OATMEAL COOKIES

I made these this morning. Yummy! I love eating something that is at least partially healthy! :)

A pretty easy recipe. I have another recipe that is more work, but these are nearly as good. A little chewy with soft centers.

3 cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats. Do not substitute quick oats or any other kind.

IN A BOWL MIX

• 1 cup All Purpose Flour 
• 3/4 Tsp Salt
• 1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

IN ANOTHER BOWL MIX:

• 4 Tbsp melted and slightly browned unsalted butter
• 1/4 Tsp cinnamon  (add to browned butter when it’s done and removed from the stove)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg and 1 yolk lightly beaten
• 1 Tsp vanilla
• 1, 4 ounce block of Baker’s brand Premium White Chocolate Bar. You can use morsels, but check the ingredients. If it says palm kernel oil and other stuff it’s fake. It should say  “white chocolate!” Palm oil is really bad stuff.
• 1/3 cup of chopped whole almonds - pulse them in a food processor or chopper until about 1/4 inch inch pieces. (You can substitute pecans or walnuts or even macadamia nuts.) 

You could also add 1/3 cup of dried cherries, raisins or dried cranberries.

Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and mix well.

Add oats to mixture and mix well. The batter will be very stiff and hard to mix with a utensil - just use a clean hand to mush it all together.

Scoop about 1/3 cup of the mixture into balls and place on some parchment paper lined baking sheets. You’ll get about 6 per sheet. (You can use a 3 ounce cookie scoop if you have one.) With wet fingers, flatten each ball to about 3/4 inch thick.

Bake one tray at a time at 375 degrees. Bake for 10 minutes. The edges should be just slightly golden. Bake an additional minute or 2 if needed. Remove and let the cookies sit on the hot tray for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely. 

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Favorite Thing

Rana Pastas

On a whim I bought a package of this product a few months ago. I've never been very impressed with supermarket pastas like this. I can go to a local Italian market and get quality frozen fresh-made pastas. But this stuff is really good! My market only carries 3 or 4 varieties, but there are many. You'll find them in a refrigerator case. They are not frozen and they keep in the fridge quite a while. They also sell "Family" size packages. I've seen them at Sam's and Cosco. Check out their website. They have lots of recipes for using their product.

Rana Pasta USA

The pasta has a nice tooth to it and the 4 cheese filling is quite delicious - not bland at all. It makes for a quick meal with simple sauces. I've also bought the sausage filled ravioli and they are good as well.

There are about 15 large ravioli in the package. They do get larger after you boil them so a package can feed 2 to 3 people depending on how you prepare them. You can use what you need and keep the rest refrigerated or freeze them. Some times I just do a simple olive oil, butter and garlic with some grated parmesan. Other times I made a simple marinara. The last time I made them I placed them on some non-stick foil on a cookie sheet. I spread a little marinara meat sauce on top then topped that with grated mozzarella cheese. Then I put them under the broiler until the cheese melted. Yummy.

I'm toying with the idea of using them to make a lasagna - replacing lasagna noodles and ricotta cheese with layers of these ravioli (parboiled a few minutes, but not completely cooked) and meat sauce and mozzarella. It would probably take at least 2 packages to make a small lasagna.

Do I dare?

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