(oatmeal) chooocolate chip cookies

these are soooo tricked out....we take the chocolate chip cookie to the edge kick it against the wall and yet its still 100% chocolate chip cookie

okay, here it is:

3/4 cup chocolate chips

okay, stop. right. here.

chocolate chip cookies are only as good as the chocolate you put in them. get good stuff - semisweet or (better yet) bittersweet. sometimes i'll go as far as taking a bar of Scharffen -Berger or Lindt and chopping it up, but there's also high quality chips (ie. Ghiradelli) to be found

alright, heres the rest of it:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups rolled oats (i find "quick" or even instant oatmeal work best)
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

(sometimes some cashews slip in my dough, but optional)

-Set 2 racks in the middle and upper thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
-In a medium bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and oats, together

-In a large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until blended

-Mix the egg, vanilla, and maple syrup together and mix in until smooth

-Gradually mix in the flour-oatmeal mixture and then chocolate chips.
-Drop rounded dough onto a nonstick or (as jonah rock's it) parchment-lined baking sheet.

-Bake for 9 minutes.

-Set the cookie sheets on a rack to cool.

consume.

Spinach Lasagna

this is among my most reliable recipes - hard to screw up once you figure it out the first time, always good...

1 26oz jar of your favorite pasta sauce (i like muir glen fire-roasted)

Package Spinach*

1 15-16 ounce carton of ricotta cheese

1 package shredded mozzarella

1 package lasagna noodles (San Giorgio "Oven-Ready" is best)

Large baking dish

A little extra asiago/mozzarella/parmesan

-Preheat oven to 350

-Mix Spinach, Ricotta, and Mozzarella in large bowl

-Spread about 2TBLS water and 2TBLS sauce in bottom of the dish

-Lay 3 (or 4 if of the skinny sort) noodles across

-Spread 1/2 the Spinach mixture

-Spread 1/3 of Sauce

-Lay 3 Noodles across

-Spread 1/2 of the Spinach

-Spread 1/3 of the Sauce

-Lay 3 Noodles Across

-Spread remainder of Sauce

-Sprinkle with some cheese (such as asiago, and/or more mozzarella)

-Add some Basil if you have it

-Bake 30 minutes

-Broil 5 minutes

voila!

*For spinach, I take the normal-size Earthbound fresh spinach box, throw it into a hot sauce pan until just wilted and drain it; or you can use a thawed box of frozen spinach - but it must be drained *very* well