Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies may not look exciting, but they're good.  Very good.

I have a stockpile of whole wheat flour.  My husband mocks it.  I haven't been very good about using it, but when this recipe showed up on a couple of my favorite food blogs, I knew that my whole wheat flour's time had come.

The recipe is pretty specific.  Usually that bothers me.  I'm much more of a cook than a baker because I don't like to be precise.  For some unknown reason, I decided to be exact this time.  Okay, okay.  "Exact" is probably overstating it.  I didn't sift the dry ingredients, I used chocolate chips instead of chocolate chunks, and I tinkered with the baking time.  But I did everything else.  Promise.







Mix the whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and kosher salt in a bowl.  Set aside.





Cream cold, unsalted cubed butter and brown and white sugar.





Add two eggs one at a time.





And some vanilla.





Mix.






Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.





I'm a little embarrassed to admit to the whole Internet that we buy chocolate chips in seventy-two ounce bags...





The finished dough.

The original recipe calls for the cookies to bake at 350 degrees for fifteen minutes.  That seems a little long to me.  I've baked the cookies two ways: for twelve minutes and nine minutes.  Twelve minutes turned out cookies that were a little crunchy but not over-baked.  Nine minutes turned out cookies that were soft in the middle.  I prefer my cookies soft, so lately I've used nine minutes, although I do let the cookies stay on the cookies sheet for about five minutes after they come out of the oven.

Beautiful, delicious cookies with a hint of salt and a fulness of flavor from the whole wheat! 

Another Dish With Pasta and Chicken

You may have notice an overabundance of pasta with chicken recipes here at Cooking in Bush Alaska.  You may have also noticed an overabundance of Pioneer Woman recipes.  That's because I love pasta.  And chicken.  And Pioneer Woman.

This dish is yet another pasta with chicken dish.  And it comes from Pioneer Woman.  But it's good.  Worth trying.  Really.

My version has a few key differences from Pioneer Woman's.  I'm not cooking enough to feed four punks and a hungry cowboy.  It's just me and my hungry schoolteacher (our punk isn't ready for table food yet).  Also, I don't have a dutch oven YET, so I had to bake the chicken and tomatoes in a separate dish instead of putting everything straight into the oven.






Start with a little olive oil and butter in a pan.  (I took a picture of butter, but it was a really bad picture.  I decided to spare our dear readers.  You're welcome.)





I like to use chicken thighs for this dish.  Salt and pepper them, and brown them on each side.





I usually wimp out when it comes to browning things because I get scared that they're going to burn.  I actually did a pretty good job this time.






Remove the chicken.  Use some wine to get all of the yummy bits off the bottom of the pan.





Add some diced tomatoes...





Whatever herbs you have on hand.  (I happened to have fresh basil because the basil plants on my aerogarden were going nuts...)





And whole cloves of garlic, and bring to a boil.





Pour the tomatoes and garlic mixture over the chicken.  Cover and bake for about forty-five minutes.





Serve over pasta and covered in cheese.

Squash Stuffed with Sausage and Apple

What says Fall time more than pumpkins and squash? I guess pumpkins really are just a variety of squash. But anyway, I love to eat both in all kinds of ways.

For this recipe, start by cutting the squash in half, scoop out the seed and stringy stuff, brush with vegetable oil, cover with tin foil and bake.



The original recipe calls for butternut squash but acorn is what came in our Full Circle Farm boxes last week, that worked just fine.



Jimmy Dean sausage represents all that is good with the world. Check out that awesome bush village pricing. Most places this would cost about $2.50 but this little package had a long hard journey to get here.



Brown the sausage.
 


Peel (or not) the apple and cut into 1/4 inch cubes.



Throw the apples in with the sausage.



Scoop out the squash leaving about a 3/8 inch shell.



Gently mix the squash, sausage, apples, butter, brown sugar and spices.

Place that goodness inside the squash shells, sprinkle a little sugar on top and bake.



I have successfully taken a healthy vegetable (or is it a fruit?) like squash and turned it into a sugary, pig fat laden meal.

I originally got this recipe from the Joy of Cooking but the same recipe, minus the pecans can be found here. Though I think pecans would be a great addition. Next time.

~AnnMarie

Creamy Pumpkin Soup

You will need all of the above ingredients plus salt, pepper and baking soda.



Chop one large onion and two carrots. I didn't have any fresh carrots so I used canned which I always have on hand specifically for this recipe. Cooking in the bush requires much planning ahead. I always have powdered eggs too just in case the store is out of real ones. Just a random after though that has nothing to do with this specific recipe.



Bring the broth, onions and carrots to a boil. Add the baking soda,



cinnamon, salt and pepper.



Simmer uncovered for 10 - 15 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.

Next add the pumpkin and evaporated milk.



Blend with an immersion blender and simmer for ten additional minutes. Make sure and do this step. I hyped this recipe up to one of my friends, she made it without pureeing it and thought it was a really strange and not all that good of a soup. She'll probably never trust my recommendations again. So puree, it makes the ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.



It's like pumpkin pie in a bowl, but without any sugar. Add a dollop of sour cream. Perfect for cool fall days.


Original recipe can be found here.
Recipe with some minute changes here.

~AnnMarie

Pizza Dough and Pesto Pizza

Pizza Dough

4 cups flour
2 Tablespoon sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup water
3 Tablespoon olive oil
2 1/4 teaspoon of yeast
corn meal

Mix all together.  I use a bread machine.  Let rise for at least one hour.  Roll out to about one half inch.  Dust pizza pan or baking sheet with corn meal.  Place the crust on top of the corn meal.  Cover with toppings, and bake at 400 degrees for fifteen minutes.





My favorite thing to put on this dough is pesto.





I top it with a couple different kinds of cheese.





Looks like I'm running low on romano cheese...





No worries.  Steve brought me back another wedge from Anchorage.





Top it with some mozzarella.





Bake and enjoy.

Salsa Crockpot Chicken

A yummy crockpot meal based on this recipe.




Start with some chicken breasts in the bottom of a greased crockpot.





The recipe calls for two jars of salsa, but we don't have salsa to spare, so I used diced tomatoes I had left over from another recipe.





I added some green chiles for a little spice factor.





Two cans of black beans...





and a can of corn.

Cover and cook on high for about six hours.  The recipe says to remove the chicken and shred with a fork.  I've never had to do that.  I just mash the chicken around with a wooden spoon, and it shreds itself.





Serve with tortilla chips and sour cream.

Cajun Chicken Pasta a la Pioneer Woman

Chicken and pasta is a staple at our house, so I'm always looking for new ways to recreate it.  The seasoning in this dish made it different than anything else I've tried.




I started by making my own cajun seasoning.  I used this recipe as my base.  Next time I might use a little less thyme.





I tossed strips of chicken in the seasoning and then threw them into a pan of hot oil to brown on both sides.   Then I removed the chicken to a plate.

Note to readers: I think you're supposed to go for the cajun blackened look here, but I'm kind of a wimp and was terrified of starting a fire.  I chose to go with the not-so-cajun golden look.






Do the same thing to some onions and bell peppers.

Note to readers: Again, I completely missed the whole blackened thing.  I think it was because my bell peppers were still partially frozen.

Additional note to readers: I was supposed to season the vegetables with the cajun seasoning prior to cooking them.  I forgot.  I sprinkled the seasoning on later.

Remove the vegetables to a plate.  Add chicken broth to the pan to get all of the good stuff off of the bottom.






The original recipe calls for heavy cream.  I used the open can of evaporated milk I had in the fridge.





Whisk together the chicken broth, evaporated milk, and more cajun seasoning.





The sauce didn't thicken up like it was supposed to, so I added a few forkfuls of corn starch.  That did the trick.

Note to readers: It may be hard to tell, but the sauce in the above picture is definitely thicker than in the previous picture.  Promise.



Stir the sauce, vegetables, and chicken together over medium heat until bubbly.  Then toss with pasta and enjoy!