Brown Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

There are many reasons to eat a cookie.  Sometimes it's a pick-me-up cookie.  Work went long or that research paper that you put off is suddenly due next week(cough...don't look here...cough).  Other times it's a congratulatory cookie.  You ran your first fiver miler or finally finished that research paper after holing yourself up in the library with shoddy internet service so that you wouldn't spend half the time on Facebook.  

And then sometimes, you eat a cookie purely because it is Tuesday.  Or Wednesday.  Or any other day that you think, "A cookie right now?  Wouldn't hate it."

This is a cookie for all reasons.  All seasons.  And another word that rhymes with the other two.  An added bonus is that you probably already have all of the ingredients in your pantry!

Brown Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

                            

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup loosely packed brown sugar

1 large egg

2  tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup flour

3/4 cup oats (not quick-cook)

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup chocolate chunks

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, heat the butter, whisking constantly until browned.  Remove the saucepan from heat and continue to whisk for an additional 30 seconds.  Set aside and let the butter cool completely.

In a mixing bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and oats.  Set aside.

Once the butter has cooled, mix it with the two sugars until combined.  Mix in the egg and vanilla.  Add the flour mixture and combine with hands until a dough forms.  Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Form dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place 2 inches apart on a prepared baking sheet.  Bake 10-12 minutes, or until the edges and bottoms are golden brown.

Source: How Sweet Eats

Mimosa Soup

This weekend I went home for Easter and I ended up eating my weight in: reubens, sweet potato fries, parmesan pork tenderloin, prime rib roast, sauerkraut, ham and about a dozen pound-cake-eggs.

Yes, I did just tell you everything I ate this weekend.  Thankfully I'm sparing you a full play-by-play.  I'd need pictures for that.

I'm assuming most of you had a similarly indulgent weekend.  If not, well, then you're a better person than me.  I enjoyed all my favorite foods with reckless abandon, and while I regret nothing (except for maybe that 12th pound-cake-egg) I do want to eat a bit lighter now.  This soup is the perfect remedy for any indulgent weekend.  It's chock full of vegetables and requires very little actual work.  The soup has to cook for about an hour, but the work before is minimal.

Oh, and it tastes good.


Mimosa Soup

1/2 pound celeriac
1/2 pound carrots
1/2 pound turnips
2 leeks
1 head cabbage
1 head lettuce


Directions:


Roughly chop everything but the cabbage and lettuce and put in a large stockpot.  Cover with water and bring to a boil.  Cook for 40 minutes.  Add the cabbage and lettuce, cook for an additional 15 minutes.


Put the soup in either a blender or food processor.  Process until smooth, leaving some texture.  If in an apartment, wince at what your neighbors must be thinking as you sound like you're grinding body parts in your kitchen.

Ladle into bowls and serve.

Source:  French Women Don't Get Fat

Pho For You

This has been a pretty spectacular week.  I decided on law school.  I started the Couch to 5K program.  And I found out that I am receiving some sort of recognition from my school at our annual Honors Reception.  I have no idea what this "recognition" means but the reception involves food and an open bar.  Thank you, School of Communication, don't mind if I do.

Another part of my spectacular week was this equally spectacular soup.  It's no surprise that I'm a soup lover.  There's just something about it that I find so satisfying.  This one is particularly good with creamy coconut milk and pungent ginger.  Usually I freeze half the batch when I make soup but I don't see myself having any trouble finish off this soup.  I can't get enough of it!

Pho

1 package tofu noodles

4 cups veggie broth

1 cup carrot, sliced

1 cup spinach

1 tbsp minced ginger

1 tsp minced garlic

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp lime juice

1/4 cup coconut milk

salt/pepper

Directions:

Rinse tofu noodles and microwave for one minute.  Set aside.

Bring the veggie broth to a boil.  Add the carrots and simmer until tender, 5-8 minutes.  Add in the rest of the ingredients and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes.  Pour the soup over the noodles.  

Stuff yo' face.

Source:  Peas and Thank You

Turn of Phrase

I'm all for the kitschy phrases.  I think they can add a lot of color to your language without using any four letter words that would make your grandma blush.  Unless we're referring to my grandma.  She's a world class cusser.

Anyway, I like my phrases.  They're fun and occasionally cute.  It occurred to me, though, that half the times I have no idea what I'm actually saying.  I understand what they mean in context, but out of context I'm about as clueless as Snooki in a library.

I've rounded up the usual suspects.

1)  Up My Alley

This is something that I say a lot.  I'll see a recipe and go, "Oh, this is right up my alley."  Or a movie that I think I'd like is "up my alley".  What does this even mean?!   Is it a good thing to be up my alley?  Is my alley really that great of a place to be up?  Am I the only one with a strong urge to say 'That's what she said' about now?

2)  The Bee's Knees

Another thing I say often.  Another thing that makes absolutely no sense.  What does it really mean to say that something is the bee's knees?  Is it good?  Is it bad?  Do bees even have knees?  My Google image search was inconclusive, although I did find some pretty disturbing tattoos.

3)  Oy, enough with the poodles already!

This is straight from Gilmore Girls and admittedly has no real meaning.  I will never stop saying this at random points in conversations.  NEVER.

4)  Easy Peasy

Okay, this I don't say and I strongly detest anyone who does.  I still remember the first time that I heard it.  I was a junior in high school taking PreCalc.  If the subject matter wasn't giving me enough of a headache (which it was) I had to hear "easy peasy" every other minute from the kids around me.  It's a wonder I actually passed that class.

What are the little phrases you guys use?

Pet Peeve Wednesday: Disney Edition

I grew up watching Disney movies.  Beauty and the Beast was my favorite, closely followed by The Little Mermaid.  I watched them to the point where my parents probably wished they could burn all of the VHS tapes.  Years later, I still enjoy popping them in our old-school-VHS-player some nights and singing along obnoxiously to all the songs.  I've noticed a few things as I've gotten older, though.

Let's start with Pocahontas.

1)  No one's hair looks that good when it is blowing in the wind.  More likely, your hair will look like something her pet raccoon would live in.

2)  Speaking of pet raccoons -- why do all of these Disney princesses seem to be best buds with wild animals?  Are there not enough real people around?  I don't know about you, but if my most meaningful relationship was with a crab or raccoon, I would seriously start questioning my socializing skills.

Moving on to The Little Mermaid.

3)  Mermaid or not, that shell bra would chafe.

4)  And isn't she supposed to be sixteen or something?  I don't know about you, but my parents would lock me in my room if I pranced around in a shell bra.

And we can't forget Aladdin.

5)  Monkeys are actually pretty vicious creatures in real life.  This means that Abu probably would have ripped Aladdin's face off somewhere in the first ten minutes of that film.

6)  Unless there were handles to hold on to, you would fall off that magic carpet.  And yes, I realize that the whole magic-carpet-thing means that it defies logic.  And gravity.

Spinach Frittata

I don't understand the weather in Chicago.  Two weeks ago the weather was in the 80s and I was prancing around in sundresses and flip flops.   Well, there was no actual prancing, but you catch my drift.

I drank iced coffee.  The air conditioner and I were best buds.  I even went to the beach and watched people do drunk yoga while getting an awkward tank-top tan.  Then last week temps were back in the 40s and it was freaking cold.  This week, we're back to the 60s.  

I have no explanation for this, other than the world is ending thanks to excessive driving and hairspray use.  Or, you know, global warming and all that.

If this does mean the world is ending, I feel it is my duty as a food blogger to provide you with one last frittata recipe.  Because when an apocalypse is on the horizon, it's clearly important to be well-fed.  

Spinach Frittata

Ingredients:

6 eggs

2 tbsp milk 

1/4 cup, plus 2 tbsp parmesan, grated

1 cup spinach (or a handful)

Directions:

In a bowl, mix together the egg, cheese, and milk.  Add the spinach.  Pour into an oven-safe skillet on medium heat and cook until the top is barely runny, 10-12 minutes.  Place in the broiler and cook for 3-4 minutes, until the top browns.

Serve with vegetables or a salad.  

Decisions

I haven't blogged a lot about my law school search.  Mostly, it's because I don't have that many entertaining things to say about it besides a series of Legally Blonde jokes that even make me roll my eyes.  My search has come to an end, though, and I have finally made a decision.

I am officially a member of the University of Illinois College of Law Class of 2015.

Try saying that five times fast.

It was a difficult decision for me.  I was accepted to a number of schools in the city and a large part of me wanted to stay in Chicago.  I love everything about city life.  I love the constant bustle; the fantastic food; the nightlife.  I used to walk around the city and wonder how I had managed to find myself in such a spectacular place.

The prospect of leaving the city and moving down to Champaign for three years sort of terrified me.  I'm not someone who likes change.  I'm comfortable in the city and a large part of me wanted to keep that.  You can't live your life sticking with what's comfortable, though.  Ultimately, I came to realize that U of I was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

I'm looking forward to this next step in my life.  It'll be a different from what I had in Chicago, but different isn't necessarily bad.

Bottom line:  It's going to be an interesting three years.