Roast Beef n Cheese Rollups

Well, whaddaya know? Adding lettuce to the Roast Beef n Cheese Rollups makes it taste much more like a sandwich. You really don't need the bread! Picture below is iceburg lettuce covered in sliced smoked gouda cheese covered with a deli slice of roast beef slathered with mayo and then topped with freshly cracked black pepper. It's super yumster and a keto friendly version of a sandwich. 

Persimmon Cookies

I made lots of things from persimmons, however, they were just not turning out super delicious (and thus not posted) until I found this persimmon cookie recipe. And man are they Ahh-mazing!

Here's what you need:

3/4 cups sugar 

(my homegrown persimmons are ridiculously sweet so I cut the sugar in half to 3/4 cups)

1/2 cup butter

1 cup persimmon pulp 

(about 2 1/2 regular sized persimmons)

1 egg

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon clove

(accidentally added an extra 1/4 tsp of clove, but the cookie kinda tasted like a spice cookie, a super delicious spice cookie)

1 cup craisins 

(no raisins in the house, but we did have dried cranberries aka craisins)

1/2 cup walnut and 1/2 cup pecans

powdered sugar

These persimmons were over ripe.

1 cup persimmon pulp from the over ripe persimmons.

Mix 2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder, 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg and 1/2 tsp ground clove. Set aside.

In my kitchenaid, (it's awesome!) mix the 1/2 cup butter and 3/4 cup sugar.

Mix in the 1 cup persimmon pulp and 1 egg.

Then, add the flour mixture.

Add the 1 cup craisin, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, 1/2 cup chopped pecans.

Mix until everything is well incorporated.

Spray cookie sheet with Pam and commence cookie droppings. 

Bake in preheated oven of 375°F for 15-18 minutes or until nicely browned.

Then, sugar coat the cookies with powdered sugar. They're super amazing! This will definitely be something I want to make again. Too bad we're running low on persimmons.

Easy Meatloaf

The hubster and I went on a cruise to celebrate my birthday! That meant making something for pops to eat while we were gone. Of course his request was for meatloaf. The last time I made an Alton Brown meatloaf, but this time I wanted to try a different recipe. I decided to try Easy Meatloaf with a few minor changes from the original recipe. 

Ingredients1 1/2 pounds ground beef (I used roughly half ground beef and half costco meatballs)
1 egg
1 onion, chopped
1 cup milk
1 cup dried bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp smoked paprika powder
2 tablespoons prepared mustard (I used Safeway's coarse ground mustard)
1/3 cup ketchup

Just a little over 1 1/2 lbs of meat

1. Saute the onions with butter in a pan until just barely translucent. Lightly salt. 

2. In a food processor, have the costco meatballs chopped up (Do NOT puree).

3. Mix meatballs with ground beef.

4. Add the cooked onions, egg, milk, bread crumbs, cumin powder, paprika powder and salt and pepper.

5. Mix until all ingredients are well incorporated.

Stuff into a well-oiled/buttered loaf pan, then flip onto a cookie sheet. 

(Foiled cookie sheet for easy cleanup afterwards).

Mix ketchup and mustard together, then cover your meatloaf with the mixture. 

Bake in preheated oven of 350°F for an hour.

I took a little nibble from a corner and I have to say, it turned out pretty tasty! Even the ketchup and coarse mustard was very flavorful.

DIY Butter

I would just like to say, "I told you so." Le hubby did not believe me when I said that one can make butter from heavy whipping cream. We had this convo ages ago. Until today, when he looked it up online and randomly told me, "Hey, we can make butter with that [pointing to the heavy whipping cream in the fridge]." I told him, "I know. I told you that ages ago." Needless to say, he got the stink eye from me. Meanwhile, he proceeded to make butter.

He simply poured in some heavy whipping cream into a jar and closed it tightly. Then, he shook the jar for about 3 minutes (keep in mind he's pretty strong and works out daily) and saw results. I think it took maybe all of 7-8 minutes to get full on butter. Ta-da!

Buttermilk

Butter!

Avocado Chocolate Chip Cookies

by chef Gaby Dalkin 

[A thanks to K.K. for sharing this recipe with me! It was the first I ever heard of this and I was most curious. ]

1 Hass avocado (4 1⁄2 ounces) [side note: a Costco avocado usually has more than 4.5oz]
1⁄2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1⁄2 cups dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1⁄2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Cut the avocado in half lengthwise. Remove the pit from the avocado and discard. Remove the avocado from the skin and place the avocado flesh in a large bowl along with the butter and brown sugar. Cream together the avocado, butter, and sugar for 3 minutes, until fluffy. I merely used a bowl and my arm power. I'm not sure what fluffy means...

Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. 

Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder and slowly combine, making sure not to overmix the batter. Okay, I ended up using a hand immersion blender to get rid of some of the avocado chunks. I'm pretty sure I overmixed....

The rest of the flour mixture added into the batter.

Add the oats and chocolate chips and combine. Refrigerate the batter for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Using a 2 tablespoon scoop, scoop the batter onto a clean surface and, using wet hands, roll the dough into 12 balls. Flatten the cookies with the palm of your hand to create 2-1⁄2-inch disks. Arrange the 12 disks on the baking sheet. I don't have a cookie scooper so I used two spoons and guesstimated the amount. I didn't bother rolling the dough into balls as it seemed too sticky. Besides, why get your entire hands dirty when it's not necessary. :) I also managed to squeeze in 18 cookies per cookie sheet. heeheehee. 

Transfer the sheet to the top rack of the oven and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until the cookies are slightly golden brown on the edges but still soft in the middle. Remove from the oven and let rest on the baking sheet for at least 3 minutes before transferring the cookies to cooling racks. Repeat the process for remaining dough. You will bake 3 baking sheets total. I only had 2 baking sheets. 

Serve the cookies immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 weeks. I've had them in the refrigerator for two weeks and they taste fine. I'm not a fan of cold cookies which is why I think it's taking longer than usual for them to disappear.

These cookies are doughy and chewy and does taste like regular ol' chocolate chip cookies. The only giveaway it has avocados in them are the green specks here and there.