Cucumber Delight

I was given a rather large cucumber by a neighbor.

I really like cucumbers, but have a problem where I cut up a plain cucumber into slices, put them in single serve baggies, and then stare at them each time I open the fridge.  And they sit in the fridge.  And I don't eat them.  And I feel bad.

I didn't want this to happen to this cool cucumber gift.

So, I set out to make cucumber salad.

I've never made cucumber salad (at least I don't think so). 

There are a million and a half recipes for cucumber salad on the web. 

I had no idea which one to use.

So, I read a bunch of them.  And read about ingredients like vinegar, sugar, onions, garlic....

I headed into the kitchen to whip something up that was inspired by those other recipes, but that harnessed the ingredients I already had in the house.

I started by slicing the cucumber into paper thin round slices with my crazy sharp and fast slicer. (Thank you again Beka for that awesome Christmas gift.  Yes, I still have all my fingers intact.)

My next leap was to all the ripe peaches I have been hoarding.  I'm thinking how good would a sweet and spicy salad be.  Enter the peaches.

I pitted and sliced two of them.  Next time I think I would use a few more for a more even mix of peaches to cucumber slices.

Oh, so pretty against the fresh light green of the cucumbers.

Next up. Rice vingear!  This is the first time I got to use this ingredient.  I think we originally bought this bottle a few years ago when we thought it might be fun to make our own sushi.  And we never ended up making it.  Maybe the open bottle will inspire that next?

I didn't really measure any of the quantities, but I began to pour some on.  Then gave the cucumbers and peaches a good mix.  I was looking for a very tiny coat of rice vinegar throughout.

Enter salt.  About two pinches.  I would later add another two or so pinches.

Cayenne!  This is where the spicy entered.  A few dashes, then a few more.  Then a few more. 

I live for the heat that cayenne brings to the party!

Honey.  Instead of sugar I wanted a more pure sweetener. 

This is a local honey purchased from a local orchard.  Local honey is supposed to help with seasonal allergies.  I have been busy trying to work honey into everything I am making lately.

I drizzled about two tablespoons-ish on the top.

Basil!  Fresh basil at that.  From my garden.  Love it!

About 6-9 leaves here.  I rolled them together and then sliced and chopped them. 

Cilantro.  I was a smart cookie this year and put hebs in two places.  This meant that the recent bunny invasion only wiped out a portion of my herb garden. 

Smart cookie, right?

I included a few sprigs.  Pulled the leaves off and tossed them in.

Here are all the treasures together!

The results after a nice mix.

The last two additions after tasting were a couple of shakes of cloves to give it a bump up in spice.  And a drizzle of olive oil to bring all the flavors together.

I was so happy with the result that I ate a bunch.

Then I packed a bunch more in my lunch for the next day. 

That's a combo of rice noodles and cucumber delight.

The right food, can really make your day!

What are you eating today?  What is your latest creation?

Honey Chocolate Chippers

I am still playing around with the traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe to try and find my own spin on this tasty treat.  This time around I prepared the cookie batter recipe as it is on the back of a chocolate chip bag... with a few small changes:

One: I replaced half of the brown sugar with dark sweet honey.  And oh honey... this was one delicious cookie!  Made a much smoother dough too!
Second: I put a ridiculous amount of sprinkles in the batter which is where we pick up this story.

Who says sprinkles are only for ice cream?  Why can't they go in chocolate chippers?  I had no idea what to expect from the tiny dots of color.  Would they melt into the dough and turn the cookie colors.  Would they stay round and crunch when you ate the cookie?  No clue.  That's what experimenting is for, right?

The dough was ready to go. 

Have I shown you the coolest utensil in my kitchen yet?  Yup, it's a cookie scooper.  Similar to a melon baller, but this little baby is responsible for a consistent sized cookie, which leads to a consistent cookie goodness! 

You see the orange part?  That part is a flexible rubber material that you can push in to aid in getting the cookie dough out.  I can't think of a cooler thing in the kitchen!

Here it is going in.  Scoops away!

See how uniform and consistent the cookie drops are?  Yes, that's my analyst side smiling.

Consistent cooking means each cookies is chewy and amazing!!  You can add a minute or two extra if you like the crunchy cookies.  In the Happy household we are all about the chewiness!

I sometimes find myself getting lazy to make up all of my batter.  Here is a simple way to work around having to make up all 99 million cookies. (And then having to eat them all at once.)

Cut a large sheet of wax paper and lay on a flat surface like so.

Put a big 'ole blog of dough on the same sheet toward the center.

Make the blob into a log with your hands, gently forming it.

Cover it up with the wax paper.

Put in a freezer safe zippy bag and toss in the freezer.  For my own sanity I use a sharpie to remind me what kind of cookies these are, when I froze them, how hot an oven they require, and how long to stick them in for. 

This also means that Mr. Happy can get his cookie fix with little help from me :)

When you want cookies, just remove the cookie roll from the freezer.  Unwrap.  Slice the roll in to somewhat thick slices.  Arrange on the pan.  And cook according to the handy directions you jotted down for yourself.

Voila.  Cookies!

What's your fun spin on a traditional cookie recipe?

Happy baking!