Ginger Cookies

These cookies are a variation of the Ginger Snap.  They are amazingly chewy and have a huge ginger flavor that is not too sweet, but just right for a cuppa tea.  The candied ginger is the secret ingredient.  It adds an little bit extra that make these little babies just awesome!

4 1/2 c all purpose flour
4 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 c shortening
2 c granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c molasses
1/2 c finely chopped candied ginger
1/4 c granulated sugar

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the flour, ginger, soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.  Set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, bleat shortening until softened.  Gradually add the 2 cups granulated sugar.  Beat until fluffy.  Add eggs and molasses, beat well.  Add half of the flour mixture and beat until combined.  Stir in remaining half of flour and mix with a wooden spoon.  Add the finely chopped candied ginger and stir until combined.

Shape dough into little balls and roll in the remaining 1/4 c granulated.  Place on an ungreased cooking sheet.  Bake at 350°F for 12 minutes.  Do not over bake or the cookies will not be chewy.  Let stand for two minutes before transferring to a wire rack.  Yum. Yum.

Butternut Sweet Potato Soup

Let's talk vegetables for a bit.  In my opinion, the butternut squash is an under appreciated vegetable. I think it gets the bad squash rap, but really it tastes more like a pumpkin than a squash.  When you are choosing a butternut squash, the skin should be a golden tan in color and matte (not shiny). A ripe butternut squash feels solid and heavy for its size. It will sound hollow when you tap it. It should feel firm and smooth.  It fact, a butternut squash can be difficult to to skin and chunk up when it's completely raw.  Sometimes I cheat, I will stab the squash a few times and roast it in the oven for thirty minutes or so until it is easier to skin.  You need to stab the squash so that the steam can vent while it's cooking.  If your forget, it may explode in your oven and that is no bueno. 

1/2 butternut squash, peeled and chunked
4 sweet potatoes, peeled and chunked
2 onions
4 garlic cloves
1/8 c fresh ginger, shredded
8c chicken stock
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp nutmeg
Low fat Greek-style yogurt

Coat the bottom of your cooking pot with cooking spray.  Add onion and saute for about five minutes.  Add garlic and ginger.  Cook for about 1 minute.  Add squash, sweet potato and chicken stock, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until vegetables are done.  Using a blender (or food processor), process soup until smooth.  Return soup to the pot.  Heat soup on med low heat until heated through.  Serve topped with black pepper and a dollop of yogurt.

Hummus with Carrot and Ginger



This is a fun recipe to make for a get together.  It beats the boring old chips and ranch dip I usually end up serving.  It's also a little healthier, too.

 



 

1 carrot
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp fresh grated ginger*
2 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 can chickpeas
1 Tbs tahini**
2 Tbs low fat natural yogurt

For dipping:
extra carrots, sliced
celery stalks
cherry tomatoes

Thinly slice a carrot.  Boil, steam or microwave the carrot until tender.  Drain.  In a frying pan, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Cook ginger, garlic, cumin,  and coriander for about one minute or until fragrant.  Add cooked carrot and stir to coat evenly.  Remove from heat.  Allow to cool.  Stir in chick peas, tahini, and natural yogurt.

Using a food processor, process this mixture until smooth.  You can add a little water if the mixture becomes too thick.  Season with salt and pepper (to taste).  Serve dip with tomatoes, celery, carrots, or any other veggie that you like to dip.

*Don't substitute ground ginger or that ginger paste nonsense.  This is a recipe that you should definitely use the real thing otherwise the recipe is rather bland.

**Tahini is a Middle Eastern paste made from ground sesame seeds.  You can usually find it in any Middle Eastern or Indian grocery store.  You might even be able to find it at your local grocery store.

Grandma Nelson's Chocolate Chip Cookies

There is nothing yummier than or as comforting as Grandma's cookies.  It doesn't matter if she is using an original recipe, the recipe from the back of the Toll House Chocolate Chips bag, baked them from scratch, or bought the dough in the dairy department...just as long as she hides the evidence in the trash before the kiddos come running.  This is my mother's chocolate chip cookie recipe.

3/4c sugar
3/4c brown sugar
1c shortening or butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/4c flour
12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Cream sugar, brown sugar, and shortening.  Add vanilla and eggs.  Beat thoroughly.  Gradually add salt, soda, and flour.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.  Drop rounded ball of dough onto a cookie sheet.  Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 9-11 minutes. DO NOT OVERCOOK!

This last bit is just my opinion, but it is VERY important that you cook up this dough as quickly as possible.  It is absolutely delicious raw and disappears more quickly than you realize.  So far, I've been able to keep the kids' paws out of it citing salmonella poisoning and raw eggs, but they are getting older, quicker, and smarter. This reasoning will not hold them off much longer.  Soon I'll have competition for the raw cookie dough...

Creamy Italian Chicken

4 boneless chicken breasts
1 envelope Italian Salad Dressing mix
1/2c water
1 pkg. cream cheese
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
Mushrooms

Put chicken, dressing mix, and water into crock pot.  Cover and cook for three hours.  Combine cream cheese and soup until blended.  Stir in mushrooms.  Pour over chicken.  Cook for one hour longer. Serve with rice or pasta.

Homemade Ranch Dressing

We live in a remote location right now.  Don't feel sorry for us.  We live in the beautiful Australian outback.  (By the way, I have not seen a Bloomin' Onion since we moved here.  I don't think anyone from Outback Steakhouse has ever been outback. Just saying.)  We wake up to this every morning:

Well, actually this is from our camping trip last weekend, but again...don't feel too sorry for us.  We actually LOVE where we live.  It's just that you can't find real Ranch dressing in Australia.  You can't ship it in because customs considers it a dairy product and will confiscate it...or so I've been told.  So I had to dig around and find a recipe that I could make here with ingredients that are available locally.  I noted the substitutions I made next to the original ingredients.  Many thanks to The Crafty Blog Stalker for saving my sisters a trip to Walmart and the Post Office for the store bought powder.

Dry Ingredients:

1/4 cup Black Pepper
1 1/2 cup Parsley Flakes
1/2 cup Garlic Salt
2 Tbsp Kosher Salt (I substituted Cooking Salt)
1/4 cup Granulated Garlic
1/4 cup Granulated Onion (I substituted Onion Flakes)
2 Tbsp Dill Weed

Wet Ingredients:

1 cup Mayonnaise
1 cup Buttermilk
1 1/2 cup Sour Cream
1 tsp Lemon Juice

 

Start by putting all the dry ingredients into a gallon sized Ziploc bag.  Close the bag and shake to combine the ingredients.  This makes about 3 1/2 cups of Ranch Dressing Mix.  I am storing the mix in dry canning jars.  Any dry sealed container will work just fine.

Put all the wet ingredients in a bowl with 2 Tbsp of the dry mix.  Whip with a whisk until it is well combined.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours (the longer the better) to let the flavors marry.  (That's really a cooking term.  I just looked it up on Google.  Everything on the Internet is true.)

This makes a lot of fresh Ranch dressing.  Since it doesn't have all the preservatives, I'd only suggest keeping it until a few days after the expiration date on the Buttermilk or Sour Cream, whichever expires first.

Stained Glass Cookies

I came across this recipe last year.  I've been looking forward to making it for about as long.  It's a little more complicated and time consuming than I like, but there's a cookie swap coming up next week and I want to bring something impressive...

Ingredients:

1/2 c Crisco
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
2 c flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder
20 hard candies (I used Jolly Ranchers. Lifesavers will work fine, too.)

Remove any wrappers from your candies and separate them by color.

 

Put the candies in a Ziploc bag.  Using a hammer or meat mallet or whatever, crush the candies. I'm supporting Breast Cancer research while baking today.  What can I say?  I'm a multi-tasker. 

Set candies aside.

Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C).  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, cream together Crisco and sugars until fluffy.  An electric mixer makes this process much easier. Mix in vanilla extract.  Add egg and mix until light and smooth. 

Sift flour, salt, and baking powder over mixture.  Using a rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into mixture.  Divide your dough in half.  Wrap one half in waxed paper and refrigerate while you work with the other half.  (Dough will keep for up to two days in the refrigerator.)

Place the dough between two sheets of waxed paper and roll out with a rolling pin until the dough has a 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut out your shapes.  I did stars and Christmas ornaments.  Transfer cookies to the cookie sheet.  Use a smaller cookie cutter or a knife to cut out the middle of your cookie.  Remove the inner shape. 

Using a spoon, sprinkle the crushed candy into the hollowed out centers of your cookies, filling in the edges. 

Bake cookies for 7-8 minutes.  Watch your cookies closely. They burn quickly. The candy should be melted and bubbling and the cookies will be just barely beginning to brown.  Remove baking sheets from oven and place on wire racks to cool.  After the cookies have cooled for about 10 minutes you can remove them safely from the cookie sheets.  If you try to remove the cookies from the cookie sheet too early, the candy will separate from the cookie.  Store in air tight container.

This recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies. I decorated them with some Sparkle Gel left over from the unicorn poop cookies because I was feeling pretty fancy!