Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookies

From: https://buuckfarmsbakery.com/pistachio-toffee-chocolate-chip-cookies-gideons-copycat/

Ingredients 

1 C (226 g) Salted Kerry Gold Butter

3/4 C (165 g) Dark Brown Sugar

1/4 C (55 g) Granulated Sugar

1 Lg Egg + 1 Egg Yolk, at room temperature

2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

1 C (125 g) All Purpose Flour

1 1/4 C (165 g) Bread Flour

2 tsp Cornstarch

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

1 C (180 g) Chopped Pistachios

1 C (180 g) Mini Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

1 C (180 g) Chopped Toffee

Flaky Salt

Instructions 

Brown the butter and then let it cool for about 10 minutes.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the sugars and cooled brown butter for 3-4 minutes.

Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Mix for another 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flours, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients 1/2 at a time and mix until just combined.

Add 90 g each (1/2 C) of the chocolate chips, pistachios, and toffee and fold into the dough with a rubber spatula.

Portion the dough into 6 giant 6.5 oz cookie dough balls. Place in the fridge for 10 minutes or until just firm enough to handle.

Mix the remaining chocolate chips, pistachios, and toffee in a bowl.

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll into balls in your hands then into the bowl of chocolate toffee and pistachios. Press the mixture into the dough so that it sticks and covers the entire ball except for the bottoms.

Chill at least 12 hours overnight, or up to 24 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Place 3 cookies on each sheet leaving room for them to spread.

Bake for 15-16 minutes, then bang the cookie sheet on the counter 5-6 times to help the cookies spread.

Use a spoon or mini rubber spatula to scoot in any runaway edges while the cookies are still hot.

Fill in any empty spaces with extra chocolate toffee or pistachios and top with flaky salt.

Let cool on the hot cookie sheets for 4-5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Hot Mama Grade: A

Hot Mama Notes: My coworker made these, and they were fabulous! I can't wait to bake some! 

Cranberry Dream Fluff Salad

Ingredients:

1 bag of fresh cranberries

2/3 can (ish) frozen orange juice concentrate 

1c sugar or more, to taste

1/2 to 2/3 tub cool whip, thawed

1/4 c pulverized grated walnuts

1/2 c or so chopped walnuts

1/3 large can crushed pineapple

Directions:

Combine all I grsdients to taste and desired sweetness. Store in frig when not serving/eating. 

Hot Mama Grade: A

Hot Mama Notes: Originally, this started out as a fresh cranberry salad (almost like a relish) with only chopped fresh cranberries, the orange juice concentrate, and sugar. But the result (to me) was overpowering and very tart but at the same time ridiculously sweet. I added in the pineapple to increase sweetness. I tried marshmallows, but it didn't give me the taste or desired consistency. The cool whip really transformed the salad into something better. Creami[55er and tastier. The Walnuts added a lot of good substance, texture, and flavor. I really liked this salad and will make it again. 

Cariann's Nana's Potato Casserole

Hot Mama Grade: A

Hot Mama Notes: I had this at a work potluck. It was so delicious that I asked for the recipe! 

Corn Bake Side Dish

Ingredients:

Hot Mama Grade: B+

Hot Mama Notes: This was good, but after reading rave reviews, I thought it was going to be the best thing since sliced bread! 🤣🤣 It's important to note that this is a side dish. As it is written, it is a sweet mushy corn casserole. When you look at it, it almost looks like corn bread, but it is not. I baked it way longer than 15 minutes. More like 45 minutes or so. After 15 minutes, it was liquid. I saw in the comments that someone used a 13x9 pan. In 20/20 hindsight, I would definitely have done that to decrease cooking time drastically. I see people did a number of changes that sound good, but I wanted to make the recipe as is. Now that I have, I would omit the eggs as someone suggested. It is a bit eggy. Or maybe go down to one egg at most. I also think green Chiles/jalapeños, onions, and some spices would liven it up. That being said, while I like this dish, I actually think cornbread might be preferable for me! 🤣🤣 I did used frozen corn instead of canned corn for the regular corn. This is definitely the way to go. I used jiffy corn muffin mix and sour cream, as listed. 

Chicken Enchiladas

Hot Mama Grade: B+

Hot Mama Notes: These enchiladas were good, but not amazing. They aren't as good as some of the other enchilada recipes I use, and they were a bit more work with cutting up fresh veggies. I used a green bell pepper as Frys had no poblano. I used 3 medium tomatoes off the vine. I didn't have a ton of chicken, so I added a can of black beans. I used las palmas green enchiladabsauce. I cooked the chicken in the enchiladabsauce in the Crockpot. I used flour tortillas and used them as is, no precooking. 

Crockpot Garlic Butter Chicken

From nyt

Hot Mama Grade: B

Hot Mama Notes: I used one can canelloni beans and one can black eyes peas as that is what I had. I added some cooking sherry for liquid as well as a few tablespoons of butter. I used dried shallots and parsley as I didn't have any fresh on hand. I probably used close to 4 lbs of chicken breasts. My first bite was pretty salty, I thought. Maybe that is why my youngest liked it so well! He thought it tasted like potatoes. I added quite a bit of spinach at the end along with the sour cream. I also ended cooking this dish way more than 4 hours because I was at work for a full day. So this was good not not great. Not sure I will make it again, but it was very edible. Just not spectacular. 

avocado chickpea salad

From: https://www.eatingwell.com/avocado-chickpea-salad-11705973

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground pepper

2 (15-ounce) cans no-salt-added chickpeas, rinsed

3 cups grape tomatoes, halved

½ medium red onion, thinly sliced

2 large avocados, diced

Directions:

Whisk 4 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 tablespoons oil, ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper in a large bowl. Add rinsed chickpeas, halved tomatoes, sliced onion and diced avocado; toss gently to coat