Peanut Butter Cookie Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches

I'm not sure which came into my head first, the peanut butter cookies or the chocolate ice cream. But the two ideas met there and became this dessert I made for Pritchard Parker.  I took the sandwiches a step further by rolling the edges in chopped, toasted peanuts.

One of my favorite peanut butter cookie recipes is from the blog, Simply Recipes. Elise's blog was the first food blog I ever encountered. In fact Elise's blog first introduced me to the concept of blogging.  That was several years ago, and I still visit her blog often. She has hundreds of recipes, very well organized with a fantastic index, and every one I have tried was delicious. I like her blog because it doesn't overwhelm with photographs or gimmicks.   I sound like a paid sponsor, but trust me, Elise doesn't know me from Adam's house cat. 

This recipe calls for half granulated sugar and half brown sugar, which is what I always use. I discovered I was out of brown sugar and I'm not sure how that happened. I'm usually careful to keep my pantry supplies replenished. But while I was digging around, I rediscovered a box of turbinado sugar and decided to use it.  The cookies turned out great! We loved the texture of them and I'm already planning to bake another batch.

Peanut Butter Cookies

(adapted from Simply Recipes)

1 cup turbinado sugar

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 egg

1 1/4 cup flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

Cream the butter for 2 minutes. Add the sugar and cream for 2 more minutes.  Mix in the peanut butter and egg.  Mix together the dry ingredients; stir into the peanut butter mixture.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Shape dough intoo 1 1/4 inch balls.  Place about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.  Flatten in crisscross pattern with a fork.  Bake until light brown, 9 to 10 minutes.  Cool on baking sheets for a minute, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Fish Tacos with Pineapple Mango Salsa

Because I love to cook so much (plus I may be mildly obsessed with knowing exactly what is in the food we eat, as well as sanitary conditions) we rarely eat out.  But every once in a while, I relax and it is very nice to eat out--to not cook or wash dishes.

There is a Mexican restaurant, right down the street, (with an excellent sanitation rating) we always enjoy. It is not the usual style of Tex-Mex featured in most of the Mexican eateries in our area. I don't really know how to describe it, but it seems fresher and their menu features a lot of fish and seafood.

Pritchard Parker loves their fish tacos and almost always orders them. They dress the tacos with a green sauce he just adores. He always wants me to taste it, and I think it is a chimichurri sauce. Because I had both fresh pineapple and mango on hand, I made a salsa with them. But I do have more talapia in the freezer, so will be experimenting with the green sauce next time.

Fish Tacos
1 pound white fish such as talapia
1/2 cup flour
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/2 cup ginger ale
Extra flour for dusting fish
Tortillas
Pineapple Mango Salsa

Cut fish filets into approximately 2 ounce pieces and dry with paper towels.

Make the batter by whisking together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Mix together the egg and ginger ale, then stir into the dry mixture. 

Heat about 1/2 inch oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Preheat the over to 200 degrees. When the oil is hot, briefly fry the tortillas, but don't get them too brown. Drain on paper towels and keep warm in the oven.

Dip the fish pieces into flour then into the batter. Fry in the hot oil until golden brown on each side.

Pineapple Mango Salsa
1/2 of a fresh pineapple, peeled, cored, and diced
1 mango, peeled and diced
1 small red onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 -2 fresh jalapenos, minced
Juice of 2 limes
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. chili powder
Salt to taste
Honey, optional, if your fruit is too tart

Combine the pineapple, mango, onion, bell pepper, and jalapenos. Add the lime juice, olive oil, and chili powder. Stir well to mix together. Taste and add salt and/or honey, to taste.

Sesame Chicken

I love the flavor of sesame seeds. It is amazing how much flavor those tiny seeds have, especially when they are toasted. When I was a girl, I was always so happy when Mama sprinkled them on her homemade breads. I don't know why I never told her that; I'm sure she would have happily used them more often. . .

This is a simple Sesame Chicken recipe. There are more complex ways to prepare this dish which surely add more depth of flavor. But for a simple weeknight supper, you really can't miss with this one. 

Sesame Chicken
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, patted dry and cut into bite-size pieces
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil
1 Tbsp. fresh grated ginger
2  cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp. teriyaki sauce
1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds, plus more for serving

To toast sesame seeds, place them in a small, dry skillet (preferably stainless) and roast slowly over low heat, stirring often with a wooden spoon, until the seeds turn golden brown, give off a nutty fragrance, and begin to pop, about 20 minutes.

In a large skillet,  brown the chicken pieces in a little oil over medium high heat.

While the seeds toast and the chicken browns, make the sauce. Combine the honey, soy sauce, water, cornstarch, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, and teriyaki sauce. 

When the chicken is brown, pour over the sauce and sprinkle with 1 Tbsp. of the toasted sesame seeds. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the chicken begins to absorb the sauce.

Serve with rice and garnish with additional toasted sesame seeds

For additional information about sesame seeds, see Gomasio

The Hot Brown

The Hot Brown Sandwich is an open face turkey sandwich with tomatoes, mornay sauce, and crispy bacon, originally created by Chef Fred Schmidt in the 1920's, to serve late night guests of the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. 

The original recipe calls for one quart of heavy cream and 14 ounces of turkey for 2 sandwiches! While I'm sure it is quite delicious, I'd be lucky to make it through half of one of those.  For my lighter version, which is still plenty rich and satisfying, I used whole milk for the sauce, and about 3 ounces of turkey per sandwich.

When I make these in the summer, I love to use thick slices of garden ripened tomatoes. For now, I used grocery store Roma tomatoes, which I cut in half, lengthwise, drizzled with a little olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, then broiled until beginning to brown.  This really helps bring out the tomato flavor.

And finally, I used whole wheat bread rather than the white bread called for in the original recipe.

Hot Browns
(4 sandwiches)
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. flour
3 cups milk
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup Pecorino Romano cheese
12 oz. sliced, roasted turkey breast
4 slices whole wheat toast
4 broiled Roma tomatoes
8 slices crispy bacon

In a 2 quart, heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour until smooth. Cook for a couple minutes, then slowly whisk in the milk. Cook and stir until the sauce starts to boil.  Remove from heat and stir in the salt, pepper, and cheese, blending until smooth.

Place a slice of toast in an oven proof dish. Top with turkey slices, then tomatoes, then spoon over some of the cheese sauce. Continue making all the sandwiches the same way. Place the sandwiches under the broiler until the cheese sauce begins to bubble and brown. Criss-cross 2 slices of bacon over each sandwich and serve immediately.

Egg Salad

I am suspicious of some foods unless I make them myself. Egg Salad is one of them. I never even ate egg salad at all until a few years ago. And it is was not a favorite with Pritchard Parker either.

I have seen little egg salad finger sandwiches served at fancy events; bridesmaid luncheons, receptions, socials, and teas, all my life. But boiled eggs mashed together with mayonnaise into a yellow paste, then spread on fluffy white sandwich bread with the crusts cut off, never appealed to me. Even when cut into cute little triangles and stacked on silver trays. 

Then I had leftover Easter Eggs and decided to try egg salad as a way to use them. I made it very simply, with minimal mayo and no mustard (even though I do love mustard and have at least 5 varieties in my kitchen right now) plus a couple of other touches.  It was not bad. Although "not bad" is not a goal in my cooking, I felt less prejudiced against egg salad. 

And now I can say I have experimented with egg salad a few times.  And I have seen many recipes for it. There are as many ways to make it as there are cooks' imaginations. I've seen it made with bacon and cheese, which seems like a pretty natural combination with eggs. Alice makes hers with mashed ripe avocado rather than mayonnaise.

A couple of days ago, Pritchard Parker came home with a jar of Boar's Head Sweet Pickle Chips with Horseradish. I could. not. stop. eating. those pickles. They were delicious!  Because I had already been thinking about Easter Eggs, I decided to make an egg salad with those pickles. We loved it.

Easter Egg Salad

6 hard boiled eggs, coarsely diced

1 Tbsp. finely chopped sweet onion

3 Tbsp. sweet pickles, chopped

2 Tbsp. mayonnaise

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Gently combine ingredients. Chill thoroughly before serving. 

Serve on whole wheat toast with extra pickle slice.