Meringue Chocolate Cookies

I have seen these called "Surprise Meringues" on the internet but I remember in my childhood, my next door neighbor and surrogate grandmother, Frances, making these at Christmas time.  I think she called then chocolate chip meringues. I am not sure I was crazy about them as a child as the texture was really weird compared to oreos or chocolate chip cookies, but I made these today with my daughter and they tasted wonderful.  (She ate 3.)

Pre-Heat oven to 275

2 egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tarter
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 c sugar
1/4 walnuts ground (I used my coffee grinder)
1 cup chocolate chips
2 T cocoa

Using a whisk attachment on my stand mixer, whip eggs until foamy
Add cream of tarter.  Add sugar gradually (by tablespoons) and whip till stiff peaks
Add vanilla.

Mix nuts, chips, and cocoa in a separate bowl and fold into meringue

using tablespoon, drop on parchment lined sheets and bake for 25 minutes. Then let sit in oven for 1 hour

Makes about 2 dozen

The Get Fat Diet

As a physician, I often listen to the struggles of my patients who have mild to severe weight problems. Often I hear that they feel like they don't eat much but gain a lot of weight. So I put down some facts, figures, and menus to see if people eating "normally" can gain weight. Granted, normal is a relative term.

This is based on a need of 1800 calories per day to maintain a weight of 140 lbs, for a lightly active woman. Eating 3500 calories = 1 pound gained. 500 extra calories per day = 50 lbs gained (roughly) in 1 year This is not a menu of all junk food or binging. It's just to show what "healthy" things people can eat and how easy it is to gain little or a LOT each year.

 Breakfast (calories) - 1 cinnamon roll (314), 1 cup orange juice (113), 1/2 cup strawberries (24) , 1 cup yogurt (243)
Snack -4 crackers (60), 1 slice cheddar cheese (84)
Lunch - Chicken sandwich (fried)(322), potato chips (153), coleslaw (94), 1 soda (160)
Afternoon snack - 1 soda (160), 1/4 cup pistachios (82)
Dinner -Roast beef (224), mashed potatoes (100), gravy (47), salad with dressing and croutons(175)

 2296 calories in 1 day, 496 calories over

 Breakfast – Kashi cereal (95), 1% milk (77), banana (105) Snack –small Café mocha (295)
 Lunch – fish sandwich (400), chocolate cookie (42), sweet tea (large – 184)
 Dinner – Enchiladas, 2 (645), rice (211), chips (156), queso (94), apple (72)

2383 calories, 583 calories over


Breakfast – 2 pancakes (259) with 1 T syrup (53) , 2 slices thin bacon (54) , fruit smoothie (404) Lunch – Turkey Sub (530), chips (136) , large soda (282)
Dinner – Greek salad (252), cheese pizza – 1 slice (208), 1 beer (155)

2301 calories, 501 calories over

 Calorie counts from www.fitday.com

Cupcake decor

I made some cupcakes with my kids to take to my sister's birthday. My daughter wanted to add some toppers and we were going to go to the store. It was a rainy grey day so we decided not to go out and stay home and make our own cupcake toppers. Toothpicks, glue, and adding things we had around the house (including a scrapbook kit I never started) - we had a fun morning project and each cupcake had its own custom decoration.

Love on a plate - Rigatoni with mushrooms and sausage

This recipe was inspired by my sister-in-laws mushroom appetizer dish that she got from Mario Batali's recipe. I made it for my family on Valentine's Day so it was love in a dish. It was everything I thought it would be - creamy, cheesy, mushroomy.

Oven to 375
2 cups dry rigatoni cooked according to package
1 box mushrooms - diced
4 sage leaves finely chopped
1/2 lb Italian sausage
1 T olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp thyme
1 garlic clove smashed
1/2 cup chicken or beef broth
1/2 cup sherry or white wine
1 pat butter
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup parmasean cheese

1. Brown sausage
2. Add mushrooms, onions, garlic and cook until soft
3. Add broth, wine, thyme and cook until liquid has reduced by 1/2
4. Add rigatoni, butter and add sour cream when butter is melted and combined
5. Sprinkle with cheese and bake in oven x 25-30 minutes at 375

Lemon Meringue Pie

Ok, this is the same recipe as for the lime pie but with lemon juice from 3 lemons and I did more curly cues with my butter knife on this one. Thus, the lovelier picture is here. And I was unable to see my graham cracker crust in my jumble of a pantry (yes I worked on it this weekend) and used a frozen regular pie crust in the back of my freezer. I put 2 drops of yellow food coloring in the filling to make it more sunny. This one turned out so TASTY - the perfect lemon pie.

Lime Pie

Cold winter weather and the New Year make me feel like eating...lime pie! I have never made a meringue pie and whenever I have eaten one (in a restaurant or somewhere else) I have never cared for the meringue part at all. After trying this one, I have changed my mind. Meringue is such fun to make...





Lime Pie (from Better Homes and Gardens 11th edition cookbook)

3 limes, juiced (1/3 cup)and 1/2 tsp zest
1 can Sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs separated

graham cracker crust

1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cream of tater
6 T sugar

1. Mix lime juice, zest, milk, & egg yolks and pour into crust.
2. Bake 325 for 30 minutes. Take out pie and heat oven to 350
3. After letting egg whites sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, mix with vanilla, cream of tarter in stand mixer. Move to whipping setting and add sugar 1 T at a time slowly as meringue forms.
4. Spread over warm pie and seal the filling in by spreading to the crust
5. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes until browned
6. Cool 1 hour and then may serve or refrigerate.