Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

My friend Karey told me about her sister-in-law Lara's recipe blog, and I've been in love with it ever since. If you've never been to Recipe Shoebox, check it out! Lara updates regularly, and she includes a wide variety of family-friendly, healthy, and delicious recipes. One day recently I wanted to bake, but wanted something different than our usual chocolate chip. I'm not crazy about plain peanut butter cookies, but I found Lara's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, and we all loved them. Thanks, Lara! Click here for Lara's post of this recipe.

1 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy, depending on on personal preference)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups chocolate chips

Beat butter, peanut butter, sugars, and vanilla until creamy. Beat in egg. Gradually beat in dry ingredients. Stir in morsels. Drop dough by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes.

(Bonny's note: This dough also refridgerates well if you want to bake small quanitites at a time.)

Pancakes

We love having breakfast for dinner every once in a while. This is the pancake recipe I usually use; I found it on Cooks.com. Sometimes I'll substitute yogurt for some of the milk, and they always turn out nicely.

2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour (Last time I made these, I had to add almost twice this amount of flour to get the right consistency)
2 3/4 cups milk, *see note
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I use melted butter here, too)
2 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Beat egg with hand beater until fluffy; beat in remaining ingredients just until smooth. Grease a heated griddle.

Pour about 3 tablespoons batter from tip of large spoon or from pitcher onto hot griddle.

Cook pancakes until puffed and dry around edges (tiny bubbles will begin to form).

Turn and cook other sides until golden brown. Flipping once should be enough. The first pancake isn't always the best one.

Note: Buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream may be substituted for some or all of the milk.

This may cause the batter to be too thick or too thin; adjust accordingly by adding milk to thin or flour to thicken. When you use a sour ingredient, cut the baking powder by 1/2 tablespoon and add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. If you don't have buttermilk, you can add powdered buttermilk to the milk.

Makes about 18 four-inch pancakes.

(Sometimes I sprinkle chocolate chips, pecans, or fruit into the batter.)

Fruit Salad in a Watermelon Bowl

Ryan made this fruit salad the other night, and I just thought the presentation was so pretty. What a great way to use the whole watermelon.

Margherita Tortilla Pizzas

Ryan gets a subscription to "Food and Wine" magazine, and yesterday I was flipping through the July 2009 issue and came across this recipe by chef Jacques Pepin. I thought it sounded delicious and simple enough for me to actually pull off. It was the first time I had ever used our pizza stones, and I loved the way these turned out. They were nice and light, so easy to make, and wonderfully fresh. Fresh mozzarella is one of my favorite things in the world to eat.

Margherita Tortilla Pizzas:

Four 10-inch flour tortillas
Extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
4 medium tomatoes (2 pounds)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 pound fresh mozzarella, preferably buffalo, shredded (4 cups)
1 cup finely shredded basil leaves

(Bonny's note: I did not use buffalo mozzarella--just fresh cow's milk mozzarella. I also didn't shred it, but rather cut slices off and placed those around the pizza.)

1. Set a pizza stone in the oven and preheat the oven to 500 degrees, allowing at least 45 minutes for the stone to heat.
2. Brush both sides of one tortilla with olive oil. Place the tortilla on a lightly floured surface and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Thinly slice 1 tomato; arrange on the tortilla. Season with salt and pepper and top with 1 cup of the mozzarella. Drizzle lightly with olive oil.
3. Slide the tortilla onto the hot pizza stone and bake for about 8 minutes, until the pizza is crisp on the bottom and the cheese is bubbling. Garnish with 1/4 cup of the shredded basil, cut the pizza into 8 wedges and serve. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, tomatoes, cheese, and basil.

Bonny's notes: I used two pizza stones so we could have two cooking at once. My stones were also plenty hot after only 30 minutes, and the pizzas were done after about 7 minutes. These are so nice and versatile--you could really make them with anything. We topped a couple of ours with some cooked chicken. Delicious!

Oatmeal Carmelitas

This is yet another fabulous recipe from Jadi's blog. These are so chewy and delicious, and they kept for several days. I made them on a Tuesday and the following Sunday they were still really good. The only thing I did differently here was that I didn't add nuts because Ryan doesn't like them. You will love these! Thanks again, Jadi!

For the Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups butter, softened (2 1/2 sticks)

For the Filling:

1 (12.5 oz) jar caramel ice cream topping
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 (6 oz) pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips (or a little more)
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13-inch pan. In a large bowl, blend all crust ingredients on low speed until crumbly. Press half of crumb mixture (about 3 cups) in bottom of greased pan. Reserve the remaining crumb mixture for the topping. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine caramel topping and 3 tbsp of flour. Remove partially baked crust from the oven; sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts. Drizzle evenly with caramel mixture; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Bake an additional 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely. Refrigerate 1-2 hours until filling is set. Cut into bars. Enjoy!

No Bake Cookies

I learned how to make these cookies at a church activity when I was a teenager, and I've been making them ever since. They are so easy to make and really yummy.

1 stick of butter
1/4 c. cocoa
1/2 c. milk
2 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1/2 c. peanut butter
2 1/2 to 3 c. oats (depending on how dry you want the cookie. I prefer using 2 1/2 cups.)

Mix butter, cocoa, milk and sugar into a large pot, stirring frequently. Bring to a boil and boil for one minute without stirring. Take the mixture off of the heat and add the peanut butter, vanilla, and oats. Spoon out onto wax paper. The cookies take about 15-30 minutes to set. Enjoy!

Banana Cake

If you like warm banana bread, you'll love this moist, delicious cake. This is yet another great recipe I found on Jadi's recipe blog. I had some overripe bananas I needed to use and this was a scrumptious way to do it.

2 sticks butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
4-6 smashed bananas
1 cup milk
3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream butter, eggs, and sugar until fluffy. Stir in bananas and milk. Combine dry ingredients and stir into the creamed mixture. Pour into a greased and floured 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

Frosting

1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup hot milk
3 1/4 cups powdered sugar

Melt butter in sauce pan and add brown sugar. Bring to a boil for 1 minute over medium heat. Cool 15 minutes and add milk. Whip until smooth. Then add powdered sugar. Let cool before serving.

Jadi pointed out (and I agree with her) that the frosting is rich so you only need a thin layer. I stored mine in the fridge afterwards since there is milk in the frosting. This was really yummy--I highly recommend it!