Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

Now that we're all moved into our new New York City apartment, I needed to cover the "new apartment" smell. What better scent is there to create than fresh cookies! These cookies are a combination of an old Martha Stewart recipe for oatmeal cookies with some ingredients added and some taken out. Makes 24 cookies

Ingredients
1 stick butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar mixture
-6 tbsp light brown sugar
-6 tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
3/4 cups all purpose whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp peanut butter
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup old fashioned oats (not quick)
a dash of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325 F
In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt
In a mixer combine butter, water, and sugar on medium high until smooth
Bring speed down to low
Add eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon
Once combined, add peanut butter then flour mixture
Once it's smooth, add oats and chocolate chips

Plop teaspoon sized dough balls onto a non-stick cookie sheet
*if you make them bigger they don't bake well, I found that the center was undercooked and outside was overcooked when I tried to make them tablespoon sized

Bake for about 10-12 minutes when golden on the outside

Eat with a glass of milk!

Burrata and Tomato Salad

This salad is a fancy upgrade of the classic caprese salad. Burrata cheese is like mozzarella in taste and appears to look similar  until you cut into it. The center is soft and creamy and melts out onto the tomato salad. To make this salad look as good as it tastes, make sure to get multicolored tomatoes. Serves 6

Ingredients

3 large tomatoes, sliced (I get different colored tomatoes from the farmer's market)

1 ball Burrata* 

10 basil leaves, torn

5 heart of palms, chopped

1 tsp dijon mustard

1 tsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

*Burrata can be hard to find at local grocery stores

Trader Joe's has it consistently

Arrange cheese in the center of a large plate

Circle the cheese with tomatoes, making two layers if needed

Sprinkle with heart of palms and basil

Whisk together mustard, oil, salt, and pepper

Drizzle over salad

Enjoy! Feel free to mix up salad before serving

Serve with toasted garlic bread or as is

Gumbo- Gluten Free

Gumbo is a great summer hearty meal packed with protein, flavor, and texture. This recipe is adapted from one of my amazing soon to be mother-in-law's staples. She got the recipe from a friend and the origin is unknown, but there's no wonder why it has been passed around-it's amazing! By using gluten-free broth, sausage, worcestershire sauce, and flour, this recipe can be enjoyed by all (except vegetarians and people with shell fish allergies!) Serves 8

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts, sliced into large chunks

3 large chicken sausages, chopped into 8ths

1/2 lb wild caught shrimp, deveined (ask fish market to do this for you)

2 cup frozen okra, chopped

2 shallots, chopped

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1/2 green bell pepper, sliced (I got a large clump at a market's salad bar)

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tbsp butter, plus a little for browning

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 large can or box of diced tomatoes

2 cups organic gluten free chicken broth

1 bunch parsley, rough chopped

1 bunch thyme, whole

1/2 tbsp smoked paprika 

1 tsp hot sauce

1 tbsp gluten free Worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper to taste 

In a large dutch oven or pot, heat butter on medium low

Add garlic, shallots, and onions

Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly

Add peppers and okra

Cook until soft, about 5 minutes

Add broth and stir until hot

Add paprika, hot sauce, parsley, thyme, and tomatoes 

Let simmer for about 30 minutes

Meanwhile, brown chicken and chicken sausage

Do this by adding to a pan with a little butter on medium heat

Turning meat after 2 minutes 

Add to the pot and cook for another 30 minutes on simmer

10 minutes before finishing cooking add shrimp

Add in Worcestershire sauce and serve

I like to serve this over rice or cous cous

Rainy Day Kid's Veggie Spaghetti and Meatball Casserole

In my opinion, the best rainy day activity to do with children is cooking. It's also the best way to get them to try new foods. I cook in my classroom constantly to have the students practice math skills through measuring and practice reading skills by learning how to follow instructions. This past week while babysitting I decided to cook up dinner with the kiddos that mixed one of their favorites (spaghetti) with a protein (meatballs) and something green (broccoli). By using low fat cheese, turkey or meatless meatballs, and whole wheat pasta, this dish wont make you feel guilty. Serves 8

Ingredients

2 cups of your favorite tomato sauce

12 turkey or meatless meatballs thawed 

1/2 cup broccoli florets, thawed if frozen 

1 cup low-fat skim mozzarella, shredded

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

1 package of whole wheat spaghetti

Cook pasta as directed, minus two minutes so they aren't fully cooked

PreHeat oven to 350F

Mix the cheeses then separate them into two separate cups

Pour tomato sauce in a large baking dish

Mix in 1 cup of cheese

When pasta is drained, add in and mix 

Mix in meatballs and broccoli

Top with remaining cup of cheese

Bake for 20 minutes

Eat up! 

Strawberry Rhubarb Open Faced Pie

Strawberry and rhubarb go together like bread and butter in the summer. After my first trip of the summer to the Dupont farmer's market in DC, I came home with beautiful bright red rhubarb and shiny tiny strawberries. I decided to make a pie that fuzed two recipes- a 1960's Good Housekeeping recipe of my grandmother's and a crust recipe from the Pioneer Woman . Rhubarb goes floppy after a few days so be sure to make the pie right when you buy it. Enjoy with a summer meal. Serves 8

Ingredients

Crust-I halved the recipe because I didn't need two pie's worth
1.5 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)
1/2 egg (I stir an egg and use half of it)
2.5 tbsp cold water
.5 tbsp distilled white vinegar
pinch salt

Inside yumminess
1 cup rhubarb (two long pieces), chopped
1 cup fresh strawberries, tops cut off and sliced in half
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp all purpose flour
pinch salt

Prepare crust by combining butter, shortening, salt, and flour with hands
Once combined, it should form little balls
Add in egg, stir with a fork
Then add in water and vinegar, stirring with the fork
Form into a ball

Preheat oven to 350F
Place dough on a baking sheet and roll out thin with a roller or a bottle of wine
Make sure it's thin and even so the crust cooks evenly

Combine all inside ingredients and place in the center of the dough
Curve the dough around the inside ingredients
Bake for 30 minutes
Some juice will seep out of the bottom, it's okay!
Pour some of it over the crust half way through baking if this occurs
Take out with bubbling and crust is golden

Enjoy right away, don't save the leftovers-not that there will be any ;)