Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies!

I haven't been doing much baking lately, but I haven't seen my host family in 2 weeks. Whenever it's been awhile and I'm feeling guilty about it, I make them treats. I had all the stuff for chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, but I'm only so so about the recipe in the Peace Corps Morocco cookbook. I think that's because I have in the past used baking powder instead of baking soda, but still I wanted to try another.

So I googled for recipes... some called for shortening which I don't have, some called for other things... they all looked about the same. Then about 6 down the list, I saw:

http://www.ghirardelli.com/bake/recipe.aspx?id=1028

I am a big ghirardelli chocolate fan and I thought any recipe that comes off a site for expensive chocolate must be decent. It is a good recipe and it's simple. Hope my host fam likes them. :-) (I'm sure they will! They like all kinds of sweets!)

Pretty darn good Mac 'N Cheese

Hey guys... so tonight I decided just to throw together some mac and cheese. I figured I was ready to move to non-recipe for something simple. Yesterday I tried, but apparently my milk was bad. It curdled as it heated. I had to scrap that batch. Here's my recipe... I hope I get the amounts right because I was just guestimating stuff in the kitchen.

1 cup dry macaroni
3 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp butter
2 triangles Laughing cow Red (or you can use velvita in the US... maybe 2 large Tbsp)
2-3 Tbsp Fromage Rouge/Red Ball (Edam in the states- something a little harder that melts well... maybe cheddar would work?)
1/8 C milk (hope that's right... I didn't use much)
1/4 tsp + 1 tsp Salt
Cheyenne Pepper or Pepper

Start up the macaroni- macaroni, the tsp of salt, and water on the stove, bring to a boil at higher temperature and then lower the temperature. Boil until macaroni is perfectly soft. If it's finished before the sauce, strain it and put it aside.

While the pasta is going, either dice up or press the garlic, and put it in a sauce pan with the butter. Turn the heat on low. When the butter melts and the garlic starts to brown slightly, add the milk. Then start adding the cheese continuously stirring. Add the Laughing Cow triangles, and slowly add the Fromage Rouge. You may want to shred the Fromage Rouge- I just cut it into pieces. Stir in the salt (optional- it was probably fine without it... the cheese makes it salty enough) and some pepper to taste. When the cheese is completely melted and the consistency looks good, pour it over the pasta in a bowl. Mix it up until every piece is coated.


I know it's simple, but I know some of you guys don't really cook either, so simple is not a bad thing. :-)

Cheers!

No way! Popcorn Continued!!!

So unbelievably, because nothing like this ever usually works out, my first try with soaking the popcorn in water worked (for those of you not up to speed, I was having a stale popcorn issue). I soaked it for about an hour and then let it dry completely. I now have popcorn with significantly less kernels.

So if you're craving popcorn and your town only has stale old stuff, buy some, soak it for an hour, let it dry and you're good to go.

Amazing!

Stale Popcorn- boo!!!

So I haven't written anything in a little while because I'm having difficulty being in my kitchen. It's always around 100 degrees in my house. I did make a salad the other day that I loved, but I didn't really modify it so much. Most of the ingredients are here in Morocco, so no need. It's fabulous! Here's the link:

http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/005223napa_cabbage_picnic_salad.php

I didn't use everything in the salad... just cabbage and carrots but the dressing is delicious.

Popcorn is one of my favorite snacks both here and in America. There is a popcorn guy that usually has it but lately he's been dry. To get my fix, I bought some at the large hanut (country store) in hopes that maybe it isn't stale despite the warnings of one Rachel Beach, my predecessor. Well, of course, it is. This means that when you pop it on the stove, the kernels don't open up very much... they blacken and just barely crack. As much as I love burnt kernels (and I actually really do), who wants an entire bowl full of them?

There must be a way to get the moisture back in the popcorn. I'm going to try 2 things and I'll let you know how it goes. I'm first going to try soaking them and letting them dry completely. I'm also going to try putting some of them in an open container in my fridge. I read the second one on the internet. I'll let you know if one of these methods works.

Cheers!

It's cheddar, baby!

Wow, so I cut open the cheddar round today. It definitely tastes like cheddar. It is really good actually. I think because of the climate it may have dried too much (by the time it formed a rind like the recipe suggested part of the center dried out too) but it tastes like cheddar. It does need a few more months to develop flavor I think, but it's there and so exciting! It ages from 4 weeks to 6 months and I broke it open in 5 weeks.

Can you tell I'm excited? It's cheddar. Woo!!!

www.cheesemaking.com

This is the site where I bought my cheese kits. There is a Mozzarella and Ricotta kit that makes Fresh Mozz and a hard cheese kit that you use for cheeses like Feta, Jack, and Cheddar. They DO ship to Morocco and it's not outrageous.

Cheers!
Kate

Back from America

Hello! I'm back from America. I hope you all haven't given up on me with my long absence. I promise I'll have some fabulous new recipes too and It's time for me to try my cheddar cheese. Yayyy... I'll let you know how that goes.

Kate