Deb over at Smitten Kitchen had this recipe up awhile back, and it's super yummy. Be sure to not overbake them; they get a little crunchy and lose their chewiness.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2 cups minus 2 tbsp. (8 1/2 oz.) cake flour
• 1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 oz.) bread flour 
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp. granulated (white) sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 lbs. dark chocolate (I didn't use this much; the husband likes his cookies a little less chocolate-y) and see if you can use really big pieces like Ghirardelli bittersweet chips
• sea salt (kosher would be okay, too)

Sift together your dry ingredients (flour-salt) into a bowl. Why? It gets out the lumps in your flour and adds a little extra air. Don't skip this step. In another mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. What does cream mean? You want the dough to become light in color and bulk up a bit. Add the eggs, and wait until the first one is completely mixed in before adding the second. Then add the vanilla.

Now on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients. Why slow? This way you won't get a flour shower, and it helps the dry ingredients become evenly incorporated into the wet. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to get all the dough together. Last, stir in the chocolate. Now cover the dough with plastic wrap, and make sure the plastic is actually touching the dough. Why? I honestly have no idea. I think it keeps it from drying out, but seriously I don't know. I just do what I'm told. Chill the dough in the fridge for 24 to 72 hours.

When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Scoop golf ball sized balls of dough onto a cookie sheet (I like those air bake ones, and I used a little food scoop but spoons are great), and space them decently apart. Sprinkle the tops with a little bit of sea salt. I know, I know. Just do it. Then bake for 18-20 minutes. I have a convection oven, so mine only took about 12 minutes. Like I said before, just watch them so they don't overbake.

Here's a great key. Once they're out of the oven, leave them on the pan on a cooling rack for about ten minutes. Then move the cookies to another cooling rack. Why? (I sound like a three year old with all these questions.) The cookies come up so easily. For real. No muscle to pry them from the pan, and I didn't even use parchment paper like Deb suggested. (Maybe I don't always do what I'm told.)

These are great cookies to give as gifts because they're extremely sturdy and stackable and transportable. My butter-suckin' cookies have so much butter that they all sort of sink into each other. These don't. Very user-friendly if cookies can be user-friendly.

What's your favorite holiday cookie? I want some new recipes. :)

By the miracle of technology, I'm writing this on a day that's not Thanksgiving, so I don't have any photos for you of my perfect turkey sandwich. However, I'm sure your imaginations can do it justice.

Here are just a couple of tips to make that turkey sandwich sing.

1. Heat up the turkey before you put it on the sandwich. Warm turkey is king.
2. Lightly toast the bread or just heat it up a few seconds in the microwave so it's warm and really soft.
3. Mix mayonnaise with a little cranberry sauce to use as a spread.
4. Season the sandwich with salt and pepper.
5. Maybe put a little warm stuffing on there, too.

I promise that with these five tips, your turkey sandwiches will be just as good as the big meal. Well, close. Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday! We have so many things to be grateful for, and I hope that your time with family and friends is encouraging and full of reminders of all that you've been blessed with! See you in December!

I just cooked pork barbecue in a slow cooker... using liquid smoke. Please give me a chance to explain before you start hurling your hickory wood chips at me.

Any barbecue expert (and I'm definitely not one) will tell you that the biggest key to good barbecue is SMOKE. Low and slow with lots and lots of smoke to permeate the meat and make it into amazing-fall-off-the-bone goodness. I don't have the patience or the smoker for that. Blurg.

The other day I was listening to The Splendid Table on iTunes and heard a guy talk about cheating at barbecue by putting a big piece of pork in a slow-cooker with some spices and some liquid smoke. Liquid smoke is exactly that - smoke that's been concentrated and turned into a liquid. It smells like SUPER smoky barbecue sauce. Go figure. The husband is obsessed with pork barbecue, so I wanted to surprise him by trying it myself. And it actually turned out pretty good!!!

Slow-Cooker Barbecue

*Adapted from The Splendid Table's recipe

First, buy a BIG piece of pork. Shoulder, butt, or even ribs if you want. I got a Boston pork butt that was about seven pounds. Cut the one big piece into several 3-inch chunks, and put those in your slow-cooker. If you use ribs, don't worry about cutting them up.

Next, make a spice rub. Use 1/4 cup of paprika, 2 tbsp. each of salt and black pepper, and 1 tbsp. each of garlic powder and dry mustard. Mix all of that together and coat the pork on all sides with it. Then pour a 1/3 cup of liquid smoke into the cooker. I thought I'd have to search high and low, but I found mine at Wal-mart right next to the barbecue sauces.

Put the lid on, crank the level up to high, and cook for six hours. You could also cook it on low for 12 hours if you're going to be gone all day. And DON'T REMOVE THE LID. You'd be amazed at how much heat you lose, and it will definitely throw off your cooking time. Just trust it. Live in harmony with your slow-cooker.

When I pulled the pork out with tongs, it was SOOO tender and just fell apart like good barbecue is supposed to do. Then I just shredded it up a bit with a fork. Super easy.

A note. North Carolina barbecue uses vinegar in its sauce, and this pork needed a shot of vinegar to cut through the richness and smoke. So drizzle your freshly shredded pork with a good amount of regular vinegar (apple cider would probably be good, too) until it tastes like you want it.

I mean, I'm not going to be entering any barbecue contests anytime soon, but this was a nice change of pace, really easy, and a great way to satisfy the man's carnivor needs. Give it a shot, and taste it before you yell at me.

I say the unsung hero of the Herb World is mint. Lovely lovely herb. It's not just for gum and putting on top of desserts like they do in the cookbooks.

Mint. Is. Awesome.

In dinner dishes. With salty things. Shocking, right?

One of the ways to be a good cook is to understand what foods go together, and mint and feta cheese are two of those things. Cook up some pasta, some browned and seasoned ground turkey, maybe a little sauteed eggplant or zucchini, add a little feta and fresh mint, and you've got an awesome meal. Spruce up a grilled chicken salad by adding feta and mint, maybe along with some tomatoes and olives. Make a unique pizza with a little pesto, some grilled shrimp, feta, and sprinkle with mint when it comes out of the oven. So many options, but if you use these two ingredients together, you'll almost certainly have a winner.

Why? Why do they go together so well? Some things just do, and you can't explain it. (See peanut butter and jelly.) BUT I'll try. Feta is nice and salty but with a mildness that doesn't overtake whatever food it's paired with. Mint is fresh and vibrant and just a little sweet, but I promise it doesn't taste like you're chewing gum. The salty of the feta complements the sweetness of the mint, and since both are strong flavors but not terribly overpowering, they're a nice bright combination for lots of bland or earthy flavored foods.

Remember, if you start with great ingredients, you'll end up with a great dish. Go for flavorful ingredients that go together, and you won't need a ton of spices and fat to try and make it taste good. Easy, tasty, healthy, cheaper, prettier... do I need to keep going?

Is your money tight? Sorry... stupid question.

Sarah's Cucina Bella and Sweetnicks are hosting a little Monday challenge to help us stretch our dollars.

Dinner for four for less than $10.

Main course, and one serving of vegetables per person. Salt, pepper, one tablespoon of herbs, and 1/4 cup of oil are freebies. Sound good?

Red Beans and Coconut Rice with Lime Side Salad

Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers

 The beans:

• one small onion
• 1 tbsp. canola oil
• two cans of red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• one large can of crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp. each of red pepper flake and dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp. fresh nutmeg
• two good pinches of salt

The rice:

• 1 tbsp. canola oil
• 1 1/2 cups white rice (short grain if you can)
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 14 oz. can of coconut milk
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro (about a third of a bunch)

 The salad:

• one head of romaine lettuce, washed and dried well
• one lime
• 2 tbsp. fruity olive oil

The process:

Start your rice first.

In a saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat, and add your rice and spices. Stir that for about two minutes. Add the coconut milk and water, and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, turn the rice to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

While the rice cooks, work on the beans. In a skillet, heat the oil over medium heat, and add the diced onions. Season with a little salt and pepper, and cook for about three minutes, stirring a couple of times throughout. Add the canned tomatoes, the drained beans, the red pepper flake, thyme, and nutmeg. Stir, cover, and simmer on low for about 15 minutes. The rice and beans will be done at about the same time. While those cook, chop the cilantro, and cut up the lettuce for a salad. Make your own vinaigrette with the juice of the lime and the oil, and toss the salad with the dressing. Then top the rice with the beans, sprinkle with cilantro, and go to town. Cheap and tasty meal.

The price breakdown (all from Wal-mart):

• coconut milk (1.29)
• tomatoes (1.29)
• beans (1.98)
• 1/4 bag of rice (0.58)
• small yellow onion (0.70)
• 1/3 bunch of cilanto (0.43)
• lettuce (1.99)
• lime (0.69)
• Total (incl. tax) - $9.13

Not gonna lie... I didn't think this dish would be totally great. I figured it'd get a "just okay." Boy, was I wrong. This dish is surprisingly tasty. Creamy, a little sweet, a nice lingering heat, comforting, and delicious. Please try it. It's worth it. Especially at less than ten bucks.

Beth over at Biggest Diabetic Loser tagged me for the seven random facts thing, and since it's the weekend and I'm a lazy butt in my pajamas, this is the perfect solution to what-should-I-post-about? dilemma. I've already given you my quirks, so here are my random facts. Not sure how to differentiate, but I'll do my best.

1. I can't do a cartwheel. Who am I kidding... I can't even do a forward roll the right way. We'll say my center of gravity is off, but really I'm just a total wuss.
2. I have to look up how to spell wuss.
3. I get emotional when I experience food. Tears and everything. I'm seeing a wuss theme here...
4. I secretly want to be in a band. I guess it's not a secret anymore.
5. I wore overalls practically every day of my high school and unmarried college career. Seriously. Why didn't someone say something?
6. My husband is my first and only everything. And I can hear you "awwing" from here.
7. I fulfill 66 of the 115 things white people like, i.e. I'm incredibly white. How ironic that I'm married to a Japanese man.

]]>How to Roast Potatoes (with lots of people in your house)http://www.myfirstkitchen.net/blog/2008/11/10/how-to-roast-potatoes-with-lots-of-people-in-your-house.htmlKendra2008-11-10T05:00:09ZRecipes Fun StuffI'm. Wiped. Out.

But all of you sweet people were totally worth it.

A huge thanks for coming to the Those Creative Women show last weekend and buying lots of hand-crafted items to shower your loved ones with (or hoard for yourself) this Christmas. I met Sissy and Kristi and Alexa and saw Bye Bye Pie from afar. I know; I should've said something. Totally didn't. Totally regret it.

I had a great time with my partners in crime - Kate and Lauren (fanning themselves with money), Cindy, Melody, The Nester, and her sister Emily (even though she wasn't selling anything).

And luckily, most of my food was eaten with relish. Clarification: not pickled relish. It was the debut of my food-for-sale endeavors (more about that later in the week), and it was fun to see people enjoy what was offered. I do have a huge container of truffles left though. Umm, darn.

To digress a quick moment, I promised you roasted potatoes. I have no pictures of these (my sincerest apologies), but you don't need them with something this simple. Get some red or new potatoes, ones with a thin skin you can leave on. Cut them into cubes, and put them in a roasting pan/casserole dish/cookie sheet. Pour over some extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and my Meat and Potato herb mix or any kind of earthy herb mixture you like. Toss it all together so the potatoes are evenly coated with the oil and herbs, pop into a preheated 450 degree oven, and cook for about 30-40 minutes, stirring halfway through, until the potatoes are browned and a little crunchy. Super easy, and super tasty.

So what's next for The Women? Not sure yet, but I think we're probably going to be doing this again next year. I'm already planning a menu. I realize I'm a dork; please don't judge.

Now I leave you with my favorite photo of the day. You'll see the aforementioned Kristi, Tina (whose mom is Japanese so she's already a favorite), The Nester, and Emily. Do you notice only one of them is looking at my camera? My camera that was off to the side and not the main say-cheese camera of this photo op?

Yep. The Nester. The rock star. She just has a sense of these things. Just another confirmation that girlfriend is a legit celebrity.

The Fabulous Day of Shopping and Social Delights is TOMORROW!!

Bring a friend, your Christmas list, and carpool if you can. Don't forget... free gift wrapping and food!! Can't wait to see you there!

I love it when I don't need a recipe, and this is one of my favorite non-recipe cooking methods. EVER. Put cooked meat, vegetables, a can of tomatoes, some herbs, and some mostly cooked pasta in a bowl. Stir it together, pour it into a casserole dish, top with cheese, and bake it. Easy, tasty, and a great use for leftovers.

My leftovers? Half a sleeve thing of Italian sausage and half a can of crushed tomatoes. My kitchen staples? Roasted red peppers and frozen spinach. The only pasta I have left in the house because I haven't gone big time grocery shopping in weeks? Whole wheat rotini (that you might recognize from last week).

So I cooked the pasta in salted water for about a minute shy of being done. That way the noodles don't get mushy in the oven. I browned the sausage, cut up a couple of roasted red peppers, and thawed and squeezed out some frozen spinach. Add a small can or half a large can of crushed tomatoes, a good bit of salt and pepper, about a tablespoon of dried oregano (or basil or Italian seasoning or whatever you want), stir, and pour into a casserole dish.

Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese (parmesan and provolone would be good, too). And sorry about the obvious lighting difference in those two pictures; I was playing around with the white balance on my still-very-new-to-me camera. Bake at 375 for twenty-five minutes or so, until the cheese is melted and the edges are a little bubbly.

Remember, this is a GREAT dinner idea where you can use ANYTHING you have. Have fun with it!