Perfectly Spicy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

A pregnant woman gets what a pregnant woman wants. 

My cousin, Nicki, requested Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, so I thought I'd give it a shot. These were actually my first attempt at Oatmeal Raisin, and I think they turned out pretty good! I really like the spicy-ness of the cookie and the raisins make it feel somewhat healthy, right? 

We'll see what she thinks tomorrow.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. butter, softened
• 1/2 c. shortening
• 1 c. packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 c. white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 c. old fashioned oats
• 1 c. raisins

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In large bowl, cream together butter, shortening, sugars, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Stir into sugar mixture. Stir in oats and raisins. Drop by rounded teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until light and golden. Do not overbake! Let them cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet until removing to cool completely on wire rack.

Allrecipes.com

A Complete Fish Dinner

"I don't enjoy Friday Night Fish Fry," said NO ONE EVER. We all know that I love a big plate of fish on a Friday night. It's what I look forward to all week. (Sad? Absolutely not.) While this is not your traditional Friday Night Fish Fry, I think we found it to be pretty tasty?

I decided to make some Baked Tilapia with Dill Sauce, Coleslaw, Homemade French Baguettes, and Spicy Baked Beans (ha!). It sounds like a lot of work, but really...it wasn't, and even if it was, it's worth it.

Baked Tilapia with Dill Sauce

Ingredients:

Fish:

• 4 (4 oz.) tilapia fillets 
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp. Cajun seasoning, or to taste
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced

Sauce:

• 1/4 c. mayonnaise
• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 1/8 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh dill

Directions:

1. Mix together sauce ingredients.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 9x13 baking dish.
3. Season tilapia fillets with salt, pepper, and Cajun seasoning on both sides. Arrange in a single layer in baking dish. Place layer of lemon over the fillets so that most of the surface is covered.
4. Bake uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork.

* Note: I made the sauce the night before, so that the flavors could meld a while longer in the refrigerator. I also made sure to take the sauce out of the fridge about an hour before dinner was served so that it could get closer to room temperature. Oh yeah, and this is important...I also doubled the sauce cause I like to slather my fish with tarter. :)

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Coleslaw

Ingredients:

• 1 (16 oz.) bag coleslaw mix
• 2 tbsp. minced onion
• 2/3 c. miracle whip
• 3 tbsp. vegetable oil + 1 tbsp. vinegar
• 1/2 c. white sugar
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/4 t. ground pepper
• 1/2 t. celery seed

Directions:

1. Mix onion, miracle whip, vegetable oil + vinegar, white sugar, salt, ground pepper, and celery seed. Pour over coleslaw mix.
2. Chill for 2 hours before serving.

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Homemade French Baguettes

Ingredients:

• 1 c. water
• 1 tbsp. white sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2-1/2 c. bread flour
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp. water

Directions

1. Combine water, sugar, and yeast. Allow to proof for 5 minutes (let it sit and begin to foam).
2. Add salt. Gradually add flour and knead until no longer sticky. Place in oiled bowl and allow to rise in warm place for 30 minutes, or until doubled in bulk. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.
3. Punch down dough. On lightly floured surface, roll into 16x12 inch rectangle. Cut in half, creating two 8x12 inch rectangles. Roll up each half of dough tightly, beginning at 12 inch side, pounding out any air bubbles as you go. Roll gently back and forth to taper end. Place 3 inches apart on greased cookie sheet. Make deep diagonal slashes across loaves every 2 inches. Cover and let rise in warm place for 30 to 40 minutes, or until doubled in bulk.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix egg yolk with water. Brush over tops of loaves.
5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

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Spicy Baked Beans

So, funny story with the beans. This is what happens when your boyfriend tells you he likes his beans thick, not runny...

I bought a can of Bush's Homestyle Baked Beans to heat on the stove. Then, Curtis tells me, "I like my beans thick." So, I added a little cornstarch, to see if it would help thicken them up a little bit... It didn't help much at first, but then it did...and then it got really thick, really fast. Too thick. So, I added some Sriracha sauce to add a little moisture and mask the starchy-ness and it ended up looking a bit like refried beans, but I actually really liked them and Curtis said they were the best thing on the plate (meal-o-fish fail).

Banana Crumb Muffins

Being the wonderful employee that I am...I usually like to bring something yummy into work at least once a week. Okay, really it's because I like to bake too much and need to get rid of the baked goods before I eat them all myself. (True story.)

This week, it was Banana Crumb Muffins. I had some leftover bananas in my freezer and if you make something banana, it's a pretty safe bet that people will like it. I got the recipe off of trusty Allrecipes.com (this sucker is rated #3 on their Top 20 Best Recipe list - pretty big deal if you ask me).

I read some reviews and modified the original recipe slightly, but I think they turned out pretty great! Consensus is: I would make them again, but I still think my mom's simple banana bread recipe is the best. :)  Also, I wonder if they would be good with chocolate chips?

Ingredients

Muffins:

• 1-1/2 c. all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 1/2 c. white sugar
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/3 c. oil

Topping:

• 1/3 c. packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tbsp. butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 12 muffin pan, or line with muffin papers.
2. In large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In another bowl, mix banana, sugars, egg, vanilla, and oil. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. While muffins begin to bake, mix together brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in small bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Once muffins have been baking for 10 minutes, take out of the oven and sprinkle topping over muffins.
4. Place back in oven and continue to bake for 8-10 more minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow muffins to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.