Recipes created by at-home amateur chefs

just made these cookies, oh goodness...

1 cup butter 1 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup shortening 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 cups sugar 3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups brown sugar 2 1/2 cups quick oats
3 eggs 2 1/2 cups cornflakes
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1 1/2 cups coconut
2 1/2 cups flour 1 3/4 cups chocolate chips, I used two cups

Preheat oven to 325. Cream butter and shortening: add sugars and mix well. Add eggs and vanilla and mix
well. In another bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, a little at a time,
untill just mixed. Add quick oats, cornflakes,coconut and chocolate chips, mix untill just combined.

Drop by large tablespoon onto parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for about 13 minutes, checking periodically.

To heck with the parchment paper I just used an old bent up burnt cookie sheet.

I'm not a computer wizard, I lined up the ingredients in two rows but it didn't happen do I need to disable auto format? what will happen?

Alright so I was looking in my fridge tonight, realizing that I'm on the last couple days before I need to go grocery shopping again. Contents of my fridge/freezer : soy milk, garlic, spinach, half a tomato, red onion, one slice of provolone cheese, feta cheese, brei, cream cheese and half a bag of morning star chik'n'strips. (Can you tell I'm from Wisconsin? haha) I also have pasta by default as a consistent last resort. I noticed the theme of a potential med pasta so I looked up a couple recipes. I didn't have exactly the ingredients but I substituted. You can find the recipe I was looking at here. But this is what I did and it was amazinggg (still eating it)...

Fill pot with water, bring to a boil. While you're waiting for that to happen, pour some olive oil in a pan for the chik'n'strips. I put in a little more than what was probably necessary to be sure it would coat the pasta. Cook chik'n'strips until they're browned. You're water is probably boiling by this point so feel free to put the pasta in! (angel hair, rotini, bow tie, whatever you have in your cupboard i personally don't think it really matters, I used rotini). When you're chik'n'strips are browned throw in one minced garlic clove and half a chopped tomato (or more). Sauté that around a bit. Back to the pasta, I always pull a noodle out and eat it to make sure the pasta is done. If you're satisfied, strain! Back to the chik'n. I chopped up some red onion and threw that in to add a little crunch, I also put in a few spoonfulls of feta cheese. The recipe had called for cream to make the "sauce" but I only have soy milk so I poured in about 1/4 cup and sautéd that for about 1-2 min. Put it in a large bowl and mix it all together! Salt and pepper to taste. AMAZING! EASY! CHEAP! TASTY!

Gluten free cornbread, whole oven roasted corn on the cob, simply baked perch with olive oil, butter, salt and pepper, and a pear and fresh fig experiment:

1 container black mission figs, stemmed and halved
2 bartlet pears, ripe, large chop
1/4 cup sweet white wine
couple tablespoons light brown sugar

cover and bake for about half an hour, stir and serve with a little honey drizzled on top.

I got this from here:
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archiv…

and they were wonderful!
We're trying to eat healthy around here, but found that we were doing a terrible job at it, because we just missed the sweet stuff!
I missed baking cookies!!
These were just the trick, and very satisfying.

-3 large, ripe bananas, well mashed
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/4 cup olive oil
-2 cups rolled oats
-2/3 cup almond meal (I just put a handfull of almonds in my food processor and pulsed for a few minutes. NOT TOO LONG THOUGH! or it'll turn into almost an almond butter)
-1/3 cup coconut, finely shredded & unsweetened (I didn't have any around the house, and they turned out fine. They would have been really good though!)
-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
-1 teaspoon baking powder
-6 - 7 ounces chocolate chips or dark chocolate bar chopped (I used 70% and we found it to be perfect)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, racks in the top third.

In a large bowl combine the bananas, vanilla extract, and olive oil. Set aside.
 
In another bowl whisk together the oats, almond meal, shredded coconut, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks/chips
 
The dough isn't real...doughy, but don't fret about it, just plop it onto the sheet, about 2 tsp in size. I misread this and did 2 Tbs in size. 2 tsp sounds about right though...whoops.

To prevent a mess, put them onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes.

I cooked them about twelve minutes, and I should have cooked them longer, maybe about fifteen.

They were sooo good though!

Good for:
gluten free diets
vegan/dairy free diets (depending on what type of chocolate you use)
all natural diets/diets cutting out all processed ingredients



 

I found this recipe online and it makes the most wonderful moist cupcakes.  I originally found the blog it was posted in via Tastespotting, but I don't remember the exact link.  It definitely comes out well.  Here's the slightly modified version I made to fit our tastes and pantry.

Banana Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (originally it called for all purpose, but I don't have any)
3/4cup sugar
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon (I love this spice, so added more, it originally called for just 1 t)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
4 mashed bananas (mine were not overly ripe, and although it took more muscle they came out fine)
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup ground pecans, optional (and more if you want them for topping, which we didn't add)

Preheat oven to 350° degrees.

Mix the flour, sugar, cinna, powder, soda, salt together in a bowl.

Mix together butter, applesauce, mashed bananas, eggs, and both extracts.

Make a well in the flour mixture and add the wet stuff.  Stir to incorporate but be careful not to overmix.

Fold in pecans.

Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20-25 minutes.  Check after 20 minutes, and be careful not to over bake.  Ours were totally done after just 20 min.

Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack.

Made 18 cupcakes.

While they are cooling make the frosting:

Honey Cinnamon Frosting:
3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 stick unsalted butter, slightly softened
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract  (originally called for equal amounts of almond extract again, but we don't particularly like the flavor so I skipped it)

Cream butter and sugar until smooth. 

Add honey, cinnamon, and extracts.

Keep mixing until creamy, soft and uniform.

Spread with butter knife on the still slightly warmed muffins.  The frosting will melt partially, but tastes great.

We don't like much frosting, so I halved the original recipe and it was plenty for the full batch we got.  If you like more frosting then double it.


Soo yummy.  We both ate 2 right away and I've had several today at work.  They are just as good the second day.

This is a hearty vegetarian soup that ends up being quite chuncky

Serves 1 large bowl

Approx 20-25 mins

1 regular sized can diced tomatoes (I like Hunts)
+ 1/2 can or more of water
1/4 cup yellow or other small lentils
1 tbls olive oil
large pinch kosher salt
dash of pepper
dash or oregano
dash garlic powder

Put everything in a pot and bring to a simmer, until the lentils have cooked through.
addd 1/4 cup of your favorite frozen veggie, or skip

Serve with parm cheese on top.

Enjoy : )

I bought some a few days ago to try to make a croque monsieur. Today, I noticed there was a small hole in the packaging. I grated some and tried it, and them remembered I'd never had it before. I was wondering what Gruyere is supposed to taste like? The texture of this kind of reminded me a little of parmesan. Is that bad?

I really love baking, and my boyfriend asked me to make him a cake recently. I've never made a cake from scratch before, but I figured I'd give it my best. Learning experience, right?

I'm having problems finding a recipe for strawberry filling though. He doesn't really want frosting to double as the filling (even though that would be easier). I've been looking around for a recipe for the jam type consistency filling. Strawberry flavored. Since I haven't made this kind of thing before, I don't really know what to look for in a good recipe either. So does anyone have a recipe they can pass on for strawberry flavored cake filling?

I'd also appreciate any general advice about baking a cake. It feels like it'll be pretty straightforward, but you never know. :)

Hello! I just got back from oral surgery and for the first day or two I'm supposed to be on a strict liquid diet. I don't want to be reduced to relying on Campbell's that long. Anybody know of any good springtime soups?
Also when I can start eating solids again they must be soft solids. Anybody have any good ideas for soft easy to chew meals?

Thank You!

Yesterday I roasted my first whole chicken!  I had been scared of such a large project, but when our grocery store had them on sale for $0.70/lb I couldn't resist.  This is a simple recipe, but it came out sooo moist and good :)

Sadly no pictures (it was eaten very quickly)  but here's what I did:

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, about 4-5 lbs
2 T butter
1 whole sliced onion (I used white - not "cooking" for a little more flavor)
2 t minced garlic (I used the pre-minced stuff in the jar, but fresh would work fine too)
salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoning salt - to taste
chopped veggies (carrots, celery, red potatoes)

First as prep I chopped the onion into pieces about 1/2-3/4" squares.

Then I washed the chicken in the sink, removing the giblets and as much nasty as I could.  After patting it dry I placed it in a metal large roasting pan. 

Then I put about 1/2 of the onion and the 2 t garlic inside the cavity with 1T butter, making sure to get all the way back.  

After that I loosened the skin on the breast and put 1/2 T of butter under the skin touching the meat.  I also stuffed a few onions and a bit of garlic in the skin as well.  I've heard that putting butter under the skin makes the chicken really moist, and it seemed to work well.

Finally I seasoned the whole thing with all the stuff that sounded good in my cabinet (seasoning salt, pepper, paprika, onion and garlic powders) and put it in the preheated (350 degree). 

After about an hour and 45 minutes it was ready.  When I saw the temperature getting close to ready I chopped up 2 large carrots, 4 red potatoes (what was left in my fridge) and 2 stalks of celery.  I put the veggies (with the remaining 1/2 onion) in the pan around the chicken to cook in the juices.  They weren't totally done at the end, so while the bird was resting I pan fried the veggies a little more in a little of the drippings.  They came out really cook cooked in the fat.  

Carve and serve chicken, veggies, and rice for a great dinner. 

And now we have leftovers all week for other great meals!  I am glad I finally overcame my fear of whole animals...  (although I did bleach the entire kitchen while the chicken was roasting because I was worried that "chicken juice" may have gotten on things and contaminated them)