Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I can’t remember what inspired me to want to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but I found myself purchasing some Quaker Oats the other day. (Anyone remember the movie Crazy People? “Quaker Oats… Do they taste good? Who knows. But at least the box is cute!”) The first batch spread out too much, and I figured out that I’d made the round dough balls on the cookie sheets much too big. Going back to a smaller size made them come out just as they should. (Whew!) I can’t include a photo here because there are already none left, and John took a bunch to work with him as an early holiday gift for his coworkers. But rumor has it that they were delicious.

The recipe I used is one I found in various places on the web, so I’ve included our own version here:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tbsp. milk
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2.5 cups oats (NOT instant!)
2 cups chocolate chips (~12 oz.)

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, set aside.

Mix butter, sugars, eggs, milk and vanilla in large mixing bowl. Gradually add flour mixture, stirring well. (Can use mixer at this point if desired.) Then, stirring by hand, add the oats and then the chocolate chips.

Bake on parchment paper if you have it, otherwise an ungreased baking sheet will do fine. Form dough into 1 inch balls (no bigger or cookies will spread too much), and place them on the cookie sheet 1.5 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees between 10-13 minutes or until golden brown.

Kettle Chips New York Cheddar With Herbs

A review of Kettle Brand New York Cheddar with Herbs Potato Chips… (sorry about the swiss cheese icon, but it’s our only ‘cheese’ one) I know Kettle Chips have been out on the market for a long time, but this is the first time we’ve bought them because they were on sale. They also have NO MSG or autolyzed yeast extract (another name for MSG) – yay! Anyway – they’re extra crunchy/crispy, which I knew Kettle Chips were, but this flavor is fantastic. It really tasted like a crunchy baked potato. So, highly recommended if you like crunchy, flavored potato chips. That pretty much sums it up – heh.
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Time for Wines

Over the last few months we’ve tried a number of wines that we’ve been meaning to write up, but just haven’t gotten around to it. So, in an attempt to put SOMETHING in writing, here’s a brief summary just to get something posted!

Elena 2005 Sauvignon Blanc – Very flavorful – fruity but crisp, and easy on the throat.

Kenwood 2004 Pinot Noir – I’d like to try a few more Pinot Noirs to have a little more to compare this to, but overall it was a thumbs up.

Beaulieu Vineyard (BV) Coastal Estates 2005 Sauvignon Blanc – we’re of two minds about this one. I thought it was a little rough on the edges, but John thought it was more bold than rough. Or maybe it’s just our vocabulary that needs better judgment – heh.

Yellow Tail 2005 Cabernet Merlot – Interesting wine – 70% Cabernet and 30% Merlot, but not really tasting like either. Goes down a little smoother after the first glass. Flavorful, almost a hint of sour, in a wine sort of way.

Well, it’s not poetry, but at least it’s online!
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Impromptu Garlic Pizza

What to do when you have a few fresh ingredients but not all the ones you need to make what you were planning…. Take the loaf of fresh Italian bread and cut it in half top and bottom and then in half again lengthwise. Spread a generous but not too thick layer of creamy caesar salad dressing on the bread sections. Sprinkle liberally with grated parmesan cheese. Grate whole milk mozzarella over each piece. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees (or so) on a cookie sheet. Whallah! Delicious white sauce garlic pizza!
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Going Halfsies – Apple

A new addition to our Food Follies Shop… this is a sketch I drew of an apple cut in half, but you can only tell that the one on the left is in half if you look at the shadow. 😉 The design itself is done in a dark sepia-tone and also comes on other kinds of apparel, cards, mugs, and other stuff as well. (Click the image to see all of it!)
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Baking Day, Apparently

Yesterday was baking day here, apparently. I had a hankering for some sugar cookies, but then remembered the Jello Cookies recipe which is very similar, just with the jello sugar instead. So I made the dough and whipped out my cookie press only to remember, after stuffing the barrel full of dough, that the plunger was broken and I needed a NEW press. Leaving me wondering why I had put the thing back in the cupboard to begin with. Oh well! So I got out a biscuit cutter and made cutouts. Since I used orange jello sugar, we had round orange cookies, with some green decorative sugars sprinkled on top for fall. I’m pretending that they’re pumpkins.

I also made a loaf of yeast bread with half white flour and half whole wheat; it turned out pretty good, if a bit dense! Tastes really good spread with butter and then strawberry jam.

Sorry I don’t have any photos at the moment – everything’s all sort of tucked away under plastic and foil and such and SO FAR AWAY in the kitchen, where I am not. Maybe I’ll get a few shots later if I can before everything’s gone. 🙂
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Ice Cream University, Cupcake University

Less than a month ago we got an idea for another themed t-shirt store – spoof or funny ‘university’ designs – and in a spurt of unparalleled creative effort came up with the name Tshirt University.

I’m mentioning it here for two reasons: 1. We have a whole section for food designs and another for drink designs. (And we take custom orders, so if you want some weird food university design, just use the form on the site – we dare you!) And, 2. Today’s Tuesday’s Topic is ‘desserts’. So we thought we’d show off a few of our dessert-based university designs!

So, we’ve got Ice Cream University (which has already been a good seller – I credit the weather – LOL), and Cupcake University, popularized by Martha Stewart’s recent prison stay as well as the upsurge in popularity of the delicious little frosted cakes themselves. Each design comes on a variety of apparel and items, including these really nice baseball hats, which are a newish product. (Just cick on an image or one of the links to poke around the shop and see all the University swag and various products available.)
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Dark Chocolate M&Ms

We ambled into the local Kmart the other day only to run into a huge selection of HALLOWEEN candy! Is it always out this early or is time just running MUCH faster now? Anyway, although I couldn’t find any of my favorites (Milky Way Midnights – those tend to be rather rare in our area for some reason) we did find a bag of Dark Chocolate M&Ms!

I wonder when purple became the American chocolate industry standard for identifying chocolate as dark?

Anyway, they’re very VERY tasty. If you were getting somewhat bored with regular M&Ms, this will put a little more zing in your superband waistband. And as a side benefit, you may not eat as many at a time – just a few of them really satisfy the chocolate monster. *grin*
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