5 Cookout Essentials

My 5 most important food items to have at a good cookout.

Man Crates, gifts for men, contacted me to write a post about 5 things I think are essential to have at a cookout. Man crates is trying to make gift buying for men easy.  There are all kinds of categories to please just about anyone.  I think many women would like to receive a "man" crate too.

So I realize the typical time for cookouts is ending with summer but I live in Hawaii so we can cookout year round.  Also I think you can cookout anytime you want you don't need special weather for it although I understand not wanting to be outside in the cold winter...but winter is not here yet so go outside and enjoy it while you can.

When it comes to cookouts I don't think you really need any special equipment but there are some food items that I think everyone likes to see at a cookout.

1.  Beverages

Beer is always the first option for me and most people who consume alcohol but for those who don't I think Sweet Tea is a must.  Growing up in the south we always had sweet tea (brewed in a glass pitcher in the sun) during the summer.  It was always Lipton and had a lot of sugar in it.  Now I choose healthier green tea and less sweetener like this:

Cold Brewed Green Tea

 

2.  Chips and Dip

Everyone loves chips whether tortilla or potato it's always great to have an easy snack while waiting for your burger to cook.  I have many recipes for dips and salsas but this is my favorite:

Loaded Potato Dip

 

3.  Hot Sauce

My husband loves spicy foods and if he could he would add his favorite hot sauce to everything.  We always have Sriracha on hand but this is the family favorite (it's made by friends of ours from TX):

Ass Burn Sauce

4.  Jalapenos

Still on the spicy theme my husband loves jalapenos.  He always likes to add them to his burgers or even hot dogs.  He'll really put them on just about everything.  Whether raw, pickled, diced or sliced he loves them in all forms.  Here is an easy recipe to make your own pickled jalapenos:

Pickled Jalapenos

5.  Cookies

I don't know many people who don't have some kind of sweet tooth and when eating outside it's easier to have a quick hand held dessert like cookies.  These are traditional but my husband's favorite:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Enjoy.

Linked to:  Two Cup, Teach Me, Lou Lou Girls, Tickle my Tastebuds, Brag About It, Whimsy Wed, Cook Craft Share, Full Plate, Eat Create, Freedom Fri, Best of the weekend, See ya in the Gumbo, Merry Mon, Tasty Tue

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Best of the Month March 2014

A recap of my most popular recipes in March 2014

I didn't make any big changes this month.  I made some minor changes to make my blog look nicer.  I put my profile picture and about me blurb front and center and I changed the style and color of my social media follow buttons.

I'm still making 2 posts a week on Monday and Friday and co-hosting Great Idea Thursdays on Wednesday/Thursday.  I have started going back and updating a few of my earlier blog posts.  My Chocolate Chip Cookies are one of those.  I'm taking new and hopefully better pictures of recipes that I make frequently and then I update the old post with the new pictures and a more current layout.

Here are my best of March:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Soft and chewy cookies studded with semisweet chocolate chips.  My husband's favorite cookie.  195 views and 34  +1s.

Egg and Cheese Crepes

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Protein packed crepes filled with more protein of eggs and cheese. A very filling breakfast.  172 views and 18 +1s.

Guacamole Black Bean Tuna Salad

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Canned tuna mixed with black beans and guacamole served on top of a green salad. That's right, a tuna salad with no mayonnaise.  140 views and 65 +1s.

Bean and Barley Stew

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A healthy, meatless, one pot meal stew with beans, barley, and veggies.  138 views and 29 +1s.

Avocado B.L.T. Salad

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Crisp green lettuce tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette and topped with crispy bacon, juicy tomatoes, and creamy avocado.  The avocado isn't the prettiest perfectly ripe avocado that I would like in a picture, but when over ripe avocados are 3 for $1 I can't pass by them.  This is how a real person eats, not just a perfectly staged photograph.  131 views and 21 +1s.

Thanks to all of my viewers.  

Enjoy.

Linked to:  Wednesday Roundup, Full Plate, Eat Create Party, Freedom Friday, 2 Cup, LouLou Girls, Tasty Tuesday, Brag About It

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Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

No, this is not a typo. These are chocolate chip cookies with cocoa powder added making Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cookies.

As I've mentioned before my husband loves chocolate chip cookies.  I make them for him pretty often, but I get bored because that is all he wants, just plain chocolate chip cookies.  I like chocolate chip cookies, but there are so many other kinds of cookies I want to try in which my husband has no interest.  When I came across these in my recently purchased Hershey's Recipe Collection cook book (best $5 I've ever spent) I had to try them.  I was even more excited when my husband wasn't disappointed that they weren't plain chocolate chip cookies.  He loved them.

I changed the name of this recipe because I modified the original Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocoate Chip Cookies recipe.  It is just a basic chocolate chip cookie with cocoa added.  So I did my usual chocolate chip cookie modifications of using bread flour instead of all purpose, and all brown sugar instead of a mix of white and brown.  All of these changes make a softer chewier cookie and since my husband and I love my regular chocolate chip cookies (see my Chocolate Chip Cookies), why change?

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
(Modified from Hershey's Recipe collection's Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Chip Cookies)
2 sticks butter, melted
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1/3 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375F.

In a large bowl (or a stand mixer) mix together butter and sugar until well blended.  Then add the vanilla and eggs mixing until incorporated.

In a separate bowl stir together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.  Slowly add this mixture to the butter mixture, stirring well after each addition.

Lastly stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop the dough by the teaspoon onto and un-greased cookie sheet and bake, one pan full at a time, for 6-8 minutes.  Allow cookies to cool on the pan for about 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies.  Make sure to sample one from each batch as you remove them from the pan...quality control.

Enjoy.

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Chocolate Chip Cookies

Soft and chewy cookies studded with semisweet chocolate chips

Nothing is better than fresh baked cookies. I love to bake cookies, not only because I love eating them but because everyone loves homemade cookie. I believe it is a great way to say "I love you" to your friends and family and everyone seems to really appreciate it.

When my husband has a rough day or when he comes home after a long trip away I like to make him a special treat (I gotta give him some incentive to come home ;) ). His favorite cookies are chocolate chip, nothing fancy, just basic chocolate chip cookies. So that is what I make.

Here are some things I have learned about making great, soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies.
I must mention that I did not think up all of these tricks on my own. I saw them on an episode of 'Good Eats'--on food network (love that show).

• First melt the butter
• Second use all brown sugar
• Third use bread flour
• Lastly, only bake one sheet of cookies at a time (I figured this out on my own). 
• Oh and do not over bake the cookies. 

This last tip is a little more difficult it depends on your individual oven, and how big or small you make your cookies. I like to make my cookies small. I use a teaspoon to size them (now I have a cookie scoop it is 1 tablespoon and is the exact size I like it makes dropping cookies so much quicker I highly recommend one), and they end up about 2 inches in diameter when baked. With this size, it usually takes exactly 8 minutes to bake them perfectly (I also use good air-bake cookie sheets).

Another trick I have learned is to let the cookies cool at least 8 minutes on the pan before trying to remove them. For this, it helps to have more than one pan. I have 3.  While one is in the oven baking, I am putting more cookies on another, and while the new pan of cookies is baking, the pan just pulled from the oven is cooling. It makes the process faster and easier. Trust me, I hate to have broken cookies (my husband loves it because I have a rule that he has to eat any broken cookies right away b/c it makes me mad to have a broken cookie). Making them smaller and letting them cool help prevents breakage (and my husband still gets to eat plenty of unbroken cookies).

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I make chocolate chip cookies so often I hardly need to look at a recipe any more.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/2 cup flour
at least 2 cups chocolate chips (I like semi-sweet and sometimes dark, use whatever you like)
 

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Mix all ingredients together  Drop by rounded teaspoon fulls on pan, bake for 8 minutes at 375 F.

No matter what Homemade cookies are always a hit.

Enjoy.

Linked to:  Random Recipe Roundup, Much Ado About Monday, Two Cup Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Brag About It, Whimsy Wednesday, Eat Create Party, Freedom Friday, Best of the Weekend, Show Stopper, Saturday Night Fever


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