Cookie Memories ….

Food has such significance in our lives.  It  not only nourishes our body…in many cases, it nourishes our soul too.  Memories of my mom are steeped in some of her special dishes, cakes, and cookies.  This recipe was found among her many recipes and was titled “Healthy Ranger Cookies.”   I love home-made Ranger Cookies.  My grandmother used to make them special for me when I was a kid.   She would actually set aside some cookies and bag them up special for me to be sure I got some.   My mom put her special twist on Grandma’s cookie recipe when she replaced some of the egg with egg whites when the big cholesterol craze was going on back in the 80’s!   She and my dad both had to watch their cholesterol and eggs were considered at that time to be the big culprit!

I loved the fact that my mom altered the original recipe to help keep her and my dad healthy.  The cookies were good too…as good as Grandma’s and that is saying a lot!  So on Tuesday night, I made my mom’s recipe in anticipation of another Office Bake Sale scheduled for Thursday, October 31st.   The cookies turned out good although nothing tastes a good as when your mom makes them!   The cookies were ultimately packaged in cellophane bags and tied with pretty black/white and orange/white checkerboard ribbon.  I forgot to get a picture of the final product but I will say they looked yummy all packaged up for the Halloween Bake Sale today!

Ingredients:

1 cube oleo (this is how it is listed on my moms recipe card)  I use 1 cube butter

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 whole egg plus 2 egg whites

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup flour

1 1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

3 cups corn flakes

2 cups oatmeal

Directions:  Cream the butter and sugars until well blended; add the eggs and vanilla and mix until blended.  In a separate bowl, mix the flour with the baking soda and baking powder to be sure thorough mixed and add it to the creamed mixture.  Add the oatmeal and the corn flakes and mix thoroughly.   Drop by tablespoon (I use a cookie scoop) onto a greased baking pan.  I use the silpat liners which are great for cookies.  Bake at 350 degrees F for about 10 to 12 minutes.  These cookies spread out so be aware.  Allow to cool on baking tray for about 3-5 minutes.  The cookies are somewhat fragile when warm and require a clean spatula to take them off the baking tray.  Allowing them to cool a little also helps.

Soup’s On!

October …. and it is definitely cooling off here in Northern California.  For most of October the mornings had a chill but by noon the sun was very warm and it still felt like summer.   Cooler days have arrived and with it come soup and stew recipes to help take the chill off!

I made Pasta e Fagioli on Saturday, a copycat recipe for the soup served at the Olive Garden.  It is really very good and got thumbs up from two important men in my life … my husband and my dad!  It can’t get much better than that.  The ingredients are things you would normally have on hand … onions, carrots, celery, garlic, as well as pantry items such as cannelloni beans, kidney beans, tomato sauce, diced tomato, beef broth, and macaroni.   If you have hamburger in the freezer you are ready to go!   The herbs used are standard pantry items as well:  basil, oregano, thyme, and red pepper flakes.   The soup didn’t take long to make either.

Here is the link for this very tasty and easy soup.  http://stickafork.net/2012/11/pasta-e-fajoili-soup/

I recommend the soup and think the herb blend is just right!  My dad said it was GREAT!  That is good enough for me.

Enjoy!