Kitchen Sink Cookies

Last night, in a fit of what I thought was total efficiency, I decided that I would reorganize the shelves in my pantry. Until I opened the pantry door and realized that was a boring idea. As I was looking in there trying to figure out what else I could be doing with my time, I noticed I had a lot of opened and partially used items. There were bags with not even a cup of nuts in them, a half-full can of rolled oats, several open bags of chocolate chips- you get the idea. I think this happens when you're cooking a lot. Most likely, the recipe you're using doesn't require a full quantity of any one item and you end up with leftover ingredients.

Avoiding my organization project altogether and giving up on my dream of being an efficient person, I instead piled up the extras on my counter and pondered what to do with them. And then I had it! Cookies, based on my oatmeal cookie recipe, but with a little bit of everything- everything that is, except the kitchen sink. Ha! I can be so witty when I'm trying to procrastinate. A cookie with coconut, chocolate, raisins, nuts, and oats may sound a little crazy, but honestly, they were just so good! I encourage you to make these cookies, or some version of them with the things you have laying around.

Kitchen Sink Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter softened

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 room temperature eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups uncooked oats

1 cup raisins

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped nuts (I used a mixture of my extra pecans and walnuts)

1/2 cup shredded coconut

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

-Prepare several sheet pans with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.

-Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Set aside.

-In the bowl of a mixer, cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.

-Add the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time, beating until combined.

-Stir flour mixture into the butter and combine well.

-In a mixing bowl, stir together the oats raisins, chocolate chips, nuts, and coconut together so that ingredients are evenly distributed.

-Use a spatula to fold these ingredients into the cookie dough. The dough will be stiff.

-Portion out dough onto baking sheets with an ice cream scoop.

-Flatten each portion of dough slightly with the palm of your hand.

-Bake in a preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until light golden brown.

-Allow cookies to cool completely on pans before serving.

-Store in an airtight container.

Acorn Squash Soup

It's funny how, without realizing it, I tend to get caught up in my morning routine. During the week, it tends to involve hitting the snooze button more times than I care to admit, then getting up and checking my email. Why email first thing? I couldn't tell you, especially since most of the time, I don't have any new messages worth reading. Then its on to showering, getting ready, wandering around and deciding what to wear, realizing that its getting late, throwing something on, and zipping out the door to stop for coffee on the way to work.

Saturdays seem to have their own routine too- and usually start with me waking up and thinking I have to go to work. Once I realize that it is in fact Saturday and I'm not in a rush to be somewhere, I usually get up, go get coffee, and head to the farmers market. This Saturday was no exception, despite the fact that it had been raining steadily for the past 12 hours and several of the streets near my house were flooded. Why it didn't occur to me to stay home, I can't be sure. But let it be known that I was not the only insane person headed to the farmer's market that morning- there was a good group of us there searching for non-soggy fruits and veggies. I picked up some pears, acorn squash, and peppers and headed home, essentially drowning my car on the way. That's another story altogether, but the combination of the weather and the poor state of my car freed up the rest of the afternoon to do some cooking. Hooray!

I used the acorn squash to make a yummy soup, topped with spiced, toasted acorn squash seeds. It was perfect on that wet and soggy afternoon, and even earned a mention on CookThink, one of my favorite culinary websites! Nutmeg and brown sugar give some sweetness and flavor to the soup, while the bacon adds some depth. The beer was a little bit of a hare-brained idea, but I thought a light and crisp lager would be great to deglaze the pan with. It really added a nice flavor to the soup, and after adding the 1/2 cup I needed, I had the rest of the bottle to sip on while I cooked. This is one soup I'll be making on the next rainy Saturday I'm stuck inside!

Acorn Squash Soup

Ingredients:

3 acorn squash

4 slices bacon

1 onion, finely chopped

1 cup chopped carrots

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup lager beer (I used Heineken)

6 cups chicken broth

1 cup light cream

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

-Cut squash in half and remove seeds.

-Place squash cut side down in a 9x13 glass baking dish and add about an inch of water to the pan.

-Bake squash until tender, about 45 minutes. Set squash aside to cool.

-In a large pot or dutch oven, cook bacon slices slowly, rendering out the fat.

-Remove bacon from the pan and set on a plate prepared with paper towels.

-Add onions and carrots to the fat and cook over medium heat, until onions are softened and translucent.

-Add brown sugar, nutmeg, salt and pepper and cook for a minute more.

-Pour the beer over the onions and carrots. Turning up the heat slightly, use a spatula to bring up brown bits from the bottom of the pan.

-Scoop the squash into the pan and add the stock.

-Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer. Stir occasionally, simmering until squash is very soft.

-Using an immersion blender, a blender, or food processor, puree the soup until very smooth.

-Return to low heat and stir in cream.

-Heat the soup through and season to taste with salt and pepper.

-Serve with a little crumbled bacon and/or the spiced, toasted acorn squash seeds (recipe follows).

Spiced, Toasted Acorn Squash Seeds

Ingredients:

Seeds from the 3 acorn squash

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

-In a small bowl, combine sugar and seasonings. Set aside.

-In a heavy pan or skillet, toast the seeds over medium heat. Stirring constantly, allow the seeds to toast to a golden brown color, careful not to let them burn.

-Remove from heat and stir in sugar mixture until seeds are evenly coated.

-Spread seeds out on a baking sheet or parchment and allow to cool.

Lemon Dill Compound Butter

I often find myself attracted to the bunches of fragrant fresh herbs at the market.  How could I not be?  A finely minced pinch adds so much flavor to otherwise ordinary dishes and a little goes a long way.  Dill with lemon on roast chicken, cilantro in some fresh guacamole, and basil with everything!  The problem I have though, is using up the whole bunch.  I hate for anything to go to waste, and it seems a shame to use the 2 tablespoons required for a recipe and let the rest of the bunch perish in the veggie drawer of my fridge.

One way I deal with this is by making a compound butter to pop in the fridge or freezer for future use.  A compound butter is simply butter with fresh herbs, seasonings, and an acid such as lemon juice.  It provides a burst of flavor in your foods, and is an easy way to perk up a recipe.  I use this lemon dill butter for roasting chicken, for shrimp, or I even let a small pat melt over a piece of grilled white-fleshed  fish.  Yum!  If you check the Cook's Illustrated website here, you'll find a slew of other compound butter combinations that sound like great ways to use the extra fresh herbs sitting in your fridge.  Enjoy!

Lemon Dill Compound Butter

Ingredients:

8 oz. butter, softened

2 Tbs. fresh dill

2 Tbs. minced shallots

Zest of 1 lemon

2 Tbs. lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

-Cube the softened butter and place in mixing bowl.

-Add remaining ingredients and knead together.

-Place dabs of the compound butter in a line along the length of a piece of parchment.

-Fold one side of the parchment over the butter.

-Press and shape together to make a log of butter.

-Refrigerate until firm, then twist ends of paper together.

-The butter can keep for several days in the fridge, or longer in the freezer.  Store paper-wrapped logs in a resealable plastic bag if freezing.