Coconut Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's been a while since I last shared a recipe, and I hope that this delightful cookie recipe will make up for the wait. I am always intrigued when I find a recipe with a twist on a classic recipe, and when I came across this recipe for Coconut Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies from Plain Chicken I knew I had to try it. I love coconut flavors in both savory and sweet foods, and fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view) I had all the ingredients on hand. To those who do not use coconut oil, you're missing out. You can cook with it like other oils, make your own chocolates like these, heck you can even use it as a hair mask. Basically, it's pretty darn handy.

The coconut flavor in these cookies is not overwhelming, but more a subtle hint in these pillowy-chocolate-chippy morsels.

I know you're not supposed to trust people when they say Trust me. But trust me on this one, these will change the way you look at those jars of coconut oil at the grocery store. Seriously.

I halved the recipe and made jumbo-sized cookies (8 total, so I'll give y'all the regular amounts in case you have a party or a bake sale to attend), but other than that I stayed true to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 c. flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups chocolate chips

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. 
2. In a large bowl, mix the coconut oil and sugar until smooth. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt, mix until combined. 
3. Fold in the chocolate chips, then divide the batter into golf ball-sized pieces of dough. This should yield roughly 3 dozen cookies, but if you want to make jumbo cookies, divide the batter into larger pieces so you make 16 large cookies
4. Bake in the center of the oven for 10-12 minutes. For jumbo cookies, the baking time increases to closer to 15-17 minutes.

Cool completely before storing in an air-tight container. Or if you're like me, wait until the chocolate is not molten so you can scarf one down and then regret not savoring the chewy, soft, coconutty flavors, rationalize that you really must experience that taste again and eat another one much slower. Then feel really full and delay making dinner for another 3 hours. 

Homemade Granola

Granola is a very humble treat, but that's part of the beauty of this unassuming snack. It's like oatmeal cookies, not very glamorous but oh so tasty.  Plus, when you make your own granola you know what you put in it. I am not a big fan of super sweet granola and I also prefer a less-sticky granola, so by making my own I can make it exactly how I want. Also, it's a great on-the-go breakfast or snack that I can carry around. When I first make a batch I portion it out into a few small and medium containers so that I have it ready to go later on. AND just be to even more wild I add dark chocolate chips to my granola so it's just as lovely on its own as it is on top of yogurt, mixed with berries, stirred with milk... you get the picture!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons hot water
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup cranberries*
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

1.  Preheat the oven to 325 F. 
2. Mix the honey, brown sugar, water, vanilla, and oil in a large bowl. Mix in the oats and almonds until coated. 
3. Spread the oat mixture over a large rimmed baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, stirring every 7-10 minutes. Bake until granola is golden.
4. Let granola cool on baking sheet, approximately 20 minutes. Pour granola into large bowl, mix in the cranberries and chocolate chips. Store in an airtight container. This granola will keep in the fridge indefinitely.

You can swap the cranberries for any other dried fruit such as blueberries, raisins, pineapple, mango, or goji berries. Remember, this is your granola, make it how you want!

Slow cooker Coconut Curry Chicken

I love putting a whole chicken in my slow cooker for an easy weekday meal, and this recipe is so juicy and tender that I think we will be slow cooking our chicken like this many more times to come. The BF isn't a huge curry fan, but the flavors are so subtle that even he was delighted with how the chicken turned out -- hooray! The coconut milk makes the chicken extra tender, it basically melts off the bone!


Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 can coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons green curry
• 1/4 cup sriracha
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

 Directions:

1. Do ahead: Place the chicken in a gallon-sized ziploc bag and add the rest of the ingredients. Let the chicken marinade overnight. 
2. Empty all of the ziploc contents into your slow cooker and cook over high heat for 6-10 hours. The longer the chicken cooks the more the meat will fall off the bone later. 
3. Once the chicken is cooked turn the heat off. Use tongs and a fork to take the meat off the bones, discard the bones or freeze them in a bag for making broth in the future. Let the chicken soak up the juice in the slow cooker as you prepare the rest of your meal (I like this served on top of rice with sauteed asparagus, snow peas, and basil!). Serve hot. 

Thai Soup

My mom would make this when I was growing up, and it has always been a favorite. She got the gist of the recipe from a Thai girl named Nook, who was doing a home-stay with a family we'd met in Costa Rica... although when we met Nook they were living in Arizona, and my family had road-tripped from Colorado to their house. I know, I know, my family history makes no sense, but basically if it weren't for them we wouldn't have had this amazing Thai soup that is now one of my favorite "mom" dishes. You know how your own mom makes some things like, so much better than any other mom? This is one of those things.
Anyway, it's a soup that has so many flavors and textures that it's a soup that you can make year-round and not get tired of it! To me, that's a gold star!

Feel free to add in any other veggies or nix ones on this list that you don't like. It's delicious served over rice, or just as a soup!

Makes: 4 soup servings or 6 servings over rice


Ingredients:

• 2 stalks of celery
• 2 large carrots
• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 can coconut milk
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 can bamboo shoots
• 8-12 white mushrooms
• 1 cup snow peas
• Green curry paste (to taste, I use 1 tsp at a time!)

Directions:

1. Chop the carrots into 1/4" thick coins, slice the celery stalks lengthwise in half then roughly chop, and cut the mushrooms into quarters. Heat a large pot to medium-low heat, then add your chopped veggies. Add a little canola oil or butter (depending how naughty you feel), then put a lid on and let it cook for 4 minutes. 
2. Chop your chicken breasts into 1/2" cubes, then add to the pot. Turn the heat to medium, and let the chicken cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Don't worry about the chicken being cooked all the way through at this point, you want it to finish cooking in the liquid. 
3. Add the mushrooms, snow peas, bamboo shoots, coconut milk, and 2 cups of chicken stock to the pot (I start with 2 cups and go from there depending on how soupy I want my soup to be...). Turn the heat back to medium-low, and let the soup simmer for about 10 minutes. After simmering, add a teaspoon at a time of the green curry paste to taste. The more curry you add the spicier it will be! You can add more chicken stock now if you want your soup to be thinner. Simmer for 15-20 more minutes, then serve hot.

Enjoy!
Hint: this soup makes for excellent leftovers! The flavors just keep on developing, but good luck staying away from it for more than a few days, it's delicious!



P.S. Speaking of my mom, this is her b-e-a-utiful website in case you want to know more about her!

Chicken Stiry-Fry with Easy Cocount Curry and Rice

I went out on a limb last night when I made dinner for myself and the BF - I made a curry dish. The BF is not a fan of anything curry, and he really does not like savory-sweet meals. He likes Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese... Indian? No. Middle Eastern? No. So when I was secretly pouring coconut milk and teaspoons of curry powder into our stir-fry, I was praying to the food gods that he would like it. And guess what? He liked it! Woohoo! This means I can now start making samosas and Indian-style cuisine when he's around.

This was incredibly easy to whip up! I happened to have all of the ingredients on hand which made it even easier.

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or 1 small chicken breasts)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 yellow onion
• 2 stalks of green onion
• 1 small head of broccoli
• 4 stalks of asparagus
• 6-8 mushrooms
• salt/pepper/dried basil/bay leaf
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 cup frozen peas 
• 1 can coconut milk
• 4 cups cooked rice
• Optional: Sriracha for extra spice

Directions:

1. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Chop all of the veggies (expect peas) into 1/2 to 1 inch chunks. Slice the chicken into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Add all ingredients except the last 4 ingredients to the pan and cook until chicken is browned, stirring occasionally. 
2. Add the peas and coconut milk to the stir-fry. Turn the heat to low, then simmer for 25 minutes.
3. Taste the curry, then add seasonings as necessary and sriracha if you want it hot!
4. Serve over warm cooked rice, making sure to scoop some of the sauce from the pan onto your rice!

Enjoy!