Smitten Kitchen Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

After a long, hard journey I think I have finally found my go-to peanut butter cookie recipe thanks to Deb from Smitten Kitchen. I'm a fan of soft and chewy pb cookies...most recipes turn out crunchy. I think the addition of milk and extra peanut butter really makes the recipe.

1/2 cup butter

1 cup peanut butter (I used crunchy)

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

1 tbls. milk

1 1/4 cup flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup chocolate chips (you can add pb chips, too)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream peanut butter and butter until fluffy; gradually beat in sugar & vanilla until smooth. Add egg & milk, and beat until mixed.

Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder & salt. Add to beaten mixture. Stir in chocolate/pb chips.

Drop full teasponfulls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. The original mixture calls for rolling the dough balls in white sugar before, but I thought there was enough sugar already. Add criss-cross marks with a fork.

Bake 10-12 minutes. They will look underdone, but don't be fooled, they are done. Let cool for a minute or two, and move to a wire rack.

Enjoy with a glass of milk.

Chilaquiles Rojas

I would like to introduce one of my favorite breakfast (or lunch, or dinner) foods: chilaquiles. Why is this wonderful dish so hard to find in the states? Even Portland, with its wealth of Mexican food, is severely lacking in chilaquiles. Oh well. Serve these with a side of frijoles de la olla.

4-6 roma tomatoes
5-7 chiles, serrano or jalapeno
2 chicken bouillon cubes (preferably Maggi)
vegetable oil

In a medium-hot, ungreased skillet, fry the tomatoes and chiles until blistered.
Place in covered dish for appx. 10 minutes to loosen the skins.
Remove the skins from the tomatoes and chiles, and put them into blender.
Add bouillon and appx. 2 cups water into the blender as well, and puree until almost smooth.

Heat a skillet with oil, and fry the salsa until a deeper red (10 mins or so).
After salsa has darkened, immerse the fried tortilla chips in the sauce, keeping them in until slightly softened.

Serve with eggs or chicken, sliced onion, crema & cilantro.

Note: for a deeper red sauce, you can also add a few dried chiles such as pasillas or chile de arbol. Toast for a few seconds on either side, and soak for ten minutes in boiling water. Remove stems & seeds, and puree with the rest of the salsa ingredients.

Grilled Corn & Bean Salad

Grill or roast:
3 ears corn
2 bell peppers
1 pasilla or poblano pepper

Cut corn off the husk.
Remove skin from peppers, and chop.
Add to bowl.

Mix in:
1 avocado, chopped
1 can black beans
3 roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup red onion, chopped

Blend dressing:
2 tblsp olive oil
juice of 1 lime
1 clove garlic, minced
cumin to taste
cayenne pepper to taste
salt & pepper to taste

Gently toss salad with dressing, and chill until serving.

Easy Raspberry Oatmeal Bars

This is one of the easiest dessert recipes I've found, and addicting. These usually disappear in about a day, and that's with only three or four people eating them...

Grease 13x8 in pan (or line w/greased foil)

Mix:
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 cups rolled oats

Crumble in:
1 cup butter, room temperature

Gently press appx. 3/4 of the mixture into the greased pan.
Spread 1 1/2 cups seedless raspberry jam on top.
Sprinkle remaining mixture on top of the jam, and lightly press.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 45-50 minutes.

Chicken Chipotle Tostadas

Chicken:
2 bone-in chicken breasts

Poach the chicken breasts with 1/4 onion & 3 cloves garlic
When cooked through, allow to cool. Once cool, shred chicken.

Salsa:
Blend the following until smooth:
2 chipotle chiles in adobo, deseeded
1 fresh jalapeno, deseeded
3 large tomatoes
1 clove fresh garlic, peeled
1 cup water

Put shredded chicken and salsa in a pan. Add one chicken bouillon cube, and simmer until flavors have blended, at least 10 minutes. Salt to taste and add more water if necessary.

Make tostadas by layering beans, chicken, lettuce, crema, onion, cotija cheese and avocado on tostada shells.

Pasta with sun-dried tomatoes, sausage and beans

I adapted this recipe The Amateur Gourmet (a great food blog) after reading loads of positive comments about it. How could such a simple recipe be so good? While it may not be the most complex dish, it is fast, easy and quite cheap to throw together. I added spicy Italian sausage to the ingredients for a little extra zip, but I am sure it would be fine without.

2-3 links spicy Italian sausage
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained and sliced (reserve oil)
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, sliced
½ tsp. Red pepper flakes
1 15 oz. can white beans (tuscan would be best)
15 oz pasta – the original recipes calls for cavatappi, but I find macaroni or other small types work fine

Boil pasta.
Meanwhile…
Fry sausage in tomato and olive oil; when almost cooked through, add garlic.
After about a minute, add red pepper flakes and let cook for a little less than minute.
Add sun-dried tomatoes, and fry for around 1 minute.
Add around 1 cup pasta water to the mix; let simmer until reduced (2 minutes).
Add drained and rinsed beans and 1 ½ cups more of the pasta liquid. Simmer for 4 minutes. Add cooked pasta, salt to taste, and toss with cheese & parsley.

Decadent Peanut Butter Nutella Brownies

These brownies are almost as rich as a flourless chocolate cake, but with a hint of Nutella and peanut butter add something new to the mix. They helped ruin my pre-Mexico vacation "eat healthy" diet, which was ready to collapse at this point anways. At least I can always fall back on my "eat happy" diet.

1 cup butter
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup good quality non-alkalized cocoa
dash salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup Nutella
1/2 cup peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Melt butter over low heat; add sugar and vanilla.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each.
Add flour, cocoa, salt & baking powder to the mixture.
Melt Nutella and peanut butter (adjust ratio as preferred); stir into batter.
Pour into greased 9 x 13 glass pan, and bake 30 minutes.