recipe

(Can’t Eat Just One) Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Hello World,

This Thursday (May 15th) is National Chocolate Chip Day, and cookies are one of my favorite desserts. To celebrate this magnificent ingredient, I whipped up some ooey-gooey chocolate chip cookies! Check out the recipe below:

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Ingredients:

  • 1 cup softened butter
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large mixing bowl, mix together everything except the flour and chocolate chips. Next, mix the flour into your mixture one cup at a time (this makes mixing by hand easier). Mix in the chocolate chips. Spoon dough onto ungreased cookie sheets, in two-tablespoon-ish sized scoops. Bake for 10 minutes, or until tops are golden.

Makes approximately 36 decent-sized cookies.

Complementary Colors Smoothie

Hello World,

I am not a big breakfast person and usually cannot eat as soon as I wake up. I can’t skip breakfast though because I’ll be a snack monster until lunch time. This is one of the reasons I love smoothies. They are quick, can mask veggies, and when I use a straw, I can mindlessly drink one just while doing my morning reading of Mashable and Facebook.

I must admit that my smoothies usually don’t look pretty though, and it’s because of complementary colors. Complementary colors are colors directly across from each other on the color wheel.  Use them both in a design, and you’ll have a perfectly harmonious piece. Mix them together though, and they’ll create some rather murky results.

When I make a smoothie, I don’t measure anything. I just eyeball it. My mom bought me a single serve blender this last Christmas, and I love how easily it is to whip up just the perfect amount.

For simple smoothie “recipe” you will just need: strawberries, spinach, frozen banana, instant oatmeal, and almond milk. If you want your smoothie sweeter, add honey. Want it thicker? Add yogurt or ice. Whatever tickles your fancy.

(If you are wondering why the frozen banana in the photo above is brownish, it is because whenever my bananas start to over-ripen, I throw them in the freezer. The peel will turn dark brown, but they still taste fine in my opinion.)

If food can be pretty, I’d say my smoothies look pretty before I blend them. See how the red pops against the green in the photo above? That’s complementary colors for you.

And then the blender happens, and we are left with a reddish/greenish/brownish/murky smoothie. If I didn’t add spinach, my smoothie would be a nice pink color. If you want to avoid a gross-looking smoothie, just don’t mix complementary colors and you’ll be set!

Another one of my favorite smoothie combos is to use coconut yogurt, almond milk, frozen pineapple, and peanut butter.

What do you put in your smoothies?

Bacon wrapped dates (with goat cheese and almonds)

Hello World,

Last week for my birthday, a friend made these and I just had to share them with you. Due to their bacon-ness, they were gobbled up pretty quickly by my guests. They are really easy to make and only require four ingredients:

To make this finger food you will need: raw bacon, dried dates, goat cheese, and sliced almonds.

Start by butterflying your dates. Add goat cheese and a few sliced almonds to your open date. Next, fold the date closed, trapping the cheese and almonds inside it. Wrap the raw bacon around your filled date, and trim the bacon once the meat has overlapped. Place this roll overlap-side down on a baking sheet.

Repeat this process until you have filled an entire baking sheet. Broil them in the oven until the top side is crispy. Flip the rolls over and broil until the other side is crispy as well. Remove rolls from your baking sheet, dispose of the bacon grease properly, and enjoy!