Easy Yummy Pasta

Ingredients:

Pasta (I use Penne)

Olive Oil

Lemon Juice

Pine Nuts
Parmigiano Cheese
Asiago Cheese
Small Squash
Broccoli
Mushrooms
Basil
*I don't really measure anything sorry!

Directions:
1. Chopped the squash and broccoli

2. Cook Pasta as directed on box. Drain.

3. Pour about a tablespoon of Olive Oil into a medium pan. Add Squash, broccoli, and mushrooms. Mix well. Add heat (medium to medium high). Saute for about 7 minutes or until veggies are soft. Take off heat.

4. In a bowl, mix pasta, veggies, about 2 tablespoons or so of Olive Oil, about 1 or 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, a few tablespoons of the cheeses, a dash or so of basil, and a handful of pine nuts. Mix well.

5. Enjoy.

Everything is "to taste".

Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

1/2 c. hot water
1 package (2-1/4 tsp.) regular or fast acting yeast
1-1/4 to 1-1/2 c. Flour (all-purpose or bread)
1 tsp. Olive Oil or Vegetable Oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
cooking spray

Directions:

1. Heat water over medium heat until an instant read thermometer reads between 105 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast into the water. With a wooden spoon, stir in half the flour and remaining ingredients (minus the cooking spray). Stir in remaining flour at 1/4 c. intervals until the dough is easy to handle.


2. Sprinkle flour on the counter and knead dough for 10 minutes (sprinkling additional flour if dough starts to stick.)


3. Grease a large bowl. Stick dough in the bowl, turning dough to grease all sides of it. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap. Stick in a warm place to let rise for 20. (I use the microwave as my warm place. My trick is to put a small container of water in the microwave and cook long enough to make the water bowl. Then (leaving the water in the microwave), I add the bowl with the dough. Do NOT start the microwave at this point, just close the door and start your timer. This trick works for all yeast breads that need to rise). If you have questions, email me at cami.smithson@gmail.com.


4. Gently push your fingers into the dough to deflate it. Cover and stick in refrigerator for at least 2 hours (but not longer than 48 hours.) If dough should double in size during refrigeration, simply push your fingers into it to deflate it).


5. Heat oven to 425. Move rack to middle position in oven. Place dough on the center of an ungreased cookie sheet or 12" pizza pan. Using floured fingers, press dough into a 12" round. Press from the center out so the center is slightly more thin than the edges.


6. Spread pizza sauce over dough and add toppings!


7. Bake for 15-20 minutes (until the crust is golden brown and the cheeses are melted and lightly browned)

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1-1/4 c. Packed Brown Sugar

1 c. Butter (2-sticks) room temperature

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

1 tsp. Vanilla

1/2 tsp. Salt

2 Large Eggs

3 c. Old Fashioned Oatmeal

1-1/2 c. All-Purpose Flour

1 c. Chocolate Chips (Or Raisins)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cream brown sugar, butter, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, vanilla, and eggs.
3. Mix in Oats, Flour, and chips
4. Scoop dough using tablespoon onto a un-greased pan, with a 2" separation.
5. Bake for 8-11 minutes or until golden brown (I bake for 8 minutes).
6. Let pan cool completely between batches

Yields 3-4 dozen cookies!

Chocolate Chip Cookies and Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 ½ C. Butter at room temperature (3 sticks)
1 ¼ C. Granulated Sugar
1 ¼ C. Brown Sugar
1 Tblsp. Vanilla
2 Large Eggs
4 C. All-Purpose Flour
2 tspn. Salt
1 Bag (24 oz) Semisweet Chocolate Chips
2 C. Coarsely chopped nuts, if desired

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, beat the butter, both sugars, vanilla, and eggs with an electric mixer on medium speed (or a wooden spoon), until light and fluffy. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt. Then stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.

2. If you want all the cookies to be uniform in size and shape. Measure out the dough with a ¼ C. dry-ingredient measuring cup. Then roll the dough into a ball. Set it on the pan and flatted with a fork so it is round. If this isn’t something that you are worried about, skip to step

3. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until light brown (the centers will be soft). Cool 1 to 2 minutes on cookie sheets, then remove cookies to a cooling rack.

(Camille’s Note: the cookies seemed to be burnt when I cooked them for the entire 12 minutes. I ended up cooking them for 7 – 8 minutes and they turned out great.)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies

Buy a box of Brownie mix (I used Betty Crocker Chocolate Chunk) or use the brownie recipe I posted earlier this year. Make according to the box. Pour into pan. Take bits of cookie dough from the recipe above, roll into ball, and place randomly throughout the brownie pan. Bake as directed per the brownie recipe.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Brownies and Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:

5 oz unsweetened baking chocolate

2/3 C. Butter

1-3/4 Granulated Sugar

2 Teaspoons Vanilla

3 Large Eggs

1 C. All-purpose Flour

1 C. Chopped Walnuts (if desired)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350. Spray the bottom and sides of a 9 inch square pan with the cooking spray
2. Cut the baking chocolate into pieces. In a 1-quart saucepan, melt the chocolate and butter over low heat, stirring constantly, just until the chocolate is melted. Remove heat and cool 5 minutes.
3. In a medium bowl, beat the sugar, vanilla, and eggs with an electric mixer for 5 minutes on high speed. On low speed, beat in chocolate mixture, stopping occasionally to scrape batter from side and bottom with a rubber spatula. Beat in the flour, stopping occasionally to scrape bowl, just until mixed. Stir in the walnuts. Pour batter evenly in pan and smooth top of batter.
4. Bake 40-45 minutes or until until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pane. Be sure not to over bake. Place pan on a cooling rack. Let stand about 2 hours until completely cooled. Then frost.

Chocolate Butter cream Frosting

Ingredients:

3 C. Powdered Sugar

1/3 C. Baking Cocoa

1/3 C. Butter (at room temperature)

1-1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla

1 - 2 Tablespoons Milk

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix sugar, cocoa, and butter with an electric mixer until well mixed.
2. Stir in vanilla and 1 Tablespoon of milk. Beat. Gradually mix in additional milk until the frosting is at the consistency you want.

Gingersnaps

Ingredients:

1 C. packed Brown Sugar

3/4 C. Butter (1-1/2 sticks) at room temperature

1/4 C. Mild - Flavor or Full Flavor Molasses

1 Large Egg

2-1/4 C. all-purpose Flour

2 Teaspoons Baking Soda

1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cloves

1/4 Teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, beat the brown sugar, butter, molasses, and egg with an electric mixer until well mixed. With a wooden spoon, stir in remaining ingredients except the granulated sugar until well mixed. Cover and put in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
2. Heat oven to 375. Grease cooking sheets with cooking spray
3. In a small bowl, put the granulated sugar. For each cookie, shape a rounded teaspoonful of dough into a ball and dip the top of the cookie into the sugar. Place on cookie sheet separated 3 inches apart.
4. Bake 9-12 minutes. Remove cookies from cookie sheets to a cooling rack. Cool cookie sheets 10 minutes between batches.

Snickerdoodles

Ingredients:

1-1/2 C. Granulated Sugar

1 C butter (2 sticks) room temperature

2 Large Eggs

2-1/4 C. Flour

2 Teaspoons Baking Soda

1/4 Teaspoons Salt

1/4 C. Granulated Sugar

1 Tablespoon Ground Cinnamon

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, beat 1-1/2 cups sugar, the butter and the eggs with an electric mixer on medium speed until well mixed. With a wooden spoon, stir in flour, cream of tarter, baking soda, and salt until well mixed.
2. In a small bowl, mix remaining sugar and cinnamon until mixed. For each cookie, shape enough dough to make a 1-1/4 inch ball. (If dough is too soft, cover and refrigerate for 30 min). Roll balls in sugar mixture and place on a non-greased cookie sheet. Keep dough balls separated by 2 inches.
3. Bake 8 - 10 minutes or until set. Immediately remove cookies from cookie sheets to a cooling rack. Cool cookie sheets 10 minutes between batches.