The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

My husband and I have been making these cookies for a long time. Our 30th anniversary is this June, and I don't remember where the recipe came from, I just remember that right after we got married he found this recipe, he made it, and we loved it. Chocolate chip cookies are his absolute favorite, so this has always been considered his recipe. He immediately wrote it on a recipe card (very faded at this point, as you can see) and on the line for "from the kitchen of" he wrote Bob "the big cookie" Lane. For those of you who know my husband this will come as no surprise, and probably brings a smile to your face.

It always brings me great joy to pull this card from my file. Many memories--making them together to share with many precious people, teaching my children to make them, even the memory of the smell of them as they bake. We all know the recipe from heart, but I still pull it out each time I make them. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.


Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs (always use large eggs for baking)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I always use White Lily)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
12 oz. (2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips

In mixing bowl, add brown sugar, sugar, butter and shortening. Cream until well combined (2-3 minutes). Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. In a separate bowl, sift flour, salt and baking soda with a whisk until well mixed. Add this dry mixture to the creamed mixture. Beat until blended; do not overbeat. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop dough from a teaspoon or tablespoon, depending on what size cookies you desire, onto an ungreased cookie sheet, approximately 2 inches apart. Bake at 375 ° for 8-10 minutes (ovens vary).

This recipe also does well as a "cookie cake" for special occasions. Simply spread the dough onto a deep cookie sheet/jelly roll pan (I use an 11 x 16 pan, or sometimes a round pizza pan) and bake for 15-20 minutes (until just brown). You can decorate with homemade icing and cake decorating bags and tips, but I often just use canned icing from the grocery store and top with a little melted chocolate in a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off. Here's a photo from my daughter's 21st birthday--she often requests this for her birthday cake!

Marvelous Marinara

Several years ago it occured to me that instead of buying jarred marinara from the grocery store for a simple, quick pasta meal for my kids, I could easily make my own sauce. Boy, what a discovery! Not only is it still an easy go-to comfort meal for my family, it is soooo much better than sauce in a jar! It's not uncommon for us to have this once a week, along with a salad and good crusty bread with olive oil for dipping. Here's the recipe that I came up with--I'm sure you might have ways to alter it that will make it even more appealing for your family.

Marvelous Marinara

1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
Additional 1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup cooking white wine
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in large saute pan over medium heat; add onions and saute for 3 minutes. Add garlic, saute for an additional 2 minutes (be careful to not brown the onions and garlic; might want to turn the heat down to low). Add the tomatoes and additional olive oil; bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add cooking wine; simmer for 5 additional minutes. Add salt and pepper if needed. Serve over your choice of pasta--we usually eat it with penne. Great to add a little freshly grated parmesan cheese as well once you have dished the pasta and sauce into bowls!

Try it--I promise you won't be disappointed if you like a simple, but fresh tasting sauce! Also good for homemade pizza. Let me know what you think!

Simple Sunday Supper

Sundays are lazy days at my house. After church and lunch, the goal is to get comfy on a chair or sofa and fall asleep while watching tv. After a good nap, we sometimes try to get something accomplished so the entire day doesn't feel wasted, but it is definitely a day of rest for us.

Therefore, when it is time to come up with something for supper, I usually look for quick and easy. I never have anything planned, it's just whatever is in the fridge or pantry. Often we will have breakfast for supper. But tonight I wanted something different. I had some leftover homemade marinara sauce (I'll tell you about that another day), but we weren't in the mood for pasta. So, I pulled some cans out of the pantry and put together black beans and rice. Delicious! So easy, yet healthy and filling.

Black Beans and Rice

1 medium onion, diced
3 gloves garlic, minced (fresh, please!)
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
2 cans black beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can original Ro-Tel
salt and pepper to taste
4-6 servings of rice, cooked

Saute onions in olive oil 2-3 minutes on medium low heat; add garlic and saute 2 minutes more. Add the beans, tomatoes, Ro-Tel and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes or so. Serve over hot rice.

Hope you enjoy this as much as we do!

Beginnings

Not sure what this will be like, but I love following other blogs, so thought I would give it a try. I live a pretty boring life, but sometimes feel a creative urge inside, so maybe I can share a little of that here. We'll see how it goes!