Hard Boiled Egg Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had over a dozen dyed Easter eggs in my refrigerator yesterday and was already tired of having egg salad for lunch, so when THIS POST for chocolate chip cookie dough using hard boiled eggs popped up on my blog roll... I was all in, although I was slightly disgusted.

I also have never used a food processor to make cookie dough, but it was fun too! My husband refuses to eat any kind of raw dough because it always has eggs in it. But he actually ate this, which I though was more disgusting that eating raw eggs!!

After baking and sampling, I must say that this may be my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe EVER. They were so thick and moist... okay, I hate that word, but they were. So here is the recipe if you were too lazy to go to the link above and get it.

Ingredients
2 3/4 cups flour
1 cup butter (2 sticks), cut into small chunks
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 hard boiled eggs, peeled and diced finely
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine flour and butter in a food processor and process until mixture is the texture of small crumbs.
- Add the salt and baking soda and process until just combined.
- Add sugars, vanilla, and boiled eggs. Pulse again until mixture comes together.
- Add chocolate chips and combine by hand using a wooden spoon or clean hands. Egg whites may still be visible in the dough but will disappear as the cookies bake.
- Make golf ball sized balls of cookie dough and place them on parchment lined baking sheets. Flatten balls of dough slightly with your hand.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are lightly browned.
- Remove cookies from oven and let them sit on the cookie sheet for 3-5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Tips from a Kitchen of Reality
- I chopped my eggs with my Pampered Chef chopper until they were very fine. So I couldn't even see the egg pieces once I mixed it in the dough. For some reason that made me feel better about putting hardboiled eggs in my cookies.
- Yes, I know getting rid of two hard boiled eggs is no big deal. But I made the recipe once and baked cookies tonight. Then made the dough two more times, rolled them into balls and froze them. INSTANT COOKIES ready to bake anytime in the batch size you want!! I am now down to 6 eggs... I'll be making potato salad tomorrow! :)

Sweet Citrus Chicken

Super quick and super good!

Ingredients

-1-2/3 cups hot water

- 1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken

- 6 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves

- 2/3 cup orange juice

- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar

- 3 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted

Directions

- Add hot water to stuffing mix; stir just until moistened.

- Place chicken in 13x9-inch baking dish. Mix juice, sugar and butter until blended; pour over chicken. Top with stuffing.

-Bake @ 400 for 30 min. or until chicken is done.

Tips from a Kitchen of Reality

- I strongly dislike stove top… the tiny onions and assortment of spices gross me out… so I used a bag of Pepperidge Farm Stuffing. I used the herb flavor.

- I made this with just 4 chicken breasts, the proportions still turned out fine.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

I love lemon poppy seed anything and this recipe just takes like SPRING! Hope you enjoy it.

Ingredients

- 1 pkg lemon cake mix

- 1 box instant vanilla pudding (3.4 oz size)

- 4 eggs

- 1 cup water

- 1/2 cup oil

- 1/4 cup poppy seeds

Glaze

- 2 cups powdered sugar

- 2 Tbsp water

- 2 Tbsp lemon juice

Directions

1. Mix cake mix, pudding, eggs, water, and oil together. Beat for about 2 minutes. Fold in poppy seeds.

2. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Cool completely.

3. For glaze, combine sugar, water, and juice -- then drizzle over cake.

Tips from a Kitchen of Reality

I actually followed the recipe exactly... shocking I know. Turned out fabulous. YUMM!!

Cheesecake Brownies

Easy addition to spice up a regular brownie mix. Enjoy!

Ingredients

-1 pkg. (19 to 21 oz.) brownie mix (13x9-inch pan size)

-1/2 cup applesauce

-3 egg whites, divided

-1/4 cup water

-1 pkg. (8 oz.) softened cream cheese

-1/2 cup sugar

-1/4 cup flour

Directions

- Preheat oven to 350°F.

- Mix brownie mix, applesauce, 2 egg whites and water until well blended. Pour into 13x9-inch pan sprayed with cooking spray.

- Beat cream cheese, sugar, flour and remaining egg white with mixer until well blended; spoon over brownie batter. Swirl gently with knife.

- Bake 28 to 30 min. or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. (Do not overbake.) Cool completely.

Garlic Shrimp with Angel Hair

Ingredients

-12 oz angel hair pasta

-2 1/2 Tbsp butter

-2 Tbsp olive oil

-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

-1 lb peeled, deveined large shrimp, thawed

-1 Tbsp grated lemon zest

-1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

- salt

- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

- 1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Directions

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot.

2. Heat 2 Tbsp of the butter and the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook about 1 minute.

3. Add shrimp, lemon zest, crushed red pepper and 1⁄2 tsp salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp are cooked (opaque throughout), 3 to 5 minutes; stir in the lemon juice.

4. Toss the pasta with the parsley, remaining 1⁄2 Tbsp butter and 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water (adding more if the pasta seems dry). Serve with lemon wedges, if desired.

Tips from a Kitchen of Reality

- I used the peeled and cooked frozen shrimp-- cheaper and less work.

- I am not a huge fan of parsley-- it has no flavor in my opinion and it isn't growing in my herb garden yet. BUT my oregano is growing rampant. So that's what I used and it was tasty. - Super easy recipe that I will be making again.

Baked Penne w/Chicken & Sun Dried Tomatoes

This is a great recipe when you want to stock your freezer with some meals. For our family of 2 adults and 1 toddler, I can get 4 meals out of this one recipe. We eat one the night I prepare it, and the other 3 go in foil pans in the freezer. I have added frozen spinach to it, and it comes out nicely. But it is great w/out too.

6 Tablespoons butter (I have used the whole stick before and it worked fine)
Salt and pepper
I pound penne pasta
Boneless chicken breasts (I use about 2 pounds) cooked and shredded or sliced
4 garlic cloves
6 cups whole milk (I have used 2% just fine)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
10 oz. white mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (it calls for oil packed, but I have used just dried)
1 1/2 cups shredded provolone cheese (again, I have used the whole bag of 2 cups and used mixed Italian cheese instead of just provolone)
1 cup grated parmesan

Butter or grease your dishes
Cook pasta 3 minutes short of al dente
In large pot or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium.
Add flour and garlic; cook, whisking 1 minute.
While whisking, slowly add milk. Bring to a simmer.
Whisk frequently.
Add mushrooms and tomatoes. Cook 1 minute.
Off heat, gradually stir in provolone and half your parmesan.

Add chicken and pasta to pot.
Season w/salt and pepper.
Divide between baking dishes.
Sprinkle tops with remaining parmesan.
Bake uncovered at 400 till top is brown and bubbling, about 25 minutes.
To bake from frozen, leave foil on and place (still frozen) on a baking sheet. Bake at 400 about 90 minutes. Remove foil and bake 15 more.

Pancake Pork

I feel like Anna is always the one submitting here and so I'm going to try to make more of an effort to get some more recipes out there.  After all, I'm sure Anna would like some new ones to try :)

This is more of a method than a 'recipe.'  It came from my Dad.

My favorite application:

bone in pork chops
Aunt Jamima ORIGINAL (NOT complete) Pancake Flour
butter
garlic salt

1.  Line a sheet pan with Non-stick Aluminum Foil.  Yes, it's expensive, but it makes this so easy to remove.  I've tried regular foil with non-stick spray but it still has the tendency to stick.  Coupon + HT doubles = cheap non-stick foil :)
2.  Pour the pancake flour into a zip lock bag.  The amount depends on the amount of pork.  Add your pork chops and shake it like a polaroid picture ;)
3.  Place the coated pork chops on the aluminum foil.
4.  Cut a small pat of butter and put on each pork chop.
5.  Sprinkle with just a touch of garlic salt.
6.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour. 

Notes from Kitchen of Reality:
-If your pork chops are frozen, there is no need to thaw.  They will coat with the flour even when frozen!  Bake for a full hour if they are frozen.
-I do this application to bone in pork chops, boneless pork tenderloin slices, boneless skinless chicken breasts, and even split chicken breasts.
-It's my go to when I can't come up with a meal.  The pancake flour just gives it an extra flavor that I can't describe and it gets crispy with the little bit of butter.
-I have not tried this with any other brand of pancake flour.  I have no idea what that would do or taste like.  I do know that you must NOT use the complete kind.  You need the kind that requires you to add oil/eggs if you were making pancakes.

I hope you fall in love with this as much as I have!  Enjoy!

Potatoes in the Crock Pot

Sunday was a busy morning at church and Mark's parents were in for the weekend as well. I was planning chicken, sweet potatoes, and a green veggie for lunch-- nothing fancy-- but didn't want to have to make it all when we got home from church at noon. Ahh... my best friend the crock pot!! Nothing special for the chicken, just threw it in frozen with some marinade at about 8am, and cranked it to high.

I've seen around in my cooking blog world where people cook potatoes in their crockpot on top of the other food they are cooking. So I said why not, and I tried it. On top of the chicken I placed a large sheet of foil that came up the sides of the crockpot. I then put in 5 large sweet potatoes and closed the lid.

The result:
When we got home lunch was ready, except for my green veggie, which only took 5 minutes. The sweet potatoes were fabulous, had lots of flavor and the peel just fell off. Definitely a fun little trick I'll be doing again.

Not really a recipe, but thought I would share.