Black & Whites from "Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder"

When Randi choose our book for book club, she thought it would be fun if we each choose a recipe from the book and brought some cookies that night. I decided to make the Black & White recipes. I'm not sure how to site a source when stealing a recipe from a book, but the book is called "Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder" by Joanne Fluke. My Kindle doesn't show page numbers, but it is about a 3rd into the book.

Black & Whites
2 cups chocolate chips
3/4 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 cups flour
1/2 - 1 cup confectioners' sugar
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No need to preheat the oven. The dough will need to chill first.

Melt chocolate chips with butter. (Microwave on high power for 2 minutes, then stir until smooth.) Mix in sugar and let cool. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla, baking powder and salt. Add flour and mix well.

Chill dough for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°.

Roll walnut-sized dough balls with your hands. Drop the balls into a bowl with the powdered sugar and roll them around until well coated. (Put dough back in fridge if its gets too soft.)

Place the balls on a greased cookie sheet. (They flatten as they bake.) Bake at 350° for 12-14 minutes.

Katie's Coconut Thumbring Cookies with Salted Caramels

Coconut Thumbprint Cookies with Salted Caramel

• 3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• Table salt
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 12 ounces sweetened flaked coconut
• 44 small soft caramel candies (12 ounces), such as Kraft
• 6 tablespoons heavy cream
• Large, flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
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• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. With mixer on low, gradually add flour and 1/2 teaspoon table salt, and beat to combine. Press dough together in plastic wrap, then roll into 1 1/4-inch balls. Dip each ball in beaten egg, and roll in coconut. Place balls on parchment-lined baking sheets, and press an indentation into each with your thumb. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove sheets from oven, and re-press indentations. Bake cookies until golden, 9 to 10 minutes more. Let cool on wire racks. Repeat with remaining dough.
• Place caramels and heavy cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the caramels are melted and mixture is smooth, 4 to 6 minutes. Spoon into indentations in cookies, and sprinkle with sea salt. Rewarm caramel if it hardens before all cookies are filled.

Katie found this recipe in a Martha Stewart magazine, you can see the link HERE. 

Heather's Yogurt Dip

Heather swears by this recipe. So much so, that she actually follows the recipe, which is pretty rare for her to do. I can't wait to try it.

Heather's Yogurt Dip
4 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese
3/4 cup (6 oz.) vanilla yogurt
4-1/2 tsp. honey (or sugar)
1/2 tps. ground cinnamon
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Mix well and enjoy.

Meatloaf

 A few weeks ago, it was my turn to host book club. We had read my grandma Dianne Blaine Hardy's book, "For Cryin' Out Loud." To honor her, I asked for a few ideas for dinner.  One of them was meatloaf. During dinner, my mom mentioned that when she married my dad, his one rule was no meatloaf. She obliged him for a few years, until one night she was craving meatloaf. She put it on the table and told him it sounded good to her, so that is what they were having. He ended up loving it and she had to rush to the cupboard to remember what all she had put in it. I've tried a few recipes over the years, but this one has been my favorite. It also happens to be a family recipe. Jessica gave it to me and told me it was my aunt Calleen's (my dad's sister) recipe. I only made one slight change. Where I use vinegar, the recipe originally called for mustard. 

Meat Loaf
1 1/2 lb ground beef
3/4 c quick oats, uncooked
1/4 c chopped onion (or 1 T dry minced onion)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 egg, beaten
3/4 c milk
Sauce:
1/3 c ketchup
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. vinegar
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Heat oven to 350°. Combine all meat loaf ingredients, mix thoroughly and pack firmly into loaf pan. Combine all sauce ingredients and spread over meat loaf. Bake about 1 hour. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing.  

Weight Watchers Soup

I was given this recipe and told it was a zero points Weight Watcher soup, but since I no longer belong to Weight Watchers I can't verify that. But still, it looks pretty healthy. When I make it, I'll probably leave the zucchini out. And I think potatoes might be good in it, but I don't know how that would affect the points value. The recipe calls for one of three broth choices and says that the beef one is best.

Weight Watchers Zero Points Soup
3 cups nonfat beef broth, or nonfat vegetable broth, or nonfat chicken broth
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 TBsp. tomato paste
2 cups cabbage, chopped
1/2 yellow onion
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
1/2 cup green beans
1/2 cup zucchini, chopped
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oregano
dash of salt & pepper
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Spray pot with non stick cooking spray. Saute onions, carrots and garlic for 5 minutes. Add broth, tomato paste, cabbage, green beans, basil, oregano and salt & pepper. Simmer for about 5-10 minutes until all vegetables are tender, then add zucchini and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Cowboy Casserole

I like Tator Tot Casserole, but when I saw this version named Cowboy Casserole, on Pinterest, I knew we had to try it. We loved it! I really like the flat Tator Tot Crips it uses instead of regular Tator Tots.

Cowboy Casserole 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can (15.25oz) whole kernel corn, drained
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons sour cream
1 bag (30 oz) Ore-Ida Crispy Crowns Tator Tots
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In a large skillet cook the onion until tender and translucent. Add the chopped garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add the beef and cook over medium heat until no longer pink. Drain the mixture and place into a large bowl and set aside.

In a small bowl combine the soup, milk and sour cream. Whisk until smooth. Add to hamburger mixture and stir to combine. Add corn and 1 cup of cheddar cheese. Gently mix to combine.

Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer half of the Crispy Crowns on the bottom, pour the hamburger mixture over the top and then layer with the other half of the Crispy Crowns. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese and bake at 350 for 25 - 30 minutes, or until golden brown and crunchy.
Recipe taken from:
The Cutting Edge of Ordinary

White Chocolate Chex Mix

The first time I had this stuff was when I was in Young Women's. The camp director had made it for Girl's Camp. Normally, I don't like white chocolate, but this is one of the very few exceptions. I can never get enough of this stuff. Which is probably why I don't make it very often. The way I make it, makes enough to fill 4 large Ziploc bags. So I usually make it around Christmas to give away, or on other occasions where I can still have some, but then give most of it away.

You can add as little or as much of the stuff as you want, but this is the way I make it. I know the leader also put pretzels in her version, but I don't like pretzels so I usually don't add them.

White Chocolate Chex Mix



1 box Cheerios cereal

1 box Corn Chex cereal

2 large bags M&M's

1-2 containers Planters unsalted peanuts

2 bagsCraisins

2-4 bags white chocolate

2 Tsp. olive oil per 2 bags of white chocolate

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In a large bowl mix cereals, peanuts, craisins, and M&M's. You want just enough room left in the bowl so you can stir in the chocolate with out it overspilling. I usually pour half of the cereal into two separate bowls and then divide the rest of the stuff between the bowls. It seems to be easier to stir two bowls rather then stir one huge bowl and have stuff spilling out while I try to mix it.

In a microwave safe dish, pour in 2 bags of white chocolate and add 2 Tsp. olive oil. Heat in the microwave for 45 seconds. Stir. Then continue to heat it at 30 seconds, stirring each time, until you reach a spreadable consistency and all of the chips are melted.

Pour over mixture and stir until everything is well coated. I usually pour in half of the mixture and stir. Then add the rest. Then I melt the other 2 bags of white chocolate chips and use them to coat my second bowl of chex mix.

Usually I've just let it dry in the bowl before storing it in plastic bags. But this time, I laid some wax paper on my cupboard and then poured the mixture out to dry. Then I broke up the larger clumps and stored it in plastic bags. This seemed to work better because then I didn't have huge chunks to deal with later.

Sarah's Chocolate No Bake Cookies

Sarah's No Bake Cookies

2 cups sugar
1 square butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk
3 Tbsp. cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
Bring to boil (rolling boil) then pour over:
3 cups oatmeal
1 cup coconut (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla

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Combine sugar, butter, milk, cocoa and salt and bring to a boil. In another bowl, combine oatmeal, coconut and vanilla. Pour the hot mixture over the oatmeal mixture and stir well. Drop by spoonful on to a cookie sheet or waxed paper. Let cool before eating.

Love Potion

Love Potion

1 (12-ounce) can pink lemonade concentrate
4 cups raspberry sherbet
Sprite
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In a pitcher, mix the lemonade concentrate with the recommended amount of water.

In a blender, combine the sherbet with 4 cups of the lemonade mixture; mix until combined.

Pour into individual glasses. Add the soda to taste, stir gently and serve.

We mixed it all up in a pitcher, but when we poured it in our glasses, the bubbles didn't pour in also. So we added more Sprite to our cups.

Recipe adapted from E is for Explore.

7 Layer Jello

This jello could be made for any occasion in any color variety, but this time I decided to make it in red for Valentine's Day. I used Raspberry and Strawberry jello in mine. Then I used some heart shaped cookie cutters to cut it out. I LOVE how it turned out. You could also do more or less layers as desired. The website where I found the recipe did a 5 layer jello and it was just as cute.

7 Layer Jello
4 pkg. 3 oz Jello (lemon, orange, lime, strawberry)
4 pkg. Knox unflavored gelatin
1 can sweetened condensed milk
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Mix 1 pkg flavored jello with 1/2 pkg of unflavored gelatin. Add 1 cup boiling water. Stir to dissolve. Cool to room temp and pour into 9 x 13 glass pan. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Mix 1 can sweetened condensed milk with 1 cup boiling water. In a small bowl, sprinkle 2 pkg unflavored gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Let stand a few minutes and then add 1/2 c boiling water to dissolve gelatin; add to milk mixture and stir to combine. Cool to room temp and pour 1 cup of milk mixture over first layer of jello. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Repeat for next three flavors. Let jello set. Cut and serve!

Recipe found on The Food Librarian.