Contender for the World's Best Cookie?

Okay, 'best' is always in the mind of the beholder or something to that effect! This is a favorite cookie at our house because it has everything in it, doesn't require icing, and doesn't take long to make. I like relatively fast recipes in the summer months as I can get them in and out of the oven before the heat can outdistance the air conditioning and still provide the family with a homemade treat.

WORLD'S BEST COOKIE

1 cup butter (do not substitute)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 cup salad oil
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
31/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup regular oatmeal
½ cup coconut
½ cup chopped pecans
1 cup cornflakes, crushed

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream butter, sugars and vanilla with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and salad oil, mixing well.

Add baking soda, salt and flour and mix well. Add oatmeal, coconut, pecans and cornflakes and stir well.

Form into balls the size of walnuts. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with fork. Bake for 12 minutes. Makes around 4 dozen.

One point for the monkey kingdom . . .

For years, I have mangled bananas trying to get them open at the stem. Sure, I could just cut the stem off and it would be easier but who wants to walk across the kitchen when they are hungry? We recently discovered that, according to our primate friends in the monkey genre, we have been approaching our bananas from the wrong side! Instead of trying to peel a banana from the stem side, you just pinch the other end of the banana gently and pull down to peel. Super easy! How'd the monkeys get ahead of us on this issue? Try it! It works!

Sharing a inexpensive kitchen hint . . .

We have a problem with open chip and snack bags around our house. I keep meaning to purchase one of those plastic clips for this purpose but can't bring myself to spend a dollar or more on one. I realized that wooden clothes pins are cheap, have dozens in a bag, and work great for closing bags to keep things fresh. Now I keep a few in the junk drawer and no one has an excuse for not closing the bag afer having a treat. I like convenience but I like a bargain, too! I use them on frozen items, too. They don't break in the cold and I don't find frozen peas rolling around everywhere except in the designated bag.

Thought that way myself . . . at times . . .!

The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to the idealised past.

- Robertson Davies

Mushroom Pork Chops

This recipe takes a little thinking ahead but is easy to fix. The marinating and browing insures the pork chops will be juicy. It's always nice to have the dinner be completed and the gravy is already in place. Some apple sauce on the side can only add to your gourmet meal!

Mushroom Pork Chops
4-6 boneless pork chops

1/2 cup thinly sliced onions
3 cloves garlic, peeled, smashed, and chopped
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sliced, fresh mushrooms
1 teaspoon dry mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

Marinade:
Early on the day you want to prepare this for dinner, place the pork chops in a sealable, plastic bag. Add 1/2 cup soy sauce and 1/4 cup white wine. Shake up to coat the chops and refrigerate until
dinner preparation. You might turn the bag over a few times in the course of the day to insure even marinating.

Dinner Preparation:
Remove the pork chops from the marinade and pat dry. In a large frying pan coated with some vegetable oil, brown the chops. Remove from the pan and set aside. Now add the onions and garlic and sauté until the onions start to brown and caramelize a bit. Stir in the mushrooms and continue cooking and stirring until they are tender. Stir in the soup, mustard, salt, and pepper. Place the pork chops back in the pan, turn to cover with the soup mixture, cover the pan, and simmer for approximately twenty minutes or until the pork chops are cooked through.

The hard part will deciding on whether to serve them over rice or noodles. They also go well with mashed potatoes.

Diets, a weighty matter . . .

Although my current weight is okay, I am working at eating healthier and if a few pounds should drop along the way, I would not complain! The most I seem to lose when I put in some extra effort is about five pounds . . . which is depressing as it isn't in line with how hungry I often get!

Since Lent started, I made it my 'sacrifice' to not eat between meals and incorporate a lot more fresh fruits and vegetables in my diet and cut down on the empty calories. Much to my surprise, many of my cravings for sugary sweets have left and I find myself looking forward to a fresh orange or a crisp apple for dessert.

After two weeks of sticking to my resolution, I stepped on the scale figuring I should have lost, oh . . . say . . . a lot of weight. I had lost five pounds. I was a bit down about that but haven't given up my resolve to eat healthy and just take things as they come.

I was putting away groceries, yesterday, and hefting the five-pound bag of sugar up into the cupboard. Suddenly, I stopped to think . . . Five pounds . . . It weighed as much as I had lost . . . five pounds. I picked up the sugar package, again, and realized that it was, indeed, a bit of weight. Suddenly, I realized that this weight of the bag of sugar was almost exactly what I had lost and it wasn't a minor event, after all! Holding that sugar package made me look at the weight loss in a whole, new light. Five pounds was a lot to lose. I didn't eat or do anything weird or wild in my diet, just exercised and ate correctly. I smiled, realizing that somewhere on my frame, there was the weight of a bag of sugar gone! Nope, I couldn't really tell but five pounds is five pounds and it won't be allowed within my vicinity, again. Now, I can't wait to lose a ten-pound bag of sugar! Who knows, in the next year, I might be looking at a 25-pound bag of flour a whole lot differently! :-)

The Interloper . . .

Yesterday evening, this big, orange cat showed up at our door and immediately walked into the house demanding food. No fear in Mr. Cat at all! We nicely escorted him our and informed him that we do not need a cat but thank you for applying for the job.

When we checked before bedtime, Mr. Cat had curled up in the basket we had put out for Howl the Cat and his friends. No fear in Mr. Cat at all!

This morning, I glanced out the window and Mr. Cat was just waking up from a restful night in Howl's basket. He saw me through the window, slanted his eyes in happy anticipation of some breakfast, and gave a self-satisfied meow. I didn't serve breakfast and hoped that would encourage Mr. Cat to go back to where he belonged.

When I returned home from morning Mass, Mr. Cat has forgiven me my transgressions in forgetting his breakfast and was waiting patiently on the front door mat. I didn't serve brunch, either. Mr. Cat went back to bed.

When my cat-loving daughter got up, she opened the front door and Mr. Cat was front and center. Knowing a possible weakness in character, Mr. Cat started weaving in and around my daughter's feet. When she bent down to see if he was friendly, he immediately started purring and pushing his head up against her hand.

Mr. Cat got some food but I'm here to say that it wasn't me that fed him!

The Many Faces of Howl, the Cat . . .

Howl, the Cat looks thoughtful yet pensive . . . and with good reason! An interloper in the form of a friendly, orange tom cat has come upon the scene. The newcoming is happy enough with Howl but Howl has spent a lot of time hissing his anxiety/fury at someone new on his turf.

We always have to wonder about Howl's ancestry with his obvious Siamese leanings with the striped tail and the brown striped front paws.

Thinking meatless . . .

I don't know why I seem to think more about meat dishes  during Lent but some of my most creative protein ideas mull through my mind these days. It is probably a distraction from the sacrifice at hand - observing some meatless days for Lent.

Yesterday, I remembered a meatless sandwich we all enjoy but I completely forgot about - Egg Salad Sandwiches! It came to mind when I was rearranging the refrigerator after grocery shopping and I had four eggs that did not fit into my organization scheme of things. I decided to boil them and they would be available for anyone wanting a quick snack. Then it hit me, egg salad for sandwiches!

There are many versions of this type of sandwich but we go relatively simple.

My Egg Salad Sandwich

Good quality, whole wheat bread, lightly toasted

4-6 hardboiled eggs - depends on how many sandwiches you need
Sweet pickle relish
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 tablespoons Thousand Island dressing
2-4 tablespoons mayo
Salt & Pepper to taste

Chop up the eggs, mix in the ingredients and make sandwiches!

Ideas . . .

*Not going meatless? Add some bacon bits to the mixture.
*Sliced olives are good.
*Finely diced red onion add some zing to the sandwich.
*Line a tortilla with Romaine lettuce and fill with the egg salad.
*I've heard that pureed Garbonzo beans mixed with the yolk and then the chopped egg white is interesting but haven't tried that yet. It would stretch out the ingredients.

Parents take heed of the first quote! :-)

"Like its politicians and its wars, society has the teenagers it deserves."
-- J. B. Priestley

"Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman. Believing what he read made him mad."
-- George Bernard Shaw

"It is by universal misunderstanding that all agree. For if, by ill luck, people understood each other, they would never agree."
-- Charles Baudelaire