Simple and Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

*Chef's Note: 9 times out of 10 I prefer cookie dough to cookies (with a few minor exceptions) and the [fully baked] cookies I like are moist and chewy. At the insistence of Husband, we made this cookie dough on Sunday night, ate some of the dough and put it away. By the next day the dough had firmed up a little bit and the oatmeal had soaked up enough of the moisture to keep the cookies from spreading when baked. This seemed to be the ideal way to handle the dough as it was pretty solid and easy to roll into balls. As it is with most cookies, the smaller these guys are, the cuter they are. And if they're small you can justify eating 15 because, really, "they're not that big" and they have oatmeal in them. So they're basically health food.*



Prep: 30 minutes
Bake: 10 minutes
Oven: 325 degrees
makes about 4 dozen big cookies or 6 dozen small cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (for cookies I always use more vanilla than it calls for)
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (more if you are going to bake them right away rather than chilling. It helps firm up the dough so the cookies don't spread)
1 tablespoon baking soda (sounds like a lot, but isn't)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick-cooking oats (we used old fashioned and they worked fine)
1 cup chopped walnuts (any nuts work well--we used finely chopped almonds and it tasted fabulous)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (butterscotch chips would be fabulous too--could do half and half)

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).The lower temperature lets the cookies bake all the way through without making them really crusty on the outside.
   
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto baking sheets covered with parchment paper.
3. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Pull them out when the cookies look like they are just about to brown (they will look pretty blond but still cooked--shiny means they are underdone). Lift the parchment paper out of the pan so the cookies can cool on the counter. Once they have hardened up a little (about 4 or so minutes) transfer to a cooling rack.
   

When storing chewy cookies one way to keep them from drying out is to place a piece of bread in the container with the cookies. The bread is moist enough that it keeps them chewy, although the outside crispiness will lessen because of this. (Since no one really likes the heels of the bread around here we usually put those to good use this way.) Change the piece of bread when it gets dry and crusty if everyone hasn't eaten the cookies by then.

A Word from Ms. Know-It-All on The Wonders of Parchment Paper

Every once in a while I'd like to put in my 2 cents about something wonderful in the cooking world and today we're unveiling...

PARCHMENT PAPER!!!

This stuff is fabulous. Not only does it not stick to anything, it enables you to be lazy and NOT WASH YOUR COOKIE SHEETS EVER, EVER AGAIN!! It's usable in cake pans and bread pans and brownie pans. We've also cooked fish sticks on it and barbecue wings so it's very multi-purpose. It's pretty cheap (it runs about 3 bucks a roll) and comes in rolls of 30 square feet and it takes me a good 3 or 4 months to run out of it. And really, paying 3 dollars in order to not wash a cookie sheet ever again is quite a bargain.*

Check out this link HERE to see Reynolds' official website for parchment paper. It's got great instructions on using it for baking cookies, cakes and brownies. Check it out. Parchment paper can be found in pretty much any grocery store by the tin foil.

* DISCLAIMER: I never told you to NOT wash your pans again, although this is an option. I refuse to be sued over food-borne illnesses that arose from your dirty cookie sheets. Thanks. I'm glad we got that covered.

Starving-College-Student "Homemade" Salsa

*Chef's Note: These measurements are an estimate. Each batch of salsa is different for one reason or another--for instance, older onions aren't as potent but older jalapeños are probably able to burn off people's flesh--so you need to work with your ingredients to find out what jives. I suggest having a bag of chips handy to taste test your salsa during its creation.*

Prep: 20 minutes
Makes about 1 quart

2 16 oz cans diced tomatoes (drained if you want thicker salsa, but I never drain mine)
1TBS diced hot jalapeños (makes for a mediumish hot salsa for me but it burns Jenny's nose hairs. This is also a great way to use up the rest of the jalapeños from an earlier recipe.)
2 tsp chopped garlic (Jenny always wants MORE!)
1/2 of a medium onion, chopped finely
1/2 C chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 lime, squeezed (or is it squozen?)
2 tsp sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste (the tomatoes are pretty salty already, definitely add some pepper)
Any other things you feel compelled to put in there like chili powder or cumin or green onions--a lovely touch but unnecessary

Combine everything in a medium sized bowl and mix it up. If you have a blender handy and would like to make the bits a little smaller and give some body to the juice you can pulse it until you're satisfied. I wouldn't puree the whole thing--that turns everything into tomato slush. A hand blender works amazingly well because you can blend it directly in the bowl (I have pledged love to mine over and over and will probably continue to do so). Taste and add more ingredients until you are satisfied with the outcome.

Serve with your mom and tortilla chips, or in anything that requires salsa.

Simple French-like Bread

*Chef's note: This used to be called french bread, but the name was confusing because it's not much like the french bread you get from the store. It's more like Portuguese pão.*

Prep: 70 minutes
Bake: 25 minutes
Oven: 350 degrees
Makes 2 largish loaves

2 1/2 cups warm water (think warm--NOT hot--bathwater)
2 TBL yeast
6 TBL sugar

--Mix together and let proof for about 5 to 10 minutes, until the yeast gets nice and poofy--about 3/4 of an inch tall.

2 tsp salt
3 TBL olive oil
6 cups of flour

--After the yeast is bubbly mix the first five ingredients together with a mixer (or with a spoon if you're like me and don't have a mixer that can actually mix well enough to be called such) and stir in flour until it makes a soft but sort of sticky dough.

*I like to use 2 cups of wheat flour and 4 cups of white. If you use all white flour, the bread has the nutritional value of table sugar, but if you use all wheat flour it's dense enough to use as cobblestones for paving streets. The 1:2 ratio works quite well for a light, healthy tasting bread.*

--Let it sit in your mixer for 10 minutes. Mix it down again. Repeat up to 4 times (I only do that twice because I don't have that kind of time on my hands). Form into two loaves and place on a baking sheet coated with oil and a dusting of cornmeal or flour (I use flour because I'm cheap and it makes it seem more European). Slit 3 or 4 times diagonally across the top to make it look official. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

My mom makes this bread in two long loaves that sometimes come out of the oven looking like slugs. I prefer to make my loaves round. I've also experimented with making 4 little loaves instead of 2 larger ones, and let me tell you, they turned out so cute I couldn't help but squeal a little when I pulled them out of the oven. They're also a great size to give to people.

Of course, there was one loaf that so resembled something out of Calvin and Hobbes that I couldn't resist a little embellishment:

Really Fast and Tasty Rice and Beans

*Chef's note: I made this recipe up right after being married out of sheer desperation and it has served me well since. It makes enough for dinner and 1 or 2 days of lunch each.*

Prep: 2 minutes
cook: 20 minutes
Makes 6 main dish servings

2 cups white or brown rice (this would be a killer good-for-you meal with brown rice)
1 can black beans, undrained
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilis, undrained (we like Western Family brand)*
grated cheese

*note: if you can't find these specific diced tomatoes, just buy 4 oz. hot diced chilis or jalepenos--making sure this will provide spice. I once got chilis sans spice and they tasted and smelled like diapers-- use 1 1/2 tsp if it's hot and this will be plenty spicy. Add more or less to taste.*

Cook the rice according to the directions on the package, or if you're lazy like me, use a rice cooker. Dump the undrained tomatoes and beans together in a saucepan and boil and stir uncovered for about 15 minutes. The "sauce" should have thickened up a little.

Once done, dish out rice and top with beans and tomatoes combo and grated cheese to taste.