Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Recipe from How Sweet It Is

makes 15-20 cookies

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cups rolled oats

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 1/4 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.

Beat butter and sugars with an electric mixer until smooth. Add egg and vanilla, mixing well until combined, about 2 minutes. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon with the mixer on medium speed. Beat in oats. Mix until dough comes together. Add in 1 tablespoon milk if the dough is crumbly. If dough is still crumbly, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until it comes together. Fold in chocolate chips. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Remove dough from fridge and roll into big 1 1/2 inch balls. Set on a baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Lightly press down on dough to flatten it. Bake at 375 for 9-11 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

This is a family favorite in our house.  One batch is gone in a day. 
Recipe is from food.com

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup light-brown sugar, packed 
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt 
2/3 cup milk 
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled 
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla 
1 (11 1/2 ounce) package milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts or 1/2 cup pecans, chopped

 Directions: 
Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease twelve muffin cups. 
In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt. 
In another bowl, stir together milk, eggs, butter, and vanilla until blended.  Make a well in center of dry ingredients. 6Add milk mixture and stir just to combine.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. 
Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.  Now bake for 15-20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in center of one muffin comes out clean.  Remove muffin tin to wire rack.  Cool for 5 minutes.  Remove from tins to finish cooling.  Serve warm or completely cool. 
These muffins freeze well.

Overnight Baked Blueberry French Toast

This recipe was adapted from The Yummy Life.

Ingredients

• 1 (16-oz.) whole grain French bagette (or similar bakery bread loaf)
• 8 eggs
• 2 cups  milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2-1/2 cups fresh blueberries; or 1 (12 oz) bag frozen blueberries, thawed, rinsed & drained
• STRUESEL TOPPING:
• 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Cut bagette diagonally into 1" slices. Layer slices in two rows in baking dish. 

In large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Pour over bread slices, separating slices as you pour so the mixture gets between them. Sprinkle blueberries over casserole while separating the slices so that some of the berries fall between them. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Struesel topping:

In medium bowl whisk together whole wheat pastry flour, oats, brown sugar, & cinnamon. Cut in butter. Mix until combined and crumbly. Add pecans, if desired, and mix. Set aside.

Remove baking dish from refrigerator and let sit for about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle streusel evenly over top of bread slices. Bake uncovered for 40-50 minutes, until cooked through, lightly browned, and there is no visible liquid. Center should be moist but not runny. To prevent over browning, loosely lay a sheet of aluminum foil over top during last 10 minutes, if necessary. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with maple syrup or blueberry sauce.

Summer Spaghetti

This dish was amazing! My husband went on and on about how much he loved it. He said he would order this in a restaurant. 
This is very savory. Yum!


Ingredients

1 box of spaghetti noodles cooked
1 pound chicken breast fillets (cut into 1 inch chunks)

For the chicken marinade:
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped (if using dried, use half of the amount)
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of ½ a lemon
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon coarse salt (not table salt)
½ teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (to sauté the marinated chicken)

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

Recipe

- Add all the marinade ingredients into the chicken and marinade for at least 20 minutes or over night.
- Saute the marinated chicken in extra virgin olive oil until cooked (about 4-5 minutes) then set aside.

Ingredients

For the garlic gravy:
½ stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 large cloves garlic, finely minced
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 ½ cups chicken stock
1 Tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup parsley, chopped (to sprinkle/finish the pasta)
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
2 cups whole cherry tomatoes

Recipe

- Place sauté pan over medium heat and add butter and olive oil.
- Saute garlic until fragrant and soft.
- Add the flour and cook for a minute.
- Add chicken stock and simmer gravy until thickened then add the chopped basil. I added the cornstarch here to help thicken.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the sauteed chicken in the gravy then toss the cooked spaghetti into this sauce.
- Add the cherry tomatoes and finish the dish with the chopped parsley and grated parmesan cheese (serve extra on the side).