Chewiest Chocolate Chip Cookies

February 5, 2013 14 Comments

Tommy has been asking me to make chewy chocolate chip cookies forever, but the cookies that I have made in the past never passed his chewiness test. That is, until Saturday! Let me start off by saying that these cookies are not in any way, shape or form healthy, but they are delicious. In a life of balance, there is always room for a chewy chocolate chip!

Chewiest Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tommy found the New York Times’ Best Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe online and asked me to try it. Since I’m not one for sticking to recipes , I made it my own. I mean, who the heck want to refrigerate cookie dough for 24 hours? That would have been gone before it ever made it to the cookie sheet in my house.

Chewiest Chocolate Chip Cookies
 
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Ingredients
  • 3⅓ cups all purose flour
  • 1¼ teaspoons baking soda
  • 1½ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1½ teaspoons coarse salt
  • 2½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
  • 1¼ cups packed light brown sugar
  • 1 cup granulated white sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 16 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Use an electric mixer to combine the butter and sugars, mixing until the mixture is very light, about 5 minutes.
  3. Add in the eggs, one at a time.
  4. Add the vanilla.
  5. Reduce the speed to low, add the dry ingredients and, mix just until the dry ingredients are incorporated.
  6. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  7. Place tablespoon size balls on a cookie sheet, evenly spaced so the cookies don’t bake together.
  8. Bake for 9-10 minutes.
  9. Let cool for 10-15 minutes before digging in!

chocolate chip cookies

Theses babies even pass the second and third day tests. Chewy goodness all around! You can thank me later. ;)

What’s you favorite kind of cookie? Chewy or crispy?

 

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Fall Eats #WIAW

November 21, 2012 8 Comments

I can’t believe it’s been like 3 weeks since I’ve posted a WIAW. Even though I love WIAW posts, I kept forgetting to take pictures of my food, or I just wasn’t eating anything pretty enough to share. Either way, I’m back with some gooood shtuff! Gather round kids, and get ready to get hungry. :)

Let’s start off with some of my own creations. First up, one of my favorite things to make, Mexican Lasagna. This one wasn’t vegetarian because I threw in some ground turkey and it was so, so good.

Next up, sushi! This was my first attempt at making sushi, and it came out pretty amazing!

We went to the Asian Market hoping to find sashimi grade tuna or salmon, but no dice. We settled on crab meat and veggies and made a bunch of different rolls. I cannot wait to try making sushi again!

Trader Joe’s Pumpkin soup with a side of grilled cheese with avocado. The combination of flavors might seem a little strange, but it was everything I was craving at the time and it tasted amazing!

These babies are delicious, and not as bad for you as regular brownies.

Instead of butter, milk and eggs, I took a box mix and just added a can of pumpkin puree and cooked according to package directions. When the brownies were baked, I topped them off with mini marshmallows and put them under the broiler for about a minute. These were a HUGE hit!

Mason jars of iced coffee from the Blue Stove. The pies and pastries at this place and to die for!

The last two are some yummy lunches I’ve had at work. I’ve been pretty good at bringing lunch from home, but sometimes you just want a little something different.

Union Street Salad from Calexico - Romaine, radicchio, avocado, grilled corn, goat cheese, cucumber, avocado, radish, tomato, toasted sesame seeds, sherry vinaigrette. So, so good!

Shepherd Salad with Chicken Kebab from Kestane Kebab. It was my first time trying this salad and it was delicious. Fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, parsley topped with a delicious dressing.

That’s all I’ve got for today, but I’ll be back next week with some Thanksgiving eats! And thanks to Jenn to hosting the happiest food party on this side of the internet! :)

What’s the best thing you ate today?

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Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

September 27, 2012 3 Comments

Since I cracked open that can of pumpkin a few days go, I couldn’t just let it sit in the fridge forever, so I put it to good use! When I got home from work yesterday, I had pumpkin on the brain and I knew I had to get to my bake on. On Tuesday, I mentioned that I was craving Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins from Starbucks, so I dis some playing around in the kitchen and got something pretty similar, but better for you than plain old muffins!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
 
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Prep time

Cook time

Total time

 

Serves: 24

Ingredients
  • 8 ounces cream cheese
  • 3 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 cups pumpkin
  • 1 cup coconut oil

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  2. Cover cream cheese in plastic wrap and shape into a log. Place in freezer for up to one hour.
  3. Sift together all the dry ingredients.
  4. If a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil and mix well.
  5. Add in dry ingredients, bit by bit, mixing in between.
  6. Remove the cream cheese from freezer and cut into slices.
  7. Fill muffin tins halfway and place a cream cheese slice onto each muffin and press into the batter.
  8. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean from the muffin part. Do not touch the cream cheese until it cooks.

Try to eat just one…I dare you! ;)

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Zucchini Cacao Nib Bread

September 18, 2012 13 Comments

Last week I posted this beauty on Instagram and promised a recipe…

I took my regular zucchini bread recipe (one of the first things I ever posted on this blog!) and tweaked it a bit to get…Zucchini Cacao Nib Bread. This was moist with the perfect balance of sweetness without being overpowering, thanks to the cacao nibs. Even though they were the Sweet Cacao Nibs, they tasted more like dark chocolate than sweet, and brought a new dimension of flavor to my usual recipe.

Zucchini Cacao Nib Bread

  • 3 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup apple sauce
  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups grated zucchini
  • 1/2 cup Nativas Naturals Sweet Cacao Nibs

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
  2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
  3. Beat eggs, applesauce, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini until combined. Fold in Cacao Nibs. Pour batter into prepared pans.
  4. Spoon into lightly greased loaf pans (I sprayed mine with cooking spray) and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
  5. Try not to eat the whole loaf in one sitting…it’s not as easy as it looks! ;)

Before I forget to mention, the Cacao Nibs were sent to me by the amazing people of Nativas Naturals, who also sent me Freeze-dried Wheatgrass Powder, which I’ve been using in my smoothies, but more on that later!

This company has an amazing variety of superfoods – chia, goji berry, cacao, hemp, etc and are dedicating to organic agriculture with sustainable, socially responsible relationships with farmers. Win-win if you ask me!!

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Food and Fitness WIAW

July 4, 2012 19 Comments

Happy Fourth of July!

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. Not only is it my cousin’s birthday [Happy Birthday Particia!], it is also a day that is always spent outdoors, enjoying the weather and amazing eats. We are heading out to Tommy’s aunt’s house to a pool party/BBQ today, so I am sure that I will have some good eats to share next week, but don’t you worry I have a ton to share today too!

As always, the wonderful Jenn of Peas & Crayons is hosting WIAW and this month’s theme is Food and Fitness – does this girl know the way to my heart or what!

First up is food! I’ve been on a quinoa kick as of late and have been including it in pretty much everything!

This quinoa and dippy egg combo has been gracing my breakfast plate multiple times a week. When you break that yolk, something magical happens, I swear!

Southwestern Quinoa Salad. I shared the recipe for this yesterday. It is literally too good for words and I could eat it everyday. And my mom says that’s okay!

Kitchen sink salad, with what else, but quinoa! Baby spinach, tomatoes, red peppers, cucumbers, Italian sausage and quinoa. It got topped with some Honey Dijon dressing and tasted amazing!

Before we move onto dessert, let’s backtrack to breakfast.

Ezekiel French Toast topped with bananas and sprinkled with some real Vermont Maple Syrup.

And last but not least, Banana Soft Serve..

This is just frozen bananas purreed in the food processor with a bit on vanilla extract added. I like it, but Munchkin wasn’t really impressed. I was thinking that maybe if I add some coco powder next time, it’ll go over better.

Since this month’s theme is food AND fitness, I decided to share my favorite workout of the week. While I love running and the way it clears my mind and makes me feel like a marathoner when I can get over three miles, but my fav workout of the week was with my little man.

We rode 4 miles on our bike with his bike seat. And rest assured, even though his face is less than thrilled in the above picture he LOVES it. That’s just the face he makes when I say smile and he is not interested in taking a picture. The only downside about the bike seat is not being able to go up hills – it isn’t possible to stand up on the pedal to better push yourself up the hill.

Whats the best thing you ate this week? What was your favorite workout of the week?

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Kettlebell Booty and Thighs

May 25, 2012 4 Comments

I put my new kettlebell to good use last night and worked my bootay and thighs. I got an email in the afternoon from the Tone It Up Girls with a thigh workout and it got me thinking.  I decided to look up some kettlebell moves to work my thighs and booty because who doesn’t want awesome looking legs for dress and shorts season. 25 sweaty minutes later, my workout looked a little something like this:

I am hoping that my legs don’t fall off when I go for my run this afternoon because I was feeling the burn after this!

But before the workout ever happened, I enjoyed a dinner made by my lovely boyfriend. He made yummy sauteed chicken breast with perfectly seasoned red potatoes. Since he was making dinner, I decided to make dessert – chocolate parfaits. I had high hopes that these babies would look as good as they tasted, but that just wasn’t the case. All of the layers kind of smushed together and it looked a little unappetizing. I layered chocolate pudding, fresh cut strawberries and crushed chocolate graham crackers in some tall beer glasses. Looked okay, tasted deeelish!

Can I also mention how in love I am with my new running crop pants. I picked up the Under Armour Shatter II Capri Pants last week at Century 21 for only $30 and I am in love.

I was used to running in plain old leggings, but these really make a world of a difference. I am going to be in Century 21 this weekend because I need to pick up some hangers for my closet cleaning project and I am really considering picking up another pair. I am also in love with Under Armour’s Victory Tank – it really keeps you cool and dry, even in the horrible humidity we’ve been having in NYC.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

What’s a dessert that you love, but doesn’t look great? Any plans for the holiday weekend?

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Cupcakes and Shopping

April 23, 2012 3 Comments

And just like that, Monday is upon us once again. Today is totally the kind of day that you want to stay snuggled up in your nice warm bed because it is still pouring outside, like it has been since Saturday night. Sadly, that isn’t an option today.

Despite the storminess, I had a pretty stellar weekend. I spent all of Friday with my little Munchkin. We lounged around in our PJs, got a workout in, cleaned out my car and made dinner. He is a champ at cleaning. I would spray the Windex and he had a blast wiping down the dashboard. Hopefully his love of cleaning sticks around!

For dinner, I was feeling Mexican, so I threw together something quick, easy and so yummy. Salsa chicken with Mexican style quinoa.

I marinated the chicken breast in some Italian dressing for about an hour before searing it on a skillet with some olive oil. Once the chicken cooked all the way through, I added in a whole jar of salsa that I mixed with about a tablespoon of plain Chobani and let it all stew together.

Meanwhile, I cooked up a cup of quinoa with chili powder and red pepper flakes. In a separate pot, I sautéed some a small onion with a few cloves of garlic. Once the onion became translucent, I threw in a can of well-rinsed black beans, a cup of frozen corn and a can of Mexican style stewed tomatoes. I let all those flavors mingle before I mixed in the cooked quinoa. Delish!

Munchkin spent Saturday in PA with his grandparents so I could do some studying. I spent all morning and most of the early afternoon in my yard with books and laptop in work mode. Not only did I get through 7 chapters of material, I got a pretty good looking tan going on.

Once Tommy got back from work, we decided to do dinner. We threw some ideas back and forth and decided on our tried and true sushi place, Sakura. We were both feeling a bit of a sweet tooth after dinner, so we ventured out in search of cupcakes. Yelp led up to Brooklyn Cupcakes where I was exstatic to find Tres Leches cupcakes.

I fell in love with Tres Leches cake last year on vacation in Mexico, but haven’t had a piece since.

The cupcake was perfection, especially when served along side my favorite wine, Riesling.

Sunday was very rainy. We braved the weather and headed out to the mall to take advantage of some deals ending that day. I had a 20% off coupon for H&M and Loft was having their Friends and Family sale that make everything in the store 40% off. Also, since it was Earth Day, Origins was giving away free moisturizer when you traded in an old container, so I partook in that as well.

Munchkin made off like a bandit at H&M and scored some pretty sweet summer items, including Cars swim trunks. I couldn’t resist!

I got a really cute summer dress at Loft that I cannot wait to wear.

Shopping must’ve worn us out, because when we got home we knocked out for three hours and slept. There’s nothing quite like sleeping on a rainy day while listening to the rain beating down on the roof.

Have a great Monday!

What did you do this weekend? What’s your favorite type of cupcake?

 

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First Day of Spring WIAW

March 21, 2012 25 Comments

Gather round children, it’s time for another WIAW!

Yesterday was the first day of Spring and we partook in some fun and yummy treats to celebrate, but let’s start at the beginning!

For breakfast, I tried out a new recipe that I saw on Jessica’s blog the other day – egg stuffed avocado.

All you do is preheat your oven to 400 degrees, scoop out some of the avocado center and crack in some eggs. Bake for 15-20 minutes and you have yourself a delish breakfast!

For lunch, I had my usual salad and I actually got to eat it at lunch time. Winning!

Lettuce, plum tomato, red bell peppers, radishes, mozzarella cheese and some chunks of smoked Canadian bacon topped with Newman’s Own Sesame Ginger dressing.

I was feeling something sweet so I broke into my British goodie stash from Lucy from the Foodie Blog Swap.

These bars are so good, I wish they sold them in the U.S.!

When I got home, I had a grapefruit. Typical.

I didn’t know what to do for dinner and my fridge was slim picking so I made a quick stir fry with broccoli, red and green bell peppers, sugar snap peas, carrots, quinoa and bacon.

The bacon was a bit on a random addition to the mix, but I saw it in the freezer and really wanted some bacon. It turned out really good and totally hit the spot.

Since it was the first day of summer, we decided to celebrate with a sweet treat. Since we don’t live near a Rita’s and couldn’t go get a free water ice, we did the next best thing – Carvel! I got my go to Carvel order, vanilla soft serve with rainbow sprinkles. Best thing in life!

Munchkin also enjoyed a kid size cup, and so did his hoodie, jeans and car seat.

I dressed Munchkin in short sleeves for the first time since the early Fall yesterday and the poor guy was so confused. He kept trying to pull down his short sleeves because he is so used to wearing long sleeves. It was pretty funny!

Have a great Wednesday! Halfway to the weekend! Woohoo!

What’s the best thing you ate today? Did you do anything special to celebrate the first day of spring?

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Sick as a Cat

February 17, 2012 5 Comments

I woke up this morning feeling sick as a dog cat. Stuffy nose, sore throat, chest congestion – the works.

Everyone in my office was really sick last week, and I thought I got lucky and didn’t catch their cold, but looks like it just took a lot more time to get to me. Luckily, after spending some time snuggled on the couch in my snuggie with Munchkin, I’m feeling a bit better. I don’t know how I ever lived without a snuggie – its so comfy and cozy.

Since it was Fat Thursday yesterday, I enjoyed a few packi first at work, then at home. I got to have both jelly and custard filled ones. It was nice to indulge, but paczki are definitely not something I could eat everyday.

With lent just around the corner, I’m thinking that I might want to give up something this year, possibly chocolate? I need to put some more thought into it because 40 days without chocolate is a long, long time. But it would help me from buying every Cadbury Creme Egg I come across. Those things are my weakness!

Since it’s Friday and I don’t have work or school [yay!] I’m planning on spending some time in the kitchen. I’ve got a yummy dinner planned that involves pork chops, spaghetti squash and some Asian flavors. Hopefully it’ll turn out as good as it sounds! I need to run out and buy a few things that I’m missing, but right now, I don’t really feel like getting out of my PJs. It’s good to have a lazy, sick day once in a while.

Sorry for the random, disjointed post, but as I told my professor when he called on me in class last night, my brain isn’t really working right now. Have a great weekend!

What are your plans for the weekend?

 

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Fat Thursday!

February 16, 2012 4 Comments

Happy Fat Thursday! If you didn’t get enough of the sweet stuff on Valentine’s day then you’re in luck. Traditionally, in Poland the Thursday before Ash Wednesday is called Tlusty Czwartek, which translated to Fat Thursday. On Fat Thursday, we get to eat all the paczki, big Polish donuts, our hearts desire! Fat Thursday begins the last week of Carnival, so celebrate we must!

Paczki are deep fried donuts that can be filled with almost everything – my two favorites are strawberry jam and custard. They are usually topped with powdered sugar or icing, but in some bakeries, you can find chocolate topped ones too. If you get a good paczek, the fact that it is deep fried will not mean that is is greasy or oily, instead it will be light, fluffy and doughy in the center.

My job is located in the biggest Polish community in New York, which happens to be home to some of the best Polish bakeries around. When I was walking to my car after work yesterday, I could smell paczki in the air because all the bakeries were prepping for Tlusty Czwartek. The smell was unreal! I don’t want to brag, but my grandmother makes the best paczki around. But, since she is in Poland and shipping me paczki would have been excessive, I’ll settle for the store bought stuff.

If you live anywhere near a Polish deli, I suggest you check it out today, you will not regret it! You will definitely find a ton of paczki and you should get one of each to try, because calories don’t count on Tlusty Czwartek, at least not the ones from paczki! :)

Have a great and sweet Fat Thursday!

Have you ever tried paczki? What’s you favorite kind of donut?

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