Rosemary Olive Oil Crock Pot Bread!

    Yes, that's no mistake. Bread made in the crock pot. I'm not 100% thrilled with how this turned out but it's all on me and there are a couple of easy fixes. I found this on Host the Toast through pinterest (click the link for the recipe). I bought a little too much flour and yeast over the holidays so I've been on a mission to find some fantastic breads so I can start making it at home more often. 

     Don't worry, even without it being perfect it is VERY good. The directions are very specific and easy to follow. The bread is soft, dense, and just the right texture.

     I think I let the dough rise too much. I'm not a pro baker. I dunno. Someone out there that does, please share! It sure is a funky shape. It fell a bit on one side during baking/cooking/crock-potting. Maybe it was the parchment around it. I'm not sure. I followed the directions and it was nice and round when I put it in. It may have been fine without the second rise. Again, not sure.

     I'll be trying again to find out for sure. I also used dried rosemary instead of fresh. I'm not a fan of the saltiness on the top but I do think I'd brush some butter over it to get the crispy crust and golden color without broiling.

   This is awesome for two reasons besides being delicious (and it is! husband/kid approved!). #1. It's very simple to make. #2 It goes in the crock pot so the oven is free for other dishes . . . like, say, dessert.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER! (Perfect with Christmas M&Ms!)

     These turned out so great! I'm thrilled. I usually can't stand making cookies because they don't turn out how I like them. I don't like them to be super crunchy or hard. I like a little bit of crispiness around the edge and perfect gooey chewiness on the inside. I decided to wing it with the recipe. Thankfully I wrote it down as I went. Do note that it is doubled. Use half the amounts of ingredients listed or you'll have A LOT of cookies. They are so tasty and so unhealthy!

2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups brown sugar (packed)
4 eggs 
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
2 cups shortening
3/4 cup butter (soft)
5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
3-4 cups chocolate chips

*don't forget this recipe above is doubled so you only need half of this for a regular batch*

     A few things: 1) The butter needs to be soft. Not hard. Not melted. It just needs to get to room temperature.  2) I didn't use a mixer for these. I used a spatula then my hands. 3) This dough really needs to sit in the fridge or freeze for at least a few hours but overnight is even better. 4) If you need to preheat, go for it. I don't because our current oven doesn't like it.

      In one bowl, add the sugars and butter and cream them together. Add the shortening, oil, and eggs and stir with a spatula until it's all blended together. In another bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. (The BEST way to do this is with your hands!) Finally, add in the chocolate chips.

    This dough is slightly crumbly but it should press together really well and hold it's shape. Put it all on some parchment and let it set in the fridge for at least a few hours. Roll the dough into small balls, press gently for a flatter cookie or leave it round for a puffier cookie. Use a non stick pan or butter it up. Cooking spray is fine too but butter works better, in my humble opinion. (Add M&Ms!!) Bake in the oven at ~325 degrees for 8-10 minutes. They are done when just the edges are golden. The center will still be pretty mushy. Let them sit for 10 minutes or so on the pan. If you try to move them too soon they'll just break or fall through the edges of a cooling rack.

     Oh yeah, and I let my sweet girls help "make cookies" (put the candy on top) and they are really great at it! They have perfect proportioning skills at just 2 and 3 years old.

Homemade Carpet Cleaner: Dawn + Peroxide

     There are about 1000 posts about this on pinterest. I'm actually not sure where it even originated. I read about it a few weeks back and I've tried it several times on same vague grease and dirt spots where we have heavy foot traffic in the living room. So far I've had good results.

   Well, I've been working on getting our bedroom de-cluttered. (Not my favorite.) We switched with the girl's last year. There are some lovely leftover stains from their (unauthorized) acrylic paint art project. After trying some regular carpet cleaners, including Resolve and Nature's Miracle with massive spots still leftover I gave up. I hadn't gotten back around to it until now. Mind you, they got into my stash. They emptied multiple 2oz bottles of the stuff in shades of brown, white, and green in soupy globs all over the floor (and their little table, some toys, and the crib). It came off almost everything plastic and wooden ok since I got right to it but after getting up as much as I possibly could I assumed there would be a paint stain forever on the carpet.

    Not that I cared that much . . . it's the cheapest carpet available on this planet and we're in a rental. Anyway, it's still unsightly.

So here's what my results looked like:

Click to See A Larger Image

Not bad. There's definitely still some discoloration but it is much, much better. The green spot there near the top was actually from a spot of permanent marker. Yummy. I bet I could go over it again just one more time and you wouldn't be able to tell it was there.


So here's the recipe breakdown:

Hot water . . . however much it takes to fill that standard red mop bucket almost halfway.
Dawn . . . 4-5 good spins into the bucket while the water was running.
Baking Soda . . . just a few teaspoons dashed across the top
Hydrogen Peroxide . . . the kind in the dark brownish black bottle, maybe 1/4 cup

I used one of my handy dandy flat diapers and with a little bit of effort it obviously did what other cleaners couldn't quite manage. The water was definitely brown and gross looking by the time I was done with that area and a few other spots.


Next up: the chocolate syrup stain in the hallway.

Yeah, we'll see how that goes.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Full disclosure: I'm no super-cook/baker lady. Also, I'm not even remotely trying to be healthy. 

    I wanted some chocolate chip cookies. I'm terrible at making cookies most of the time. No idea why. I can whip out brownies or a cake without any trouble but my cookies either burn or they are obnoxiously crunchy. I went on pinterest looking for a recipe to try out and found this from What a Girl Eats. The original recipe can be found by clicking that link. I doubled it and replaced some of the shortening with brown sugar. I also didn't add any walnuts since I just used up my last bag on brownies but next time hopefully I will.

These cookies are very good! I took heed of the note at the bottom of that blog and tweaked the recipe in hopes of getting the cookies to be just right (slightly crunchy and chewy but not too flat or crispy). They are messy to make but simple enough. Here's my version of the recipe (this is doubled so it makes A LOT):

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies:
3 cups flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

4 eggs
2 cups brown sugar (unpacked)
1.5 cups white sugar
1.5 cups shortening
2 tsp vanilla extract
1tsp hot water

~9oz of chocolate chips
4 cups of rolled or quick oats

     Directions: Add the flour, salt, and baking soda together in one bowl and whisk/fork/spin/stir/sift it together. Put the eggs, sugar, shortening, and vanilla in another bowl and whip it up but BE CAREFUL not to go to crazy or you'll break it down too much. Add the hot water to the liquidy bowl of stuff (no idea why but the original recipe called for it so I went ahead) then combine the two mixtures. I started out trying to whisk it all together. Don't ask me why I didn't get my electric mixer out. . . no idea. I digress. Just stick your hands in. It's very, very sticky at this stage but AVOID the urge to flour it up. Get it together pretty well, rinse your hands, and then toss in the oatmeal and chocolate chips. Stick your hands back in and get it all combined. The consistency should still be slightly sticky but easy to roll into balls (think play dough).

      Lay out parchment paper in whatever pan (I used a cake pan because I didn't feel like cleaning the other one, no big deal) and spread 1-1.5 inch balls so they don't seem to close or to far (I guess). I was able to fit 12 dough balls in a standard 9x13 cake pan. Sometimes they'd roll a bit and bake together but I didn't really care that much. Bake 10ish minutes around 350 in your oven. Our oven is a butthead so I tend to put it a little lower and cook things for shorter periods than most recipes call for. I also don't preheat it. The original recipe says 375 for 10-14 minutes. Use your own good judgement.

  Like I said before, this recipe is ALL READY doubled so it makes a LOT. I made 4 batches I think (so 48 cookies) and still have a bag full of dough balls in the freezer!

  If you like crunchy, slightly chewy, dripping with chocolate, perfect-for-milk-dunking, oatmeal-laden cookies then this should make you happy! I won't use butter for oatmeal cookies ever again that's for sure. Fill your favorite cup or mug with some milk and enjoy!

Edit:

      I had to come back and add this. After making a batch with the frozen dough balls I HAVE to recommend that if you can contain your cookie monster for just a night it is sooo worth it. They are even BETTER after sitting in the freezer for a while. They are slightly softer and chewier than when they are cooked fresh!! Don't thaw at all. Just pop them on the parchment paper or pan and cook them same (they may take a smidgen longer). So good!!!