumplings to the frying pan for about 1 minute. Then decrease the heat to medium low, add about 1/4 cup of water to the pan and cover it. Cook with the lid on for about 5 minutes. Remove the lid and finishing browning the dumplings. I like to rotate them to get all of the sides crispy. You can also just eat them with one side browned.

7. If you are steaming the dumplings, put them in the steamer for 5 to 10 minutes.

To make sauce: Combine soy sauce, sriaracha sauce, and sesame oil.