Luella's Sugar Cookies

If you are a cardiologist, carefully watching your cholesterol, or trying to wean yourself off caffeine, you probably just shouldn't continue reading this post for two reasons: this entry contains information about buying Starbucks in multiple quantities as well as cookies with 2 cups of vegetable shortening in the recipe. The above picture represents the purchase I made at Starbucks this afternoon - these drinks are not for two people, but instead just for me. It was 3 o'clock and I had been sans caffeine all day, which is just about 30 minutes shy of my limit. I couldn't quite decide whether I wanted hot coffee or an iced latte - so in an effort to not be disappointed with one purchase or the other, I decided to go with both.

We have had some exciting times over the past couple of weeks in our family. Ben announced to us that he was proposing to Anne in an upcoming trip to Paris. How amazingly wonderful is that? I am gaining a fabulous soon to be sister-in-law and could not be happier for the two of them. It is really more exciting than I had ever thought possible to think about my brother getting married.

Anne and I have been talking about these sugar cookies for about 7 months now. She made them over the holidays and emailed me a copy of the recipe; it's a family recipe of hers and she claims that these are the best sugar cookies ever - quite a claim I must say. I was anxious to try them, however, I balked when I saw the cookies had 2 cups of vegetable shortening in them. I can deal with everything in moderation, but 2 cups of shortening just seems like A LOT! When I found out Ben was going to propose to Anne, I thought if he could get serious, so could I.

I once again threw caution to the wind and just finished pulling the last batch of cookies out of the oven. I have two friends coming tomorrow to stay over night with me and thought the perfect homemade treat would be a batch of sugar cookies. I'm making it known right now, that these cookies are in fact the best sugar cookie I have ever had. They are simple, melt in your mouth delicious, and just taste like home. It's a keeper, just like Anne. Welcome to the family.

Luella's Sugar Cookies

1 cup sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

2 cups shortening

2 eggs

4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

Cream shortening and eggs until well blended. Gradually add the sugars until well mixed. Sift the flour with the tartar, soda and salt. Add to the wet ingredients, continue to beat until well mixed. Add the vanilla.

Take teaspoon size balls of dough, flatten with a small juice glass that has sugar on the bottom of it (use a bit of leftover shortening to grease the bottom of the glass). Press the glass onto a plate of sugar, and then press down on the cookie, flattening it.

Bake at 350 for exactly 10 minutes.

Granola Bars

I was at a golf event on Monday for work at the Medinah Country Club, so I thought something that traveled well would be ideal for the "Made for Monday" treat. Medinah is an absolutely beautiful country club/golf course and is a great place to host an event. I thought granola bars might be the way to go because they could be individually wrapped, didn't need to be refrigerated, could provide a little protein boost to the draining effect an all-day event can have on you, and I would say that most people like to snack on something like a granola bar.

I am very aware of the one peanut allergy in our group, so I made sure to steer clear of the peanuts in the original recipe. Instead of using peanuts, I swapped them out for almonds and cashews. Upon my delicate planning and over-cautious tendencies with the ingredient swap, I completely disregarded the fact that the peanut allergy also included a pumpkin seed allergy. And I might add, that allergy came up with last weeks "Made for Monday" zucchini muffins as well - pumpkins seeds and zucchini being in the same family, for future reference. I mean, I practically just set myself up for that one. I think I need to take a survey throughout the office and amongst my friends to get a detailed list about what each person is allergic to and what they can and can't eat.

I found this granola bar recipe on the Joyful Abode blog. I had never been to that blog before so I wasn't sure whether or not to trust the recipe. The granola bars did get really good reviews and I honestly think it is pretty hard to mess up nuts, sugar and honey - so I thought I would throw caution to the wind and give them a try. They are better than any granola bar you have ever had in the store. They taste hearty and homemade, which is what I love about them. They don't taste overly sweet, like your store-bought variety might taste, and you can really taste the flavor in each individual nut. I will be making these again - keeping them for myself this time - to have as an afternoon snack throughout the week.

With my busy days, I do most of my cooking/baking at night because that is when I usually have some free time. Late Sunday night, I was hacking through the granola bars, cutting them into their individual squares before they were completely cooled in an attempt to get to bed as early as possible. I went along, fighting with the roll of saran wrap, as I tried to individually wrap the granola bars for the next morning. I wish they could invent small pre-cut saran wrap squares that don't need to be torn and cut into small pieces. Each time I went to make a cut, the saran wrap would suction itself back on the roll. I probably used 8 times the amount of saran wrap I actually needed. Patience when rolling gnocchi, yes; patience when cutting saran wrap squares, no.

Granola Bars

adapted from Joyful Abode blog

2 cups oats

3/4 cup ground flax seeds

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup almonds, crushed

1/2 cup cashews, crushed

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup honey

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Dash of salt

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Combine oats, ground flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds and cashews in a baking dish. Toast the mixture in the oven at 350 degrees, stirring often. The mixture will take about 20 minutes to brown. Pour mixture into a large bowl.

While the mixture browns, heat the sugar, honey, butter, vanilla and salt in a saucepan until golden brown and bubbly. Pour liquid mixture over the dry mixture, stirring to combine. It will form a glue like consistency over the granola.

Butter a 9 x 13 baking dish and line with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper with cooking spray. Pour the hot granola mixture into the pan. Press down firmly to ensure that the granola forms a dense bar in the pan - you don't want to bars to crumble when you cook them.

Cool bars completely. Turn bars out onto a cutting board and cut into squares. Wrap each bar individually in plastic wrap.

Pink Lady Cake - Baby Reveal Style

Last week, I had the honor of making my first ever baby reveal cake for Emily and Greg. Each morning, while getting ready for work, I watch the NBC Chicago Morning Show followed by the Today Show; it's a routine that I love - it's like waking up with family. A couple of months ago, the Today Show had the Duggar family on as guests to announce the birth of another baby- they have a show on TLC that I have never seen before about having 18 kids. The Today Show had a super-fantastic idea as to how to reveal the sex of the baby to the family- a baby reveal cake. The inside of the cake would be dyed pink or blue and that would be the way to surprise the parents with the good news.

Here is a link to that video: NBC Today Show - Baby Reveal Idea

When Hammy told me she and Greg were going home to have a baby reveal party, I immediately asked if I could bake a baby reveal cake to surprise them with the news of boy or girl. They are great sports and let me do it! I was honored to play such a key role during an event that means so much to the Mom and Dad.

I received the envelope with 'the reveal' around 3:30 last Tuesday afternoon, cake baking taking place that night. I'll admit, I was I surprised that the reveal was simply written on a yellow sticky note, plain and simple as that. It wasn't written with a sparkly gold pen or on certificate paper that the parents might eventually want to frame or with pink/blue puffy paint, but instead a simple, yellow square note. It was a rush to see the baby's sex, knowing that I was the only one that knew.

I wanted everything to be perfect. I spent days beforehand, scouring the internet looking at cake possibilities, hoping to find the perfect one. I must have printed off at least 10 different recipes, honestly making grocery lists after each printing. I don't know why I kept changing my mind - I must have started looking too soon - a tighter time crunch might have made me more decisive. I decided on the Pink Lady Cake from Smitten Kitchen - figuring I would stay with her pink theme if it was a girl and change it to blue if it was a boy. I didn't stray away from the original when it came to the ingredients, attempting to make no mistakes in the baking progress.

The recipe calls for 3 layers but I only did 2 - for 2 very key reasons. 1. I own 1 9-inch cake pan and I was willing to splurge on a second, because with my new homemade cake tradition, I am eventually going to need 2 cake pans, but I wasn't willing to go as far as storing 3 9-inch cake pans in my kitchen. 2. The cake needed to travel quite a ways. The cake originated in my apartment, spent time in the kitchen at work, traveled 6 hours north to Michigan, sat in the fridge for 3 days and then made it's appearance. I figured 2 layers were plenty dangerous at that point.

I made the entire batch of frosting, even though I only made the 2 cake layers. I figured I would need plenty of frosting to cover every inch of the cake. I woke up on Wednesday morning to frost the cake and ended up using ALL of it on the 2 layers. I think it was a 1 pound cake with 8 pounds of frosting - I wanted nothing to show through. I didn't taste the cake, so I have no idea how it turned out - but after 4 days in the fridge I'm not sure a cake could honestly be too moist, still maintaining that good crumb.

Congrats to Hammy and Greg on your baby girl!

Pink Lady Cake

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Cake

4 1/2 cups cake flour

3 cups sugar

5 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups pureed strawberries (fresh or frozen)

8 egg whites

2/3 cup milk

7 drops neon pink food dye (blue drops if it's a boy!)

Cream Cheese Frosting

3 8 oz. packages cream cheese, at room temperature

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

3 cups confectioners' sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the cake: Preheat oven to 350. Butter 3 9-inch cake pans. I used nonstick pans but if you are worried at all about sticking, line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper and butter the paper.

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. With the mixer on low, blend for 30 seconds. Add the butter and strawberry puree and mix to blend the ingredients. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. There is A LOT of batter. You will question whether or not cake batter is going to fly everywhere.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg whites, milk and neon pink food dye. Add the egg whites to the batter and scrape down the sides of the bowl well. Divide the batter among the 3 pans.

Bake the cakes for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the layers to cool in the pans for 10 to 15 minutes. Invert and turn out onto a wire rack. Let cool completely before assembling the cake, at least 4 hours.

For the frosting, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, and stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the fridge until you are ready to use it. If you refrigerate it overnight, take it out about an hour before frosting the cake.

Frost and assemble the cake: Place one cake layer on a cake board. Tuck waxed paper under the edges of the cake to keep from making a complete mess on the platter. Spread about 3/4 cup of frosting over the layer, spreading it to the edge. Repeat with the second layer. Add the top layer and frost the top and sides of the cake with remaining frosting. Serve.

Chipotle Chicken Salad Tacos with Avocado, Red-Skin Potatoes and Romaine

I am officially 7 days into living in my new apartment and neighborhood. I'm still trying to master the quickest way to get to and from places, avoiding as much traffic as possible, which can be difficult in this area. I've got the route to work and the gym figured out - which is key. My trip to Rush this morning took 35 minutes, and I am only a few miles away. I took a few not-so-short shortcuts, got on too many one way streets and was in the car about 20 minutes longer than I needed to be; next trip will be better. The parking garage at my apartment has two-way, single lane ramps that only allow for 1 car to pass at a time; you have to use mirrors and honk at every level you go up and down to avoid running into anyone else. Luckily, I have not encountered any other cars in the garage, but I know it is only a matter of time. I've also mastered backing into a parking space in one attempt- which is something I never thought possible.

This picture pretty much sums it up for me. Now onto the more important food aspect of this blog....

Like a camel drawn to water, I continue to cook from the Mexican Everyday cookbook by Rick Bayless. I don't know if it is my love for the avocado that continually makes me want to cook Mexican food or if it's the way Bayless writes his recipes and introduces me to new ideas and ingredients, but I'm hooked. I recently purchased the Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen cookbook, and I fully intend to start working my way through it once I can pull myself away from the other one. You don't need to see the movie Julie & Julia or read the book, just come to my blog and read up on Emily & Rick - Chicago style.

This latest recipe is a chicken salad taco - kicked up with a little chipotle pepper and a unique twist with a red potato mixed in. I sometimes struggle with making chicken because I don't have an outdoor grill and if I am going to eat chicken, I would prefer to have it grilled. I poached the chicken for this recipe using 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts; Rick suggests that you can use the rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, but the smell of those chickens makes me want to become an instant vegetarian. The 2 breasts gave me enough food for 3 meals. The first was made as the recipe called for, taco style; the second was served over a spinach salad for lunch; the third was chicken salad slathered on homemade flour tortillas from Whole Foods with homemade guacamole. It's a great recipe that makes for a quick dinner or one that lasts in the fridge for a couple days, allowing you to have meals all week long. I'm going to try this same concept with different dressings and proteins to keep it interesting.

Chipotle Chicken Salad Tacos w/Avocado, Red-Skin Potatoes and Romaine

adapted from Rick Bayless Mexican Everyday

1 large red-skin potato, sliced 1/4 inch thick

Salt

3 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 teaspoon dried oregano

3 canned chipotle chiles en adobo, chopped (use 2 and seed them if you like less spicy)

1/4 small white onion, finely chopped

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, poached in salted water for 20 minutes, diced

2 cups sliced romaine leaves, sliced into 1/4 inch strips

1 ripe avocado, pitted and cut into small cubes

2 tablespoons olive oil

Corn tortillas

Scoop the sliced potato into a large bowl; drizzle with 1/4 cup water and sprinkle generously with salt. Cover with a dish towel and microwave on high for about 4 minutes, until tender. Scoop the potatoes onto a cutting board, leaving the liquid behind.

Add the vinegar, oregano, chipotle and onion to the bowl with the potato cooking water to make a dressing. Mix well, then taste and season with salt, usually about 1 teaspoon.

Use a fork to break the cooled potatoes into small pieces, then scoop them into a large bowl. Add the chicken, then drizzle on the dressing and toss everything together. Just before serving, add the lettuce and avocado to the bowl. Drizzle with oil and toss to combine. Serve with the warm tortillas for making soft tacos.

Multigrain English Muffins

When I was starting to go through my refrigerator and freezer items, getting ready for the big move, I weeded out some of the dishes in my freezer that were collecting frost. Ziploc freezer bags work wonders, but I think months of prolonged cold temperatures eventually add up. One can really only eat so many frozen desserts, leftover soups, casseroles and breads in a given period of time. I pulled out chicken and sausage jambalaya, lasagna, oven roasted tomatoes, clam chowder, English muffins, chicken noodle soup, beef stew, strawberry rhubarb sauce, marinara sauce and shrimp etouffee; all homemade gems in my mind. I kept most of the items but did have to sacrifice some of the soups from last winter.

I noticed I was low on English muffins; these are definitely a staple for me. I almost always have homemade muffins in the freezer; if I'm lacking in homemade ones, second best would be the whole wheat variety from Whole Foods. I freeze them individually and often bring them out one at a time to work each day to make a sandwich; lately it's been an avocado sandwich with sprouts and tomatoes.

Kristen and I continue to pick out weekly recipes to make together. She suggested an English muffin recipe, and it couldn't have come at a more perfect time. We decided on a recipe from Martha Stewart Living, June 2009 edition. I won't lie, we had our doubts throughout the cooking process. Kristen worried that we were making hockey pucks instead of English muffins and we were both becoming overly impatient when our dough wasn't rising. I believe I sent 3 different text messages to Kristen that read 'is your dough rising, because mine isn't'. I've decided that no matter what recipe we decide to try together, it doesn't really matter. The fun comes in when we text message/email/twitter back and forth about the process of making the recipe.

This English muffin recipe is the third one that I have tried now and I will admit that it is my favorite. The recipe comes together pretty easily. Don't get too worried when your dough doesn't rise like a usual bread recipe would; the English muffins still revive themselves and puff up in the second rise. The Bread Baker's Apprentice recipe that I have used recently makes a slightly puffier and doughy variety of muffin, which is still very good. This recipe however produces slightly smaller muffins, thinner and more like the version you might see in the store. When I separate the muffin with a fork, I don't get the nooks and crannies that you might expect, but that is ok with me.

Kristen, I would say we are 2 for 2 with recipes so far.

Multigrain English Muffins

adapted from Martha Stewart, June 2009

Makes 13 muffins

1/2 cup warm water

1 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 teaspoon unsalted butter

2 3/4 cups white/wheat flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

1 tablespoon course salt

1/4 cup flax seeds

3/4 cup milk

Combine warm water, honey, yeast and butter in the bottom of your mixer. Let stand for 5 minutes or until foamy. Make sure the dough smells like yeast or is foamy. You want to make sure you activate the yeast. Combine the flour, wheat germ, salt and flax seeds in a separate bowl. With the dough hook attachment, turn your mixer on and slowly add in the dry ingredients. Pour in the milk. Mixture will form a ball. Let the mixer run for about 5 minutes to knead the dough. (You can knead the dough by hand if you don't have a stand mixer)

Turn the dough out onto the counter and knead just a few times. Put the dough into a bowl brushed lightly with oil so that the dough doesn't stick. Turn the oven on warm and put the bowl on top of your oven, cover with a dish towel and let rise for 2 hours. The dough will not rise much, so don't panic. Turn the dough out onto the counter and knead for 1 minute. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin to 1/2 inch thick. Use a 3 inch ring cutter to form 13 dough rounds. Place the muffins onto a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Cover the muffins with a dish towel and let rise again, for at least 30 minutes.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Place English Muffins on the skillet in batches. Cook the muffin for 7 minutes on each side. The muffin will brown - don't let it burn. Take muffins off once they are cooked on both sides. Cool. Serve immediately or put in the freezer and take them out one at a time as needed.

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

The move is complete! You are now reading this blog as I sit here, looking out the window at my view from the 11th floor. Believe it or not, I am completely moved in and settled. Boxes sitting around just waiting to be unpacked, is a slightly overwhelming feeling, so I'd much rather just get it done. Mom and Dad were a huge help and I am in love with the new space! The two pictures on the left are of the new kitchen. My goal is to not trip on the rug that is right under the sink!

A few kitchen highlights include: enough space in the cabinets for a junk drawer, a garbage disposal and room for a huge bookshelf to hold all of my cookbooks. In my old apartment, the junk drawer was confined to a large Chicago Starbucks mug that sat on my 'multi-purpose' table, jam packed with scissors, pens and Sharpies, etc. A whole drawer for junk; I had no idea I would be so excited about that. I was completely surprised to inspect the new kitchen on Friday and find a garbage disposal. I always grew up with a garbage disposal, so when I moved to the city, I was completely thrown off having a kitchen without one. Anytime I had a few food scraps left on my plate or in a bowl, they always had to go into the trash can. When you spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking, the small amount of leftover food in the pan adds up quickly, and carefully getting everything into a bag is slightly time consuming. Finally, there is space for a very large bookshelf in my living room. The bookshelf can officially hold all of my cookbooks, books about food and more! I no longer need to have small piles of books scattered throughout the apartment - instead they are all in one place, ready to be used.

I've had a pretty full to-do list over the past week, but today my to-do list was filled with activities that take place in the kitchen. My first cooking project today was Heidi Swanson's Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes. I wanted to try something new for the "Made for Mondays" work treat. I thought about making zucchini bread, but thought that might be a bit bland for the work crowd. I've learned that everyone likes sweets and chocolate, so the obvious solution to the plain zucchini bread would be to add a little more sugar and Ghirardelli bittersweet chips.

I definitely opened a few more drawers and cabinets than usual, as I tried to remember where I put everything, but I guess that is just normal. I'll try and stop smiling every time I use the garbage disposal and I'll stop using my microwave timer to clock absolutely everything. The cupcakes are moist, chocolaty and delicious. You can hardly taste the zucchini, but instead you can feel the texture of the vegetable as you bite into the muffin. I didn't use any frosting to top the cupcake, but I'm sure you could if you wanted to. The zucchini keeps the cupcake from drying out, so I don't think frosting is necessary. I'm sure you could substitute carrots for the zucchini, add some toasted nuts, or even some unsweetened flaked coconut. I baked both large muffins and mini muffins - for no other reason than the fact that I didn't have 2 large muffin tins to hold all the batter.

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

adapted from Heidi Swanson

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1/4 cup melted butter

3/4 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/4 cup walnut oil, 1/2 cup vegetable oil)

3 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

1/2 cup buttermilk (I used skim milk with a small scoop of plain yogurt)

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli bittersweet chips)

2 cups white/wheat flour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon allspice

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Grease muffin tins. I used one, large 12 muffin pan and one mini muffin pan. In a large bowl, mix together sugar, butter and oil. Add eggs one at a time until well combined. Add vanilla bean paste, buttermilk/milk, grated zucchini and chocolate chips. Mix on low just until the ingredients are combined.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, salt, soda, allspice and cinnamon. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the mixer. Mix until everything is well combined but be careful not to over mix.

Pour batter into muffin tins. Bake large muffins for 35 minutes. Bake mini muffins for 25 minutes. Cool slightly in the pan and then set on a cooling rack to completely cool.

Fresh Tomatillo Salsa

I need your help. Nothing says summer like a minty, fruity, just barely sweet mojito. It just sounds like the perfect way to enjoy a meal on a warm, summer night. Recently, I've been wanting to make a perfect watermelon mojito, but I can't quite seem to get the right recipe

together. I mean look at the drink in the picture above - the glass is so chalked full of ingredients that you can hardly get your straw to the bottom of the glass. Sure, all the flavors are there, but they don't make for an easy cocktail drinking experience. Here is where you come in. If you have a good watermelon mojito recipe, please share it with me. I just have 3 ingredient requirements: mint, watermelon, limes. I would even be open to a really great watermelon margarita recipe. I hope you can WOW me.

I can't believe I am moving in 2 days. The lease is signed, the apartment is painted, the fiasco about having a parking spot on the first/second floor is no longer an issue and I am officially in possession of the new keys. Now we just have to move a few boxes, lift a few heavy pieces of furniture, do some unpacking and then I will officially have a new view from the 11th floor. My kitchen has been completely packed since Friday so I have been treating myself to meals at Whole Foods all week; the deli counter and salad bar is at my disposal. It has been nice, but I'll admit I'm ready to get back to my normal weeknight dinner and weekend bake-off routine. I'll post some of my Whole Foods highlights in a later blog.

I promise to stop posting recipes from Rick Bayless and his Mexican Everyday cookbook.....soon. I can't help it; everything is just that good. I recently discovered the raw tomatillo when I made my Pork Chipotle Burgers. The tart, slightly sweet tomatillo just pairs well with so many different types of food. Rick Bayless had a recipe in his cookbook for a raw tomatillo salsa. The salsa literally comes together in minutes and it hardly requires any chopping. This salsa goes great with the green bag tortilla chips and a scoop of homemade guacamole. If you haven't tried cooking with a tomatillo before, this is a great first recipe to try.

Fresh Tomatillo Salsa

adapted from Rick Bayless, Mexican Everyday

8 medium tomatillos - husked, rinsed, quartered

1 large garlic clove, peeled

1 jalapeno, stemmed, seeded and roughly chopped

2/3 cup cilantro

Salt

Combine tomatillos, garlic, jalapeno, cilantro and salt in a food processor. Add 1/4 cup water. Process until coarse. Pour salsa into a dish. Thin with more water if necessary.