Musings From The Kitchen

Until recently, it's been my hubby who was the main cook our home. I honestly loathed it...even the thought of what to prepare for dinner gave me heartburn. I never learned as a kid and really, didn't have any desire to as an adult! My dad used to joke that I better marry a chef...and thank the Lord that I pretty much did! Chris LOVES cooking...and he is just so good at it! So why would I even try to take that joy away from him? ;)

In all honesty, I was really intimidated by cooking. Baking, I enjoy...but cooking was too scary. Baking is kinda like math...2+2=4. You follow the recipe...and it will always yield the same results. But with cooking, it's so open to interpretation. Or if you're like Chris, you don't ever use a recipe cause you're just so good at coming up with food/spice pairings in your head!!! Pa moi (Not me...for the french illiterate!)

Well this all changed once I became a momma! I had my first kidlet, Leah, almost two years ago. And there was something about that maternal instinct that really kicked in and I found myself wanting to learn how to cook. I tried some new dishes here and there but the main chef was still the hubs.
Then, about 6 months ago, I went on a second maternity leave when my son Gabriel was born. I found myself with an even greater desire to explore things in the kitchen with my daughter now eating pretty much all adult food too.

But the REAL inspiration came in October of last year, when I discovered Pinterest. I don't even know what it was or still is about it...maybe it's the picture...maybe it's the personal blog/reviews...who knows...but whatever it is...it's changed my/our lives...for real! Coupled with Pinterest came the discovery from one of my dearest friends, Melanie Driedger, of an app called Paprika! This took my pinterest recipe obsession and new found love of cooking to a whole new level! It's an app where you can digitally store all your recipes...but it's so much more then that! You can meal plan, make grocery lists, rate/categorize recipes and the best feature, share recipes with other Paprika users (you can also email recipes to any friends in a recipe format). This has made organizing my Pinterest recipes so easy! AND...it synchs between desktop to iPad to iPhone! GENIUS!

Desktop View of Paprika

Armed with these tools, I can proudly say that I have now become the main cook in our home! I LOVE finding new recipes and making meal plans...and when the food is actually amazing (truthfully only had a few bad ones so far), it just sends me over the moon!

So, all of that said, I've decided that I am going to post a recipe a week...something I've tried and I LOVED! I love when people share a great recipe with me...so I figure, why not share mine with you! And if you happen to have Paprika, let me know and I'll send the recipe to you directly!
Happy Cooking/Baking!

Recipe #1: Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

This was one of my first pins ever! They claimed to be the BEST, most fluffiest chocolate chip cookies you'd ever had from this blog: http://kelseysappleaday.blogspot.com/ I have such a sweet tooth and absolutely LOVE choc chip cookies! So I thought I'd give them a try! Let me tell you...this is NO word of a lie! These are AMAZING! I would go as far as saying, throw out whatever choc chip cookie recipe you are currently using and make this your new go-to recipe! You will thank me later!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened 

3/4 cup brown sugar 

1/4 cup  granulated sugar 

1 egg 

2 tsp vanilla extract 

2 cup all purpose flour 

2 tsp cornstarch 

1 tsp baking soda 

1/2 tsp salt 

1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy and light in color. Add egg and vanilla and blend in.

3.  Mix in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chunks.

4.  Using a standard-sized cookie scoop or tablespoon, drop dough onto a prepared baking sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges.  (The tops will not brown, but do NOT cook longer than ten minutes.)

5.  Let cool, on the sheet, on a wire rack for five minutes.  Remove from baking sheet and let cool completely.  Makes approximately 3 dozen.  

Weight watcher points = 3 points+ per cookie...but SO worth it :)