Food Friday: Quick Apple Crisp

Happy Friday everyone! As I mentioned in the last post, we went to our town's annual Apple Festival. Mom and I split a bag of apples and I made Quick Apple Crisp. It is a no-fail Pampered Chef recipe. If you don't have the stoneware Deep Dish Baker, you can certainly use a 9x13 Pyrex glass baker. Here's the recipe, courtesy of The Pampered Chef:

5 Granny Smith apples

1 package (9 ounces) yellow cake mix, I used Jiffy
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Vanilla ice cream or thawed, frozen whipped topping (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Peel, core and slice apples using Apple Peeler/Corer/Slicer. Cut apples in half using Utility Knife. Place apples in Deep Dish Baker.


2. Combine cake mix, sugar, cinnamon, butter and nuts in Classic Batter Bowl. Mix until crumbly using Classic Scraper. Sprinkle mixture evenly over apples.

3. Bake 35-40 minutes or until apples are tender. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped topping, if desired.

SO GOOD and easy! Here it is fresh out of the oven:


Delish! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
XOXO,
Melissa

Cheddar-Garlic Drop Biscuits

Happy Easter Weekend everybody! It is a gorgeous day here in NC. Tim's brother and his family are visiting this weekend and it is always great to spend time with them. My mother-in-law always "cooks big" whenever company is coming and since we knew we would be eating over at their house all weekend, we decided to clean out our fridge last night.

We had a little of this and a little of that for supper and I needed something on the side to round out our meal. I was looking for inspiration in our pantry and saw a box of Bisquick. A long time ago I made drop biscuits and they turned out halfway decent. I jumped online and found a recipe for cheddar garlic drop biscuits and whipped up a batch. They tasted amazing and were so easy to make! I didn't make huge portions and got 13 out of the recipe. I'm making another batch for Easter lunch tomorrow.

Cheese-Garlic Drop Biscuits via Betty Crocker

2 cups Original Bisquick® mix
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (2 ounces) **I used more, around 3/4 cup
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder **I used garlic salt

1. Heat oven to 450ºF.
2. Stir Bisquick mix, milk and cheese until soft dough forms. Drop dough by 9 spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Stir together butter and garlic powder; brush over warm biscuits.

YUM YUM! This recipe is a "keeper"!

I hope you all have a blessed Easter!
Melissa

Awesome rice recipe! Must try!

Good afternoon readers! It's a rainy, dreary day here in NC. Camden & I went shopping at Wal-Mart with Mom & Dad this morning and it was crazy. Lots of people buying food for their Super Bowl parties. We, however, were in search of great buys on summer clothes for Camden. Mom had scoped out the clearance rack earlier in the week and they had a good selection of boy's short sleeve shirts and sets for $3 - $5! Camden racked up! I even got him two long sleeve shirts for $3 each. So check out your local W-M for good deals on clearance.

As you all know, we love Mexican food. We have chicken quesadillas once a week, if not more often. When we go out to eat at a Mexican restaurant, I always get rice as a side item (and guacamole too). I was in search of "real Mexican rice" since the boxed kind at the grocery store just wasn't the same. I found this great recipe at food.com and it is a keeper! The secret is to rinse your rice before cooking. Who knew!

The recipe is kind of involved but if I can cook it without burning the rice to a crisp, you can too. Tim (a.k.a. Mr. Picky Rice Eater) loved it and went back for seconds, maybe even thirds! For the sake of taking up blog space, here's
the link. I cooked it in a Lodge cast iron Dutch oven and I used a 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes since fresh ones aren't in season.

Y'all have a great weekend and stay warm!
XOXO,
Melissa

Food Friday: Sausage Cheese Balls

Yay! I am up and blogging again. We have been without internet/phone since last Friday and just got it back yesterday. Our internet/phone was out since I switched from AT&T to Magic Jack.MJ transferred our phone number over, however, before I could order the “internet only” plan from AT&T once the number transfer was complete, AT&T shut off our internet and phone! Aaaaack! Once we have been using MJ for awhile, I’ll do a review of it. So far so good.

As mentioned before, every month at work we have a birthday breakfast and this time around I made sausage balls. Sometimes sausage balls can be quite dry but these turned out really well! We had some venison sausage in the freezer and I used that. I didn’t use all the ingredients called for (no onions, red pepper, or s&p since the sausage was zippy to start with). So here goes, recipe adapted from the wonderful blog La Petite Chef.

Sausage Cheese Balls
Ingredients: (makes 6 dozen)
• 2 LB Sausage, Venison Sausage
• 3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 2.5 cups Bisquick
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 TBL crushed red pepper
• 1 tsp Chili powder
• Salt-n-pepper, to taste
Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Form into 1 inch balls (this is where you could freeze them for later use).
4. Place on ungreased baking sheet.
5. Cook 15-20 mins. until golden brown and cooked.
Also, freeze uncooked to use at a later date, but freeze cooked to use within a few days in a crock-pot.

Have a great weekend everyone! We’re going to IKEA tomorrow since kids eat free. YAY!
XOXO,
Melissa

Photo courtesy of www.isitedible.net

Food Friday-Texas Caviar

Happy Food Friday everyone! It's like 1000 degrees outside and it's hot as Texas out there. I just want to melt everytime I walk outside.

So in honor of it being "hot as Texas", here is a recipe for Texas Caviar, a fantastic appetizer/dip that you don't have to turn on the oven for. Just start opening those cans!

Every month, our office floor has a breakfast to celebrate everyone's birthday for the month. We graze all day in the break room so the foods are not limited to breakfast type foods. One co-worker always brings this and it is SO GOOD! It's from Southern Living, November 2001 and I tweaked it just a bit. Enjoy and stay cool!

Texas Caviar

Ingredients:
1 can Del Monte Summer Crisp sweet corn
2 (15.5-ounce) cans black-eyed peas with jalapeño peppers, rinsed and drained
2 (10-ounce) cans diced tomato and green chiles
2 avocados, diced
1 small green bell pepper, diced
1/2 purple onion, diced
3/4 cup zesty Italian salad dressing
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation:
Stir together all ingredients. Chill, if desired. Serve with corn chips.

Photo courtesy of The Wheatfree Life blog. Have a great weekend!
Melissa

Thanksgiving Food Hits and Flops

Before I dive headfirst into Christmas baking, I like to look back and add some recipes to my "Must Bring" list for Thanksgiving and also add some to the "Never Again!" list.

I like to bring a dish that no one else will probably show up with. I usually bring a relish tray with colby jack cheese cubes, pepper jack cheese cubes, pepperoncinis, cocktail pickles (which every last one are eaten), black olives, and green olives. No one else usually brings this and my food is not competing with three other pans of stuffing or sweet potato casseroles.

This year I made something new, a chocolate chip cookie ball, similar to a cheese ball. I found the recipe in a special Fun Food magazine by Taste of Home. Here's the link:
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Chocolate-Chip-Cheese-Ball (photo courtesy of Taste of Home magazine)

This was a HIT! It tasted so good and I served it with graham crackers, though vanilla wafers would work well also. Definitely a keeper!

Another recipe that is a hit is mini no-bake cheesecakes with cherries on top, similar to this recipe. Photo courtesy of the very cool Tastes Like Chikin blog.


I gauge whether or not to bring the same food year after year by how much is eaten (or left over). One year I wanted to make a pepper dip "tower" that you had to mold in different size containers with chopped red peppers in between the layers. It looked pretty, but as the evening moved on, it became the leaning tower of dip and hardly anyone ate it. Add that to the Never Again! box.

I hope every last dish you brought to Thanksgiving was eaten up and the same goes for Christmas recipes!

Until next time,
Melissa

Easy Chicken Pie

Greetings readers! It has been a whirlwind of activity at our house, hence the lack of posts. I have many topics brewing in my head so get ready for more blog posts!

One of my go-to recipes when life gets hectic is Chicken Pie. You can get your protein, carbs, and vegetables all in one dish. I am not one to roll out handmade crust for the topping and this recipe is quite simple, as long as I remember to thaw out some chicken beforehand!

Ingredients:
3 cups chicken, cooked and diced
1 can of mixed vegetables
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 cup of chicken broth
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 cup of Bisquick
3/4 cup of milk
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) of butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400. In a large bowl, mix the chicken and mixed vegetables and place in 8x8 or 9x7 dish. In another bowl, mix together the soup, chicken broth, and pepper and pour over chicken/vegetables. In yet another bowl, make the biscuit topping, mix together the Bisquick, milk, and melted butter, stir until smooth. Pour over the top of the chicken mixture. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until bubbly and the top is golden brown.

Even my two picky little monkeys ate this up! It was a good way to sneak in some vegetables. I served this with black eyed peas.

Have a great week everyone! Thanks for reading!
~Melissa

Food Friday-Fried Pickles

Happy Friday! My students were the inspiration for this recipe. They love to talk about food, cooking, eating, anything to get me off the subject of literature, subject/verb agreement, predicate nominatives, etc. Typical teenagers! One of the guys asked if I had ever tried fried pickles and I had not. So I looked up a recipe and tried it out. The recipe came from a church cookbook, Loaves and Fishes and Other Dishes by the Covenant UMC Women in Gastonia, NC. Linda Raxter is the author.

1 egg, beaten
1 c. milk
1 tbl. all purpose flour
1 tbl. Worcestershire sauce
6 drops hot sauce

3 1/2 c. all purpose flour
3/4 tsp. each salt & pepper
1 qt. sliced dill pickles (I used a jar of Mt. Olive dill hamburger chips)

Combine first 5 ingredients, set aside. Combine 3 1/2 c. flour and the salt & pepper, stirring well. Dip pickles into milk mix.





Drop in flour mix.









Deep fry in hot oil (350 deg.) until brown-I used my Fry Daddy and did about 6 pickle slices at a time.





Drain on paper towel and enjoy!

My students recommended dipping in Ranch dressing, which wasn't half bad. Honestly, I might make these again, but I felt the batter was kind of tasteless, even with the hot sauce drops. It would be worth the time spent tweaking the recipe because these were fun to make and fried pickles are a delicacy around here. Some restaurants serve them as appetizers.

Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Palm Sunday!
~Melissa

Food Friday: Snow Cream a la Paula Deen

They are calling for snow here in NC starting tonight. Our county is right on the line between snow and the nasty sleet/ice mix. I hope it snows because I remembered to pick up ingredients for snow cream when I was out getting my bread and milk like a true Southerner.

The recipe is from Paula Deen and is really simple. The link is here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/snow-ice-cream-recipe/index.html

Ingredients:
8 cups snow, or shaved ice
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place snow or shaved ice into a large bowl.








Pour condensed milk over and add vanilla. Mix to combine.







Serve immediately in bowls.

Have you all ever heard to use the snow from the second snowfall and not the first one to make snow cream? I heard that on the news and was wondering what the reasoning was. Have a great weekend!

Food Friday-Banana Nut Cake

Happy Friday everyone! The weather turned colder here in NC after being teased with two days of sunny, almost 70 degree weather. Cooler weather makes me want to bake something and eat soup!

I have been wanting to make banana bread and I had some bananas I needed to use up. Alas, I have only one loaf pan and most banana bread recipes call for two pans. While Googling for ideas, I came across a wonderful, EASY recipe for banana nut bars and as a bonus, I had all the ingredients on hand! YAY! The bars turned out beautifully, it is moist, and my house smelled heavenly. It's more like a cake but still delicious! Recipe is as follows:

1 cup sugar
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 medium)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar (I omitted this)

Heat oven to 350F degrees. Grease pan, 13x9x2 inches.

Mix sugar, bananas, oil and eggs in large bowl with a spoon. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir in pecans.

Spread batter in pan. Sprinkle the dark brown sugar over the top. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely. You won't need to frost it as it is plenty sweet, at least for my taste.

Take a peek at Simple Daily Recipes, it's a neat site with tons of good recipes and where I found this recipe and the photo.

Have a great weekend everyone! Thanks for reading my blog, I love reading the comments!

Food Friday-Turkey & Ro-Tel Casserole

Greetings! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I needed to reinvent my Thanksgiving leftovers so I made this casserole last night. Recipe is from my Granny Jean who lives in Florida. Like all her meals, it tastes wonderful!

Turkey/Chicken & Ro-Tel Casserole
leftover turkey or chicken, cut into bite size pieces
spaghetti
butter
onion (as much/little as you want)
1 can mushrooms or fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 can mushroom soup
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes and peppers (hot or mild, your choice)
cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Cut up turkey/chicken into pieces and set aside. Boil spaghetti noodles. Meanwhile, melt a pat of butter in a skillet and saute the onion and mushrooms until tender. Mix in the mushroom soup and Ro-Tel tomatoes, mix well. Drain the spaghetti and place in casserole dish. Pour soup mixture over pasta then add the turkey pieces. Sprinkle cheese over everything. Place in oven and bake until cheese is melted.

Here's a photo taken from www.discusscooking.com that looks much better than my photo!

Have a great weekend!

Food Friday: Blonde Brownies

Happy Friday! I decided to go out on a limb and bake something from scratch this week. What possessed me to do this, I have no idea, but I am glad I ventured out of my comfort zone and did it.

My Dad is a Pastor and had a funeral to do last week. In true southern Baptist tradition, the church fed the family after the service and a PILE of food was left over. Mom brought me some leftovers, namely a wonderful dessert plate filled with red velvet cake, coconut cake, cookies, and blonde brownies. The blondies were so good, I decided to make a batch.

I tend to steer away from making anything from scratch for fear that I'll switch baking powder for baking soda, forget to add salt, use the wrong kind of flour, etc. I looked online for a simple, easy recipe for blonde brownies and found this easy recipe from Mark Bittman (of How To Cook Everything fame) and it turned out GREAT! We have eaten almost the whole pan of brownies in 2 days. The recipe itself was found on the blog Smitten Kitchen. Here you go:

Blondies
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla or 1½ teaspoons almond extract
Pinch salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8×8 pan.
Mix melted butter with brown sugar – beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla.
Add salt, stir in flour. Mix in any additions (see below for ideas).
Pour into prepared pan. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until set in the middle. Allow to cool on a wire rack before cutting them.

Suggested add-ins (one or a combination of):
1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts, toasting them first for even better flavor
1/2 to 1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon mint extract in addition to or in place of the vanilla
1/2 cup mashed bananas
1/4 cup bourbon, scotch or other whiskey; increase the flour by one tablespoon
2 tablespoons of espresso powder with the vanilla
1/2 cup dried fruit, especially dried cherries
Top with a vanilla butter cream or chocolate peanut butter cream frosting

Now I added 2/3 c. of chocolate chips to the batter. Dare I say this out loud but I thought it made the brownies a bit too sweet. Next time, I'm going to add pecans instad of chocolate chips.

Baking something from scratch wasn't so bad. Now I'm thinking I need to buy a pastry blender or a flour sifter. I seriously doubt I'll bake a cake from scratch but I will try some more cookies and bars recipes, maybe even a cheesecake.

Have a great weekend y'all!

Ice cream cake

Hi blog readers! This past month has been NUTS with school starting and so much going on. Now that everything is settling down, I will get back into the routine of blogging.

Tim celebrated a birthday earlier this month and to celebrate, I made him an ice cream cake. It turned out wonderfully! The recipe is from the Taste of Home magazine "Fun Food". It will be on sale until September 21st. I have made so many good recipes from this magazine and none of them are complicated. Gotta love that!

Here's the recipe:

Not Fried Ice Cream Cake
1 cup cornflake crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 gallon butter pecan ice cream, softened, divided
4 tbl. honey

In a small bowl, combine the cornflake crumbs, sugar, butter, and cinnamon, set aside 1/2 cup. Press remaining mixture in a greased 9 in. springform pan. Spoon half of ice cream mixture over crust. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixtured over top, drizzle with 2 tbl. honey. Cover and freeze for two hours.

Top with remaining ice cream. Cover and freeze for 8 hours or overnight.

Remove from freezer 5 minutes before serving. Remove sides of pan, drizzle with remaining honey.

Delicious! I will definitely be making this again! Be aware, not many ice cream containers are truly half gallon size. The one I purchased was 1.75 quart and it was plenty for this recipe.

Food Friday-Chocolate Cherries and Bugles

Hi everyone! Since I'm leaving for vacation soon, here's a double dose of Food Friday recipes.

Yesterday afternoon I made peanut butter filled Bugles dipped in chocolate. These are so easy to make and it is a great snack if you are feeding a crowd. My kids loved these and so did my husband! I'm definitely making these for the Holidays.

PEANUT BUTTER FILLED CHOCOLATE DIPPED BUGLES
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter (room temperature)
6 cups Bugles original flavor snacks
12 ounces milk chocolate confectionary coating or 1 bag of chocolate chips
Colored sprinkles
small Ziploc bag
Aluminum foil
Cookie sheet/pizza pan

Fill Ziploc bag with peanut butter and cut a small hole in corner of bag.
Twist open end of bag tight and carefully pipe the peanut butter into the Bugles.
Do not overfill or the filling will leak out.
In a microwave safe bowl, melt candy coating at 70% power for 1 1/ 2 minutes. Stir.
Heat 1 to 1 1/2 minutes longer or until melted; stir until smooth (I used my chocolate melter instead).
Dip the peanut butter filled end of each Bugle halfway into the chocolate coating.
Place on waxed paper or aluminum foil covered cookie sheet/pizza pan.
While chocolate is still wet, sprinkle colored sprinkles over each Bugle.

Delicious!

I had some chocolate left over and Mom had bought some big, beautiful cherries at the grocery store. I took a bag full home with me last night after our visit and planned to make chocolate covered cherries the next day. Tim saw the cherries sitting next to the chocolate pot and plugged it in. We were making chocolate covered cherries at 10:30 last night! These were outstanding and the color just pops.

CHOCOLATE COVERED CHERRIES
Large stemmed cherries, washed and patted dry
(make sure the cherries are very dry since water will cause chocolate to seize and you have to make a new batch)
Chocolate of your choice, melted
Aluminum foil
Cookie sheet/pizza pan

Melt the chocolate in the microwave, double boiler, or chocolate melter (your choice)
Dip the cherries halfway into the chocolate, let excess drip off
Place on foil covered cookie sheet to set

Enjoy!

Food Friday-Tomato Pie

I first tasted this pie when the family went on vacation to Kiawah Island, SC in 1999. We picked it up from King's Market in Edisto Island. We devoured it and went back the next day to get another one and asked for the recipe. I've been making it every summer since then.

4 tomatoes, peeled and sliced
Salt
Pepper
As much dried basil as you can stand
1 (9-inch) prebaked deep dish pie shell
1 cup grated mozzarella
1 cup grated cheddar
1 cup mayonnaise
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the tomatoes in a colander in the sink in 1 layer. Sprinkle with salt and allow to drain for 10 minutes.

Layer the tomato slices and basil in pie shell. Season with salt and pepper. Combine the grated cheeses and mayonnaise together. Spread mixture on top of the tomatoes and bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

To serve, cut into slices and serve warm. Please note: this pie does not save well as leftovers. The crust gets soggy from the tomatoes so be sure to eat it all the first time it is served!

Comfort Food

My favorite homemade dish EVER is my mom's Ham-
burger Corn Noodle Casserole. I grew up on this! I could eat it every day for a week and still love it. I rarely eat it now since my husband thinks anything with a cream sauce is gross (but he loves clam chowder, so go figure...). My mom made a batch of it recently and graciously gave me a Pyrex dish full of it. It brought back great memories of my childhood. And I didn't have to share!

Here's the recipe:
1 package egg noodles, cooked
1 lb. ground beef
1 onion, chopped (or as much/little as you want, I'm not a huge fan of onions)
1 can corn, drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Cook the egg noodles according to directions. Meanwhile, brown meat and onion in a large pot, drain off fat. Add the corn, cooked egg noodles, and soup. Gently mix and place in large serving bowl.

Food Friday-Oreo Pops (or Good Intentions)

The end of school is fast approaching and we usually give gift cards to our children's teachers. I want to add a little homemade chocolate something so I decided on making Oreo Pops. I love the detailed directions on this blog.

Off to our local Wal-Mart I went, only to be disappointed that they were out of lollipop sticks and treat bags! Geez! This happens to me so often since our dinky Wal-Mart doesn't have that much of a selection of anything.

I will be making these as soon as I can find the supplies and report back with photos.

Photo courtesy of Womensday.com

Food Friday-Coastal Shrimp & Tomato Rice

Happy Friday everyone! I made this for supper on Tuesday, it is from the wonderful cookbook The Dinner Doctor by Anne Byrn. I did a review of the cookbook last year, check the April 2008 archives for more info. This is my go-to cookbook if I need ideas for dinner (like tonight!).

1 can diced tomatoes with green pepper & onion
1 cup instant rice
2 tbl. sliced pimiento-stuffed olives (I left these out)
1/2 lb. med. size shrimp, de-tailed, de-veined
(I used frozen)
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 c. pre-crumbled feta cheese

Place tomatoes in a 2 qt. saucepan or skillet. Add 1 can of water, stir. Bring to a boil over high heat, then stir in the rice and olives, let come to a boil again. Cover the pan and reduce heat to low, let simmer until the rice is cooked, about 5 minutes.

Remove lid and stir in the shrimp and pepper. Cover and let cook until the shrimp are pink and opaque, 4 to 5 minutes. The rice will be cooked through. Remove the pan from the heat and scatter the feta over the shrimp. Cover the pan and let it sit until the feta has melted a bit, maybe a minute or 2. Serve immediately.

We had this with garlic bread and a salad. So good!

Food Friday: Mini Cream Horns

I teach Career Planning to high school Seniors and I like to invite people from the community to speak to the class. Some guys in my class were interested in culinary school so I had a chef come and talk to us on Wednesday.

She was from the 36th Street Bakery and Cafe and is currently finishing up her Associates Degree in Culinary Studies. She did not disappoint! She brought in a huge tray of pastry goodies and my students devoured them! Then, after her presentation, she quizzed the students and whoever had the most correct answers received a $10 gift certificate to the bakery. How nice of them to donate such a great prize and bring free food for the class!

One of the goodies on the tray was mini cream horns, shown here with one of my cream horn molds.
This bakery is known for their big cream horns, along with other delicious pastries. My local Mom's group has coffee at the cafe every Thursday and everything they offer is fabulous! I have made mini cream horns before and here is the recipe I use, except I use cream horn molds, which you can buy here.

The chef said the bakery uses pre-made pastry dough but they make their own filling. These are SO GOOD! Enjoy!

Food Friday - Forget 'Em Cookies

Happy weekend! The sun finally came out today and I decided to bake something. I have been wanting to try these cookies but it has been so rainy I knew they would have flopped (more on that later).

My husband's aunt made these for a family reunion and she graciously gave me the recipe. They are called Forget 'Em Cookies since you are supposed to turn off the oven once you put them in and let them sit for 8 hours. EIGHT HOURS?!?! When I want cookies, I want them NOW!! So I cheated, I turned the oven to 250 and let them slowly bake. Without further ado, here you go:

2 egg whites, at room temp.
Dash of salt
3/4 sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
6 oz. chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 250 and line a cookie sheet with foil. With a mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy, add a dash of salt. Add the sugar one tablespoon at a time until stiff peaks form (if it's damp and humid, the eggs won't get as stiff). Turn off mixer and gently fold in the vanilla, chocolate chips, and pecans. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the baking sheet, making them more round than spread out (like a Hershey's Kiss shape as opposed to a Toll House Cookie). Bake in oven for say, 30 minutes or so, or until they are hard. Remove from oven and let cool completely (this was the hard part, I wanted to eat them RIGHT. THEN.) and carefully peel the foil away from the back.

Here's the difference between a "just right" cookie and a "too soon" cookie:


After the first 3 cookies had the bottoms ripped off, I waited 15-20 minutes then peeled off the foil. It worked much better and they looked better too.

Next time I'll do them more rounded than flat, but they were still good! Hubby gave them a thumbs up!