Chocolate Chip Cookies

     Chocolate chip cookies are a favorite of everyone.  You can make them soft and chewy or crisp and crunchy.  You can have lots of chips or just a few, you can have nuts or leave them out.  You can add chocolate to the batter to make them double chocolate or substitute peanut butter, butterscotch, toffee, or white chocolate or a combination to make another kind of cookie all together.  You are limited only by your imagination.
     This is a recipe I was given years ago and have made multiple changes so it makes a good cookie and no one suspects it doesn't have butter or the regular chocolate chips.  I buy nondairy chocolate chips at a health food store.  If one is not available to you, look for them online.

                                                            Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/4 cups oatmeal
1 1/2 cup nuts
1 1/2 bags nondairy semi-sweet chocolate chips (16 oz. total)
1 cup stick margarine-2 sticks-softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda

      Preheat oven to 380 degrees.  Blend oatmeal, nuts, and 1/2 bag chocolate chips in food processor until chopped.  Set aside.  Cream margarine and both sugars with a mixer.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Mix the salt, baking powder, and baking soda with the flour in a separate bowl.  Add to the mixture in the mixing bowl slowly.  When it is all mixed together, add the mixture from the food processor.
     You may bake these cookies on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray or lined with a reusable liner or parchment paper.  The last two will keep you from having to wash the baking sheet.
     Roll about two teaspoons of dough in your hand or with a scoop into a ball.  If you want soft and chewy cookies, you can get fifteen cookies on a baking sheet.  If you want crispy cookies, flatten the ball and only put twelve cookies on the baking sheet.  Bake for 12 minutes.  Check that your cookies are golden brown, but not too light or not burned.  Remember every oven is different.
     If you want to make chocolate dough, instead of putting the half bag of chocolate chips in the food processor, melt them.  Let them cool as much as possible without hardening before mixing with the dough.
     This recipe makes about five dozen cookies, but if you wanted to make extra dough to freeze, it keeps well in the freezer for a month.


     Next time I'll share a remake of a recipe that was originally buttermilk cinnamon bread and is now nutmeg banana bread.  If you are lactose intollerant you can't have buttermilk and if you have GERD you can't have cinnamon.  I'm sure you're wondering how I made the changes to get from one recipe to the other, but I will explain that next time.  See you then.

Hungarian Goulash

     Hungarian goulash is one of my daughter's favorite dishes but when she made it my insides felt like they were on fire.  I had to find a way I could enjoy the dish and not want to call the fire department.  I managed to do this by using dried onions and reducing the paprika and cloves.  The goulash is still flavorful but not overpowering.

                                                            Hungarian Goulash

2 lb. London broil, cut in 1 inch cubes.
2 cups beef broth
1 1/2 tsp. dried onions
1 1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4  tsp. pepper
1/4  tsp. salt
2 bay leaves
3 whole OR
   1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 pkg. noodles, cooked

     After beef is cut incubes, lightly flour and brown in oil.  Add broth and dried onion to beef in skillet along with seasonings.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 hours.  Add more liquid if necessary.(Instead of simmering in a skillet, you may cook in a crock pot.) Remove bay leaf and whole cloves before serving.  Serve over noodles that have been cooked to package directions.

     Next time I will share my recipe for chocolate chip cookies.  If you ask ten people for their recipe for chocolate chip cookies, they will tell you their's is the best.  I won't say mine is the best, but I will say I have worked for several years to refine my recipe.  If you are lactose intollerant you can't use butter, so I have worked to refine my recipe so I can make a delicious cookie with no butter and dairy free chocolate chips.  Your cookie can be soft and chewy or crisp and crunchy.  Everyone gets what they want.  See you next time

New England Clam Chowder

     New England clam chowder (white) sounded snug and cozy when I suggested it last week.  My daughter in Pittsburgh told me the temps were in the fifties and rainy and our temps  had dipped to the low seventies from the nineties so I was thinking soup.  Now, however, we are having another hot spell and the temps are in the high eighties so soup may not be on everyone's mind, but I did promise.
     I'm always envious when my husband orders clam chowder at a restaurant and I can't.  I always cheat and have a tiny taste.  It tastes rich and creamy.  I tried to duplicate it here for people like us.  This soup base can be used for other soups.  You can leave out the clams and make cream of potato soup or other vegetable soup.  You can add soy or rice cheese and make a cream cheese soup and add whatever other ingredients you want.

                                                       New England Clam Chowder

2 6.5 oz. cans minced clams and juice
3 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
1 tblsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp.  white pepper
3 tblsp. stick margarine
6 tblsp. flour
2 cups lactose free milk
1 8oz. soy cream cheese with herbs and chives
1/2 tsp. ea. Old Bay Seasoning, dill weed
2 tsp. dried minced onions

     After potatoes are peeled and sliced, put them in a stock pot that has been sprayed with vegetable spray and had the olive oil added.  Brown the potatoes.  Add the clams and juice and rinse the cans with water and add.  Simmer until most of the liquid is gone.  Stir frequently to make sure the potatoes don't stick to the bottom of the pan.
     Add the seasonings and margarine. Measure the milk and add the flour.  Whisk until the flour is combined.  Add milk and remaining ingredients to pan.  Mix to combine and simmer at least twenty minutes.  The longer it simmers the better it tastes.  If you prefer a thicker soup, let it simmer until it is thick.  If you prefer a thinner soup, add more milk.    Serves 4
     NOTE:  If you can't find soy cream cheese with herbs and chives, use plain soy cream cheese and add 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning.

     Next time is Hungarian Goulash.  This is one of my daughter's favorite dishers, but when she would make it I felt like my insides were on fire, so I have reworked the recipe for people like us and I hope you will enjoy it.  See you next time.

Chili

     Chili was my favorite junk food before my diagnosis.  I bought the one in the can without beans and put it on hot dogs, with tortilla chips and cheese and in eggs.  After my diagnosis I thought I had to say good-bye.  And I did have to say good-bye to the one in the can, but I experimented until I got a recipe I could make for myself and not spend the next few hours feeling like my insides were on fire.  My recipe has beans because I know most people prefer chili with beans, although I didn't use the usual kidney beans because I don't care for them.  Instead I used small white beans because I like those better.  If you prefer chili with no beans, just leave them out.
     This recipe is ideal for a crock pot.  The longer it simmers, the better.  If you don't have one, just let the chili simmer on the stove at least an hour, but longer if you have the time.  Just remember to stir occasionally and not have the heat up too high.
     I also recommend a chocolate dessert.  If you are lactose intollerant, eat dairy free chocolate.  Chocolate will calm the heat of any of the ingredients in the chili and keep you from suffering from any symptoms.  Just a few bites will do the trick.
     Also I have included some ground savory in this recipe.  Any recipe which has beans I include this spice because it will keep you from suffering the symptoms one normally has from eating beans.  Enough said.

                                                                          Chili

1 15 oz. can white beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 lb. hamburger
salt and pepper to taste
1 can of tomato soup and equal amount of lactose free milk
1/4 cup red wine
3 tblsp. chili sauce
1 clove minced garlic
1 tsp. dijon mustard
2 tblsp. dried minced onion
1/4 tsp. ea ground cumin, dill weed, oregano, ground savory, basil, paprika,
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

Brown hamburger and drain any fat.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Mix tomato soup and lactose free milk and add to hamburger.  Add remaining ingredients.  Cook for at least one hour on the stove or several hours in a crock pot.

Next week is New England Clam Chowder.  My daughter who lives in Pennsylvania tells me fall has definitely set in with cooler temps and the beginning of colored leaves.  Here in Southern California we are coming off a month of record heat and just beginning to cool so I thought the chili and clam chowder would be appropriate now.  See you next time

Orange Cake with Orange Frosting

     I love citrus flavors but after my diagnosis citrus fruit was no longer available for me.  What I needed to find was a way to have the flavor in a way that didn't upset my system.  I can usually get away with a little citrus juice in a dish if it is cooked, but I achieve a more intense flavor with zest from the peel or an equal proportion of vanilla and corresponding citrus extracts.  Instead of using just citrus extract, combine the same amount of vanilla extract and they work together to enhance the flavor.
     This recipe is very popular in my family and I often bring it to outings, usually as cupcakes.  I hope you enjoy it as well.

                                                                 Orange Cake

1 orange or lemon cake mix
zest of 1 orange
1/2 tsp. each vanilla and orange extract
other ingredients listed on the cake box
optional: 1 drop red and 2 drops yellow food coloring to make the batter orange

Mix all of the ingredients together as instructed on the box and bake as instructed.

                                                               Orange Frosting

1 tub of white or vanilla frosting
2 tsp. orange zest
1/8 tsp. ea. vanilla and orange extract
optional:  1 drop red and 2 drops yellow food coloring.
Add sifted powdered sugar if the frosting is too thin.


Next weeks recipe is for chili.  Ever since I was diagnosed I have been hungry for chili, but, of course, I couldn't have it. But now I have come up with a recipe so I can and I'm going to share it with you.

Take care,