Comfort Food

Today, we are experiencing a blizzard! You girls are enjoying watching the snow fall and pile up outside our doors.

I wanted to make some comfort food for a day such as this, so daddy made some ham & potato soup, and I made some cookies.

Here is daddy's potato soup recipe:
chop up about 5 red potatoes and an equal amount of ham and some carrots or green onions if you want. Throw all that in a pot and fill it with water till it just covers the ingredients. Cover that and put it on to boil. When it starts boiling, remove the lid and set your timer for 15 minutes.

In a separate pot, melt 5 tablespoons of butter. When melted, mix in 5 tablespoons of flour. Gradually whisk in 2 cups of milk - this all makes a rue. This should be done around or before the other pot is done.

When the pot of water is done, mix in a couple of tablespoons or cubes of chicken bullion, and salt and pepper to taste. Then add the rue to the first pot. Stir in a couple of handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese and that's it!

*You girls LOVE this soup and eat it right up!

Now, onto the cookies. I like my cookies big and fat, but it is hard to bake them this way-they often come out flat. In order to get them fluffier, your cookie dough has to be quite thick-thick enough, sometimes, that you have to use your hands to push in the chocolate chips! If my recipe does not create a thick enough dough, I will sometimes just add a little extra flour. Many people have told me that it is all dependent on the type of butter you use. I have personally not found this to be true, but perhaps you will find a certain great recipe for cookies that is largely dependent on butter! You never know.

Recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (I sometimes use half wheat flour to make them a little healthier.)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Here's another recipe for you. I made some granola bars this morning. I'm personally not really into granola, unless you talking about a granola bar with a s'mores flavor or with some chocolate chips. :) But I'm trying to eat a little (but only a little little) healthier these days, and granola is full of filling oats, so I thought I'd give it a go. I used Nana's recipe. Nana is a hard cook to follow, because her recipe is always "just however much you want, whatever you like." For a type A person like me, I need specifics. ;) But, here it is:

4 - 5 cups of oats
1 - 2 c wheatgerm
1/2 c - 1 c sunflower seeds
1/2 c - 1 c peanuts/cashews/almonds
1 c coconut
1/2 c - 1 c dried cranberries/raisins/blueberries/cherries (any or all work well)
1/4 - 1/2 c brown sugar
Mix dry ingredients.On stove top, mix together and heat:
1/2 - 3/4 c honey
1/2 c vegetable oil
shake of salt, cinnamon and vanilla
Slowly incorporate this heated mixture into the dry ingredients, stirring thoroughly. It takes very little to "coat" the cereal with this mixture, but if you feel it's not "wet" enough, you can make a little more of the liquid mixture to coat the cereal with. Spread onto a cookie sheet (may need a couple) and bake at 350 degrees for around 15 - 20 minutes. Let cool,breaking up any large lumps, then bag up or place in a lidded container. Makes a nice gift in a bag with a bow on it.

(I pressed all mine down into a 9x13 baking dish and cut later into bars.)

I ran out of honey, and did not even get 1/2 C out of the jar. By the way, I used Nana and Papa's honey.
So, at first, it appeared that I hadn't made the granola thick enough, but seeing as how I was in a blizzard, and couldn't run to the store for honey, I just went ahead with the recipe anyway. It actually turned out pretty well. The key is to wait awhile and let the granola set before you cut it up into bars. I was pleasantly surprised. I found this to be much tastier than anything I'd eaten from the stores.

Happy cooking, darlings!