Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Do you have a favorite cookie recipe that you just keep coming back to? Well, this is mine. I'm sooo into trying new recipes these days, but Chris just always says he really just wants me to make these ones because they never fail, and they are THAT good! My roommate in college always made these and her Dad worked at Hershey's and I'm pretty sure that's where she got her recipe from. The only thing I tweaked and you WONT be surprised is that instead of using plain old milk chocolate chips, I use the mix bag of milk chocolate and PEANUT BUTTER chips! And Chris says I can't mess with that because that's what makes these cookies a little bit more unique than plain old chocolate chip cookies.
Ingredients:
Makes approx: 3 dozen cookies

2 sticks butter, softened
1 Cup Brown sugar
3/4 Cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs -beaten
3 1/4 Cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Cups Milk Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chips

Preheat oven to 370 and in a large bowl combine your butter, sugars & vanilla with a wooden spoon, and in your eggs and stir until well combined. In a separate bowl add all your dry ingredients and slowly add to your wet ingredients and stirring with your wooden spoon. Add your chips and mix in.  At this point, if you have time, chill your dough for an hour and it will totally be worth it, not absolutely necessary though.   Take a large spoon and drop (don't roll your dough) onto your un-greased cookie sheet and bake 9-10 min until the peaks of your cookies slightly brown. Cool and enjoy!

Breadsticks

So here are the way easy, go to breadstick recipe I used with my way healthy fettucini alfredo. Seriously they were soooooo easy and they tasted awesome! Mine look a little different because I still need practice on my measurements and my twisting but I'm sure they tasted just as easy! My Rendition:

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/04/breadsticks-and-pizza-dough/

Fettuccini Alfredo with Chicken - Pasta Factory style!

So you see all these healthy recipes I post then I hit you with one of the most fattening recipes out there, you might be a little confused! Tradition! Every year for my brother-in-law's birthday I make him this dish because he really loves it, and I call it his birthday present! Sweet huh! I got this recipe from a gal down in St. George that actually worked at the Pasta factory, so I'm not lying when I say it's good! Just don't count the calories and you will be just fine! Also, see that yummy breadstick in the picture, I'm going to post that recipe next! Sauce:
1 Cup Butter
1 Stick Cream Cheese (don't use whipped)
1 Cup 2% or whole milk
3/4 Cup Heavy Whip Cream
1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese
Melt Butter & Cream cheese in a medium sauce pan at medium heat, stirring often. Add milk and whip cream and whisk often to keep it from burning. After it heats up again add in the parmesan cheese and whisk often. Keep whisking and when your dinner is about 5 min from being done turn heat all the way down and keep whisking, but letting it cool down slightly will let it thicken up.
Chicken:
2-3 Chicken Breasts, cut into bite size
1 tblsp Olive oil
Lemon Pepper seasoning to taste
White cooking whine
Pour olive oil into hot skillet, add chicken and season well with lemon pepper, and cook chicken until white. Once cooked through, add white cooking wine and saute for a few min just to get the taste. (maybe 2 tsp. or so)
Cook your fettuccine noodles to liking, pour sauce on noodles (or toss) add chicken, and I always add steamed veggies like broccoli to make me feel a little healthier!
Enjoy!

Wonderful Waffles - gluten free & casein free

So what an enticing pic, right? I know, I should have taken a picture with peanut butter slathered all over it & dripping of syrup, but I didn't! But this just shows you, you can get a good texture with using gluten free flours! Once again, this is for my Bridger and his fun diet I get to deal with :) Bless his soul! 1 Cup GF (gluten free) flour blend. (I use 1/2 Cup brown rice flour, 1/2 cup oat flour)
3 tsp baking powder (I use aluminum free)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tblsp sugar (I use xylitol to make this recipe sugar free)
1/2 tsp xanthum gum or guar gum
3 eggs, seperated
1 Cup Milk or milk substitute to make it casein free ( I use almond milk or rice milk)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp vanilla
Whisk together all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Separate the eggs- the whites in a small bowl and the yolks go into the flour mixture. Add the milk to the flour mix and whisk well. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Meanwhile, add the oil and vanilla to the batter & mix well. Pour the stiff egg whites into the batter and whisk well. Pour into your waffle iron and cook until desired texture! Bridger eats these at least twice a day with almond butter and sugar free maple flavored syrup.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Protein Bars

Do you see the first word of this fabulous recipe? Me too! Sooooooo good. I got this recipe from a friend Jen that posted on facebook and had to try it out! And of course it turned out wonderful! They have a gooey texture which really makes them taste like cookie dough. Who doesn't want cookie dough every day for a healthy pick me up? Just remember just because they are a healthy protein bar doesn't mean they are fat free or calorie free :) They are just like the ones you would buy at the store (but taste much better) and have no additive crap, but guess what, peanut butter has calories, so does honey, so does whey protein. So treat it as one of your "six small meals a day" or eat half before you work out. They are to die for! Thanks again Jen!!!

2 1/2 Cups Peanut Butter ( I use half crunchy, half creamy)

2 Cups Agave Nectar or Honey (I use half and half)

2 1/4 Cups Chocolate Whey Protein ( I use Whey Iso)

1/4 Cup All Bran cereal or Wheaties (blended)

3 1/4 Cups Oats (blended)

2 Tblsp flaxseed meal

Mix the peanut butter, honey & Agava first, then add in your flaxseed meal and why protein and mix well.  Then add in your oats and cereal and mix with big muscles or a Kitchen Aid because it's HARD! Spray cookie pan with pam spray and spread it out smooth. Refrigerate for a couple hours until it's not sooo gooey then cut into bars. I froze half, and kept the other half in the refrigerater in an air tight tupperware so they don't go bad. Sooo Yummy!

Nutrition Info: 1 Bar (Approximately)

Calories- 224

Sugar -25

Protein - 8.5

Carbs - 23

White Chicken Chilli

So I know it's not really soup weather, but you got to mix things up a little right? This soup is way yummy and light! No cream, or potatoes, or red meat to give you all the yummy flavor that you want in a soup. This has sooo much flavor you will love it! http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/09/white-chicken-chili/

Sugar Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Since I had a few requests to post this recipe, here you go! Your probably thinking this blog is a total health nut recipe blog, but part of it has to do with me being on a diet challenge right now, and the other half is that my son Bridger is on a Sugar Free, Yeast Free, White flour free diet. So I have to be careful of what I make right now! But these cookies are really soft, almost like a really moist chocolate chip bread recipe which really makes Bridger love them because he loves bread and can't have it right now! Enjoy guilt free.... The only thing I did differently from this recipe was use 2 whole eggs instead of 3 egg whites, and I didn't add raisins. I used sugar free chocolate chips. Oh and that natural sugar listed you could use any kind of Natural Sweetner (I used xylo Sweet which is gluten free) But This isn't gluten free because it has oats in it, but you could replace the oats with another gluten free flour like Almond flour, or buckwheat, etc, to thicken the consistency. Next time I make them I will try it that way and see how they turn out. But good news, nutrition info is posted on this link!
http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1583246

Chicken Caccitore

This is a recipe that I adapted from a paleo blog (which basically means, gluten free, dairy free, sugar free, etc..) Anyways, super healthy and I love it it because you can pick sooo many things right out of your garden for this recipe. I seriously LOVE this recipe.
2 chicken breasts- grilled & cut into bite size peices
1/3 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
3 mushrooms, chopped (optional)
1 small can of sliced olives
olive oil
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 small can tomatoe paste
1 can petite diced tomatoes
salt & pepper to taste
garlic powder
2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper
Ok there is basically 3 steps to this recipe, start by getting the chicken cooking by seasoning it with salt & pepper and garlic powder. In another med. size skillet put a tbls. olive oil and start with your onion & pepper, then add the mushrooms & olives season with all your spices listed above then add the broth, and the paste, and the diced tomatoes. Once cooked through and boiling, turn to a simmer while you are working on your other skillet:
1/3 head of cabbage - chopped
1 green zuchinni, sliced
1/2 yellow squash, sliced
salt & pepper
garlic powder
Just heat another skillet with 1 tblsp olive oil, throw this stuff in and let it soften everything up and throw your chicken in with this mixture when its done. Have this layer be on the bottom then add the mixture above on top and dive in. If you are sesitive to spicey dishes then lessen up on the cayenne pepper because this gets your nose running!

Sloppy Joe's

That's right, I have a favorite plain old sloppy joe recipe! I can't tell you how many times I tried to wing some good old sloppy joes and have them turn out too watery, or bland, or too tomatoey tasting, and these my friends, are PERFECT. I actually only use half an onion and add some chopped green peppers to it, then they are PERFECT :) I absolutely LOVE them. And this isn't even a very inticing photo of it either, but when I get them off another blog, I use their pic too! Soooo much easier! Enjoy!!!

http://www.thesisterscafe.com/2010/09/karens-sloppy-joes-2

Candied Apple Walnut Salad

So I told you this before, but I'm sure I'm going to be posting a lot of salads this BBQ season, because everyones looking for a good salad to bring to a BBQ, and this is a tried and true recipe that I love. Now, my husband isn't into vinegerette salads so he just likes them, doesn't love them. And to be honest I never was a vinegerette dressing kind of a gal before either, but ever since I've been trying REALLY hard to break bad eating habits, I've really learned to love them! And this one is great by Sisters Cafe: http://www.thesisterscafe.com/2009/06/candied-walnut-salad-2

Strawberry Vinegerette Salad

Ok, I know I just barely posted a Strawberry Salad, but since this is my recipe blog, AND it's strawberry season, I've been eating them like crazy, so it's the perfect time to snap a shot and add it to the recipe index. This one I've been having for a few years now and absolutely love. There's just a few variations from the one posted before, and the dressing isn't a berry vinegerette, it's just a vinegerette... And just for the records, I am SOOOO mad at all the birds and slugs that think they can nibble at all my berries! Stand back! I'm in strawberry salad mode! 1/2 bunch of red leaf lettuce (my favorite of all kinds of lettuce)
1/2 bunch spinach leaves (my second favorite)
3/4 cup Montery Jack cheese - (or whatever you have on hand)
1/2 cup almonds
1 pint Strawberries sliced
sliced mushrooms (optional)
Avocado (a must)

Dressing:
1/2 Red Wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. paprika
2 cloves garlic crushed
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 Cup oil
3/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
I usually only do half this recipe, and I stick it into a dressing bottle and shake it really well. Refrigerate for an hour if you can and DON'T put on salad until right before serving and just eyeball how much you should put on, toss it and serve! Once again, YUM!!

Favorite Protein Shake

Once again, I'm not a photographer, but it sure tastes good! This is my most favorite protein shake ever! And once again, I'm not a huge berry shake lover, I'm a Peanut Butter shake lover, so you know exactly where I'm coming from! 8 oz Vanilla Almond Milk
1/4 of a small banana
1 scoop Iso Whey Vanilla Protein powder
1 tblsp almond butter (or peanut butter)
1 tblsp ground flaxsead meal (optional)
1 tsp NO SUGAR added nesquick chocolate powder
8 ice cubes
I love my ninja so I stick everything in there and blend it for a full minute or so and enjoy! Sometimes I will do half vanilla protein whey and half Chocolate whey and omit the nesquick, both ways are yummy!

Grilled Chicken Berry Salad with Berry Vinaigrette

So I've decided this might take me a long time to add all of my old favorite recipes on this blog because I keep searching for new yummy recipes and find that I LOVE them and have to add them to my blog asap! So this Berry Salad is delicious! I loved the feta cheese, and it's a must to toast the almonds! And I've found if I can't add peanut butter to a meal, then I add avocado. It's such a yummy touch to a salad, or sandwich, or breakfast burrito, or quesadilla, should I keep going? And this Berry vinaigrette was way good. I didn't have white wine vinegar so I used half red wine vinegar and half & half white vinegar and lemon juice. Turned out great!

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/06/grilled-chicken-berry-salad/

And the dressing:

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/06/berry-poppy-seed-vinaigrette/