YIELD

I have baked these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies many many times, and they are always a massive hit!  The cookies are extra soft and cake-like, and only get better after you have stored them in the fridge.  

The recipe below should yield about 18 delicious cookies if you use an over-sized 2 Tablespoon cookie scoop, but you can make closer to 24 cookies if you use a 1.5 Tablespoon cookie scooper.  I've successfully doubled the recipe before, and did not have too much trouble using the same bowls to mix everything together.  

INGREDIENTS

WET INGREDIENTS

• 1 Cup Canned Pumpkin
• 1 Cup White Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
• 1 Egg

DRY INGREDIENTS

• 2 Cups all-purpose flour
• 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
• 2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt

BAKING SODA MIXTURE

• 1 Teaspoon Milk
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

FINAL INGREDIENTS

• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 Cups Semisweet Chocolate Chips (350 g or 12.3 Oz) 
  • Milk Chocolate chips also work as well :)

PREPARATION

MAKE THE COOKIE DOUGH
     0.  Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients (Canned Pumpkin,  White Sugar, Vegetable Oil, Egg) and mix together.  
2. In a separate bowl, gently stir  / sift together the dry ingredients (Flour, Baking powder, Ground Cinnamon, and Salt)
3. In a separate small bowl (or even a coffee mug) dissolve the baking soda into the milk and stir together.  Once dissolved, pour this  mixture into the bowl of wet ingredients and stir everything together.  
4. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and gently mix together with a whisk.  
5. Add the Vanilla Extract and Chocolate Chips to your bowl and mix everything together with a rubber spatula.  

FORM AND BAKE THE COOKIES
​     6.  Use a cookie scooper (1.5 Tablespoon or 2 Tablespoon) to form the dough into balls and drop them onto your baking sheets, about 1.5                  inches apart from one another.  The cookies tend to puff up more than they tend to spread out, so you can put them fairly close.
     7.  Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, or until the bottom of the cookies begin to darken and brown a bit.  
     8.  Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer them to cookie cooling racks.  

  After the cookies have had an ample amount of time to cool off, grab a glass of milk and enjoy!    

I hope you enjoy these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies as much as I and my students did!  This recipe was adopted from one I found at:
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/10740/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies-iii/ 

YIELD

I baked these turtle bars for my students a few weeks ago and they were a big hit!  This recipe should yield about 56 scrumptious turtle bars.  I used a 13" x 9" pan and cut the bars into 8 x 7.  

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups brown sugar 
• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, cold or room temperature
• 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup toasted pecan pieces, 8 oz 
• 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips, 11.5 oz
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate

PREPARATION

MAKE THE CRUST

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line your 13 x 9 baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper. 
2. Mix flour, 1 cup brown sugar, and 3/4 cup butter in a food processor until it is well blended and crumbly.  I used butter straight out of the refrigerator and it worked out just fine; I also tried mixing things by hand and that worked just fine as well, although the food processor makes things quite a bit easier.   
3. Press the mixture evenly into the 9 x 13 x 2-inch metal baking dish that you've lined with parchment paper. Bake until the crust is light and golden brown, about 15 minutes, and remove from the oven. Keep the oven on and maintain the oven temperature.
4. Sprinkle the toasted pecan pieces over top of the crust.

MAKE THE CARAMEL
When the crust is almost down baking, you should start to make the caramel so you can pour it over the crust and then pop everything right back into the oven.  

1. Bring the 3/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup butter, and the heavy whipping cream to a boil in a small sauce pan over high heat.  Let the caramel boil for a minute or so, and stir it occasionally to keep it from overheating.  
2. Pour the caramel over top of the pecans and the crust.  Bake for 20 minutes, or until bubbles form on the top and the caramel darkens.
3. Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle evenly with all of the chocolate chips.  Place the mixture back into the oven for about 3 - 5 minutes to get the chocolate chips nice and warm.  
4. Remove the bars from the oven, and spread the melted chocolate chips smoothly with an offset spatula.
5. Let the bars chill as long as you can to ensure that the chocolate and caramel harden and set (I let mine cool over night).  After the bars have had an ample amount of time to cool off, cut them into evenly sized squares and enjoy!    

I hope you enjoy these Turtle Bars as much as I and my students did!  This recipe was adopted from one I found at:
​https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/turtle-bars-108322 

INTRODUCTION

Every weekend, I love to prep meals for the week that are both easy and healthy.  This is one of the simplest and most delicious recipes that I have come up with, because it does not require you to cook any of the ingredients!!

YIELD 

This recipe will fill about 6 standard Pyrex to-go containers.  Easy to store and to heat up later!

INGREDIENTS

All of these ingredients come pre-cooked from Traders Joe's, so the prep and cleanup are extremely simple.  

• 2 x Trader Joe's Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Butter and Sage 
• 2 x Trader Joe's Organic Vodka Sauce
• 2 x Trader Joe's Grilled Chicken Strips
• 1 x Trader Joe's Petite Peas
• 1 x Trader Joe's Frozen Corn
• 1 x Trader Joe's Grilled Peppers and Onions
• Optional:  1 x Trader Joe's Frozen Grilled Asparagus

DIRECTIONS

Not too many directions to dictate for this recipe, just refer to the pictures above to see how everything comes together.  Store in the refrigerator or in the freezer and reheat.  

Reheat from the Refrigerator:  Remove the plastic top, and cover the dish with a layer of plastic wrap; leave a small hole to vent.  Microwave on Medium power for 3 minutes, remove and stir the ingredients together.  Place the dish back in the microwave and heat on High Power for at least 1 minute; remove from microwave and check it.  Heat until steam comes from the top and all of the ingredients have been adequately warmed through (maybe another minute or so).  

Reheat from the Freezer:  Remove the plastic top, and cover the dish with a layer of plastic wrap; leave a small hole to vent.  Microwave on Medium power for 5 minutes, remove and stir the ingredients together.  Place the dish back in the microwave and heat on High Power for at least 1 minute.  Heat until steam comes from the top and all of the ingredients have been adequately warmed through (maybe another minute or so).  

ENJOY!