Cookies!

More specifically, the chocolate chip kind. My nephew loves to bake with me more than anything. He loves to crack eggs, pour stuff and mix it all up. He's even got to measuring ingredients, by pattern-matching. He may not know what a "half" is, but he knows the 1/2 symbol when I tell him and to match it to the measuring cup/spoon! Pretty impressive for a five-year old, I say!

I even got my not-yet-two-years old niece in on the action. The Monkey would crack the egg into a bowl. After checking for any stray shell bits, I hand the bowl to my niece (forever known as the Cat) and she tips the bowl into the big mixing bowl. Yes, it's complicated, but darn it if it isn't adorable as heck!

Anyhoodle, the cookies we made were more of a soft-cakey kind of cookie, as that is how I like 'em. Not a big fan of crispy crunchy ones. This recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart. Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2.5 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, salt and eggs. Beat until well mixed. Add flour and baking soda, mix until just combined. Mix in the chocolate chips.

Drop large tablespoons onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Lightly flatten with your hand. The cookies should be about 2 inches apart.

Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the centre, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 2 minutes, transfer to cooling rack, plate or mouth.

DELICIOUS

See how expertly the monkey SMOOSHES flat the cookies?

Angry Birds break time while the cookies bake...

So soft.

The really funny lookin' one at the top was the remainder of the dough, HA.

Right, so naturally these were devoured in no time at all. My niece, of discerning taste, quite appreciated them.

I did, too. Lots of them. With milk. I miss them already.

Beef Tagine

Some time ago, I had made a lamb tagine recipe from Bon Appetit. It was A-MAZE-ING. Everyone loved it! So I wanted to make it again with The Monkey. Except lamb was expensive at the grocery store, and I didn't feel like going to another one... so, stewing beef it was. You know what? It was delicious! I think I prefer the lamb, but the beef was still tender and worked really well.

Beef Tagine

2 lbs stewing beef, cut into 1" cubes
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 can diced tomatoes
Chicken stock
1 can chickpeas
5 tsp Ras-El-Hanout (see below)

Ras-El-Hanout
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
3/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground tumeric

Mix all together. Unused portions can be stored for a month.

Season the beef and brown in a sauce pot in batches. Set aside. Add onions and cook until soft and golden. Add the garlic, fresh ginger and Ras-El-Hanout. Cook for 1 minute. Add the diced tomatoes and the beef. Add enough stock to cover. Bring to a boil and then simmer until beef is tender, about 2 hours. Add the chickpeas in the last 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve over couscous, or I poured it over large egg noodles. Enjoy!

 

I served this with a "mini" Caprese salad. Traditionally, it is slices of tomato and mozzarella and basil. I used grape tomatoes, mini bocconcini and small pieces of basil. It was perfect!

Mini-Caprese Salad

1 container grape tomatoes

1 container cocktail-size bocconcini 

7-10 pieces of basil, torn into smaller pieces

Olive oil

Salt, pepper

Mix ingredients in a bowl with enough olive oil to cover. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.

"Paella" of some sort...

So I cook with my nephew about once a week. So the day before I'm frantically going around assembling ideas and ingredients. For some reason, this week I wanted to do Paella. Except, I am always doing little adjustments so that this dish ended up paella-like but not officially paella. Traditionally there should be mussels and chorizo sausage and saffron etc. except I don't like mussels and I'd rather use a different sausage... so this is what happened. It was delicious, but it was more of a paella-like risotto.

Also, a confession: I hate measuring things. I like to throw stuff in the pot. So this recipe is as accurate as I can make it. Cheers!

"Paella"

2 onions chopped
1 leek, white and light green parts only, chopped
2 red peppers, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
5 Chicken - cut into smallish chunks. Legs are traditional, but I had chicken breasts so I used that. I did a quick marinade of salt, pepper, paprika and garlic.
1 package Shrimp - I used shrimp that was deveined and deheaded, but I had to take the shell off. I did a quick marinade in garlic. Honestly, use whatever shrimp style you're comfortable with. It's just shrimp. Delicious, delicious shrimp.
4 Sausages - cut into slices. Traditionally, chorizo sausage is used. But I already had Eastern European-style sausage in my possession, so... klobassa it is!
1 cup rice - I used brown rice
Hot chicken stock
1.5 cups frozen peas (1.5-ish. You can have more or less, you rebel)


Again, traditionally, a wide, pan (called a paella pan, natch) is used. I wanted to make a large batch, so I used a large pot for all of this. Saute the leek, red pepper and onion until they are soft. Add the garlic and cook slightly. Take the veg out of the pan and set aside.
Saute the sausages until deliciously browned. Set aside.
Brown the chicken breasts in batches, to not crowd them. Set aside.
If the pan is dry, add some olive oil.
Fry the rice in the oil for a minute.
Add the hot stock, about 3 cups.
Add the chicken, sausage and vegetables.
Simmer until stock is reduced and rice is cooked. Normally, the water is all cooked off, but I left a little bit. The dish became a little bit like a risotto.
In the last few minutes of cooing, add the shrimp and peas.
Season with salt, pepper and paprika to taste.
I garnished with sliced green onion.

Oh snap this was good!

Big hot mess

Mmmmm chicken and sausage and shrimp...

I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. It was finished quickly, too!