Tomato week: Part one

Holy tomatoes, Batman!

I have literally been pulling pounds of tomatoes out of my garden several times a week. They are taking over! So, I have been trying every tomato recipe I can find. Every meal I have made for the last 8 days has featured tomatoes. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. About 2 days into this and my 7 year old said, "Let me guess,mom, this week is tomato week and everything we eat has to have tomatoes in it."

I gave her peanut butter and jelly in her lunch box today.

Here is a new recipe we tried early on in "Tomato week"before baking

Tomato Onion Phyllo Pizza

5 tablespoons butter, melted
14 sheets phyllo dough (14 inches x 9 inches)
7 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1 cup thinly sliced onion
1 pound plum tomatoes, sliced
1-1/2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS
Brush a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan with some of the melted butter. Unroll phyllo dough; cut stack into a 10-1/2-in. x 9-in. rectangle. Discard scraps. Line bottom of prepared pan with two sheets of phyllo dough (sheets will overlap slightly). Brush with butter and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers 5 times. (Keep dough covered with plastic wrap and a damp towel until ready to use to prevent it from drying out.) Top with layers of remaining phyllo dough; brush with remaining butter. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese; arrange onion and tomatoes over cheese. Sprinkle with oregano, thyme, salt, pepper and remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Yield: 28 slices.

We liked this pizza, but were not crazy about the crust. That might be because I found some phyllo dough in the back of my freezer and used that (I can't remember the last time I purchased phyllo...)and so it tasted a little...dusty.

I used walla walla sweet onions, because they are SOOO good. I also used basil instead of oregano because that is what I had growing in the garden. Although I love the way my pizza looked and it was nice to be able to cut slices without onion for the kids, I should have mixed the onions and tomatoes together more. The best flavor was tomato and sweet onion in the same bite. We will be making this again, but I will try using puff pastry for a crust and call it a tart. Or maybe I will just use phyllo that is not years(?) old.

ATK does it again!

I got the recipe for these fabulous cookies in my in box. They are from America's test kitchen. Gorgeous chocolate chunk cookies. I used more than the two cups chocolate chips the recipe called for, and I would only put two in my next batch. We liked these best warm from the oven or at least the day they were baked, so freeze the dough and make only what will be consumed the day you make them. The neighbor I took these to told me they were "out of control". Try them and see for yourself.
These truly chewy chocolate chip cookies are delicious served warm from the oven or cooled. To ensure a chewy texture, leave the cookies on the cookie sheet to cool. You can substitute white, milk chocolate, or peanut butter chips for the semi- or bittersweet chips called for in the recipe. In addition to chips, you can flavor the dough with one cup of nuts, raisins, or shredded coconut.
INGREDIENTS
2 1/8 cups bleached all-purpose flour (about 10 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled slightly
1 cup brown sugar (light or dark), 7 ounces
1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 - 2 cups chocolate chips or chunks (semi or bittersweet)
1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.
2. Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Stir in chips.
3. Following illustrations below, form scant 1/4 cup dough into ball. Holding dough ball using fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal halves. Rotate halves ninety degrees and, with jagged surfaces exposed, join halves together at their base, again forming a single cookie, being careful not to smooth dough’s uneven surface. Place formed dough onto one of two parchment paper-lined 20-by-14-inch lipless cookie sheets, about nine dough balls per sheet. Smaller cookie sheets can be used, but fewer cookies can be baked at one time and baking time may need to be adjusted. (Dough can be refrigerated up to 2 days or frozen up to 1 month—shaped or not.)
4. Bake, reversing cookie sheets’ positions halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes (start checking at 13 minutes). (Frozen dough requires an extra 1 to 2 minutes baking time.) Cool cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store in airtight container.

You can find the recipe online here with illustrations.

Good, not great.

I had a recipe for whole wheat peanut butter cookies on the inside of my cupboard, and the fist day of school was the perfect time to try them.
I cut the recipe from a newspaper, but I found the same recipe here.

Whole wheat peanut butter cookies

1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, mix together the peanut butter, butter, honey, brown sugar and egg until smooth. Combine the whole wheat flour and baking powder; stir into the batter until blended. Roll into small balls, and place on a greased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly using a fork.
Bake for 13 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cookies are slightly toasted at the edges.
My kids liked these and didn't realize they were "healthier". My husband thought they were okay, but only ate one and walked away. I thought they were too salty, even though there was no salt in the recipe, and the peanut butter I used didn't taste salty. I had to add a bit extra flour, maybe a quarter cup, because the dough was so soft. Even then it was a very soft dough, no way you could roll it into balls.
I left out my cookies on the counter uncovered (on accident) overnight and today they are still chewy and not dry at all. The saltiness has even mellowed. I think they are definitely better today.
The kids like 'em, so I think I'll keep the recipe, but won't be taking these anywhere I need to wow people.

My mission and my motivation

This is what my cupboards look like on the outside.

This is what my cupboards look like on the inside.
And this is the "neat and orderly" one.

I am constantly finding recipes that sound good. In the newspaper, on packaging, in magazines, on the Internet, everywhere! I had this brilliant idea on day to avoid all the piles of recipes. I would cut them out and tape them on the inside of my cupboards. I would then be reminded to try the recipe. When I tried it, I would either put it in my recipe book (if it was a keeper) or throw it away (if it was not).

You can see for yourself how well that's working.

So here is my Mission: to clear my cupboard doors.

My motivation: You're looking at it. I plan to try these recipes out and post here all about it. So you can find out if that chocolate tofu tart from the health spa in CA is really any good, or if some random grandma's for recipe pecan crusted chicken deserved to be in the paper. That recipe you saw on the TV? I'll try it. Maybe I'll even make the cookies that my husband's co-worker sent the recipe home for me to make. I'll even try some of the ideas floating around in my brain (which I imagine looks even more cluttered than my cupboard doors...). I tell you what I thought, what my family and neighbors thought (consider this your warning) and what did and did not work. Wish me luck!