Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

Cookies are my absolute all time favorite snack to munch on. Well OK, cookies and popcorn. But today I am talking about cookies. Big, ooey-gooey chocolate drop cookies that just melt in your mouth.

The recipe I followed calls them “Grammy’s Chocolate Cookies”, but they are NOTHING like my grammy’s cookies. My grandmother was a horrible cook, and burned EVERYTHING. My mother learned how “to cook”, or should I say how not to cook, from her and did the same. She burned everything too, especially her last batch of cookies; every time. These cookies are soft and chewy and DELICIOUS!!!!!!

Old Fashioned Chocolate Cookies

I was following a Martha Stewart recipe, and for whatever reason, her recipes don’t produce the yield they say they do, or at least not for me, so I doubled my recipe. Surprise, surprise, her recipe DID actually make what it said it would this time, so I had 7 dozen cookies. Good, maybe that means I will actually be able to enjoy a few before they all disappear. 🙂

You can use any kind of cocoa powder you like, but if you can use Dutch process or black cocoa you will have a darker, richer cookie.

Preheat the oven to 350* F or 180* C.

Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.

2 cups +2 TBSP flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups softened butter or 2 1/2 sticks

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp chocolate extract

sanding or turbinado sugar

Combine all the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Mix the butter and sugar together until creamy, then add the eggs, mixing in between each addition. Add the vanilla and chocolate extract. If you are not using chocolate extract, add 2 tsp of vanilla. Add the flour and chocolate mixture 1/2 at a time, mixing in between.

Drop about 1 TBSP of dough onto the prepared baking sheets and roll into balls. Then roll each ball into the turbinado or sanding sugar and place them about 2 inches apart. These cookies spread, so you can lightly press them or not, and they will still look exactly the same once you remove them from the oven. I tried it both ways and they all came out the same; delicious. 🙂

Bake for about 15 minutes or until the cookies are set, then allow to cool on a cooling rack.

These cookies are so rich and decadent and taste oh so good! Bet ya can’t stop at just one. 🙂

It’s Ok to be the cookie monster every now and then. Let your inner kid come out and play. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Summer is coming to an end and fall is in the air. The flowers know this too. They are beginning to thin out, and are getting ready to go to sleep until spring. But there are still plenty of plenty pretty, colorful flowers still around. I am enjoying them for as long as I can too. Today I going to share some pretty orange and yellows with you.

Color your world beautiful today and everyday. 🙂

Beans of any kind are a healthy addition to any diet. They are full of protein and high in fiber. They taste great without adding a lot of extra calories too. Beans are an integral part of many diets in many different cultures. I too love beans. I like adding them into a lot of different recipes and dishes. I like them in salads, I like them as side dishes. I like them cold and I like them hot. Let’s just say I like beans a lot. 🙂

When I made my citrus lamb A Whole Lotta Lamb I served it with a Mediterranean white bean dish. I think it was a perfect choice. It wasn’t too heavy, which is what I look for on the hot summer days, and it really went well with the lamb. Plus it was super easy to make, with hardly any time in the kitchen at all.

Mediterranean White Beans

This is a very simple recipe to make, using just basic ingredients. You can cook your own beans, or just keep it simple and use canned beans. I used canned beans this time. This is also a great way to add some more vegetables, fiber and protein to the meal and you can use whatever you like. Use what you have on hand. This would also be good with spinach too. I would have added spinach if I had it too. Change it up. There are no rules. 🙂

2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1-1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms – I like the baby portabellas

1 bell pepper, diced

1/2 onion, diced

1-1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, diced

1 TBSP garlic

salt & pepper to taste

olive oil

lemon olive oil, optional

3 TBSP fresh basil, chiffonade

2-3 TBSP fresh lemon verbena, chiffonade, optional

1 TBSP lemon juice

Heat the oil(s) up then add the onions, peppers, mushrooms and garlic to the oil and cook for about 2-3 minutes or until the onions and peppers start to soften.

Then add the beans, tomatoes, and seasonings and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes, or until everything is heated.

Add the basil and lemon verbena if using, mix in thoroughly, then add a dash more lemon juice and lemon olive oil right before serving.

Now it is ready to go. Serve it alongside anything you like. It’s quick, easy-peasy and delicious, and not to mention healthy too. This is both vegan and vegetarian, with added protein to boot. So everyone is happy.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

My friend Lauren has a friend who raises a lot of her own livestock. Lauren got a whole bunch of fresh lamb, and she shared some with me too. She shared about 20 lbs of lamb meat, ranging from ground lamb to lamb steaks. Most of it I have put in the freezer for another time, but I did cook up some of the lamb steaks. Boy were they good.

I marinated the lamb in a citrus vinaigrette for about 4-5 hours before grilling it up. It was full of flavor and so tender.

I made my marinade with orange juice, garlic, pepper, my new citrus rub Pickling Class , orange olive oil, basil and lemon verbena, from my backyard’s lemon verbena forest. I didn’t measure anything. But then, I never do when I cook. I just added and poured until it looked and “felt” right”. Most of us “old school” cooks cook by “feel” and sight much more so than we do by measurements.

The best way to cook lamb is rare to medium rare at the most, but of course this is a both a personal preference (rare and medium rare are the most popular choices) and cultural preferences. For instance, The French prefer their lamb rare and the Greeks prefer their lamb well done. The Australians like it well done too, but then again, Australia has the largest Greek population outside of Greece, so that might have something to do with their preference. I am in the rare to medium rare category myself.

No matter how you like your lamb cooked, the best way to gauge when it has reached your desired doneness is with a meat thermometer.

• Rare: 115-120°F.
• Medium-Rare: 125°F.
• Medium: 130°F.
• Medium-Well: 145°F.
• Well Done: 150°F.

Once my lamb was cooked, I concocted a Mediterranean white bean and vegetable dish that I served with my lamb, as well as some grilled pita bread and one of my new favorite red blends. Lamb is a red meat, so red wines go best with it.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Oh how I love my wine. But as much as I love my wines, I also love finding new wineries too. If I could turn back the hands of time, and do it all over again, I think I would have gone into the world of viticulture.

We have introduced our friends Mike and Lauren into the world of wine, and they found a new winery for us to enjoy. It’s called Blue Mountain Vineyards, in Berthoud, about 45 minutes north of us. Blue Mountain Vineyard was so gorgeous, nestled in the middle of beautiful farmland. It was a very pleasant surprise. The grounds were gorgeous, the people were very friendly, and the wines were delicious. The owners Bill and Christie live on the property, just adjacent the actual winery. They invited us to tour around and see the vineyards and the flowers, which of course we did after enjoying our wine flights.

I was told Bill found this gorgeous stained glass window at a yard sale. it was one of a few gorgeous windows around the property.

This is the owner Bill and his official tour guide Bear. Bear is a Great Pyrenees like our new baby girl Dorrie (Andorra).

We packed a picnic and enjoyed them with our wine flights. All of us customized our flights with4 different wines.

As we were enjoying the wines and the day, Trent, the Head Vinter, came over to share some grapes and the a little background about Blue Mountain Wine

Blue Mountain Vineyards is located west of beautiful Berthoud, Colorado. Berthoud is a small town surrounded largely by farmland, nicknamed the “Garden Spot of Colorado.” It is a town that embodies the small town charm and local feel that we love so much. We are a small operation and remain focused on being a positive part of the local communities that support us.

Both our winery and vineyard are nestled up against the foothills of the Indian Peaks Wilderness and Rocky Mountain National Park. The winery itself was constructed on a plot of farmland that was once a pasture but now hosts many trees and gardens as well as the vineyard. Our lake is home to various species of water birds, frequented by both golden and bald eagles and a summer visitor, the large osprey that likes to display its fishing expertise! The old cottonwoods on the shores of the lake make a perfect place for the Great Horned owls to roost at night. We love sharing our passion for wine making, our wonderful community and Colorado.

My neighbor Hanaa is always so sweet and so thoughtful. Once again she delivered some of her Middle Eastern cooking at our door. This time she brought over some Middle Eastern lentil soup. It wasn’t nearly enough for Larry and I to both have as a meal, so I added little bits of this and little bits of that to enhance it. It came out very good. I used her dish as a base then added to it from there.

I cut up some cooked chicken, carrots and peas, and added some cumin and a few red pepper flakes and chicken broth, as well as some more seasonings. So instead of having this as a soup, as I think it was intended, I turned it into more of a hearty stew.

See, I don’t only recreate from my just own leftovers. No, no, no. I recreate from ALL leftovers. 🙂

I served it all over some couscous with warmed pita bread, and turned something simple into some something more hearty and filling. It was made just perfect with a glass or two of white wine to accompany the meal too.

As I always say play with your food. Be creative. You never know what can happen. 🙂

I have been out playing all weekend and it has been just too damn hot to be in cooking, so simple things like this have been a perfect way to still eat healthy meals. It’s a delicious, healthy meal without have to slave away over a hot stove on these dogs days of summer. Count me in. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay cool, stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

As you all know, we just finished this year’s Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off. Once again, hats off to everyone who participated. Everyone did such an amazing job and there was so much participation for this ever-growing annual event. The results have been posted and everyone is celebrating. That includes me. I am celebrating too. I am going to take the day off and go play, but you know I will once again be back in the kitchen, cooking up all kinds of goodness.

All week, I have been sharing all the fabulous recipes from our ever-growing family of bloggers. Today I am going to share some more kitchen thoughts on what goes on behind the scenes, or as we in the industry like to say, in the back of the house.

We all know perfection takes time, and most chefs are perfectionists. We only make and serve the best.

As we always say in diving, plan your dive and dive your plan. The same is true in a kitchen when planning your recipes, meals and events too.

Yes indeed.

Oh we are most definitely an imperfect bunch of misfits, that’s for sure. 🙂

To paraphrase Thomas Edison, it only took 10,000 failures before I found success. Practice, practice, practice. We all know, practice makes perfect, and we all know chefs are perfectionists.

Play with your food. Be creative, and NEVER, NEVER give up!

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

First of all, I just want to give a big round of applause to EVERYONE who participated in this year’s 2023 Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off. Everyone did an amazing job. There were so many fantastic entries and everything looked FABULOUS!!!!!! It made my job as judge very difficult indeed. But, I have made my decisions and it is now time for me to share them with all of you.

Let’s start with Most Improved Baker. He started as a novice baker back when we first started this event, and he just keeps getting better and better every year. I am so proud of all his efforts. This is his 2nd time for this award, and deseredly so. He is well on his way to being Star Baker one day. This award goes to Gary Metcalf from https://bereavedsingledad.blog/ for his Sponge. This looks so good and so moist too. Perfectly delicious!

Well done Gary!

This year, because we had 3 different flapjack entries, we have a special flapjack category too. These are British flapjacks. In America, flapjacks are another name for pancakes. Flapjacks in the UK are totally different. In the UK flapjacks are cereal bars, oat bars, or oat slices) are golden oat-packed, hand-held triangles, often enjoyed for breakfast or as a snack. So, our award for best Flapjacks go to Jacob Nyamak for his Tropical Flapjacks. You can congratulate Jacob at https://jakeinthecity.wordpress.com/

AWESOME job Jacob!!!!!!

Our next award is for Best Cookie. If I could, I would give you the moon and the stars, but I don’t have too. Babitha has already done that for us with her fantastic moon and stars cookies for Ramadan. Babitha from My Peppermint Kitchen at https://mypeppermintkitchen.wordpress.com/ These crescent moons and stars are orange laced soft crumbly sugar coffees.

WHOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!! I LOVE cookies!!!!!!

Next we have our bread category. I LOVE bread; breads of all kinds. This bread is a sweet bread made with Bischoff, which is something I had never heard of before. Again, it is a British thing. Bischoff is a creamy spread, similar to the consistency of peanut butter from what I can tell, with hints of the winter spices of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. It is a spread made from crushed speculoos biscuits. The texture is similar to smooth peanut butter but with a spicy cinnamon flavor. See, even old dogs like me can still learn something new. 🙂 Our speculoos or Bischoff Bread comes to us from Nadine Briars. Again, you can congratulate her via Mel at https://crushedcaramel.wordpress.com/

This beautiful snowflake bread is just in time for the first snow (at least in my neck of the woods, although we still have patches of last year’s snow way up in the mountains right now). It even looks like it is dusted with snow. YUMMY! Congrats Nadine.

No baking contest would be complete without pies and tarts, and yes, we had plenty of those too. Everything looked so good. As with all of our other delectables, this was a hard choice to make, since I could only choose one. The award for Best Pie goes to Michiel and Jeen, the creators of Cook and Drink at https://cookanddrink.org/ for their Pear and Almond Pie. In a word, this pie is PERFECT! Michiel and Jeen are all about using the best ingredients and techniques in their foods, and it definitely shows too. C’est manifique!

Our next category is for savory baked goods. Again, oh my! There was some fierce competition. I think I actually have a tie here, since I had two totally outstanding recipes. First is Kevin’s Spicy Veggie Strudel from A Different Kitchen at https://adifferentkitchen.org/2023/05/24/spicy-veg-strudel/. Oh yum! I could easily eat this whole strudel all by myself. Oh, was I supposed to save some for you? 🙂

And next we have our creative genius and event planner extradonairre, our very own Mel from https://crushedcaramel.wordpress.com/ for her Courgette and Mint Tart. Isn’t this tart gorgeous????? Each one of these courgette or zucchini spirals is rolled and placed in the tart individually. I have never seen something like this before, but I guarantee I will do my best to replicate it soon. It’s almost too pretty to eat. Almost. 🙂

Hats off to both Kevin and Mel for their beautiful creations of edible art.

Again, there was some very fierce competition here. Everything was AMAZING!!!!!!

Our 3rd Runner Up is Annette, aka Lady Lewis, for her Umami Streak Torte. Annette describing this decadent cake in her own words – Annette said she thinks this bake shares a little of her character – generally sweet, lots going on (roasted hazelnuts, an abundance of dark and milk chocolate, miso, Biscoff, bourbon biscuits, gold lustre spray) – just enough trendiness without losing her respectability, a little bit bling bling without over doing it, generous and warm, not really minding that she has an umami streak – where people don’t know if she is being serious or teasing them.

Congratulations Annette. What a decadently gorgeous torte.

Our 2nd Runner Up award goes to Robert Lewis for his Torta Caprese with Amaretto cream. HMMMMMM! There is definitely a little husband and wife baking rivalry going on at this house, and a lot of chocolate. 🙂 As you can see, both Robert and Annette are amazing bakers.

This is a flourless cake, made with roasted whole almonds that have then been blitzed in a food processor (Robert insists that means a very different taste from buying a packet of ground almonds) melted chocolate, cocoa, eggs, and more.

Our 1st Runner Up is Reuben for is Baklava Cheesecake. Apparently Reuben is shy and a bit on the modest side, which also makes him mysterious. I don’t know anything about Reuben except that he is a very creative and talented baker. To find out more, you need to contact Mel at https://crushedcaramel.wordpress.com/. Maybe she knows a bit more about our mystery man Reuben. 🙂

And now ….. the moment you have all been waiting for …. Who will be this year’s STAR BAKER?????

Our Star Baker for the 2023 Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off is Sheree from View From The Back athttps://viewfromtheback.com/ for her Classic French Frasier. A Frasier cake is a classic French strawberry cake made with two layers of genoise sponge, simple syrup, Crème Mousseline and the iconic strawberry halves along the sides. Sheree made if for the birthday of a friend. It is such an elegant showstopper of a cake. Seriously, the French really do know how to do showstopping cakes – don’t they! On her website, Sheree shares some stunning French desserts including the FRAISIER, so do take a look – it will make you super hungry though!

Sheree has been here before, a couple of times, actually. She is hard to beat. She is extremely talented, and someone I am lucky enough to call “friend”. If only she would save some of her desserts for me too. 🙂 Sheree won our first ever STAR BAKER award back in 2019 and also scooped up another STAR BAKER award in 2022 for her vegan phenomenon.

Once again, AWESOME JOB Sheree!!!!!!!

And thank you to ALL of you. We had so many amazing entries this year. You all did a FABULOUS JOB!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS and a big round of applause to all of you for a job, or jobs, very well done. This is possible every year because of all of you, your efforts and your support. We all got into the world of blogging to help support each other and this is a spectacular way of showing our love and support for all our fellow bloggers out there. Let’s keep this annual tradition going. I look forward to seeing all of your creative efforts once again next year. Keep up all your great works in the kitchen!

And special thanks to both Mel from Caramel https://crushedcaramel.wordpress.com/ and Gary Metcalf from Bereaved Single Dad at https://bereavedsingledad.blog/. There is so much work and effort that goes on behind the scenes to make this wonderful event happen. Mel and Gary both spend countless hours putting all of this together and they do a fabulous job. Every year it just keeps getting better and better, thanks to both of these two working tirelessly behind the scenes.

Thank you once again for allowing me the great honor of being the judge for this fabulous annual event. Even though my job gets harder and harder each year, because each year we we get more and more scrumptious, mouthwatering entries, I LOVE every bit of it. I am already looking forward to next year and all the delicious treats that we will see. Until then, stay safe, stay well, and I will see you again soon. ‘Til next time, Jeanne.

I love peaches, and our Palisade peaches from the Western Slope are the best peaches I have ever tasted. They are so sweet and juicy. You could almost make them a meal by themselves. But I didn’t. I used them for a peaches and cream cake instead.

Peaches and Cream Cake

Preheat the oven to 350* F or 180* C.

Spray a 9×13 baking pan with cooking spray.

1 1/3 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

6 TBSP melted butter

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp ginger

4 cups chopped peaches

Mix all the dry ingredients together, including the sugar, and set aside.

Combine the milk, eggs and melted butter and beat a bit, then add to the dry ingredients and mix just until everything is blended together. Pour into the prepared baking pan. Top with the chopped peaches.

Bake for about 35-45 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the pan and adding the frosting.

The Frosting

1 8-oz package whipped cream cheese

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 TBSP peach juice

aout 2 cups chopped peaches, optional

Combine all the ingredients together except the peaches, then spread evenly over the cake. Top with the chopped peaches. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

As soon as you put this delicious cake out, don’t turn your back on it, or it will be gone before you know it. 🙂

Life is just peachy, especially if you are using Palisade peaches. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

I have made my decisions on the the winners of the 2023 Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off, but now I am just going to tease you for another day. 🙂 Anticipation! It’s a good thing. I also want to share a few more of the wonderful entries with you first before I share the results. But I promise I won’t make you wait to much longer.

Again, these are just a sampling of all the fantastic recipes that came in this year. So many fabulous recipes to go through. I will have the final results to you tomorrow. Enjoy! 🙂