March '11 Cookie Carnival: Chocolate Brownie Oatmeal Cookies

Last night I decided to make one of the March Cookie Carnival's cookies, Chocolate Brownie Oatmeal Cookies from Quaker Oats. I'm happy that I did. These cookies are soft and chewy and down right delicious. My kids raved about them.

Halfway through the recipe I realized that I was out of eggs. I decided to hit the Internet to see if I could find a reasonable substitute for the 2 eggs that the recipe called for. There are several dry substitutes out there but I wanted to add a wet ingredient for at least one of the eggs. Applesauce is a common substitute but I was also out of it. One recommendation was 3 tbsp. mayo. I knew that I had some in the frig. so that took care of one egg. I used 2 tbsp. cornstarch to substitute the other egg. I also read that no matter what you use as a sub., you should always add in two extra teaspoons of baking powder. I continued on with the rest of the recipe.

The recipe called for nuts but since my husband is not fond of nuts in cookies - but is really fond of raisins - it was a no-brainer to add raisins. Delicious! Like eating chocolate covered raisins in cookie form. :)

Here's my recipe including the substitutions I made:

Chocolate Brownie Oatmeal Cookies
original recipe

One  8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
8  tablespoons (1 stick) margarine or butter, softened
1  cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2  cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons mayo
2 tablespoons corn starch
1/2  teaspoon vanilla
2  cups (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
1-1/2  cups all-purpose flour
3-1/2  teaspoons baking soda
3  cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1  cup raisins
 
In large bowl, beat cream cheese, margarine and sugars until creamy. Add mayo, corn starch and vanilla; beat well. Add melted chocolate; mix well.

Add combined flour and baking soda; mix well. Add oats and nuts; mix well.

Heat oven to 350°F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies are almost set. (Centers should still be moist. Do not overbake.) Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely.

*Recipe Notes*

To melt chocolate chips, place in 1-quart glass measuring cup or microwaveable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 1 to 2 minutes or until melted and smooth, stirring every 30 seconds. Or, place in top part of double boiler over hot, not boiling, water; stir occasionally until smooth.

*My Notes*

The recipe calls for chilling the cookie dough beforehand. I skipped this step and just scooped and baked right after mixing it up. I couldn't tell the difference.

Store the cookies in sealed container or plastic bag. Best if eaten within 2 days.




Do you enjoy baking cookies? Join us today at the Cookie Carnival! Here's what you need to do.  I hope to bake with you soon!


Linking to:

Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays
What's On Your Plate?

Creamy Garlic Chicken Stew

We're talkin' about comfort food tonight. We are sitting down to big bowls of chicken stew. Filled with veggies, chicken and flat dumplings, this stew tastes as good as it looks!

This is the second of four new Philly Cooking Cremes that I'm testing for my House Party reviews. Since my first recipe, Santa Fe Lasagna, turned out to be a big hit, I had high hopes for the Creamy Garlic Chicken Stew. I think that they have a hit on their hands with these cooking cremes. The Savory Garlic Cooking Creme is very good. It has a mild garlic flavor to it, not overpowering at all. The cooking creme helped to make the stew really creamy.

Creamy Garlic Chicken Stew

3 boneless chicken breasts, poached and cubed into bite-sized pieces
2 c. carrots, diced small
1/2 c. celery, diced small
2 small canned of sliced mushroom, drained well
2 tsp. poultry seasoning
1 tsp. black pepper
2 dried bay leaves
1 can of green beans, drained well and chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 c. (minus 2 tbsp) flour
64 oz. chicken broth or chicken stock
1 tub Philly Savory Garlic Cooking Creme
2 tbsp butter & 2 tbsp olive oil for frying pan
1/2 package of Anne's Old Fashioned Flat Dumplings

Poach chicken breasts; remove from water and cool. Chop chicken into bite-sized pieces.

In a large frying pan, heat butter and olive oil. Add carrots, celery and mushrooms. Sprinkle in poultry seasoning, black pepper and bay leaves. Cook over medium heat until the carrots are fork tender.

Add flour. Stir to completely cover the vegetables with the flour.

Carefully stir in the chicken broth, stirring until the broth is creamy with no lumps of flour showing. Stir in the tub of Philly Savory Garlic Cooking Creme. Continue stirring until the broth is creamy with no lumps in it.

Add chicken and green beans to the pan. Cover and cook 15 minutes over medium heat. The broth will start to thicken.

Remove half of the flat dumplings from the box. Put the remaining dumplings back into the freezer for a later use. Cut each dumpling strip in half. Drop four dumplings at a time into the stew, stirring well after every set of dumplings has been added. Put the lid back on the pot and continue cooking for 12 - 15 minutes. Stir frequently.

Serve with warm, crusty bread.

**Other serving suggestions**

Serve the stew (without dumplings) over cooked penne pasta or serve the stew (without dumplings) over warm biscuits.

My whole family enjoyed this. This recipe is definitely a keeper. As my husband says "Add it to the rotation!" :)

Menu Plan Monday

We've been getting some much needed rain the last few days. But the rain also means that the kids are staying indoors....let the fighting begin. Oh, my aching head!! Anyone else dealing with this?

I thought that I'd stir things up a bit this week by including a new recipe in every meal. :)

Sunday: creamy garlic chicken stew

Monday: greek pasta & beef - ham & broccoli strata & strawberry french toast

Tuesday: lime glazed pork loin, cooked potatoes & salad - greek pasta & beef

Wednesday: cajun shrimp rolls & rice (didn't make it last week)

Thursday: ham & broccoli strata & strawberry french toast

Friday: bbq jack chicken & mac n cheese (didn't make it last week)

Saturday: either leftovers or out for pizza

Two weeks of my husband working daylight is over with, two weeks to go! You'd think that I'd be used to it by now but I'm not. I'm looking forward to life going back to normal for us!

Things have been a little crazy this week. I've managed to stick with our menu plan, just mix the daily menus up a bit. :)   I've made the changed in italics above.

Hookin' up with Menu Plan Monday!

February 2011 Cookie Carnival Round Up!

Welcome to the Cookie Carnival's end of month round up for February 2011!

There were two really pretty cookies to choose from this month:

Cosmo Cocktail Cookie Bars

Kids Bake: Vanilla Shortbread Hearts


We didn't have a big turnout this time but those who did participate, their cookies are beeeeauuutiful!!!

Check out these beauties:

Tessa @ The Cookin' Chemist baked the Cosmos. She said "They have that classic shortbread crust with the fruited topping sprinkled with powdered sugar, but the lime zest in the crust and the cranberry-orange topping definitely make them both unique and delicious."

Kerri @ Kerri's Texas Kitchen baked the Cosmos. She said "What a perfect cocktail! A hint of orange, cranberry and vodka! These were one of the cookies for Cookie Carnival for February and they are really good."

Barb @ Mom's Fridge baked the cut out cookies. She said "The cookies turned out delicious, but they were really work-intensive. I love cookies, but I don't like doing cut-out cookies. I'm a "drop and go" kind of girl when it comes to cookies.

I wanted to try both of these cookies but I just couldn't squeeze it into our busy schedule. The Cosmo cookies look so delicious to me!

Thanks, ladies, for hanging out with me last month! I hope to see you back at the end of March!

If you would like to join the Cookie Carnival, here's what you need to know!

Until the end of March, Happy Baking!
Tami

Santa Fe Lasagna

I was chosen by House Party to host a Philly Dinnertime Dilemma House Party to try the new Philly Cooking Cremes.

There are 4 Cremes to choose from: Italian Cheese & Herb, Savory Garlic, Original and Santa Fe Blend.

From the name of my post, I bet you can figure out which creme I chose to test first. The Santa Fe Blend. Since creating a Mexican lasagna was already on my mind, I decided to run with the ingredients that I had on hand, plus I wanted to incorporate the Santa Fe Creme into the recipe. The result was a delicious, creamy lasagna that my whole family and friends raved about. (Yep, picky kids, too!!)

Santa Fe Lasagna

1 lb lasagna noodles, cooked, drained and set aside.
1 lb ground beef
1 medium-sized onion
2 small cans sliced mushrooms, drained
3 C. shredded cheese with taco flavors or plain cheddar cheese
1-10 oz - tub Philly Santa Fe Blend Cooking Creme
24 oz. mild salsa

Directions

Boil Lasagna noodles. Rinse and set aside.

In a frying pan, saute onions and mushrooms until the onions turn opaque. Set aside

In the same pan, brown ground beef. Drain off any grease. Stir in the tub of Santa Fe Blend Cooking Creme.

The creme sauce melts right into the beef creating a nice sauce.

Layer lasagna in this order: 

Spread a thin layer of salsa across the bottom of a 9 x 13 dish.

Lay 5 noodles across the salsa. Top the noodles with a layer of cheese.

Top cheese with half of the mushroom and onion mixture.

Top with 1/3 of the meat and Philly Santa Fe Blend. Be careful not to overload the noodles. These are thin layers of all of the fillings.

.

Layer with 5 more lasagna noodles, this time topping with first with salsa, the remaining mushroom & onion mixture, 1/3 of the meat and sauce. End with a layer of cheese.

For the top layer, add 5 lasagna noodles, the rest of the meat and sauce mixture and any remaining salsa. Finish off with a layer of cheese.

Bake at 350* for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before cutting.

Delicious!!  Two thumbs up for the Philly Santa Fe Blend Creme. I will note that the Santa Fe Creme has a little spice to it. Not much, but if you are tempted to buy medium or hot salsa, taste the creme first. It might be spicy enough.

**The opinions expressed in this post are my honest opinions. I was not compensated for posting this. My participation with House Party is not related to my blog.**

Adding this recipe to Tasty Tuesday!