recipes

Chocolate Chip Cookie Day

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Today is National Chocolate Chip Day!

It made me think of how good our house smelled when I’d walk in the door after school and Mom would have a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies. They were my favorites.

I tried and failed so many times over the years to recreate her cookies and couldn’t.

Mom was never good about writing down recipes or sharing them, so I finally gave up.

After she passed away, I happened to find her recipe, tried it, and the cookies were just like the ones she used to make.  With every bite of chocolate-imbued nostalgia, they took me back to those days when I’d come home and she’d ask about my day while I sat at the counter and had a glass of milk with a cookie or two.

If you need a good chocolate chip cookie recipe, here’s the one from my mama.

Mom’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients: 

1 cup salted butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

2 1/2 cups flour

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugars. Add egg and combine. Add vanilla. Stir baking soda and salt into flour then add a little at a time to dough. Stir in chocolate chips.

Use a cookie scoop, or a tablespoon to drop dough on parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes until cookie are just set and barely starting to brown. Remove from oven and cool for a minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Yield: 36 cookies

What is your favorite way to enjoy chocolate chips?

If you aren’t a chocolate fan, what is your favorite cookie?

Post your comment for a chance to win a set of recipe cards!

 

Cowgirls in the Kitchen – Jeannie Watt

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Today I’m going to give you a recipe for one of my favorite flour-free, five-ingredient cookies. In the early 1970s my mom, who is a fantastic baker, was diagnosed with a wheat allergy. Ironically, we lived in wheat country—wheat fields to the doorstep. At that time, alternative flours were rare. We had pea flour (makes really bad cookies), corn flour (really grainy cookies) and not much else in the grocery stores in Moscow, Idaho. We focused on candy after her diagnosis, but every now and again we’d find a recipe for cookies that didn’t call for flour. These cookies are delicate, but delicious. Here’s the recipe:

Flour-free Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup creamy peanut butter (you can use chunky if you want)

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Chocolate chips are optional

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix the peanut butter and sugar. Add the egg, salt and vanilla. That’s it. You’re done, unless you want to add chocolate chips. I just wing that.

I put parchment paper on the cookie sheets, then form 1 tablespoon size balls and place them a couple inches apart. Use a fork to crisscross the cookies.

Bake for 10 minutes–no longer. You do not want to overbake. Let them cool completely on a rack before trying to handle them.

If you want, you can melt chocolate chips and frost the cookies, or just eat them as they are.

Pictured below are three varieties: chocolate chip peanut butter, chocolate frosted peanut butter and plain peanut butter.

Again, these are delicate, but delicious. I hope you try them. They’d be perfect to make with kids and grandkids.

Enjoy!

YUMMY COWBOY DIP–HAVE YOU EVER EATEN THIS?

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Hi everyone! With summer coming on, there’ll be lots of opportunities for more family get-togethers, and I’m always on the lookout for something different that will be a hit when we all congregate here at the house—especially something that can be made ahead of time and serve a LOT of people.

Take a look at this warm dip—you can eat it with chips or veggies or even french fries (and my inquiring mind wants to know how it might also taste on the edge of a piece of pizza or a bread stick!)

This recipe came from a newsletter I get from the “Cooking Professionally” site (this scared me at first, because I’m NOT a professional cook by any means!)

I’m excited to find this recipe and I’m going to try it SOON. I have a feeling this might become a staple at my house! Do you have a favorite quick and easy recipe you make for family gatherings in the summer? PLEASE SHARE!!!

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE DIP:

  • 12 ounces hot Italian sausage links, casings removed
  • 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated
  • 2 cups frozen sweet corn, thawed and drained
  • 1 (14-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes with green chiles
  • 1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles
  • 1/2 cup fresh jalapeño peppers, diced
  • 1/2 cup green onions, sliced
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • cayenne pepper, to taste

 

FOR TOPPING:

  • 2 tablespoons sharp cheddar cheese, grated
  • cayenne pepper, to taste
  • 1 teaspoon green onion, optional, sliced

 

DIRECTIONS:

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Step 2

Place the sausage links in a dry pan over medium heat until they start to sizzle.

Step 3

Use a spoon or flat wooden spatula to break up the sausage as it cooks and cook until browned and crumbly, about 10-12 minutes.

Step 4

Remove the sausage from the heat and drain the fat.

Step 5

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, sour cream, 4 ounces cheddar cheese, corn, the cooked sausage, tomatoes with chiles, green chiles, jalapeño peppers, 1/2 cup green onions, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper, mixing until thoroughly combined.

Step 6

Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and smooth out the top.

Step 7

Top with the remaining cheddar cheese and the cayenne pepper.

Step 8

Place the baking dish on a sheet pan and bake until the cheese is melted and the dip is bubbling around the outside, about 30 minutes.

Step 9

Top with the remaining green onions and serve!

Dutch Baby Recipe

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One of my recent Dutch baby breakfasts.

I love carbs for breakfast and one of my favorite Sunday breakfast treats is a Dutch baby. The Dutch baby is essentially a large popover baked in a cast iron skillet and was introduced in the early 1900s in a family-owned restaurant in Seattle, called Manca’s Café.

The Dutch baby is also called a German pancake or a Dutch puff. It is rumored that “Dutch” came from one of the Manca’s Cafe owner’s daughters mispronouncing Deutsch, so instead of a Deutsch or German pancake, it became a Dutch pancake.

That’s the history. Now for the good part–how to make it!

 

 

DUTCH BABY

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • a shake or two of nutmeg (or cinnamon)
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup butter (4 tablespoons)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F

Combine everything except for the butter in blender and blend until smooth. (I use a bowl and a whisk because I hate to clean the blender).

Put the butter in  9 or 10 inch cast iron skillet and put it into the oven. As soon as the butter is melted remove the hot skillet from the oven and pour the batter onto the melted butter. (So satisfying to hear that sizzle.)

Bake for 20 minutes. The batter will puff into odd shapes which is a lot of fun for kids to watch through the oven window.

We cut our Dutch baby into four pieces and serve it with berries, warm maple syrup, and sometimes whipped cream. Any syrup or jam will do, and it’s fun to experiment.

I hope you try this out. It’s super easy and super yummy.

Cheers!

Jeannie

TEXAS COWBOY STEW by Cheryl Pierson

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Fall’s on the way, so it’s time for some good recipes to fix on those cool evenings. I’m thrilled to find recipes that are EASY, QUICK, and GOOD. Have you ever noticed how many times cowboys in films and books sit down to a hearty bowl of stew?

Growing up, my mom made a lot of vegetable soup, but never made stew. I don’t know why, because I have seen my dad eat stew elsewhere, but for some reason, Mom just never did make it. I learned to make it because my husband mentioned he’d like some. My early attempts were not the best. BUT…I found those wonderful McCormick Beef Stew seasoning packages with directions on the back and voila—I was suddenly a gourmet stew-maker!

I found this recipe the other day, and boy, does it look great! It’s different from my usual recipe, but looks fabulously tasty. I will be going to the store this weekend for what I DON’T have, but many of the ingredients are every-day items we all probably have on hand in our pantry.

 

TEXAS COWBOY STEW from “Cooking Professionally” website

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds ground beef
  • 2 packages kielbasa sausage, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 (14.5-ounce) cans of peeled and diced tomatoes, drained
  • 4 medium baking potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 2 (15-ounce) cans of pinto beans, with liquid
  • 1 (15.2-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
  • 2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chile pepper, with liquid
  • 1 (10-ounce) package frozen mixed vegetables
  • 4 cups of water
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • salt and pepper, to taste

recipe image

Step 1

In a dutch oven, sauteé the onion over medium heat. Add ground beef and cook until there’s visibly no pink left. Add sliced sausage.

Step 2

Pour in both the diced tomatoes & tomatoes with chiles, pinto beans, potatoes, corn, and veggies. Stir everything until well mixed, then add spices.

Step 3

Add the water, bring to a boil, and let simmer for one hour.

Step 4

Serve with your favorite cornbread recipe!

(Recipe and photo credit to Cooking Professionally)

Do you like stew? If so, what’s your favorite recipe for stew? What do you like to eat with it?

Strawberry Shortcake

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Growing up, we always had an abundance of strawberries during the summer months. My mom made strawberry shortcake at least once a week.

Now, I know everyone has their own take on what “shortcake” should mean. Some people like to use biscuits. Others a sponge cake. Some might go for angel food cake. For me, it means the baked-from-scratch white cake Mom made only when she served it with strawberries.

At the end of a long, hot, hard day of working on the farm, a serving of that shortcake soaking up sweet strawberry juice and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream was a little bite of summer heaven.

Even the few years my brother decided to grow strawberries and sell them in town (and roped me into picking them way too early in the mornings), those berries still tasted so good.

My dad liked to say the variety of berry, Ogallala, might not make the biggest berries, but they were the sweetest. I had to agree.

The Ogallala is known as one of the hardiest strawberries because they can handle both cold temperatures and drought. After the first year, they are a heavy producer, spreading out runners and falling in the category of everbearing (meaning they’ll bear fruit all summer).

According to the information I found, 25 years of research and testing by the North Platte Experiment Station and the Cheyenne Horticultural Field Station went into developing this strawberry which debuted in the 1950s. Created by Dr. LeRoy Powers, the Ogallala combines Rocky Mountain wild strawberry with cultivated varieties of Fairfax, Midland, and Rockhill.  The result: big husky plants with abundant dark green foliage and deep red berries that are red all the way to the center. The leaves make finding the berries a bit of a challenge, but helps protect against bird damage, hot winds, and unseasonable frost.

All I knew as a kid was how good those berries tasted. Mom would make jam so we could enjoy that delicious summer flavor all winter long. And sometimes, if she was in a rush, instead of making shortcake, she’d simply roll out a pie crust, sprinkle it with sugar, and bake it on a cookie sheet. Then we’d break off pieces of the crust, layer berries and ice cream on top, and savor the wonderful treat.

A few years ago, I was craving those sweet berries of my childhood, not the big, flavorless things we so often find at the grocery store. Of course, when my parents sold the farm, they didn’t bring along any of the berry plants to their new place. So I started searching for them online.

When I finally found a nursery that sold them, I decided to order 20 plants. I figured if even half of them survived, that would be plenty for Captain Cavedweller and me to enjoy. When they arrived, they were the most pathetic looking starts you’ve ever seen. They looked more like shriveled little sticks than hearty root stock. But I planted them – in between the roses that line the fence along our driveway. I was sure none of the plants would grow. The first year, they didn’t do much, but the following spring, gorgeous leaves unfurled and soon we were picking sweet, juicy berries that took my back to my childhood days on the farm.

And this summer, it looks like we’re going to get a bumper crop of berries with berry plants coming up everywhere. Yum! I can hardly wait to make shortcake just like Mom used to serve! (Right after I trim back all those runners!)

Strawberry Shortcake

¾ cup sugar

½ cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 cups flour

4-5 cups of strawberries

½ cup sugar

Vanilla ice cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour and baking powder, set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream together ¾ cup sugar and butter, then add egg and vanilla extract. Alternate adding flour mixture and milk to the bowl until batter is well blended.

Pour into a greased 9 x 13 baking pan and bake until the top is a light, golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Cool completely.

Remove stems from strawberries, wash and hull them, then place in a large serving bowl.  Mom always used a potato masher to break them down a little. You don’t want to pulverize them like you would if you were making jam, just mash them enough they get good and juicy and break into nice little pieces. Stir in ½ cup of sugar until sugar dissolves, then let rest for at least 10 minutes.

When ready to serve, cut slices of cake, top with strawberries and a scoop of ice cream.

~*~

Do you have a favorite childhood dessert

you enjoyed in the summer?

Or a favorite dessert you look forward to

making during the summer months? 

Post your answer for a chance to win a copy of Farm Girl, a collection of humorous stories from my childhood years.

 

 

Easy Tex Mex Baked Eggs

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Holiday Greetings!

I don’t know about you, but when I have a houseful of guests, I love to cook, but three meals a day gets a tad overwhelming. That’s why I love this recipe. It’s quick and easy, and I get rave reviews, even from people who don’t think of themselves as Tex Mex folk.

Here we go:

6 large eggs

1/2 cup heavy cream (I cheat and use half and half)

1 cup of grated cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 4 oz. can mild diced chilies

Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray or butter a shallow baking pan. I often use a 9×9 brownie pan. In this case I used my fancy pan.

In a medium size bowl, beat the eggs. Mix in cream, salt and pepper.

Add chilies to egg mixture.

Spread the cheese in the bottom of the baking dish. Pour egg mixture over the top.

Bake for 25 minutes or until eggs are set. (Living at altitude, it always takes longer where I live–usually between 35-40 minutes. Keep an eye on it.)

Broil the top if you want more browning.

Serves 6.

I’ve doubled the recipe and cooked it in a larger pan quite successfully, because funny thing–in our house, this only serves 4. Hmmm…

We always top the eggs with hot sauce or salsa and serve with bacon or ham. 

Looking forward to seeing everyone in 2021!

Cheers,

Jeannie

BEST BROWNIES EVER!–by CHERYL PIERSON

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Several years ago, after Hurricane Sandy devastated so much of the East Coast, help began to pour in immediately. But here in the farther inland parts of the U.S., we were left wondering what we could do, other than donate money?

In times of disaster, we all wish we were able to do more. Many people don’t want to give to a nebulous charity, fearing scams of all sorts.

One of my publishers friends, Rebecca Vickery, came up with the idea of a recipe book. The authors that wrote for her three imprints were asked if they wanted to contribute recipes to go in the book. The proceeds from the sales of the book would go to one of two charities, which we voted on. By a large margin, Save the Children was our choice.

The book was a work of love that we all participated in, some with more than one recipe. It was filled with quite a variety, and even though on the cover it says, “Featuring favorite holiday recipes by various authors”, there are several in this book that I have made all through the year.  Who can wait for the holidays to have some of these scrumptious treats–especially now when we are at home more and more?

I’m sharing my contributions with you today, but there are plenty more where this came from in this little gem of a book—many of them easy and geared for our hectic lifestyles. I’ve been cooking a lot more lately with the COVID-19 pandemic going on, so I’m always on the lookout for new and different recipes!

I can certainly vouch for the two below—Blonde Brownies has been a staple in our family since I was born. It was on a “Brownie” recipe sheet when both of my sisters belonged to a troop, and my mom was a leader. This recipe is one of those that doesn’t last long around our house—the ingredients are items you usually keep stocked, and it’s easy to make. Same with the Hello Dolly Bars.

Though the book is out of print, it’s still available in limited quantities on Amazon from 3rd party sellers. 

 

BLONDE BROWNIES

4 eggs

1 tsp. Vanilla

1½  cups flour

2 ½  cups brown sugar

½ tsp. salt

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

½  cup (OR MORE!) choc. Chips

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Beat eggs well. Add brown sugar gradually, beating until well mixed. Add vanilla, flour, salt and mix well. Add chopped nuts and mix. Pour into a greased, 9×13 pan and sprinkle chocolate chips over top of the batter. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes (depending on your oven). This makes a 9×13 pan of brownies. You can half this recipe for an 8×8 pan, and reduce cooking time to 25 minutes.

 

HELLO DOLLY BARS

½ cup butter

1 ½  cup graham cracker crumbs

1 six oz. package chocolate chips (I always add extra!)

1 can Eagle Brand milk (sweetened condensed milk)

1 1/3  cups shredded coconut

1 cup chopped nuts

Pour melted butter into a 9×13 pan. Cover evenly with the following: graham cracker crumbs (press down to soak up the butter), nuts, chocolate chips, coconut. Pour milk on top. Bake at 350 F. until lightly brown or chips have melted (about 25 minutes). Cool before cutting.

(You can also add some butterscotch chips along with the chocolate chips for variation.)

Cheryl’s Amazon Author Page:

https://tinyurl.com/ycd4fo93

Blonde brownies are my go-to comfort food! I can eat them any time of the day or night!  Do you have a favorite recipe you love to make? PLEASE SHARE!

 

SWEET TEXAS CHRISTMAS–AND A GIVEAWAY! BY CHERYL PIERSON

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Cheryl PiersonHi everyone!  Here come the holidays! The impending season and all the preparation for the meals has got me thinking, as it does each year–and I know I’m not alone.

Our generation has lost so many important talents and skills. Technology makes it easier for us, but in some ways, it takes away our independence. Maybe that’s one reason we love to read (and write!) historical romance. We can go back in time vicariously without having to live through all the hardships and trials of everyday life, experiencing only the top layer of what must have been difficult, by our standards, every moment.

Does anyone know how to cut up a chicken anymore? My mother did. I remember her getting out the wickedest looking knife I’d ever seen every Sunday and cutting up a chicken to fry. They had started to sell cut-up chickens in the store, but they were more expensive. Mom wouldn’t have dreamed of paying extra for that. By the time I began to cook for my family, I didn’t mind paying that extra money—I couldn’t bear to think of cutting a chicken up and then frying it.

It’s all relative. My mom, born in 1922, grew up in a time when the chickens had to be beheaded, then plucked, then cut up—so skipping those first two steps seemed like a luxury, I’m sure. I wouldn’t know how to begin to cut up a chicken. I never learned how.

Hog killing day was another festive occasion. Because my husband was raised on a farm, he and my mother had a lot of similar experiences to compare (this endeared him to her in later years.) Neighbors and family would gather early in the day. The hog would be butchered, and the rest of the day would be spent cutting and packing the meat. When my husband used to talk about the “wonderful sausage” his mother made, I was quite content to say, “Good for her. I’m glad you got to eat that when you were young.” (There’s no way I would ever make sausage.)

Medical issues? I was the world’s most nervous mother when I had my daughter. But being the youngest in the family, I had a world of experience to draw on. I also had a telephone and I knew how to use it! I called my mom or one of my sisters about the smallest thing. I can’t imagine living in one of the historical scenarios that, as writers, we create with those issues. The uncertainty of having a sick child and being unable to do anything to help cure him/her would have made me lose it. I know this happened so often and was just accepted as part of life, but to me, that would have been the very worst part of living in a historical time. I had a great aunt who lost all three of her children within one week to the flu. She lost her mind and had to be institutionalized off and on the rest of her life.

Sweet Texas ChristmasMy mother was the eldest of eleven children. She often said with great pride that her mother had had eleven children and none of them had died in childhood. I didn’t realize, when I was younger, how important and odd that really was for those times. My father’s mother had five children, two of whom died as children, and two more that almost died, my father being one of them.

It was a case of my grandmother thinking he was with my granddad, and him thinking three-year-old Freddie was with her. By the time they realized he was missing, the worst had happened. He had wandered to the pond and fallen in. It was a cold early spring day. Granddad had planted the fields already, between the pond and the house. A little knit cap that belonged to little Freddie was the only evidence of where he’d gone. It was floating on top of the water. By some miracle, my granddad found him and pulled him up out of the water. He was not breathing. Granddad ran with him back to the house, jumping the rows of vegetables he’d planted. The doctor later told him that was probably what saved Dad’s life—a very crude form of CPR.

Could you have survived in the old west? What do you think would have been your greatest worry? What would you hate to give up the most from our modern way of life? I’m curious to know, what skills or talents to you think we have lost generationally over the last 100 years? Be sure to leave a comment along with your contact information for a chance to WIN A DIGITAL COPY OF SWEET TEXAS CHRISTMAS!

I’m not sure I would have lived very long, or very pleasantly. I know one thing—my family would never have eaten sausage, unless they had breakfast at the neighbor’s house.

• ? •

My latest WHR novella, KIDNAPPING KALLI, appears in the PRAIRIE ROSE PUBLICATIONS Christmas anthology, SWEET TEXAS CHRISTMAS. This anthology contains four SWEET Christmas tales that mention a sweet Christmas treat somewhere in the story–and the recipes for those wonderful goodies are also included. My heroine, Kalli, is half-Cherokee, half-Irish. She makes Cherokee fry bread–and if you’ve never had good, hot fry bread you don’t know what you’re missing! Other authors in this anthology are Stacey Coverstone, Sarah J. McNeal, and Marie Piper.

What happens when a former Texas Ranger is hired to kidnap the daughter of a wealthy landowner–or else? He does it–but then finds himself in quite a predicament. Here’s what happens when he goes for water in the darkness:

EXCERPT:

As Shiloh neared the creek, he stepped on something in the darkness. He heard the rattles just as the surprised snake sank its fangs into the side of his leg, two inches above the top of his right boot.

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!” He stepped back quickly, his mind only just now absorbing the fact he’d been struck—and there was no doubt, it was a rattler. No point in trying to shoot it—he couldn’t see in the darkness. He pulled the matches out and struck one, but the snake had slithered away.

Numbly, he knelt and filled the coffee pot. Probably the last brew he’d have in this world.

Stuck in the mountains with a girl he’d kidnapped who spoke no English. Damn it. He’d not figured on living to a ripe old age, but sure as hell hadn’t thought to cash it all in at twenty-eight, either.

As he hurriedly stumbled back into the firelight, he saw Kalliroe had spread his bedroll on the ground near the fire and was adding more wood.

She glanced up, and instantly was on her feet, running to him, taking the coffee pot from his nerveless fingers. So much for keeping calm—she’d read something on his face—and he hoped to hell it wasn’t the harsh terror he felt. He tried to calm himself.

“Kalli…listen…I got snakebit—a rattler—” He pointed to the place in his denims where the fangs had penetrated. Would she light a shuck out of here? Leave him to die alone? He couldn’t blame her if she did, could he?

Maybe…dammit. If he could only make her understand why he’d taken her…for a father that loved her…

“There’s…a cave a couple more miles from here, but I’m not sure if it’s clear—safe—got animals in it—” He was talking fast, trying to get it all said—and for what? She didn’t understand. And she wouldn’t be needing shelter—she’d be heading back to Talihina…

Was she even listening? Of course not. Time was running out. Snow was on the way, now—he could smell it.

“Show me,” she said.

He cocked his head, wondering if the venom was working on him already. But she’d rolled up his bedroll and had begun to put the fire out. She gathered the wood they’d not used yet, and located a rope on his saddle, lashing it together quickly and tying it to her horse.

Pouring the water into their canteens to fill them, she looked at him again. “We need to go,” she said softly.

“Shiloh. Shiloh Barrett.” He moistened dry lips. “Just in case.”

Impatiently, she shook her head, understanding he thought she might need to know his name for the undertaker. “Let’s go, Shiloh Barrett. I will help you. And you will tell me what this is all about. 

• ? •

I’m giving away two digital copies of SWEET TEXAS CHRISTMAS, but just in case you can’t wait to see if you won, here’s the link!   http://amzn.to/2hrasn5