Nicky Cookies

Here is a Harker family favorite I invented for some really sweet, rich, and chewy chocolate chip cookies. The recipe needs to be modified a little bit when you are in Grenada so make sure you look at the notes below. I hope they turn out great!

Melt 2 sticks of butter (unsalted on low heat)

Keep dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls.

DRY
2 1/4 bread flour (or all purpose flour)
teaspoon of kosher salt (or regular salt)
teaspoon of baking soda
1 large packet of instant vanilla jello pudding
If you have a sifter for these ingredients use it.

WET
melted butter, 1/4 cup of white sugar and 1 1/4 cups of brown sugar
then add 1 whole egg, 1 egg yolk, 2 tbs of milk, 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla. Once all of this is mixed it should be a brown caramel like consistency. This is what makes the cookie chewy!

Stir in dry ingredients to wet ingredients a little bit at a time. When completely mixed add 2-3 cups of Gittard milk chocolate chips. (Target usually has Gittard in a silver bag) Chill dough, scoop, roll into a ball and bake. Each ball should be about 1.5 inches in diameter.

Bake at 375 F for 13-15 mins. DO NOT OVERCOOK!!! The secret to making these cookies good is to not over do it. If your cookies are starting to brown on top you are cooking them too long. A good way to check if the cookies are done or not is you should start to see cracks forming in the dough on top. This is a good time to take them out as they will continue to cook a little bit even when they are out of the oven. Let them cool about a minute on the cookie sheet then move them to a cooling rack. Don't let them sit on the cookie sheet too long.

In Grenada use 1 cup brown sugar since it seems especially dark here. You may even need to add a little more flour than the recipe calls for. Just try and get the dough to a nice cookie dough type consistency. Cook at 360 for 12 mins. Your oven may vary so pay attention to how the cookie comes out. If it is hard or brown on the outside but gooey inside your oven is too hot. Try lowering the temperature by 10 degrees for the next batch. 360 seems to be the perfect temp for me even in America. 1 large Cadbury's dairy milk can be cut up to use for chocolate chips since we can't get Gittard here. If you have questions feel free to ask :)

Lion House Chicken

(From the Lion House Restaurant in SLC)
This makes a TON, I recommend halving it!

10-12 8 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 c ground bread crumbs
4 c favorite stuffing mix
1 c mushrooms sliced
1 c butter, melted
1/2 c honey
2 c mayo
1/3 c Dijon mustard

Lay whole chicken breast flat on baking sheet. Coat with bread crumbs, prepare your favorite stuffing with mushrooms and butter. Portion stuffing mixture into 10- 12 equal parts. Put stuffing on one half of each chicken breast; fold over and secure with toothpicks. Bake 370 for 30 min. Makes 10- 12 servings

To make sauce, mix honey, mayo, and mustard together in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat warmed through. Top each cooked chicken breast with sauce before serving.

Cabbage and Noodle Salad

1- 3oz pkg oriental noodles with chicken flavor
1/4 c cooking oil
3 T Rice vinegar or wine vinegar
1 T sugar
2 c finely shredded cabbage
1.6 3/4 can chunk chicken or fresh
1/4 c sliced green onions
3 T sesame seed
3 T sliced almonds, toasted

Break up noodles-combine oil, vinegar, sugar 1/4 t salt, dash pepper and the seasoning packet. Stir in broken noodles, cabbage, chicken, onion, and sesame seeds. Cover. Chill several hours. Before serving, stir in almonds.

Chicken Ashley

*just named after the giver of the recipe.

pour bottle of BBQ sauce over chicken breasts and cook until done. Then sprinkle bacon and cheese and melt.

Serve with fresh tomatoes and green onions.

*I just use the precooked bacon to keep things simple

Salsa Chicken

put a good amount of salsa over chicken breasts and bake for about 25 min.

When chicken is done put sliced cheese (I like cheddar, but doesn't matter) over and put back to oven until melted. Serve with sour cream.

Chocolate Carmel Bars

mix together:
1 pkg devils food cake mix
1/3 c soft margarine
1/2 c quick oats
1 egg

Reserve 1 cup of mixture and pat rest into greased, floured 9x13 pan. Bake 8-10 min at 350. Remove from oven and top with:
1- 6 oz pkgy chocolate chips
1 jar carmel toppings mixed with 3 T flour

Add 1/2 cup chopped nuts to reserved mixture; sprinkle over top; bake another 10 min at 350 or until set in center.

*Delicious and Rich, everything you want in chocolate.

Tuscan Bread Salad

1 Loaf dense crusty Italian bread. (french bread or an artisan bread etc.)
1 Large ball of fresh mozzarella cheese
1 Large tomatoe
1 Yellow or red bell pepper
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped

Dressing:
1 clove garlic
6 Tbs olive oil
3 Tbs balsalmic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Combine dressing ingredients and blend well; set aside. Cut cheese, tomatoe and pepper into 1 inch cubes and transfer to a salad bowl with chopped basil. Pour dressing over cheese and veggies to marinate while cutting and toasting the bread. Cut bread into 1 inch cubes and toast in oven until lightly brown. Add bread cubes to salad bowl and bix well to coat all pieces. Serve immediately.

This is SO good. If you Bruchetta you will love this salad. I leave out the peppers when I make this and it tastes just as good.
Enjoy!

Sweet Italy.

I call this my "Sweet Italy." I ate it about a week ago and ever since then whenever I think about it, I want it. It is so fresh, simple, organic and delicious. It tastes soooo good to me! If you decide you want to try it, all you need is:

1- Big, juicy, red tomato
1- Block of FRESH, "Whole Milk Mozzarella Cheese" (I get the "Polly-o" kind here in Grenada) 1- Fresh Basil leaf (we picked this little guy from our garden)
- A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste

And Viola! A delicate, masterpiece ready to be savored slowly.

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Hi all! Thanks for letting me contribute to this blog!

I found this delicious recipe online. I love it because it’s a great way to use overly ripe bananas and neither the peanut butter nor banana flavors are overpowering – it’s a perfect balance. They also stay soft for days! I sometimes double the recipe to make more because everyone who has tried them LOVES them...they always ask for more. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup mashed banana (1 sm/med)
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats (not instant)

Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (foil works too).
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, cream together sugars and butter. Beat in egg until smooth, then mix in the peanut butter and mashed banana. Working by hand or with a mixer on low speed, blend dry ingredients into the peanut butter mixture. Stir in the oats.

Shape dough into tablespoons and place on baking sheet, flattening each slightly with your fingers or a spoon.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until cookies just begin to turn golden around the edges.

Makes approx 20 cookies

Magic Cookie Bars!

(picture courtesy of google images)

Sorry this took me so long to post ladies! Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter of margarine, melted

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 (14 oz.) can EAGLE Brand sweetened condensed milk (or whatever is available!)

2 Cups semisweet chocolate morsels

1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

1 cup chopped nuts

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees ( 325 degrees for glass dish). Coat 13x9-inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray.

2. Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut and nuts. Press down firmly with a fork.

3. Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Cut into bars or diamonds. Store covered at room temperature.

ENJOY! And don't feel bad if you eat more than 5 in a sitting...i do it all the time :)

Fresh Peach Pie

1. 1 baked graham cracker crust
2. Slice fresh peaches inside crust
3. Pour 1 can sweetened condensed milk mixed with 1/3 c lemon juice

When ready to serve, top with whipped cream.

~ my great-grandma Tanner's recipe

Fried Rice by Grant

This is my 20 year old brother's recipe for fried rice. I had to share it with you because I laugh every time I read it. It's honestly a great way to deal with random leftovers. In his words...

Rice
Soy Sauce
Oil
Eggs
Meat (chicken or cow tastes the best, but if you want to use fish or pig you can)
Vegetables (peas, corn, green onions, water chestnuts (are these vegetables?), onions)

Acquire some cooked rice, I won't ask how you get it, just get some. Cook the eggs, meat, and veggies how you would regularly cook them (AKA cook them separately). Add rice, eggs, meat, veggies, oil, ad soy sauce together. Cook until everything is hot. You can add pretty much whatever you want to this, just add what you think will taste good and what is available. Also I didn't put in proportions because it really depends on how much you want. If you like eggs, put in a lot of eggs. You're a smart person, you'll do fine.

Chocolate Pudding & Oreos Popsicles

I got this recipe from the Kraft website. Hope you guys like it.

1 package (3.9oz) of instant chocolate pudding

2 cups of milk

6 oreo cookies

1/2 cup of thawed cool whip.

-Prepare the chocolate pudding as directed on the package. You need the 2 cups of milk to prepare the pudding.

-Place the oreo cookies in a ziploc bag and crush cookies with a rolling pin.

-Add crushed oreos and cool whip to pudding mixture. Mix until well blended.

-If you don't have popsicle molds then you can use small 3oz paper cups to place the pudding mixture. Insert a wooden stick or plastic spoon into each cup and to hold the popsicles.

-Freeze popsicles for 5 hours or until firm.

- Once the popsicles have frozen; in order to remove the cup from the popsicle place the popsicle cup in warm water for 15 secs. After the 15 sec press firmly on the bottom of the cup to remove cup.

*As an alternative you can always substitute the chocolate pudding for vanilla pudding.