Best cookie in the world – Take 1

Jan 14, 2012 by Ben

I set out on a quest the other night.  To make the best cookie in the world.  I was craving a good cookie, but also had a brilliant idea.  I set out looking through the various cookie recipes and made some plans as to what to try.  Here are the results from the first attempt.

They were pretty spectacular and here’s how you make them.

Here’ s the usual cookie ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 1/2 cups blended oatmeal (measure oatmeal and blend in blender to a fine powder)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 small box of vanilla pudding

And here’s the brilliant idea.  Instead of chocolate chips I had an idea to use Frango’s.   I’m not a big chocolate person, but I LOVE Frango’s.

They used to be sold at a store called the Bon Marche that went out of a business a few years ago and now you can find them at Macy’s around the holidays.  I bought a box for my wife because they are awesome and because I wanted to eat a few of them.   After eating a few way too many, I had the great idea for an amazing chocolate chip cookie made with Frango’s.

First you need to blend the oatmeal.  These aren’t oatmeal cookies, but they have oatmeal in them and it makes them extremely soft and chewy.

Throw it in a food processor and process into a fine powder.

Now add your box of vanilla pudding to this mix.  I saw this on a few other recipes and thought I’d try it in the mix.  Set that mixture aside and grab your big mixer.

Add in your brown sugar

and white sugar

mix it up

add your butter

and eggs

Real vanilla from Mexico is awesome.  Use it if you have it.  If you don’t have it, go to Mexico and get some.

Throw the vanilla in

Then add the flour

finally add the oatmeal mixture

Now for the magical chocolate chips made from Frango’s…

I chopped them up into different sized chunks

I knew I was onto something good at this point

Preheat the oven to 375.  Mix the choloate into the dough and spoon out onto your baking sheets.

bake at 375 for 10 minutes and voila.

yeah they were pretty damn awesome.  Soft, chewy and a hint of mint.

Popularity: 1%

read more

A tomato creme vegetable soup and an appetizer

Dec 24, 2011 by Ben

I haven’t posted a recipe in a little while, so here are 2 for you.  I’ve actually been cooking a lot, just not found the time to post them.

Since the weather is a little colder, its time for a nice soup and I found an awesome recipe for some bacon wrapped potato appetizer things.  And anything wrapped in bacon is awesome, so I had to try them.

We just recently had our Christmas party with friends since my wife has to work in the ER on Christmas.   We cooked and baked for a whole day and made tons of great food.

Lets start off with the appetizer.

Yes, they look that amazing and EVERYONE said they tasted even better.  Plus they are ridiculously easy to make, so that’s nice too.

Popularity: 1%

read more

Cold day = Soup day

Nov 7, 2011 by Ben

I play a stupid game each year.  The game goes like this.  How long can I wait until I have to turn the heat on.  We are lucky enough to live in Southern California where the weather is very temperate all year, but it does get chilly in the winter.  So each year I see how long I can wait to even light the pilot light on our furnace.  Sometimes I can go well into December.  We’ve had our first cold days this year, but I’m still holding out.  One thing that helps, is good warm soup.

So I ran across this file the other day that contains within it the recipes for all your favorite foods from restaurants and stores.  It has recipes for things like Outback Steakhouse Sydney’s Sinful Sundae (one of my favorites), and Red Lobsters’ cheesy biscuits (love those things).   Its a nice list of all those recipes in one place.  One that caught my eye was Olive Garden’s Pasta e Fagioli soup.  I always get that when we eat there.

And since its now officially cold outside (under 60 degrees people!!), I decided to make some nice warm soup.

This recipe has a lot of ingredients, but it couldn’t be easier to make.  You basically just throw them all in together.   Its very easy and very tasty.  Here’s how you do it

Popularity: 1%

read more

How to Grow a Revolution in Your Own Backyard

Nov 3, 2011 by Ben

Here is a wonderful video by Roger Doiron about our growing food supply problem (pun intended)

I planted my garden for a lot of the reasons he goes over in the video.  I have access to fresh food that is good for me and tastes good and it saves me money.   All things I really like.

Watch the video and let me know what you think.

Ben…

Popularity: 1%

read more

Best thing ever: My awesome spice rack

Nov 1, 2011 by Ben

I was tired of my kitchen cupboards being overflowing with spices that I could never find when I needed to, so with some inspiration from the internet I created these.  Its a nice magnetic spice rack that gets all of my spices out of the cupboard and easily accessible when cooking.

This is also a very easy project.  You will need the following:

Individual Clear Glass Spice Jars & Neodymium Magnets and your spices

Those link to the exact ones that I used for this project.

The nice thing about these magnets is that no glueing is required.  They are nice and strong so I simply put them in the underside of the spice jar lid.  Done and done.

It is also a good idea to label the spices.   Grab your label maker if you’ve got one.

They make these awesome clear labels, which work very well for this project.

and here is the finished jar all labeled.

I took a piece of sheet of metal from Home Depot and glued it under the cabinet for the jars to attach to.

Gorilla Glue works well for this.

Then you just take all the jars…

and put them under the cabinets.  Thats it.  Arrange them how you like.  You will start to notice which ones you use most often and keep those up front for easy access.

I have about 30 or so jars. It freed up a ton of room in my cupboards, it looks really nice, and its really easy to grab the spices when needed.

Ben…

Have you got a Best Thing Ever?  Please share in the comments or drop me a note 

Popularity: 1%

read more

The easiest and tastiest mac & cheese you’ll ever make

Oct 21, 2011 by Ben

This is THE easiest and THE most tasty mac & cheese you will ever have.  When you bust this out at partys and pot luck meals your friends will come running over to you, hoist you on their shoulders, and parade you around for being a culinary genius. They will say such wonderful things as, “OMG, that is soooooo good.”, “Best mac & cheese ever!!!”, “You MUST give me the recipe!”.

And here’s where you need to stop.  You DO NOT want to tell your friends what is in this mac and cheese.  It IS the most tasty mac & cheese ever, but it may not be the healthiest of all meals ever.

This recipe is so freaking easy to make.  It only has three ingredients.

So are you ready to make the best mac and cheese ever?   Lets get started…

 Ingredients:

• 16 oz Pasta of your choice.  (I like to use penne pasta, but any will work.)
• 16 oz Velveeta cheese
• 16 oz heavy whipping cream.
• (pumpkin only for decoration)

Boil pasta as per the directions of your pasta

get your wonderful fake orange colored Velveeta out

cut it up into some chunks

Drain the pasta, and set it aside.  Throw the Velveeta chunks into the pot on low to medium heat

Pour in the heaving whipping cream and stir stir stir!  You do not want to burn the sauce

Keep stirring until you get a wonderfully gooey, cheesy, sauce

Pour sauce over pasta and voila

This is seriously THE best mac & cheese you will ever eat and it is ALWAYS a hit when I bring it parties.

Just do yourself a favor and go for a nice long walk or maybe a half marathon after you eat it.

Ben…

Please let me know if this is not THE best mac & cheese you’ve ever had.

Popularity: 1%

read more