Polly's Everything but the Kitchen Sink Cookies

I texted my sister and asked about those "kitchen sink" cookies, hoping she'd send me her recipe for these fantastic cookies that she makes that have so many great flavors- fruit, nuts, coconut, chocolate- you name it, it's in there.

She was funny, as you can see from our text interchange. 
Since I didn't get a real recipe out of my sister, my recipe is loosely based this one from Martha Stewart. 

One note, I used walnuts in this recipe and didn't stop to taste them before mixing them up.  Yep, my walnuts were bad/rancid and I did have to throw away my first batch as the bad taste permeated the whole batch.

They say "one bad apple can spoil the whole cart", but why don't they say "one bad walnut can wreck the whole batch of cookies"?.  Because it is a real thing! When in doubt, throw them out!

Makes about 3 dozen
Ingredients

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed light-brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup old-fashioned rolled, or steel cut*, oats

1 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup flake coconut (sweetened, or unsweetened- either works)

1 cup raisins, or a mixture of apricots, raisins and cranberries

3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnut

1/4 cup pistachios, or almonds, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with Silpat baking mats or parchment paper.

In a large bowl with a wooden spoon, beat butter, sugar and brown sugar together until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well blended. Stir in vanilla. 

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Gradually stir into butter mixture until well blended. Add oats, chips, coconut, raisins, and walnuts, and stir until well blended.

Drop batter by heaping tablespoons or with a 2 ounce cookie scoop onto parchment or a Silpat mat about 2 inches apart. Bake until golden, about 16 to 18 minutes. Cool on pan for 2 minutes.  Remove from pan, and finish cooling completely on wire rack

*Steel cut oats can be used in cookies and give it a crunchier texture.  Regular rolled oats are more traditional.

Below- I used dried cranberries, apricots and golden raisins.

I like to use mini chocolate chips instead of regular size ones, but any kind work.

It's a lumpy bumpy mixture.

Easy Eggplant Parmigiana

I always think I hate eggplant.
I usually say it tastes like a sponge.
Now, there's a good reason for that, and it's because a lot of people prepare eggplant wrong and frankly, it can have a spongy texture.
Every time I'm hating on eggplant, my Mom points out that I DO like eggplant, because eggplant parmigiana used to be one of my favorite dishes as a kid.

So, what's a girl to do? Make Eggplant Parmigana!  This also endeared me to my husband, as he loves it. I'm glad to say, I was totally wrong, and this is a wonderful dish to make.  I've made it twice in the last couple weeks, it was quite popular and it tasted great reheated for lunches too.

The first time we made it (I had help in the kitchen) we used leftover spaghetti sauce, but canned marinara sauce, or even tomato sauce would work too.  My hubby helper always does the slicing on my mandolin, as it always scares me to death to use. I'm attached to my finger tips, you know?  He tried it 1/4 inch slices the first time, and 3/8 inch thick slices the second time.  I'm leaning towards 3/8 inch for future preparations.

I need to tell you I swapped out the shredded mozzarella for regiano parmesan instead! Also not pictured is Cavenders Greek Seasoning, but any seasoning salt would work.

Makes 4 servings
Ingredients

1 eggplant, sliced cross ways in 3/8 inch slices
1 cup marina sauce
2-3 oz of fresh mozzarella
1/2 cup of shredded Parmigiano reggiano
Olive oil
Salt/Pepper or seasoning salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Prepare a baking sheets with sides, as there is some moisture in the baking process!

Slice the eggplant, and season with salt and pepper, or a seasoning salt. Using a bit of olive oil, fry each side until a bit of color appears.  The eggplant does seem to soak up quite a bit of the oil, so be ready to add more as needed. Add the fried slices to the baking sheet.  Fry more slices until your sheet is full, or you have enough portions for your meal.

Top each fried round of eggplant with a couple tablespoons of sauce, adding mozzarella and parmigiano cheeses.  Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes. If the cheese isn't bubbly and brown yet, cook for another 5-8 minutes.  

*Don't be too worried if there is a lot of moisture on the pan in the beginning.  That will evaporate and dry off.

It makes a bit of a mess on your pan, but it comes clean easily!

Dinner is served... not the prettiest dish, but absolutely delicious.