Would You Care For a Cookie?

Easy Cake-Mix Cookies

When it comes to baking, MissPenny takes the cake!  She bakes the most delectable delights!  I'm gaining pounds just thinking about the cake she made for her hubby's birthday!  Anyway, back to the present.  Since I don't have anything particularly crafty to share (even though I'm wrapping up the repaint of the living room/hall area of the house. . . which just gave me a cool idea) I did want to at least share something!  So, here's a simple recipe my mom has been playing with and found to be quite handy!

Ingredients: 

• 1 box of cake mix (I like the ones with pudding in the mix - but it doesn't matter)
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup of oil
• (maybe a tbsp of water if necessary)
• 1 tsp. vanilla or almond extract (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350*.  Mix the box of cake mix, eggs, and oil together with an electric mixer.  It should be moist enough by itself, but if necessary you can add a tablespoon or so of water to help soften the dough. (Cake mix with pudding already in it tends to be very wet and sticky - it was messy to work with but came out great!) You can roll the dough into small balls and bake for 12 minutes at this point (cooking times may vary depending on your oven - at Mom's house it takes 20 minutes vs. only 12-14 minutes at my house) or get a little crazy with it by adding other ingredients!

Here are my favorite variations:

Cranberry-pecan Cookies - yellow cake mix version with almond extract, 1/2 cup dried cranberries and 1/2 cup chopped pecans!  So yum!

Peanut butter cookies - yellow cake mix version, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, and as much peanut butter as you'd like - stir until it smells and looks like peanut butter cookie dough!

Super chocolate cookies - double chocolate cake mix (with pudding in the mix) version, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/2 cup of chocolate chunks!  SO GOOD!

Sugardoodles - the yellow cake mix version, rolled in cinnamon sugar before baking!

I've taken to jotting down the exact cook times for my oven since it varies so much from the recipe book.  I always tend towards undercooking my cookies - they stay moist longer if they aren't bricks to begin with!  Keep in mind that different cake mixes (brand wise) may be a little more wet/dry.

MissPenny will surely call this kind of baking the cheaters route - but I'll readily admit that I'm a cheater when it comes to cooking!

I feel like chicken tonight!

I usually purchase chicken in big packages from Sam's club because it's $1.99/pound - this is fresh boneless chicken breast meat, not frozen.  If I'm lucky and score a better deal at WallyWorld, then yay for me!

As much as we enjoy eating chicken - I don't particularly enjoy handling the chicken to cook it!  So, it's a chicken day. . . that means I'm cooking up the whole package of chicken (which I've taken to doing lately.)  Here's today's chicken cooking process:

• Stove - I'm boiling chicken breasts for shredding and seasoning into taco meat which in turn goes into chicken tacos, burritos, enchiladas, or enchilada casserole.  I love having so many meal options from only one ingredient!
• Oven - I'm baking chicken breasts, with a sprinkling of salt and pepper, at 350* until they are cooked through.  These bad boys get sliced and diced, then packed into freezer bags, dated and frozen.  These get pulled out of the freezer anytime I need cooked chicken - for salad toppings, chicken salad sandwiches, chicken & broccoli casserole, etc.  I think you get the picture.  Not only are they way less expensive than canned chicken, they taste better, I can use them in more dishes and it totally shortens cooking time to use precooked chicken!
• Crockpot - I've tossed a few chicken breasts into the Crockpot with dry Italian dressing seasoning and 1/2 cup of water.  In a few hours I add cream of chicken soup and cream cheese - and presto - creamy Italian chicken (served over rice!)  The Crockpot chicken meal is usually what I'll be having for dinner on chicken cooking day.  I mix things up sometimes, making a white chicken chili instead (I know - so super edgy!)

Well, there you have it - my chicken cooking day!  

Bubble, bubble, toil & trouble. . .

Homemade tortilla chips are yum.

Yum-a-licious and super simple is the art of the homemade tortilla chip.  Why would I waste the time making them when I can get them at the store for so cheap?  Simple - I waste the time making them because we tend to blow through the store bought chips rapidly and don't have more when I'm craving them, and I have a giant supply of corn tortillas that I buy in bulk from Sam's club, and it's too expensive to buy chips at the local market and WallyWorld is twenty minutes away!  So, maybe it wasn't that simple, but it made sense, mostly.   Please note that it is MissPenny who makes these most often - I just learned how to make them because she supplied me with a recent sampling of a variety of chips (all of which were yum.)

So, to make these super simple treats, fill a saucepan 2/3 full with oil (I just use whatever I have in the cupboard - vegetable oil usually.)   Heat the oil on the stove over medium heat.  While the oil is warming, slice your tortillas (flour - Penny's preference or corn - my preference) into sixths (or whatever size you like.)  Simply drop the tortillas into the hot oil to cook, letting them boil until they start to brown.  I like mine extra crispy so I leave them in for about a minute.  Remove the cooked chips from the oil with a slotted spoon or spatula and set them on a paper-towel covered plate.  While the chips are still hot, sprinkle them with salt - I like sea salt!  Presto - done!

I like them with hummus, salsa or cheese - which is the kind of yummy stuff MissPenny tends to have in her fridge - whereas I tend to have things like ketchup in giant sized bottles.  I definitely lean towards the hummus as a dip, rather than the ketchup.