Monday, December 22, 2008

White Chili

Hi! I don't know most of you, but I'm a friend of Jen Barnes. Here's a recipe I got from a friend of mine (Jen Trulock) and made for the first time tonight. I usually throw some cheap chicken in the crock post with some water, a little soy sauce, salt and pepper and let it cook for 4-6 hours. Once it's done I pull it out and make 4-6 dinners with it, and this is one I made today:
White Chili

4-6 chicken breasts, shredded or cubed
2 15-oz cans Northern beans
2 15-oz cans chicken broth/stock
1 small can chopped green chilies
1 can cream of chicken soup

Mix together and heat. Freezes great!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Swedish thumbprint cookies

So I woke up today freezing cold and got the itch to make cookies. I've been baking all morning and these are the BOMB.

INGREDIENTS

* 1 cup butter, softened
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
* 1/2 cup any flavor fruit jam


DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add sifted flour, and mix well. Shape dough into 1 inch diameter balls and place on cookie sheets. Imprint your thumb in the center to make a 1/2 inch indentation. Fill with your favorite preserves.
3. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown at the edges.

Modifications - I added almost (but not quite) a teaspoon of almond extract to the mix. I used a 1-inch cookie scoop (tiny!) to get them the same size and then rolled them in my palms to keep them smooth. I don't have a 1/4th teaspoon scoop, so I used a 1/3rd teaspoon scoop to press the indent and then the same scoop to scoop the jam. I also used the leftover cranberry/rhubarb sauce from La Madeleine that came with our Thanksgiving dinner and that is heavenly!

I will have to email this to my sister-in-law because there are no eggs and no dairy in this cookie recipe!

I used my 1-inch diameter cookie scoop and got 74 cookies out of 1 batch of dough.