Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

This is an old standby cookie recipe.  I've changed and adjusted it over the years.  It makes a ton of cookies.  They get eaten too fast to count but I would guess 8-10 dozen.  It can easily be cut in half.  Add nuts if you like nuts.  Or stick with all chocolate chips.  This just happens to be the way we like them most.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup shortening
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3 cups flour
4 cups quick oats
1 package chocolate chips
1 package peanut butter chips

Cream the sugars with the shortening and butter.  Add eggs, vanilla, baking soda and salt.  Mix well.  Stir in oats and flour until incorporated.  Stir in chocolate and peanut butter chips.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet or parchment paper lined cookie sheets.
Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

Pioneer Woman's Sheet Cake

Remember the cookbook my daughter gave me for Christmas?  I've been loving it.  One of my favorites to make is the Chocolate Sheet Cake.  It is so quick to make, around 30 minutes.  I love that it's frosted while the cake is still hot.  It's also made with pretty basic ingredients.  I don't always have buttermilk on hand, but when I do I'm making this cake.  The recipe calls for chopped pecans in the frosting.  We're not big nut-eaters around my house so I've made it plain, with mini m & m's but tonight I made it with Andes mint baking pieces.  We loved the mint!

Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Sheet Cake
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 pound butter (2 sticks)
4 heaping T cocoa powder

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar and salt. Stir together and set aside.  In a medium saucepan melt the butter and add the cocoa powder.  Whick together to combine.  Meanwhile bring 1 cup of water to a boil.  When the butter is melted, pour the boiling water in the pan.  Allow to bubble for a moment and then turn off the heat.  In another bowl mix the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla and baking soda.  Mix and set aside.  Pour the chocolate mixture into the flour mixture.  Stir together.  Then add the egg mixture.  Stir together until smooth.  Pour into an ungreased jelly roll pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  While the cake is baking, make the icing.

Icing
1 3/4 sticks butter
4 heaping T cocoa powder
6 T milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans, optional

In a medium saucepan over medium heat melt the butter.  Add the cocoa powder and stir until smooth.  Stir in the milk and vanilla.  Add the powdered sugar and stir well to combine.  Add chopped nuts (or not if you don't like nuts).  Right after taking the cake from the oven, pour the warm frosting over the top of the cake.  Try not to spread too much, just pour it evenly.   If omiting nuts and adding other toppings, sprinkle them on top now.

This may sounds like a lot of steps and/or dishes to use.  I simplify a bit by using the same saucepan.  I don't even rinse it out.  I also boil my water in a glass dish in the microwave and then use it for the buttermilk and egg mixture.  It really is fast, easy and delicious!

Clam dip

We have always liked clam dip in our family.  It's one of those recipes that's not really a recipe.  It isn't even written down.  My mom used to make it all the time.  I loved it and thought I better start making it so that I could perfect it.  Every recipe turns out a little bit different.  I thought I would make some and try to record the amounts for an actual recipe.  I did alright.  But there's always some tweaking to do.  Adjust the seasons, of course after you taste it.

Clam Dip

1/2 pint cottage cheese

1 8 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 tsp. worchestershire sauce

2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp season salt

1/4 tsp garlic salt

1 can chopped or minsed clams, drained-reserve juice

Mix cottage cheese and cream cheese together with electric mixer.  Mix until well combined, but it will not be smooth.  Add seasonings and spices.  Mix well.  Add clams.  Add some of the clam juice until you recieve the desired consistency.  I like mine not too thick.  If too thick it's hard to dip into without breaking the potato chip.  Now go ahead and taste it.  Adjust the seasoning and spices, keeping in mind that it will get better and stronger with age.  Refrigerate until ready to eat.  It will stay great in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

Best Burger I had in Hawaii

I saved the best for last.  The best burger I had while in Hawaii was at Teddy's Bigger Burgers.

They have several stores on Oahu.  Check them out HERE. We ate at the Waikiki location, right across the street from the zoo.  This is a traditional walk-up counter burger joint.  They had burgers, sandwiches, fries, onion rings, shakes and more.  We, of course, made our usual selections.

Mark ordered the bacon swiss burger.  Check out those fries, thick and crisp too.  I ordered my standby, american cheese.  These burgers came with their own "special sauce".  I assumed it would be similar to Utah fry sauce.  I was wrong.  It was a mustard based cream sauce.  For those of you who know me well, you know I hate mustard.  But boy was I suprised by this sauce.  It was delicious!

 

Conclusion:  The Best Burger we had in Hawaii.  It was also the cheapest.  A combo meal with burger, fries and drink was around $8.00.  We also had a coupon from one of the many magazines we had.  So we got 50% off the second meal.  Teddy's will be our first stop for a burger when we return to Hawaii!

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

My cute daughter-in-law has a gluten intolerance or celiac disease.  She can't eat any gluten or she gets VERY sick.  I love to check out new recipes that are naturally gluten free.  I also like to adapt recipes so that she can eat them too.  This one is a great, fast cookie to make.  It's also good because I usually have all the ingredients on hand.  That's easy because there's only 4 ingredients.

Peanut Butter Cookies
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 egg

Mix all ingredients until well combined.  Batter will be only slightly thicker than the peanut butter. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet. (I always use a small cookie scoop and parchment paper)

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  Let rest on pan for additional 5 minutes before moving to cooling rack.

Burger # 2 - Kua Aina

Serving burgers on the North Shore of Oahu for over 20 years is Kua Aina sandwich shop in Haleiwa.  We stopped by one afternoon for a great lunch.  We had been to Kua Aina before and knew it would be worth a repeat.  They serve 1/3 pound and 1/2 pound burgers.  They also have sandwiches and salads.  I opted for the 1/2 pound cheeseburger with american cheese (I know, I know,  but I love the way american cheese melts).  Mark had the grilled Ahi sandwich.  Both were excellent.  Cooked to order and to perfection.  They come with lettuce, tomato, mayo, grilled onions and a large carrot stick.  Ketchup and mustard are on the tables.

Their fries are the homemade, shoestring style.  Although I generally prefer thicker fries, theirs are great.  Fresh and made to order.

They have a great menu with quite a few options.  Someone next to us ordered the avocado burger and it had half an avocado on top of the hamburger.  My burger was $7.95 and Mark's sandwich was $9.95.  A large order of fries was $4.00.  We tried their lemonade.  But I prefer a sweeter one and wouldn't order that again.

Conclusion:  We would definately go to Kua Aina again.

Sorry about the pictures.  We were halfway through the meal before we thought about snapping a few pics.

Burgers in Hawaii

We're just back from the islands.  I'm sure you're thinking, why would you go to Hawaii and have a hamburger.  Well,  I Love a good cheeseburger.  In fact a cheeseburger is just about my favorite food.  So, while away we thought we'd try out a few.  Some we'd had before.  Others were new to us.  I'll be sharing more in the coming days, but today I'll post about a good ole standby. 

Cheeseburger in Paradise.

We ate at the restaurant in Waikiki.  But there are others.  Check them out Here

It was a good burger.  Plenty of choices too.  I went with american cheese, my favorite.  I even tried the sauteed onions, which I generally don't like.  Mark went with the bacon swiss burger.  We also tried their cheese fries.  I loved the sauce on their burgers.  The service was poor but the food was good. 

Burgers were priced around $10.00.  Too expensive for a regular meal, but hey, we were in Hawaii!

My American Cheeseburger in Paradise

Mark's Bacon Swiss Burger

Cheese Fries,  good but not great

Conclusion: 

A really good burger.  Expensive but a great treat while on vacation.  

Have you eaten there?  What's your opinion?