Oatmeal Cookies with Dried Cherries and Dark Chocolate

I've started baking with my kids.  We put everything down on the floor where they can see what's going on, I explain everything I'm doing, and they can dump things into the bowl (or onto the floor), taste things at various stages, and see how it goes into the oven and comes out looking different.  It's been fun, although Ben is sometimes very sad when things go into the oven.  He's not sure if that deliciousness is ever going to come out again.

Yesterday, we made cookies.  I had some chocolate and dried cherries on hand, and combining those with an oatmeal cookie sounded great -- plus, then I could say that there were healthy elements to them!  The last recipe for oatmeal cookies I tried cooled to be very brittle, which I don't like at all.  These were much better, quite chewy.  That may not be everyone's preferred cookie texture, but I was going for something that didn't taste like it was necessarily just a dessert.  Something that could conceivably be a snack... or my secret breakfast this morning.  Don't tell my kids.

I'm happily perusing a few new cookbooks these days, and this cookie recipe comes from a big old volume from Gourmet magazine.  It's full of new ideas that I can't wait to try, although most of them will probably be "special occasion" meals and not weeknight dinners.  But we'll see.

Oatmeal Cookies with Dried Cherries and Dark Chocolate, adapted from Gourmet Today

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda, dissolved in 1 tablespoon warm water
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup dried fruit (I used cherries and raisins this time)
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips or chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter two baking sheets.

Beat together the butter, brown sugar, and egg.  Then beat in the baking soda mixture, flour, salt, and vanilla until well combined.  Stir in the oats, dried fruit, and chocolate.

Drop 12 spoonfuls of dough, arranged evenly 3 x 4, on each baking sheet.  Bake the cookies for about 10-11 minutes, let them cook on the pans for about 5 minutes, then transfer them to racks to cool completely.

This recipe made exactly 24 cookies for me.

Lamb with Cherries and Citrus Cous Cous

I wanted to do a pseudo Passover meal this week and since we were having some friends over Monday night it felt like a great thing to participate in together. Grant and I have seperately and individually joined in more official seder meals in the past but as an intro to our girls about what will hopefully become a yearly tradition for our family this is what we ate:

Lessons Learned:
- Orange Cous Cous is MUCH better than plain.
- I CAN cook yummy lamb! (contrary to my last two attempts which were dry dry dry)
- Grape juice is better in a wine glass.

Official Menu: Lamb boiled down in onions, orange juice and cherries, citrus cous cous, green beans, sparkling grape juice, matzoh, honey



Zola looking super psyched about having her own wine glass:


Lamb With Cherries And Couscous
(I googled 'Lamb recipe' and found this one here)

Ingredients
8 ounces whole onion or 7 ounces chopped onion (1 2/3 cups)
1 teaspoon olive oil
8 ounces assorted wild or plain white mushrooms
8 ounces boneless leg of lamb
Fresh or frozen ginger to yield 1 tablespoon coarsely grated
1 lemon
1 large orange
1 cup whole wheat couscous
1/3 cup dried cherries
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Preparation
1.Chop whole onion.
2.Heat large nonstick pan until very hot. Reduce heat to medium high; add oil, and cook onion until it begins to soften and brown.
3.Meanwhile, clean, trim and slice mushrooms; add to onion as it cooks.
4.Wash lamb and remove fat. Cut lamb into small cubes, add to onion and mushrooms as they cook, and stir to brown on all sides; remove from heat.
5.Following package directions, bring water to boil for couscous.
6.Coarsely grate ginger; finely grate lemon and orange rinds.
7.Add grated ginger and rinds and couscous to boiling water; cover and remove from heat, and allow to sit until water is absorbed and couscous is tender, about 5 minutes.
8.Stir the cherries, tomato paste and orange juice into the lamb; season with pepper; return to heat and cook through. Serve over couscous.
YIELD2 servings


Emily's Version:Omit the mushrooms because I accidentally used the ones I bought in a dish the previous night and it didn't sound good with mushrooms anyway.
Use lamb steaks with bones in because that's all I could find at Publix.
Double the recipe.
Add extra cherries because, hello! delicious.

Zola (3) ate the cous cous and some green beans and a few cherries and some matzoh without honey. She tried one bite of lamb, declared she LOVED it and wouldn't try it again. Niva (16 months) ate everything except the lamb which she promptly spit out after it made it's way into her mouth along with a bite of cous cous.