Cookies!!!!

Have you ever wondered why chocolate chip cookies can be chewy, crisp, soft, flat, thick, cakey, greasy, bland, flavorful, moist, or crumbly?

Today, we are going to talk about a lot of different versions of a basic cookie recipe and see what ingredients make the difference.

Loosely based on the blog Handle the Heat and The Kitchn....

Basic Control Recipe

142 grams all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
113 grams room-temperature, unsalted butter
75 grams granulated sugar
75 grams lightly-packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg, room temperature
170 grams chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until creamy, about 2 minutes. Scr...

MAHA - Pork Potstickers

Potstickers are easy to make and when you make them at home you can be sure the ingredients are really good.

PORK POTSTICKERS
yields 32

FILLING:
1 pound ground pork
4 cloves minced garlic
½ cup finely chopped green onions
3 tablespoons very finely minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 ½ cups finely chopped green cabbage
Place ground pork, green onions, garlic, ginger, 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon soy sauce, sesame oil, and cayenne in a mixing bowl.
Top with chopped green cabbage.
Mix with fork until thoroughly combined.
Tamp down lightly; cover with plastic.
Refrigerate until chilled, about an hour.

DOUGH:
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, ...

All About Eggs

If you have been in DD for any amount of time, you probably have heard me say that eggs are the cheapest way to get protein into your family. This is still true even with the price of eggs now. Children do better in school when they have eggs for breakfast instead of cereal. Eggs are a quick lunch and a quick dinner.
Today we are going to learn all about eggs and how to choose them, how to store them, how to make sure they are still good to eat, and how to cook them in lots of different ways.
How To Choose Eggs -
Buy the best ingredients you can afford. This is always going to be my advice to you. Even cheap grocery store eggs will still be good to feed your family. However, all eggs are not equal.
Organic is always preferable to conventional. This means that the hens are not fed GMO feed.
Good = Conventionally-produced eggs are from hens kept in tight confinement with no access to the outside and fed grains (largely GMO).
Better = C...

MAHA - Homemade Popcicles

Just like for gummies, there is a formula for popcicles.

2 cups of fruit
1 cup of fruit juice, milk, coconut water, or yogurt
2 to 4 tablespoons sweetener
Blend everything together until smooth.
Pour into molds, insert sticks, and freeze.
Remove pops from molds by running the mold under warm water, or by setting them in a sink of warm water for a few seconds.

I found it very helpful to use my kitchen scale. Just put the blender container on the scale and measure in your ingredients, taring between each one.
1 cup = 8 oz.

Just about every one of these recipes yielded 10 popcicles.

Strawberry Popsicles

2 cups of strawberries, roughly chopped
1 cup of coconut water
2 tablespoons of honey
Optional extras: 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla, 1 teaspoon of lemon zest, or orange juice instead of coconut water. You could also put in another summer fruit, like peache...