Chocolate Chocolate Cookies

CAUTION: These cookies are only for those who LOVE chocolate. They are way chocolaty and must be accompanied by a big glass of milk, but oh so delicious!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Melt 1 cup of chocolate chips over low heat. Cream butter and sugar. Add melted chocolate chips and vanilla; beat in eggs; add flour mixture and remaining chocolate chips.
Wrap in plastic and freeze until firm (about 20 minutes).
Make small balls (1 inch); roll in confectioners' sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Cool on wire rack.

Yummy Ham

My sister-in-law Jo made this ham for Thanksgiving and it was so good.

One bone in ham shank (not cooked)
Put ham in roaster and cover with a 2-litre bottle of 7-up
Put in oven at 250 form 11 hours
Take out of oven and cover with brown sugar and put back in oven for one more hour.
Total cooking time: 12 hours.

When you take the ham out of the oven it just falls apart and is so tender and sweet. I wish I had a picture, it would make you want it right now.

Red Skinned Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

These potatoes are so good, I could eat them all the time.

1 1/4 lbs. red skinned potatoes, washed and quartered
2 1/2-3 cups water (you might need to add a little more depending on the size of the potatoes)
3 cubes chicken bouillon
7 cloves roasted garlic
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/2 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Place potatoes in large pan. Add water and bouillon and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, cover the pan and cook for 20-25 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Drain liquid, reserving a little, and then mash the potatoes. Add roasted garlic and the cream cheese in while mashing. Gradually add extra liquid from pan to potatoes to get as fluffy as you like and then sprinkle the parsley on top.

Roasted Garlic: Slice the end of a garlic bulb off. Place on tinfoil and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap garlic clove in the tinfoil and place in the oven at 400 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until garlic is soft. When done press garlic cloves out and add to potatoes. You can buy jars of roasted garlic in the store, but they just aren't the same compared to the fresh ones.

Sautéed Pork Tenderloin Medallions with Port, Dried Cherries and Rosemary

Shawn loves Pork Tenderloin and this is a great way to make it with a lot of flavor. I like to make this and serve it with my red skinned roasted garlic mashed potatoes (I'll post that recipe later).

1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. pepper
olive oil
2 cloves fresh pressed garlic
1 lb. pork tenderloin trimmed and cut into 1-inch slices. Pound each slice 3/4 inch thick. (I put plastic wrap on counter and then put in pork. Put another piece of plastic wrap on top and then I use my meat mallet, but you can use anything heavy to pound it flat. Tenderloin is a very tender meat so it doesn't take much to get it pounded flat.)
1/3 cup port-I usually substitute apple juice
1/2 cup dried cherries
2/3 cup water mixed with 1 tsp. chicken soup base (this is kind of like bouillon, but a paste that you keep in the fridge)
2 tsp. fresh rosemary leaves
1/2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Mix salt, garlic powder, and pepper together. Sprinkle over both sides of the pork medallions. Put a little olive oil in large skillet over medium high. Add garlic to pan and brown slightly before adding medallions to pan. Working in batch's of no more than six medallions to avoid crowding, sear the pork without moving them until browned on one side about 80 seconds. Turn and sear the other side about 80 seconds or until pork is firm to touch. Transfer to a plate.

Set the now empty skillet used to cook the pork over medium high heat and add port/apple juice and cherries to pan. Cook scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spatula to loosen any browned bits until the liquid in the pan reduces to about 2 Tablespoons (about 2-3 minutes). Increase the heat slightly and add chicken broth, rosemary and any meat juices from the plate. Stir often until sauce is the consistency of maple syrup. Add olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste.

Reduce the heat to medium and return pork to pan, turning the meat to coat. Simmer to heat the pork through, about 3 minutes. Transfer pork to serving plate and spoon sauce over meat. Serve immediately.

Each 4 oz. cooked portion of tenderloin with sauce has approximately 200 calories, 7.4 grams total fat.

Pumpkin Cookies

1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 C. quick oats
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/4. tsp. nutmeg
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
1 egg
2 Tbsp. oil
1/2 C. mini chocolate chips (optional - but I always like adding)

Frosting:powdered sugar and orange juice (no/low pulp)

In a large bowl, mix cake mix, oats and spices. In a separate bowl mix pumpkin, egg and oil. Pour pumpkin mix into dry mix; add chocolate chips. Mix until just moistened. Drop onto lightly sprayed cookie sheets, large spoonfuls. Slightly flatten with spoon (they don't really spread, more like puff up). Bake at 350 degrees for 20 mins. For frosting, mix with a mini rubber spatula sugar and orange juice until it gets to a frosting consistency. Make sure to use a tiny bit of orange juice at a time and add a little more as needed. Spread over cooled cookies.