The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

Crunchy on the outside, gooey in the center.

I love cookies, it's a well known fact that chocolate chip cookies are the end all to be all of cookies. Don't try to contest this, you will not win. I have, over the years, made countless batches of cookies, with almost as many different recipes. It's also a well known fact, just like pizza and sex, that even a bad cookie is still pretty good. But the art of making a perfect cookie is often lost in translation, but we'll get to that in a bit.

I found this recipe online whilst looking for the holy grail of chocolate chip cookies to make for Charlie and his work buddies. I wanted to be the one that all those hungry construction workers begged to make "those amazing cookies" so I really needed a good recipe, cuz let's face it, hungry men aren't that picky. I can't tell you how I found this recipe, because simply put, I don't remember, but I bet it went along the lines of me googling "the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever". What I found was this...

Zuppa Toscana

Yesterday I made a pot of this tasty soup for a few reasons; 1. I LOVE this soup!, 2. I had all the ingredients on hand from an earlier meal, and 3. I was cleaning out the fridge and needed to make something before it went bad. I understand for some people that soup isn't really a summer staple (I'm in California remember? It's hotter earlier here!) but I just love soup all the time, and it's just a great and quick lunch to have on hand.

I posted this on my Facebook page and got a few comments regarding wanting the recipe, so I figured, why not? Here you go!

 Zuppa Toscana

(An Olive Garden inspired Copycat Recipe, after the cut)

Guess What? & Roasted Chicken in Potacchio

I should start off by saying that, for the past year plus I have been incredibly busy and this blog has totally fallen by the wayside. I am still cooking, in fact, my new project lately has been purees. That's right, I have a baby now! My daughter, Abbey, was born mid-September and since then, and even before, my time has been consumed with everything baby.

I didn't think being a mom would be so amazing and so tiring at the same time. It's a good thing she's cute, because she stinks, keeps me up at crazy hours in the night and barfs on me.

I am in the middle of starting a new blog, Mommy Like Whoa, that will chronicle my life as a mom, with recipes, crafts, and DIY projects, but like this one, it's subject to the time I find to keep it up. I am also now on Pinterest and will be making a great effort to try pinned recipes and share the worthwhile ones with you. Follow & Repin me!

And since no EKmW post would be complete without some sort of recipe review, I bring to you:

Roasted Chicken in Potacchio by Scott Conant

Photo by ABC's The Chew

I got this recipe on The Chew, which is my new favorite daytime "talk show". I don't usually have time to watch it, but I always DVR it and catch up on the weekends. This week, on a rare occasion, I got to watch it early and this recipe was the inspiration for last nights dinner.

My local Albertson's was having a sale on whole fryer chickens for 88 cents a pound, so I took advantage! This is a super easy one pan meal, and you'll end up having very minimal dishes, plus it's kid friendly!

You start off with;

1 whole chicken, cleaned and patted dry
1 large yellow onion (or whatever color you have on hand or prefer)
1 can tomatoes (I used diced, but once again anything you have on hand)
4-6 potatoes; quartered, 1-2 inch cubed(I used red, and they worked nicely)
1 cup wine or broth
6 sprigs rosemary (I foraged mine from the wild bush that grows outside our house!)
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Red pepper flakes, paprika, cayenne, or whatever your favorite roast chicken seasons are

I started off by preheating my oven to 375* and pulled out my roasting pan. I cleaned the chicken and patted it dry, and placed it in the center of the pan. Drizzle the chicken with the olive oil, and season the inside and outside with the salt, pepper, and the seasoning of your choice. Arrange the onion, potatoes and rosemary around the outside of the chicken, drizzle with more olive oil, season, and pour the tomatoes over the top. Place in the oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, basting every 20 minutes or so, or until the thigh temperature is 170* and juices run clear. I removed the chicken from the pan to rest and tossed the potato mixture and put it back into the oven for another 15 minutes. Serve.

The best part about this was Charlie LOVED IT, which for some reason lately he hasn't been all that into new dishes for dinner. Even Abbey liked it! I cut off a small piece of the breast and minced it, mixed it with some of the potatoes that I mashed with a fork and she devoured it! Not that I have had a problem with her, she's such a foodie! Just like her mommy!

Pumpkin Soup

Last week I was inspired by the coming of November and a delicious cup of soup that a coworker brought to work. At first the creamy peach hue inside the stockpot on the break room table had me hesitant, but the smell coming out of it had me intrigued, and of course after one sip, it had me hooked. I asked for the recipe made a few tweaks to add a couple more veggies and started on my own version the following day. Below is the original recipe with my tweak connotations in parentheses.

PUMPKIN SOUP
1 cup butter
1 large onion, chopped
(6 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed)
(1 handful of Italian parsley, rough chopped)
4 stalks celery, chopped
(2 carrots, peeled and chopped)
(2 medium potatoes, skins intact and chopped)
1 cup flour
6 cups chicken broth (I used 1 carton broth and 16 cubes [roughly 2 cups] of my homemade stock)
1 29oz can of pumpkin puree, I recommend Libby's
1 cup apple juice
3 cups milk (I used 2 1/2 cups milk and 1/2 cup cream for extra richness)
Salt, pepper and thyme to taste

Melt butter in a large stockpot over medium high heat and saute onion, celery, garlic, parsley and carrots until softened and translucent. Add flour and mix well to create your roux. Slowly stir in broth until smooth, add potatoes and apple juice and bring to slow rolling boil. Add pumpkin and return to slow boil. When potatoes are tender, using a hand blender, mix until smooth and little to no lumps remain. I use my Vita-Mix in batches, but anything would work. Return soup to heat, add milk (or cream), salt, pepper and thyme and continue to cook over low heat until ready to serve.

I honestly think this would be a great appetizer before Thanksgiving dinner, and even more adorable served in baby pumpkin bowls.

Garnish with croutons, pumpkin seeds and a sprig of parsley. Enjoy!

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Semi-Homemade Sundried & Roasted Garlic Chicken Alfredo

The other night Charlie was craving Alfredo. I don't usually make it because it makes me feel like a stuffed pig for about 23.5 hours, but I had everything I needed at home, and honestly wasn't feeling the grocery store in this rainy weather, so I obliged him.

Now if you know me, or read this blog regularly, you know I can't just leave well alone and I always have to one up every meal I make. In other words, I'm not ok with putting jarred sauce on some noodles and calling it a day. I decided to fix up my alfredo with a jar of marinated artichoke hearts, some homemade sun-dried tomatoes my mom made, fresh parsley and some faux roasted garlic.

You will need;
* 1 jar of your favorite Alfredo sauce. I used the Roasted Garlic flavor from Classico
* 1 head of garlic
* 1 jar of marinated artichoke hearts
* 1 jar sun dried tomatoes ( or make your own!)
* 1 tsp sugar
* 1 tbsp butter
* 1/4 cup heavy cream
* Italian flat leaf parsley
* shredded parmesan cheese
* 2 chicken breasts
* Italian seasonings
* 2 tbsp olive oil
* pasta noodles of your choice

Start by faux roasting your garlic by separating the head, peeling, and rough dicing the garlic. Add the sugar and butter into a small pan and melt over medium heat. Add garlic and sautee until straw colored.

Clean and season the chicken breasts with salt, pepper and Italian seasonings. In a medium to large frying pan add olive oil over medium heat and cook chicken breasts until golden brown and juices run clear.

Boil water in a large pot and cook pasta until al dente. Drain.

In a large saucepan, combine Alfredo sauce and heavy cream, whisk together until mixed and smooth. Dice sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and parsley and add to sauce. Add roasted garlic. Add parmesan cheese.

Serve by placing a serving of pasta on a plate. Top with sliced chicken breast, pour sauce over the top and garnish with additional cheese and parsley. Viola!

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Red Velvet Cupcake Wine!!!

Seriously.

We saw this at Albertson's last week and I was floored. I mean I've had Cupcake Winery before but just their Rosé sparkling wine (the night Charlie gave me my ring!) and I've tried their whites, but Red Velvet!? How could I resist?

We had it before dinner with a bit of Scharffen Berger's 65% cacao chocolate bar. In December of 2008 Michelle, Melissa, Michelle's brother Jimmy and I toured the Sharffen Berger factory in Berkeley and that's when I fell in love. I've never been a huge dark chocolate fan, but theirs is creamy and delicious and tastes amazing. The pairing was awesome.

The wine had undernotes of mocha, blackberries and creamy chocolate and is recommended to pair with Smokey sweet food such as big juicy Bacon cheeseburgers.

It's a "California Red Wine", sampling from several vineyards in what I can only guess come from the Alexander and Napa valleys, but to us it tasted like a sweet Cabernet. Just like a red velvet cupcake it was dark, rich and left you craving more.

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Hot Spiced Apple Cider

So today in San Diego it decided to drizzle... all day. No rain, no thunder, no lightening, just barely there drizzle. Charlie was supposed to go riding with the boys, but seeing as how slick wet roads and motorcycles at 60+ MPH don't mix, we stayed in, cleaned house, and watched The Breakfast Club instead. He's currently folding laundry (*gasp!* a man who does housework!) so I decided to warm up with a mug of spiced cider. I worked with what I had in the house and came up with this sweet little autumnal treat.

* apple juice or cider (if you use juice, use twice as much liquid and cook longer to reduce by half)
* ground cinnamon
* freshly ground nutmeg
* a dollop of maple syrup
* a pinch of salt
* a dab of brown sugar

You could also add any of the following;

* Allspice
* Clove
* Citrus peels

Put it all into a medium saucepan and cook for 10-15 minutes, pour into an adorable mug, let cool and enjoy!

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