Oatmeal peanut butter cookies (makes 30 cookies)

This is a quick drop cookie recipe which can be easily doubled and freezes well. If planning to freeze these cookies after making them, I recommend making the cookies on the small size as they'll thaw faster.

Oatmeal peanut butter cookies 

1 egg 

¼ cup (or ½ stick) butter or margarine 

½ cup white sugar 

½ cup brown sugar 

½ teaspoon vanilla extract  

1 tablespoon canola oil 

1 tablespoon water 

2 ¼ cups oatmeal 

1 ¼ cups peanut butter 

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1) Place oven rack on middle rung and pre-heat oven to 375 degrees farneheit. 

2) In a large mixing bowl combine eggs, butter, sugars, vanilla extract, oil and water. 

3) Add peanut butter. Mix. 

4) Add oatmeal and baking soda. Mix. 

5) Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto non-stick cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake in oven for 6 – 12 minutes. Do not over bake. Cool cookies on wire rack.

6) Repeat step 5 as many times as needed. 

Serve or store cooled cookies in airtight container.  If freezing, place cookies in freezer safe container and thaw on counter top prior to serving.  

Small Batch Blueberry Jam (makes about 5 ounces)

While making strawberry jam, I would wonder how difficult it would be to make a low sugar blueberry jam. In search for such a recipe, I located a Pectin free, low sugar blueberry jam recipe on the Mother Earth News website which allows use of either fresh or frozen blueberries. This Mother Earth News recipe makes 4 pints or about 8 jelly jars worth of jam and gives instruction on how to can/preserve the jam using either hot water bath or atmospheric steam canner. 

Being more interested in using blueberries I froze when in season and not having 12 cups (6 pints) in my freezer, I adjusted this recipe for 1 pint of blueberries and skipped the canning process. The end result is about 5 ounces or ¼ pint of jam which takes under an hour to make and will keep in refrigerator for 2-3 weeks. I recommend letting the jam completely cool before serving to get the full flavor of the blueberries.  

Small Batch Blueberry Jam 

1 pint or about 2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen 

2 teaspoons lemon juice 

¼ cup to ¼ cup plus 4 teaspoons sugar, maple syrup, honey or agave nectar 

1) Place a small plate in the freezer for testing the set. 

2) Combine the blueberries and lemon juice in heavy saucepan over low heat. 

3) Let the berries cook for a few minutes over low heat (about 10 minutes for frozen), until they begin to break down, and then crush them with a potato masher. 

4) After the mixture is juicy with crushed fruit, increase heat to high and add 1⁄4 cup of sugar, maple syrup, honey or agave nectar and bring to a boil. 

5) Boil vigorously and stir continuously until the mixture is fairly thick, about 6-15 minutes. You’ll have reached the jam stage when a spoonful of jam dropped onto a cold plate holds its shape and you can leave a clean trail by passing your finger through the mixture. 

6) Remove from the heat and skim off any foam. 

7) Taste the jam and add the additional sweetener, 1 teaspoon at a time, if desired 

8) Ladle the hot jam into heat proof container with a lid. 

9) Allow jam to cool uncovered for 1-2 hours. 

10) Cover jam, store jam in refrigerator and use within 3 weeks. 

Small batch of Blueberry Jam cooling on counter top

Mediterranean Chicken for a crowd (14 servings)

In thinking of one dish meals which I've made, I remembered this one. It was hand copied from a Betty Crocker slow-cooker recipe cookbook one of my friends had purchased. While the original recipe calls for cooking this in crockpot or slow-cooker I chose to use a 3-inch deep 13-inch by 9-inch baking dish and bake in the oven. 

Mediterranean Chicken 

 

1 medium butternut squash, cut into 2-inch pieces 

1 cup chopped bell pepper 

12 chicken breast tenders or 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts each cut into 3 pieces 

1 14 ounce can stewed or diced tomatoes 

½ cup salsa 

¼ cup raisins 

¼ teaspoon cinnamon 

¼ teaspoon cumin 

Non-stick cooking spray 

 

1) Place oven rack on middle rung. 

2) Pre-heat oven temperature to 350 degrees farenheit. 

3) If baking dish isn't non-stick spray inside of 3-inch deep 13-inch by 9-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

 

4) Layer squash, pepper and chicken in baking dish. Pour tomatoes and salsa over chicken, squash and pepper and then evenly sprinkle raisins, cinnamon and cumin on top. 

5) Cover loosely with aluminum foil. 

 

6) Place in oven and cook 45 minutes – 1 1/2 hours or until chicken pieces in the center of the baking dish are no longer pink when cut in half. 

7) Remove from oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes before serving. 

 

8) Store any leftovers in airtight container in refrigerator.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies

This recipe is a combination of the peanut butter cookie recipe I learned as a child and the desire to make the classic peanut butter blossom cookies but lacking the Hershey Kisses to do so. While there was an absence of Hershey Kisses in the house there were semi-sweet chocolate chips. This is a quick recipe which makes about 3 dozen cookies. 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies (makes 36 cookies)

½ cup (1 stick) butter softened/at room temperature 

 ½ cup sugar 

1/2 cup brown sugar 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 egg ½ cup peanut butter 

1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour 

½ teaspoon baking soda 

½ teaspoon baking powder 

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 

Place oven rack on middle run setting. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees farenheit. 

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until blended. Add egg and vanilla extract. Mix. Add peanut butter. Mix. Add flour, baking soda and baking powder. Mix. Gently fold in chocolate chips. 

Drop dough by rounded teaspoons onto non-stick cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. 

Bake in oven for 7 – 9 minutes or until bottoms appear lightly browned. 

Cool cookies on wire rack.

Short Plank Potatoes (serves 1-2)

This is a variation of the Potatoes Poupon recipe which I've had in my collection for at least a decade. Not wanting to make 8 servings nor having red potatoes in the house, I chose to scale down the recipe and use the yellow flesh potatoes I had in the house. The end result was something which tasted like a french fry without the salt which was completely consumed within one hour of being removed from the oven. 

 

Short Plank Potatoes 

 
1 tablespoon olive oil 
2 ½ tablespoons deli or brown mustard 
½ teaspoon minced garlic 
¼ teaspoon italian seasoning 
1 pound yellow flesh potatoes such as yukon gold washed and eyes poked out 
 

1) Place oven rack on middle rung. 
 

2) In a medium bowl combine olive oil, mustard, garlic and italian seasoning. 
3) Slice potatoes into planks approximately ¼-inch wide, 1 ½-inch long and 1/8-inch thick. The key is to have the planks all about the same size. 
4) Toss potato planks in oil-mustard mixture until most are evenly coated. 
 

5) Place potato planks in single layer on a cookie sheet. If all planks don't fit, that's okay. If possible, place larger planks on outside of cookie sheet and smaller pieces inside as this will help with even cooking. Lightly spread small amount of oil-mustard mixture over any potato plank not coated. 
6) Bake in 425 degree farenheit oven for 10 – 20 minutes or until majority pieces are lightly browned. 
7) Remove from oven. Cool for 5 minutes and move to serving dish. 
8) Repeat steps 5 – 7 as many times as needed. 

 
9) Store any leftovers (if there are any) in airtight container in refrigerator. 

 Short Plank Potatoes ready to be served

One Oven Roasted Dumpling Squash

Several years back the farm from which I buy most of my local produce didn't grow any delicata squash as they were unable to get the seeds. Wanting to support the farm and not in the mood to go elsewhere for delicata squash, I bought several dumpling squashes. 

 

Dumpling Squash also known as Sweet Dumpling Squash is a winter squash that looks like a miniature pumpkin with yellow, green and orange striping. When cooked, the skin is edible. This is a variation on my Oven Roasted Delicata Squash recipe requiring one dumpling squash and can be easily doubled or tripled. 

 

One Oven Roasted Dumpling Squash (makes about 3 ½ – 4 cups cooked squash) 

 

1 dumpling squash washed and dried (about 3 ½ – 4 cups)

1/4 cup olive oil or canola oil 

1 ½ teaspoon onion powder 

1 ½ teaspoon garlic powder 

 

1. Place oven rack on middle rung. Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit. 

 

2. Pierce squash with knife in several places. Place squash on microwave safe dish or paper towel and microwave on high for 3 – 7 minutes or until squash feels warm to the touch. 

 

3. Dice squash into ½ inch cubes, removing seeds and stem in the process. 

 

4. In a large bowl, combine squash, oil, onion powder and garlic powder. 

 

5. Line a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil, tucking in ends. 

 

6. Place squash on cookie sheet, close together but no higher than one layer deep. 

 

7. Place squash in oven on middle rack. Cook for 30-45 minutes or until largest pieces are easily split with fork.  Serve or cool and store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. 

 

8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 as many times as needed.  

Dumpling Squash ready to be cooked

Applesauce Nut Bread (makes one 8 ½ x 4 ½ x 2 ½ – inch loaf)

On a recent perusal through my revised 13th edition of The Fanny Farmer Cookbook, I came across this recipe in the quick breads section. I made it once several years ago finding it quick to make as well as another way to use homemade applesauce. 

 

Applesauce Nut Bread 

 

½ cup shortening 

¼ cup sugar 

2 eggs 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

2 cups white flour 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 

1 cup applesauce 

¾ cup chopped walnuts 

 

Place oven rack in middle position. Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit. Butter or grease loaf pan or set aside non-stick loaf pan. 

 

 In a large mixing bowl, cream together shortening and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla extract to sugar mixture and mix well. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg to batter and stir well to blend. Stir applesauce and walnuts into the batter. 

 

Pour batter into loaf pan and bake 50-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean. Remove bread from pan and cool on rack for at least 5-10 minutes before serving. Store any leftovers in air-tight container.