Loaded Oatmeal Cookies

On a lazy Saturday afternoon, still recovering from a recent surgery and unable to leave the house, what does one do... why make cookies of course.  This recipe makes about 60 cookies so we will be sharing some plus a homemade chicken pot pie with dear friends that are also home-bound due to a recent illness.  I modified a recipe from Ina Garten...love her!

 

Loaded Oatmeal Cookies
Inspired by Ina Garten’s Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookies

Total Time: 49 min
Prep: 10 min
Cook: 39 min

Yield: 56 to 60 cookies

Ingredients

2 cups pecans
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup peanut butter chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the pecans on a sheet pan and bake for 5 minutes. Set aside and when cool coarsely chop.

In a bowl beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed with an electric mixer until combined. With the mixer on low, add the eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together into a medium bowl. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Add the oats, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and pecans and mix just until combined.

Using a small cookie scoop, drop dough onto sheet pans lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat (12 per half sheet pan). Flatten slightly with a damp hand. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until lightly browned. Transfer the cookies to a baking rack and cool completely.

Enjoy,

CGJ

Black Eyed Pea Dip

We are all conscious about being frugal

and not wasting food these days. 

A New Years tradition for us is to always have Blackeyed Peas, Cabbage or Greens and Cornbread. 

My peas are full flavor made with Tasso and am sure that the way your family likes them will work just fine.  If you have any left from New Years or anytime...try this delicious dip. 

3 cups cooked Black Eyed Peas (divided)
1/2 Onion, diced
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar Dressing
2 tablespoons Olive Oil

Add 2 cups of the Black Eyed Peas, Onion, Dressing and Olive Oil to a pot and heat on low until warm.
With stick/immersion blender begin processing til almost smooth (I like it a little chunky).
Add remaining cup of Black Eyed Peas and continue heating until heated through.
Serve with crackers of your choice.
Enjoy!

Oysters Napoleon

 

Having just returned from Maine with the family, I found that as in previous trips to this same beautiful island with very rustic accommodations... I wanted to challenge myself to stretch the ole culinary horizons.  

In all of my previous visits there had been a red tide ban on foraging for mussels and oysters, but not this time.  Each night we had either a lobster dish using lobsters purchased from the lobster-man or one using fresh oysters and/or mussels that were picked at low tide by husband Neil and son Bradford.  

There was no power, no plumbing... just nature and family.  The tiny kitchen in the cabin where we stayed had a small stove and refrigerator that ran on propane and water from a cistern that collected rain water.  

On this evening we called "Bisque Night" family and guests gathered for happy hour.  Prolific Gin and Tonics, cheese and crackers and a surprise... an oyster appetizer that I created just to precede the main event, Lobster Bisque.  There were unbelievers among us though... those that would turn up their noses and proclaim that they "did NOT like oysters".  I had prepared enough for everyone, so when the unbelievers heard the praises proclaimed from the others...they became brave and their status quickly changed to believers.  

I had no name for this glorious dish and asked for recommendations.  My daughter Sara's beau Michael, who is a writer, suggested Oysters Napoleon and so we have it.  

From our island family: Neil, Sara, Michael, Hannah, Bradford and Yours Truly, plus Margo, Larry, Lea, Anne and family visitors Martha and Jim... we implore you to try Oysters Napoleon.  If you do, you certainly will love it! 

 

Oysters Napoleon

INGREDIENTS

12-18 fresh oysters (cleaned, shucked just before ready to bake)

8 slices of thick slab bacon

10-12 green onions, washed and sliced thin

1 1/2 cups chopped parsley

7 cloves garlic, minced fine

2 t worcestershire sauce

10 shakes hot sauce, or to taste

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 lemon, cut in half

METHOD

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Shuck oysters, place on baking sheet and set aside

Topping: 

• Fry bacon in a skillet, remove to cool, chop and set aside
• Pour off most of the bacon grease retaining about 1 T
• Place green onions, parsley and garlic in the skillet with heat on medium, sauté stirring for about 7-8 minutes
• Add worcestershire sauce, hot sauce and chopped bacon, continue to cook and stir until thoroughly combined

• Spoon Topping on each oyster, then parmesan cheese followed by a squeeze of lemon juice
• Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes
• Place on a serving platter, serve and enjoy

~CGJ
 

Grilled Okra

Evening  before last my friend Terrie Roberts posted on Facebook that she had overbought okra at the Farmers' Market and... "did anyone want some?"  Well, my love for okra goes way back and I couldn't help but to respond in the affirmative.  My intent was to fry part and use the rest for gumbo, but our dinner was mostly ready and it would have to wait.  In the mean while I began to study other ways to prepare it and ran across an article on okra in Southern Living.  One of the recipes called to grill it.  I used that recipe as a place to start, changing it a little and ended up with the one below.  It should be a great way to get any okra snobs in your family to try it.  They will be hooked for life.

Grilled Okra

Yield: 4 servings

Note: You will need 8 wooden skewers

Ingredients:

32 whole okra washed and stem end trimmed (8 per person)

4 t olive oil

3/4 t salt

1/2 t ground black pepper

1/2 t garlic powder

Method:

• Preheat grill and turn down to medium.
• In a bowl place the okra, add rest of the ingredients and mix to coat with clean hands.
• Place 8 okra on 4 skewers, alternating tops and bottoms, run the other 4 skewers through the opposite ends.
• You are ready to grill… about 3 to 4 minutes on each side (be careful when turning and taking up as they become soft and can come off the skewers).

Serve and enjoy!

~CGJ

  



MBQ Sauce

I love this time of year when Mother Nature gives us her best fruit and berries.  When I was a little girl we would go foraging for berries down the path at the fish camp and have cobbler at every meal.  Now... we have a prolific Blackberry vine on the side of our house and this year have an abundance of big, juicy Blackberries to eat fresh or transform into tasty treats.  Aside from cobbler (and don't get me wrong, I love cobbler) I will be experimenting with new ways to enjoy them.  I found that by combining with Mango and other ingredients, you can make a dee-licious MBQ, er, uh...BBQ Sauce.  I'm my husband's Grillfriend...and this sauce on country ribs and sausage earned me some extra points...wink, wink!  Savor summer's bounty and make your own sauce, you won't go back...I promise. 

MBQ Sauce

(Mango, Blackberry Q Sauce)

Yield: 3 cups

Ingredients

Flesh of 1 Mango, peeled and rough chopped

1 cup ripe Blackberries, rinsed and drained

½ Red Onion, rough chopped

Juice of 1 Lime
1 Chipotle Pepper

1 stick of Butter

½ cup Brown Sugar

¼ cup Worcestershire Sauce

½ teaspoon Smoked Paprika

½ teaspoon Salt

½ teaspoon ground Black Pepper

Method

• Place Mango, Blackberries, Red Onion Chipotle Pepper and Lime Juice in a Vitamix or Blender.  Process until pureed. 
• Strain fruit/veg puree into a pot. 
• Add remainder of ingredients, stir until combined. 
• Turn on heat to low/medium and let reduce for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
• Let cool and use as you would your favorite BBQ Sauce. 
• Store any unused portion in the refrigerator in a container with a tight fitting lid.

Enjoy!

~CGJ

Berry Marmalade

The blackberries on our side fence are just starting to ripen.  There aren't enough yet for a cobbler... so how do you best utilize them?  You could freeze them until there are enough or combine with other seasonal and/or preserved ingredients for a tasty marmalade.  This version is a quick small batch recipe.  I have made and canned traditional marmalade that takes a couple of days (which is absolutely incredible), but this is easy, relatively quick and equally delicious.  Try your hand at making marmalade...traditional or quick, it doesn't last long around here.    

Berry Marmalade

Yield: 2 cups

Ingredients:

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 orange processed:
-          Wash, cut in half, cut off peel careful not to include white pithy part
-          Carefully julienne peel, set aside
-          Cut off white part, exposing orange flesh
-          Squeeze juice out of orange with hands into a small container, set aside
-          Rough chop orange into small pieces, set aside
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1 cup whole washed blackberries
Pinch of salt

Method:

• In a 2 quart saucepan add sugar, orange peel, juice and pieces and heat on low for about 20 minutes until it begins to bubble, stirring occasionally.
• Add cranberries and salt; continue on low heat for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add blackberries and continue on low heat for another 5 minutes, or sooner if they begin to break down, stirring occasionally. 
• Turn off heat and allow to cool. 
• Serve or store unused portion in a covered container in the refrigerator. 

Suggestion - Serve with toast, biscuits or over ice cream.

Enjoy
~CGJ

 

"MustGo" Gumbo

I am really going to date myself with this post…but I am OK with that.

  

When I was a little girl, on Friday nights we would pack up after my Dad got home from work and travel about an hour to one or the other Grandparents home for the weekend.  If we went to Grandmother and Granddaddy Gleason’s in Minden, Grandmother would have supper ready for us upon arrival, consisting usually of spaghetti or fried chicken.  After dinner, we would watch television shows like “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.” or “The Brady Bunch”.  The next morning after cartoons and French toast, we would often buy fabric and sew a new outfit, play outside with cousins climbing trees, or walk to the duck pond.  My Grandparents loved “The Lawrence Welk Show” so Saturday night; it was appointment television for the entire family.  An idea has stuck with me all of these years that I remember from what the Lennon Sisters (singing group appearing regularly on the show) said about their family one night on Lawrence Welk.  They shared that every Sunday whatever food was leftover from the week in the refrigerator was placed in one pot, heated through and was called… “MustGo”.  It was their favorite meal. 

Here in Louisiana the word “Gumbo” is often used as a metaphor for our mix of cultures.  As a dish, Gumbo is a heavily seasoned stew-like concoction, combining several varieties of meats or seafood with the texture of gravy made from a Roux. 

Remembering the Lennon Sisters, plus having most of the ingredients to make a Gumbo (in one form or another); I decided to make a “MustGo” Gumbo.  It was delicious!  What’s in your fridge/freezer/pantry?  You too can make one of your own… after all it is Sunday!

“MustGo” Gumbo

Ingredients

1 cup Roux (leftover)

2 onions, chopped medium (last of bulk)

3 quarts liquid - stock, water, etc (I had leftover vegetable stock and added water to make 3 quarts)

4 cloves garlic, minced fine

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon ground pepper

1 teaspoon dried thyme

“MustGo”: (You may have other “MustGo” ingredients, use what you have)

Giardiniera  – about 1 cup (leftovers from 2 open jars in fridge, minus spent herbs and peppercorns, drained, rinsed and rough chopped

10 pork sausage links – sliced, cooked

4 boneless/skinless chicken thighs – seasoned with salt pepper and garlic powder, cooked and cubed

1 pound frozen cut okra (leftover from another recipe)

1 pound frozen stew vegetables (leftover from another recipe)

Beef bouillon – about 1 tablespoon (leftover from previous recipes in 2 almost empty jars)

Method

• In a stock pot, place Roux and onions and sauté for about 3 minutes until soft.
• Add Giardiniera and garlic , continue to sautéing for another 2 to 3 minutes.  
• Add liquid, salt, pepper thyme and bouillon continuing to stir until thoroughly combined.  
• Cook over medium for an hour stirring occasionally.  
• Add sausage, chicken, okra and stew vegetables continuing to cook for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Season to taste. 

Serve over rice.  Enjoy!  

~CGJ