Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

Gooey, sweet and amazingly satisfying

In middle and high school one of my best friends and I had this joke that she made fun of me for liking raisins and I made fun of her for not liking raisins. Last Christmas part of my present was a mini box of raisins, just to poke fun at our old joke. Funny thing is I really don't even like raisins anymore. The only time I'd really eat them is in an oatmeal cookie, and cranberries just do the trick a lot better.

And I know this blog is how we should be fat because we eat unhealthy things, and that these recipes are for the most part healthy (Rich and I even argued once that nachos would be perfectly healthy if there weren't chips because it's all vegetable, bean and cheese...), and now we're talking about somewhat healthy cookies. But I'm going to argue that in this case the healthy substitution actually makes the cookies taste better.

This is what two and a half pounds of dried cranberries looks like.

When we went to the store for ingredients I loaded up on the cranberries and Rich made fun of me. But we devour them between these cookies, my morning oatmeal and Rich helping himself while cooking. I admit going through the checkout line with almost six dollars worth of cranberries was a little much, but I do not regret having enough for two batches of cookies, weeks of breakfast and letting Rich dig in without worrying about running out.

Ingredients:

3 cups Oatmeal

1 cup Cranberries (or, you know, a pound)

1/2 cup Sugar

3/4 cup Brown sugar

1/2 cup Apple sauce (or butter, if you want a fat cookie)

1 1/2 cups Flour

1 teaspoon Baking soda

1 teaspoon Cinnamon
2 Eggs

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Salt

 I throw in a little extra of the brown sugar instead of the full white sugar amount.

Mix the apple sauce and sugars (real recipes call for a mixer, but I'm too lazy to clean one so I use a spoon). I get unsweetened apple sauce, but even with that and the cranberries you really don't have to put in the whole amount of sugar. In fact, getting sweetened apple sauce might just be too much.

 Gooey!

Apple sauce is used as a direct butter replacement. Whatever the recipe calls for in butter, use apple sauce instead and you'll probably never know the difference. I use apple sauce in these and in banana cake and it makes them moister and more flavorful and not at all apple sauce-y. I do this all the time and no one has ever been able to tell and you practically eliminate the fat.

 Super awesome picture!

Egg drop! Eggs and vanilla go in together. Again, I always at least double the vanilla cause I love it. Spring for real vanilla. The good stuff is always worth it.

 This is only half the flour.

Next is the rest of the dry stuff: flour, baking soda, and a pinch of salt. If you're using a mixer you might want to do the flour in batches so as not to become clouded in white dust... mixers tend to spread this stuff around like mad, even on low settings. (Or maybe I'm just not that good with a mixer.)

 Nice 'n thick

Mix everything together really well until there are no lumps or uneven areas. Make sure the baking soda and salt were blended through the whole thing.

 Half and half

Add your oatmeal and cranberries!

Stir it up. 

Every now and then I'll get a cranberryless cookie and that's sad, so make sure you stir real well. This is also why we add extra cranberries: makes it impossible to not get a cranberry.

 Almost there...

This is what your dough should look like. Loaded with those juicy little suckers. Grab a couple of spoons and make little cookies!

Make evenly sized cookies

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-12 minutes. The real recipe says 8-10 minutes but the apple sauce makes them take a little longer to cook. However, they do get this beautiful golden almost-crisp on the outside and stay super moist inside.

This recipe makes 3 cookie sheets of medium cookies.

I use these guys as a pre-run fuel because the sugar and cranberries will give me that immediate burst of energy I need while the oats keep me going for a surprisingly long time. Two little cookies is all it takes to hold me over, and they aren't so much that I feel them in my stomach. And sometimes they're a post-run hold over when my real meal is delayed. That (and Rich) is why 3 dozen cookies don't last a week. 

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Beer and Cookies

Screw milk. We drink beer.

This pairing is an ever so delicious stack of Trader Joe's chocolate chip cookies and Hangar 24 chocolate porter. It works because the porter isn't overwhelmingly chocolatey. And doesn't it look pretty?

Because making homemade chocolate chip cookies is quite honestly too time consuming for me (and expensive, because I like to use Ghirardelli chocolate chips), and because I generally don't eat enough cookies in one sitting to make it worth it, the refrigerated packages of dough that Trader Joe's sells are amazing. They're perfectly mixed: gooey, chocolatey and with the same exact ingredients you use to make cookies yourself. Plus, if I want cookies immediately I only have to wait 10 minutes.

Oh, and I <3 porters.

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Green Curry with Tofu

It took forever, it seems, but I finally got the hang of cooking tofu. The first few times I experimented with it the tofu came out soggy and completely unlike the deliciousness that Thai restaurants always serve up. But because it's a dollar a package and a good source of healthy protein I was determined to make it work.

And work it did. Turns out the key, at least for curry, is frying the tofu, which, admittedly, doesn't do much for its health benefits. But this blog is "we should be fat," not "we should be healthy role models."

Ingredients:

Rice

Tofu

Coconut milk (1 can)

Curry paste

Chicken or vegetable stock

Bamboo shoots

Bell pepper

Peas (or green beans)

Basil

Olive oil

Seasonings

Cheapest form of protein out there.

Cube and dry the tofu. Use a clean cloth or paper towl to soak up the extra juice that the tofu is packaged in. Put the tofu in a large pan on medium-high heat with just enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan and sprinkle the tops of the pieces with whatever seasonings you like. Here, we used a mix from Trader Joe's called Everyday Seasoning and sesame seeds. While that's cooking, make your pot of rice. Both brown rice and white rice work wonderfully, and I've just discovered this delicious short grain white rice that I'm going to use for sushi (stay tuned for that for sure) because it's nice and sticky, so that's what we went with this time.

Golden soy squares!

Once the tofu has a nice layer of golden brown on the bottom, flip each piece to let the other side fry. The seasonings you put on the top will now get seared into the tofu for extra flavor. Just the edges are going to be browned, leaving the middle parts white so it's still soft. Don't burn your tofu.

The tofu is soaking in the curry flavors.

After both sides have a nice crispy layer, lower the heat to medium and pour in the can of coconut milk, stock, and a generous tablespoon of curry paste. I also throw in some dried basil and red pepper flakes for an extra kick because the curry paste is pretty mild. And the "stock" was just a chicken stock cube tossed into the hot pan of coconut milk. I didn't bother with making it into actual stock, but that just ups the flavor. And my laziness is rewarded.

Curry really complements green bell peppers. The other colors just aren't quite as good.

Chop your vegetables. Cut the bell pepper into bite sized bits and chop up your bamboo shoots and green beans or whatever else you're using. Peas work best, but the frozen bags at Sprouts were twice as expensive for some reason, so we used green beans. Frozen veggies work really well in things like curry and sauce, but nothing beats fresh bell pepper. And frozen bell peppers always end up soggy.

Almost ready!

Put the veggies into the pan after everything else has cooked about 10 minutes or so. Keep it at medium or low heat and put in frozen veggies before the fresh ones. I prefer my bell pepper to be a little on the firm side so I only cook them about 5 minutes. This is also the point you add fresh basil if you have it. Which we didn't.

You can see the pepper and basil flakes!

Scoop the mix onto rice and be sure to get a good amount of the sauce. This dish is the most complicated to make so far but it's worth it. Took me three tries to get it right. Because we're fat kids, it fed us both generously for dinner and there was enough left for normal person seconds. I had my leftovers for lunch the next day and holy crap was it good. Letting it sit overnight allowed the curry to soak into everything for maximum flavor. Also, this dish cost less than $5 to make and there's still leftover rice and frozen veggies for next time.

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Tuna Casserole

Warm and gooey deliciousness!

Rich makes the ultimate comfort food: tuna casserole. Loaded with tuna and cheesy goodness and perfect for an after work weeknight or cold weekend. Or really any time. Because how delicious does this look? Pretty darn delicious.

Ingredients:

Pasta shells

Tuna

Corn

Cream of mushroom soup

Cheese

Step 1. Not so hard, right?

Boil the pasta shells. You don't have to use shells, but don't they look fun? Plus they fit on forks quite nicely.

They really do look fun.

Drain the shells and run them under cold water to stop the cooking process. You'll be baking them so you don't want them to overcook and get soggy.

 It's only good cause of the cream of mushroom.

Mix the shells with a can of cream of mushroom soup, a cup of corn and 2-4 cans of tuna (depending on how meaty you want it...).

 Cheeeeeeeeese.

Top the thing with cheese and pop it in the oven! Bake it really hot, at like 400 degrees, because you just want the cheese to get bubbly and crispy, not overcook the pasta. Leave it in for about 20 minutes, or as long as it takes to get the level of cheesyness that you want.

Devour!

We made this in a 8x8 pan for us two and it fed us fat kids twice (very generous portions both times). You could make this in a 13x9 pan for a family or company with 4 cans of tuna and 2 cans of cream of mushroom.

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Mini Caprese Appetizer and Orzo Salad

Mini caprese salad

This is simple, quick, and elegant enough to show off. And it's pretty healthy!

Caprese Salad Ingredients:

Grape tomatoes

Mozzarella balls

Basil

Toothpicks

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Salt and pepper

Seriously, you just skewer a basil leaf in between a mozzarella ball and grape tomato with a toothpick. Arrange them on a plate and sprinkle with salt and pepper and douse in a little bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar (more vinegar than oil, it's more delicious). Finger food!

Orzo Salad Ingredients:

Orzo

Sun dried tomatoes

Black olives

Mushrooms

Bell pepper

Basil

Goat cheese

Olive oil

Lemon juice

Prepare the orzo (boil, drain) chop the veggies and mix everything together! Ridiculously simple. Mix the whole thing with 1/3 cup of olive oil mixed with the juice from half a lemon. You can also add seasons, like salt and pepper, and maybe throw in a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar for a tang. Crumble goat cheese over the mixture and voila! The best thing about this dish is it can be served warm or cold.

Orzo with goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes

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Seared Ahi Tuna Steaks with Mashed Potatoes

Tuna, mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. Mmmm!

This is a deliciously impressive meal but is super easy to prepare. And delicious. Just want that part to be clear.

Ingredients:

Ahi tuna steaks

Potatoes

Corn on the cob

Spices (garlic, pepper, salt)

Heavy cream

Butter

Let the tuna marinate with some pepper and garlic for a while. Don't overpower the tuna, though, because the flavor is good enough on its own. 

 They're so purdy!

While the tuna is sitting, peel and boil the potatoes. Gold potatoes can be boiled with the skins on, as long as you're ok with a slightly lumpy result. Boiling time will depend on the size of the potatoes you use (Russets are giant and take forever to cook, Golds are much smaller and boil faster, but this will easily be the most time consuming part of the meal regardless of what kind of potatoes you use).

 Naked Gold potatoes

While the potatoes are boiling, shuck the corn and boil them, too. The potatoes will be done when you can stick a fork in one and it goes in easily. Drain the water and mash the potatoes with a spoon (or a potato masher, if you have one). Mix in a little bit of the cream, as in, like, 1/4-1/3 cup (you can always add more if you want it to be creamier), and add salt, pepper and garlic. Mash to your heart's content.

 Super creamy mashed potatoes. With lots of garlic :)

Put a tiny little bit of butter in a very hot pan and put in your tuna steaks. When the bottom has a thin layer of done-ness flip it with tongs and do the same to the other side. Get a nice even layer of done-ness on both top and bottom and let the spices get really seared into the steak. Sesame seeds are really good for searing tuna, too.

Pink on the inside

When the tuna is done, drain the corn (forgot to take pictures of the corn, but really you just throw them in some boiling water until they're as soft as you want them to be, not exactly real hard), add some spices to taste and nom!

 If this doesn't impress, I don't know what will

We paired this meal with Karl Strauss 22nd Anniversary Vanilla Imperial Stout, which is ridiculously good. Karl Strauss is one of the top craft brewers in San Diego and they make some seriously tasty beers. Not a single one that I've had has been boring in the slightest, and the 22nd Anniversary was something Rich had been saving for a special occasion (tuna steak night was pretty special). 

Stouts and porters are the best, and vanilla anything is soooo good

This beer also makes a great dessert. It's thick, dark and just sweet enough with the vanilla for after meals. It's not regularly available, though, so if you're lucky enough to get your hands on it I hope you enjoy it.

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Goat Cheese and Sun Dried Tomato Pizza

I'm pretty sure this was the first thing Rich and I made together, though that was back when we were just friends... we made it recently as a couple and we'll be making it again and again because it's delicious (and my favorite pizza!).

Ingredients:

Pizza dough

Pizza sauce (I omit this like, half the time)

Goat cheese

Sun dried tomatoes

Black olives

Mushrooms

We used herb dough!

Follow the instructions on the dough package for preparation. Let it rise for about 20 minutes on a floury surface and then knead and roll it into the shape you want. If you use a rolling pin flour it so the dough doesn't stick to it. 

Keep the sauce away from the edges so you can eat it.

Make sure your dough is even and reaches the edges of your pan otherwise it will curl away as it bakes, and sauce and cheese can fall into the oven. Spread the dough evenly with the pizza sauce and crumble the goat cheese over it. (You can also put some shredded mozzarella on the goat cheese for extra melty, but it's not necessary.)

Crimini mushrooms

Chop the olives and mushrooms and toss them on the pizza with the sun dried tomatoes. Try not to make the middle of the pizza too heavy or cutting it will be nearly impossible.

Make it colorful :)

Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is bubbly and the edges of the dough are browned (like 20-25 minutes).

Mmmm toasty!

Well, I started out writing this around 9:30pm, already having decided I would not snack even though snacking is the only thing I've been thinking about, and now I'm full on hungry. Maybe we'll make this again this weekend... 

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