My coworker Slavisa was telling me about this cookie his wife makes. He described it as a chocolate chip cookie with coconut. I like to think of myself as a creative person, but I had failed to think of using coconut in a standard chocolate chip cookie. I make wonderful oatmeal butterscotch cookies, so I should have thought of this new combination. Well, I had a little free time tonight, so a cookie making I go. This recipe is definitely going to be a Christmas cookie that I give out!!

Recipe: Just use the Tollhouse Chocolate Chip recipe. The magic here is in the few twists that Slavisa's wife spurred in me. 1) I made the dough chocolate by melting about 1oz of bitter-sweet chocolate and adding that to the batter just before adding the flour mixture. Next time, I would double that or even triple it. 2) I toasted 2 cups of coconut and added that with the flour mixture.

The take away from this recipe is that we never stop learning. I love cooking / baking as it is a way for me to be creative. I knew I couldn't really screw up this recipe, I could only make it better!

 

 

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Recipes from http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/pumpkinpie.php

Before

Puree Processing

Scrap the "meat" away from the skin after it has been steamed and softened.


Hand stick blender to smooth the puree.

Puree is divided into cloth napkins and hung to dry. I'm trying to remove the water. The puree is very wet.


The pumpkin in all its parts: skin (going to trash), puree (going to be pie), and seeds (going to be roasted)

Pie Processing

If this is going to be a homemade project, then I made a crust


Rebekah isn't really a fan of pie, but here she is showing off the pie mixture.

One full 9" pie

There was some remaining filling, so we made crust for the ramekins.




The pie is done, the ramekins need a little more time.

After

Back to the idea of homemade, I made up some whipped topping too. The kids loved the topping way more then the pie itself.



In the end, Elijah, Les and I liked the pie. Oh well. It is really amazing and the flavor is so much more intense.



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My plate (Mike's)


Elijah's plate:

Joanna's plate

Rachel

Rebekah's plate

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This delicious meal idea came from our friends the Maxwells from Illinois when we visited summer 2007.

Here the adults are having fresh basil and chives. Elijah is having a pepperoni pizza while the girls each made a cheese pizza for themselves.

These are super simple to make. You build your pizza on pita bread using any spaghetti sauce with some white cheeses. I made a mix of mozzarella, jack and provolone. Add whatever toppings you want. We normally make a BBQ chicken pizza. Tonight, I chopped up a little left over chicken breast and mixed it with garlic and green onions. Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is melted and golden brown. Let them cool a bit after coming out of the oven, but don't let them sit on the cookie for a long time because steam will build up and the crust will get soft.






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We got this cute kit from Leslie's mom. It is a complete kit to make Rice Crispy Treats including some decorating tubes and a few jelly beans.

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Birthday boy Elijah requested this "cake" for his party, for which I happily complied. Anytime I get to make brownies is a good time.

I used two packages of Ghirardelli double-chocolate brownie mixes from Costco. Each package made a 9-inch round pan of goodness. Layered inbetween the cakes is vanilla frosting.





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Leslie's family has a little tradition to make an Easter bunny out of cake. You start with two rounds of baked cake. One round is the face, while the other round is cut to produce two ears and a bow tie.

Kind of a rare picture here... Mike & Leslie working on the same thing in the kitchen.

Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

Let the decorating begin



Final product

Resist temptation! RESIST it!

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The kids have been asking me to make doughnuts. I really did not wait to do it, because it seemed like it would be a lot of work for little return. With that said, I was wrong. It was a lot of fun making these. It did take all day, but the kids helped a lot and I think they enjoyed working together. I am still very surprised at how many doughnuts this recipe made -- well over 2 dozen.

I guess the mixer is loud as it is kneading the dough.

Rebekah is hand kneading and getting it ready for rolling out. I was shocked to see how much the dough rose. It was filled with huge air bubbles and was trying to escape from the bowl I had it in.

It is cutting time

Here is the high-tech equipment we used to cut out the doughnuts: an old clean can and the lid for 2-liter bottle of pop.









Nothing goes to waste!

Just look at all of them!!

Special thanks to Don & Lori for the dutch oven.

It's eating time

It's admiring time!

These are being served at our small group potluck tonight. Don't you wish you went to San Diego First Assembly of God?

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Kid's helped me in making some quiches.






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My in-laws were in town to celebrate my baby's first birthday. I tried to show my love by making my international hot wings. "International", you ask? Well, I call them international because the hot sauce is from Mexico and the chili sauce is from Thailand. Both of these great products are from some great co-workers.

The hot sauce, Valentina Salsa Picante, is very smooth. It is hot, but it has a nice solid flavor. Unlike Tabasco sauce, which I can't stand because it has such a strong taste of vinegar and it is so bitter. Valentina salsa from Mexico has a very pleasant smell and taste.

The chili sauce, Sriracha, is extremely hot. If you want heat, this is what you want.

This run-through I did something different -- I didn't use wings. Costco didn't have any wings, so I used skinless boneless chicken tenders. I think I like using tenders; unfortunately, the recipe's name is a little funny now: "International Hot Tenders".





Please note, Rebekah is eating a carrot, not a hot wing.

Recipe

Breading / Flour Mixture
2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 Cup All-purpose Flour
2 1/2 Teaspoons Salt
1 Teaspoon Paprika
1/4 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

Sauce
1 1/2 Cups Butter
1/2 Cup Hot Sauce
3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
3/4 Teaspoon Paprika
3/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
1/3 Teaspoon Cayenne
2 Tablespoons Chili Sauce

1.    Mix the breading together. Use as much as you need for the chicken you want to work with. Store the extra in a container.

2.    Rinse and pat dry chicken.

3.    First coat the chicken in the flour then add to a zip top bag that has more breading. Shake the bag as chicken is add to prevent them from sticking to each other. Don't crowd the bag. Maybe 10 - 12 chicken pieces per bag.

4.    Store chicken in the bags in the refrigerator for a few hours. Longer in the fridge strengthens the coating.

5.    Bring the sauce together either in a sauce pan over low heat or the microwave stopping to stir often. Sauce should be hot, but not boiling. Boiling sauce will have a deeper flavor, which might be good, but it moves slowly to a burnt flavor.

6.    Store extra sauce in the fridge.

7.    When frying, don't crowd the fryer. Let the fryer come back to temperature between sets of cooking chicken. Know the smoke point of your oil, so you keep the temperature below it. With use the smoke point will reduce. You should clear the area when frying - oil can fly everywhere. Try to keep the oil below your oil's smoke point.

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