Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars

Just a little FYI: I've not been posting so much because the batteries in the camera are almost dead, so it doesn't focus well at the moment.

Anyway, these are DELICIOUS!

These traveled GREAT on our last run in the big rig, not to mention they tasted great (for some reason it's been a few years since I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies)

oatmeal chocolate chip bars

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 tbs milk
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups oatmeal
a bunch of chocolate chips!
*I also added a rounded tablespoon of flax meal with the flour

Set the oven to 350
Grease a brownie pan
Beat the butter and sugars until light and creamy.
Add the eggs, vanilla, and milk, combining well.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flax meal.
Add to the butter/sugar mixture.
Add oatmeal and chocolate chips.
Press the dough into a pan and bake until the center is set.

Baking Tips!

Found this on a message board:

1. Good baking requires patience. If you try to rush it, you will end up with a mess. A good cake, pie, cookie, the list goes on and on, cannot be rushed. Things tend to turn out half-baked (yes, literally) or so badly that they are not edible. People tend to frown at you when serve them burnt cookies. (Hey, at least I tried.)

2. You do not have to always follow the recipe. I have started to learn to cook and bake by feel and taste more than by following a recipe. If you do not like one thing that is in the recipe but you do like everything else that is in it, take out the thing you do not like. I tend to add more of things I like into a recipe (chocolate) and take out things I don't (not chocolate). I have been known to add double the amount of chocolate chips to a cookie recipe and omit the nuts entirely. (Really, who needs all those nuts getting in the way of a good chocolate chip cookie!)

3. The devil is in the details. Little things like adding ingredients in the proper order can make all the difference. I have learned from very painful experience that putting the ingredients in the wrong way can easily ruin a baking recipe. The baking powder has to go in before you put it in the oven. (Who knew?)

4. It does not have to be complicated to taste good. Some of the best baking recipes that my mom ever made were ones that had five ingredients or less. If you are like me and do not have the patience to squeeze a million tiny dots onto a cake in order to make pretty frosting, it is nice to know that I can make something that is simpler and still tastes good. Sometimes it's nice to skip that whole thing of having to frost the cake entirely!

5. Always mix in some love. I am convinced that this is why store bought sweets never taste as good as homemade ones. Machines do not know how to inject this special ingredient. All baking recipes at the very minimum need at least one cup of love to be any good at all.

I wish you all happy baking with lots of love baked in!

Cheesy Biscuits

The perfect accompaniment to almost any meal! The ground flax seed is entirely optional.

• 1 1/3 cups biscuit mix (home-made or bought)
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Butter and Flour a cookie sheet (using butter and flour as opposed to nonstick spray will result in less spreading)
Combine all the ingredients well, and drop into about 6 piles onto the cookie sheet.
Bake about 10-15 minutes or until done!

Macaroni and Cheese

This is the way my mom used to make it. It will not taste like the boxed stuff, but it's damn tasty!

• 2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 12-0z can evaporated milk
• 1 tb. corn starch
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tb butter
• 1 shot hot sauce
• 1 tsp mustard
• 2 pinches garlic salt
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 cups cooked macaroni

Melt the butter over medium heat in a medium saucepan.
Add the evaporated milk, and heat until warm.
Combine the corn starch with 1 tablespoon cold water, and stir into the milk mixture.
Add the salt, hot sauce, mustard, salt, pepper, and garlic salt.
Cook over medium heat until slightly thickened.
Kill the heat, and add the cheese one handfull at a time, stirring well, and waiting until the cheese is melted before adding more. You may have to turn the heat back on for a minute or two if the sauce gets too cool to melt the cheese.
Combine with the macaroni and enjoy!

Orange Chicken

This is sort of a compilation recipe. I went surfing on www.recipezaar.com and a few copy cat websites, and put this one together based on what I had on hand. It seems I went a tad overboard with the orange lol! It was still really good though, so next time I will replace one orange with another liquid. I was thinking that peanut sauce might actually taste good in this.......

• 1 lb. chicken meat, cut into large bite-size pieces
• a few cups of oil (to deep fry)
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 cup flour (cake flour will give a nicer, lighter crust to the chicken)
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3 TB soy sauce
• 3 tsp corn starch
• 1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder
• 1 TB oil
• 1 packet of round table red peppers
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 TB minced ginger
• 4 oranges
• about 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• a few cups of vegetables (depending on what you have on hand)
• I used some broccoli, carrot, mushrooms, and a roasted pepper

Zest one of the oranges, and finely mince.
Juice all the oranges, and combine with the molasses, honey, soy sauce, and corn starch.
Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and water. Then add the chicken
Heat a few cups of oil until some batter dropped in bubbles rapidly.
Add several of the chicken pieces, and fry till crispy and cooked through (I just pull one out after several minutes to check it).
Continue with the rest of the chicken, placing the fried pieces in a 200 degree oven to keep warm.
Heat 1 TB of oil in a pan over medium-high to high heat, and add the ginger, garlic, orange peel, and 5 spice powder, and cook just till fragrant.
Add the veggies, and cook till just tender.
Remove the veggies from the pan, and put the honey-juice mixture in, and bring to a simmer.
Simmer until the sauce is thickened, and reduced slightly.
Toss the veggies and chicken with the sauce, and serve over rice!