Chocolate Chip Cookies

So May 15th I learned that it was National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day and what better way to celebrate than with some fresh homemade cookies!

This is my go to recipe...mostly because the urge to bake cookies usually happens late at night or we want them right then and I don't have time to be letting butter warm to room temperature!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups plus 2 tbsp of all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tbsp of butter (melted then cooled til warm)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1-1.5 cups of chocolate chips (I prefer the mini chips)

Preheat oven to 325 F.
Melt butter in microwave just until it melts.
Add sugars, vanilla & salt, lightly stir.
Add eggs and blend (I use my kitchen aid)
Add flour & baking soda slowly until blended.
Add chocolate chips and stir.

Bake around 14 minutes or until done to desired shade of brown. ENJOY!

Cheesy Potato Soup

Cheesy Potato Soup

Thought I would share this quick and easy soup my grandma makes. Not the healthiest but definitely tasty!

Cheesy Potato Soup

1 jar of cheese sauce

1-2 cans of cream of chicken soup (mushroom could be substituted too)

Potatoes

Bacon bits but I prefer the real deal

Chives (chopped for garnish)

Peel and cut potatoes into bite size chunks. Boil until tender then drain. Reduce heat and add the cheese sauce and cream of chicken (or mushroom) soup and stir. Continue to cook until thoroughly heated. My grandma likes to add a whole jar of bacon bits but I personally cook a few slices of bacon and garnish along with the chopped chives. Hope you enjoy!

Turtles!

Ok these guy have nothing to do with cooking but I couldn't resist! I finally saw Sea turtles on the beach today! I was so excited...because I have wanted to see them since we moved to Hawaii! I have seen them in the water and from a distance but never this close...I was about 2 feet away! It was awesome...not quite as awesome as my husband scuba diving next to one but that's never going to happen for me since I am too scared to try it so this will have to do!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies

So a friend of mine has been telling me about these great brownies she made for weeks now so I decided to give them a try. I am not personally a big fan of pumpkin but in an effort it to feel like fall I thought I would give it a try. She got the recipe at Beantown Baker and she was right they were great! I followed the recipe for the most part just making some minor adjustments mainly because I was out of a few of the ingredients and it was 10:00 at night and I was not about to go out for them.

You can check out the recipe that Beantown Baker used but I am going to give you what I adjusted it to.



Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Brownies - makes 16 bars
Brownie Batter
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder -
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon

Cheesecake Batter
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 egg @ room tempature
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8x8" square metal baking pan.

Beat together melted butter, sugar, and vanilla, then beat in eggs one at a time. Combine dry ingredients and then gradually stir into butter mixture with a wooden spoon. In separate bowl, beat together cheesecake batter ingredients.




Spread about 2/3 of chocolate batter into prepared pan, and spoon cheesecake batter over. Dollop remaining brownie batter over cheesecake batter.

Swirl the batters together by running a butter knife back and forth through the pan.

Bake for 40 minutes, or until center is set. Cool completely on wire rack and chill before cutting and servingYUMMY!

Halloween Party

Well we did it!
We had our first Halloween Party!
Here are some pictures of the

"fun stuff"

we did!

This is a cheeseball my husband made into a face.

Some of the fun food we had...Peanut Butter "Eyeballs"
I also put spiders all throughout the house climbing the walls! My husband wasn't fond of this but that might have something to do with the fact he HATES spiders! LOL!
I love how it turned out though!

Sorry this picture is a little blurry...This was the main food table with the candlelabra I made using a candlelabra that I got at GW and sprayed black then added the skull and spider.
We had Cemetary "Dirt Dessert"
Little "Mummies"
"Brain" Dip

We also gave out costume contest prizes...I was in charge of the female and so I got this straw bag and added some fun ribbon to it and filled it with goodies for the winner!
Really liked the way it turned out!

We are really happy with the way it all turned out even if we had to change our costumes last minute and didn't get to finish decorating...but next year will be bigger and better!