Waffles

This is my late grandmother's recipe -- she's labeled it as "low-carb, high-protein," which it certainly is. Don't be put off by the cottage cheese and wheat germ; these are delicious.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup flour (white or whole wheat)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup cottage cheese
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/2 cup milk (NOTE: DO NOT SUBSTITUTE ALMOND MILK. IT IS NOT REAL MILK. IT WILL MESS UP YOUR WAFFLES)
  
• wheat germ (optional, and as much as you want)
  

Combine these all in a blender or kitchen aid or whatever you use to blend things quickly. You probably could use just a spoon, but I make no promises about consistency.
Ladle the batter into a waffle iron. Eat them once they're done.

Thoughts: Awesome. The flavor of these is hard to describe but totally delicious. We messed up a bunch of these the first time we made them, but only because I have no idea how to work a waffle iron. SO. But they're flawless once you know what you're doing. Also they're pretty healthy. My mother says they're a lot like the original, so that's good.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Apples Foster

I was watching Unwrapped on Food Network because Claire isn't here to entertain/stop me. They spoke to the guy whose father invented/caused the invention of Bananas Foster (the guy inherited the restaurant from his father). Anyway, that's what kind of inspired this.

Ingredients

• 1 smallish apple, cubed (or something like that - I think I did something somewhere between cubes and wedges)
  
• 1tbsp brown sugar
  
• 1/2tbsp butter
  
• 1tbsp (good) dark rum (I used Meyers)
  
• vanilla ice cream
  

In a sauce pan, melt the butter with the brown sugar. Add the apples, and stir around, continuing to cook at medium high heat. If it starts to get a little dry, add a few tbsp of water. Cook until the apples are a little soft but not mushy. Take the pot off the heat and pour in the tbsp of rum. Put it back on the heat and shuffle the pan around a little so the alcohol starts to vaporize. Now ignite a lighter over the pot. Lean away from the pot a little while you do this (although alcohol doesn't burn terribly hot, and it's only for a second, so you'll probably be fine - but better safe than sorry). Pour the apples and syrup over some vanilla ice cream. Enjoy.

Thoughts: The flambe part was pretty darn cool. I think that's the second time I've ever attempted a flambe. But now it will happen like every weekend. This recipe was so good, it would be difficult to improve upon it. If I HAD to pick things to do differently next time, they would be these: 1) add a pinch of salt, 2) think about adding some spices - cinnamon, allspice, clove, that kind of thing, 3) add other fruit in addition to apple, 4) maybe some nuts for a little added texture? 5) make more. BUT the recipe doesn't suffer without these modifications - they're more suggestions of ways to potentially spice it up some time in the future. As a note: this recipe makes enough for ONE person. Multiply as needed.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Pasta with Artichokes and Zucchini

CLAIRE IS IN MINNESOTA. COOK NEW RECIPES.

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb farfalle
  
• 1 zucchini
  
• 1/2 a jar's worth of artichoke hearts (I hear that jars of artichokes are of higher quality than cans. Confirm/deny?)
  
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
  
• generous pinch of salt
  
• 2tsp garlic
  
• olive oil
  
• a few tbsp pesto
  

Set the pasta to cook. Meanwhile, prep the vegetables. Cut the zucchini as you see fit (I cut it into 1.5" wedges - each about 1/8 of a cylinder, if you can imagine what I'm failing to describe). Saute over medium high heat with some olive oil. Add the garlic and toss around until the garlic is fragrant - 30 seconds? Then add the artichoke hearts. Mine were jarred with some vegetable oil, vinegar, and various spices. I pulled the artichokes out individually with a fork, leaving whatever juice was on them. Anyway, toss those in and continue to saute for another 2-3 minutes. Add lemon juice and pesto and turn the heat off. When the pasta is done, toss it in with the vegetables and toss them around.

Thoughts: This was pretty delicious. The serving is really designed for two people, but I ate most of it. In the future, I would consider adding sliced olives to this. Otherwise, pretty fantastic.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Wookie Cookies

Here they finally are, by popular request:

Ingredients

• 2 and 1/4 cup white flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.
Put flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a medium-sized bowl and whisk together until fully incorporated. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the soft butter, brown, and white sugars together until completely blended. I used to do this in the blender, but the mixture gets too runny and the cookies come out flat if you do this. If you use a fork or whisk, the batter stays stiffer, which makes for better cookies. Make sure your butter is soft. If it isn't, you'll be really frustrated.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract.
Add the flour mixture and mix completely. Add the 2 cups of chocolate chips and stir in.
If it looks like the batter is too runny (it shouldn't be, but if it is), you can go ahead and refrigerate it for an hour or two.
Drop the dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (or a greased cookie sheet).
Bake for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown.
Eat them. Makes about 3 dozen.

Thoughts: These are awesome. There's nothing else to say about them. Try them. You'll like them.

Disaster Index: 1/10