Soft-Baked Monster Cookies

 While looking for my standard monster cookies recipe, 

I came across this soft-baked version which sounded tasty. 

It's described as a peanut butter cookie with oats rather than an oatmeal cookie with peanut butter. Because it bakes likes a traditional peanut butter cookie, you need to flatten them before baking.

Soft-Baked Monster Cookies

adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

1/2 c  butter

1/2 c brown sugar

3/4 c peanut butter

1 egg

1 t vanilla extract

1/2 t baking soda

1  1/4 c flour

1/2 c oats

3/4 c m&m's

1/2 c chocolate chips

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy 
Mix in the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla. 

Add in the baking soda and flour. Do not overmix. 
Fold in the oats, m&m's, and chocolate chips. 
If the dough is very soft and unmanageable by hand, chill the dough for 30 minutes before rolling.
Scoop out balls of dough (about 2 T) onto prepared baking sheet. 
Press with fork or back of spoon to flatten. 
Bake for 9-10 minutes. Do not over bake. The cookies will appear undone.  
Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack. Cookies will firm up as they cool.

Chicken Pad Thai

Homemade Pad Thai as good as takeout!

Chicken Pad Thai
adapted from A Year At The Table


14 oz dried rice noodles (flat)
1 t minced fresh garlic
2  chicken breast,thinly sliced

2 eggs
1/3 c chopped green onions
12 oz bean sprouts
1 t red chile flakes
1/2 c chopped fresh cilantro
¾ c  peanuts, chopped 
6 lime wedges

Pad Thai Sauce
1/2 c vinegar (i combined white and black vinegar)
1/4 c sugar
1/3 c soy sauce
1 T sesame oil
1/2 t paprika
zest of 1 line

Put rice noodles in a bowl or 9x13 pan and cover with warm water.
Soak for 20 min. until softened then drain. (do not over soak they will still be slightly firm)

Prepare sauce by mixing all ingredients.

Heat some oil in a wok or large sauté pan over medium high heat. 
Add chicken and garlic stir-fry until cooked through. 
Add soaked noodles and sauce.
Stir noodles then cover and bring sauce to simmer. This will finish cooking your noodles.
Move noodles to one side of wok. Crack eggs into pan and scramble and cook.
Gently fold eggs into noodles.
Remove pan from heat and add green onions, bean sprouts, peanuts, chiles and cilantro to noodles.
Serve with lime wedges.

Roasted Veggie Pesto Bread

 Slice open a French loaf of bread. 

Spread on some pesto and ricotta cheese. 

Pile on some roasted veggies, maybe some grilled chicken. 

Sprinkle a little cheese on top. 

Pop it into the oven to heat through.

Dinner is served!

Roasted Veggie Pesto Bread
adapted from Budget Bites

1 loaf French Bread
Pesto
Ricotta cheese
roasted veggies (I used zucchini, carrots, onion on this day)
grilled chicken
mozzarella cheese

Slice loaf in half length-wise and place on baking sheet
Spread each side with 2-3 T pesto
Spread about a 1/2 c of ricotta cheese on top of pesto
Combine grilled chicken and roasted veggies (pine nuts would be good, too!) and divide evenly between the two halves
Top with mozzarella cheese
Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 min or until heated through and cheese is melted.

Tiramisu

Everyone should have a great tiramisu recipe in their repertoire. 

You just should! 

This one is altered from the back of the ladyfingers I bought. 

They are Alessi Savoiardi Cookies (I found them at Cub Foods) and it was a-mazing! 

It takes a little time, but the nice thing is that it tastes best the next day, so it's a great make-ahead dessert. 

And let's face it, it looks pretty darn impressive! 

Maybe you want to make it for Mother's Day?

Tiramisu

zabaglione cream

5 egg yolks

1/4 c sugar

1/2 c espresso

In the top of a double boiler, beat eggs and sugar together until it is pale yellow in color.

Gradually add espresso and beat continuously.

Scrape bottom and sides occasionally and cook 6-10 minutes or until soft mounds can be formed.

Remove from heat, cover with plastic wrap making sure to touch top of cream with the wrap to avoid a skin from forming.

1 c whipping cream

4 T sugar

1 lb mascarpone cheese (I substituted with 16 oz cream cheese + 1/2 c whipping cream + 5 T sour cream)

1 recipe of zabaglione (above)

3 c espresso or other strong brew coffee

1 T vanilla

1 14oz pkg of Savoiardi cookies (ladyfingers)

3 T cocoa powder

Whip cream with 2 T of sugar until soft peaks form.

Fold in mascarpone (or equivalent) and zabaglione and mix until well blended.

Cover and chill for 1 hour.

In a small bowl, mix espresso 2T sugar, and vanilla.

Arrange 16 cookies on bottom of a 9x13 pan. (i had to break a few to fill in spots)

Carefully spoon coffee mixture over each cookie so they are well saturated, but not falling apart. (about 2 T)

Spoon 1/3 of the cream mixture over the cookies.

Sprinkle with cocoa powder until covered. (works great through a sifter)

Repeat layers 2 more times, ending with cocoa.

Cover and refrigerate at least 5 hours, but best overnight so that the cookies can soften and absorb all that yumminess!

Mother's Day Gift Bag

In case you need a Mother's Day gift idea, 

head over to my etsy shop and check out this gift bag.

You get:

 2 bars of soap

a hard lotion bar

a chapstick 

 a decorated muslin bag 

all for $18 plus shipping!

I never wanted to homeschool!

I never wanted to home school. I didn't want to be one of those people. I had been hurt by them. They made me feel that I wasn't doing my best or the best for my kids if I didn't choose home schooling. That the perfect christian mother would be a home schooling mother. The last thing I wanted to do was be one of them. Besides, that would mean I would be home with all of the kids all day AND be responsible for their education. I would lose my mind! I am going to be more frustrated and yell more! We are going to get on each others nerves and grow to hate each other! Yeah. Not gonna happen! So when our current schooling situation required a change, we decided to look at our options. Since I was sure homeschooling wouldn't work for us, we decided to first go to a local meeting about a home school co op starting up in our area so we could make a fair, educated decision to remove it from our list of options.

HA!

Funny how God works, isn't it? Well the exact opposite of everything I thought would happen happened. The co op was amazing and it was clear after checking into the other schooling options in our area that we would be home schooling in the fall. I knew that this change was mainly for my character building. If I was to survive a full school year at home with three kids, I had some purging to do. God is so gracious and so gentle. I am now seeing that home schooling is exactly what I needed. He taught me to see joy in mothering instead of unending, thankless work which led to gentler words coming from me. He taught me contentment in mothering with what He has given me specifically for my kids and not in comparing to others which led to a peaceful attitude. He taught me to see the good in my kids and not just the bad, which led to loving them more like He loves us.  He taught me to identify what situations would trigger frustration in my heart so I could take steps to fight that and not yell. Instead of growing to hate each other, we have grown to love each other.

So here I am. One of them. But it is my story and the path God had for me. Your story may be different. With God's help, I hope I'm not one of 'those people' to you. Home schooling isn't the best option that everyone will someday eventually come around to. Homeschooling does not get you into heaven. Obeying God's path for you is the best option that someday everyone will eventually come around to! Believing that God is infinitely glorious and created us in His image, and that we have sinned against Him and payment for those sins is eternal death, and that He loves us so much that he sent His Son to pay that debt for us by dying on the cross and received God's wrath, and that after he died He rose again and conquered death forever! Believing that is what gets you into heaven. Praise God! And not how well I do or do not home school.

Traditional Crust Pizza

So we have found a thin crust pizza that we love. 

We have made deep dish pizza that we love. 

But sometimes, you want a really good traditional crust pizza. 

Well, we found it! 

And it is fantastic! 

You must plan ahead though, because the dough is a-ma-zing if you let it set a full day.

So make this dough tomorrow so you can have pizza on Friday.

Traditional Pizza Crust

adapted from VIA 313  

5¼ c bread flour

2 t yeast

2 c lukewarm water (90-100 degrees F)

1 T salt

2 T olive oil

1 t sugar

Extra flour and olive oil for kneading and storing

In the bowl of stand mixer with a bread hook or just a large bowl, combine the yeast and flour.
Dissolve the salt and sugar in the water, then add the oil.
Add the water mixture to the machine and turn it to low speed for kneading.
Knead on low speed for about 5 minutes, or by hand, adding a tablespoon of flour or so if necessary to make a soft, smooth, non-sticky dough.
Coat mixing bowl and dough lightly in oil, cover, and store in the fridge overnight.
1 hour before you plan to bake pizza, divide into 5 equal balls, place on a tray, and cover.
When ready to shape, sprinkle a countertop with flour and put a dough ball down. Form a crust around the edge, then gently press out the center. Use your knuckles and a gently stretching movement to form the pizza crust.
Lay on a well-floured pizza peel or cardboard square and dress the pizza.
Brush crust with a little olive oil.
Transfer it into a preheated oven (500-600 degrees F) onto a preheated stone or cast iron skillet and bake 5-10 minutes until brown and bubbly.
Remove and cool on a cutting board for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

Here is a video VIA-313 made showing how to make the pizza crust.  It is helpful to watch to get the technique down on shaping the dough. 

(FYI, there is a bit of crass language.)

We use the same sauce from our thin crust recipe.

Pizza Sauce
6oz tomato paste
1 c water
3 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt
pepper
1/2 T oregano
1/2 T basil
1/2 t rosemary

Combine well.