Peanut Butter Chip Chocolate Cookies

 

1½ cups white sugar

1 cup butter

2 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups flour

⅔ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

¾ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

2 cups peanut butter chips

 

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease or line cookie sheets.

Beat sugar and butter with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth and fluffy. Beat the first egg into butter mixture. Beat in the second egg along with vanilla extract.

Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl; stir into creamed mixture until just combined. Fold in peanut butter chips. Drop cookies by heaping teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake in the preheated oven until edges are set, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets briefly before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

This recipe can be found here.

Lemon Chicken Soup with Rice

 

1–2 Tbsp. butter or oil

2 ribs celery, diced

1 large yellow onion, diced

2–3 cloves garlic, minced

½ tsp. kosher salt

¼ tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. dried dill

8 cups chicken broth

¼ cup uncooked rice

2 cups shredded, cooked chicken

2 cups finely chopped kale leaves

2–4 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

 

Heat large stock pot to medium heat.  Add oil or butter.  Add chopped celery, and onion.  Saute 3-4 minutes until tender.  Add garlic and stir for 30 seconds more. Stir in salt, pepper and dill.  Add broth, stirring to scrape any bits off the bottom of pot.

Bring soup to a boil and reduce to a low simmer. Add rice and stir occasionally until cooked through (about 20 minutes.)

While soup is simmering, wash kale leaves and use a sharp knife to remove leaves from stems. Holding leaves tightly together, finely chop into very small pieces.

After rice is cooked through, add chicken and kale and stir for 1-2 minutes until chicken is heated through and kale is wilted.  Remove soup from heat and stir in lemon juice to taste. (A little grated lemon zest would be good, too!)

Makes about 8 cups of soup, and even though it’s broth-based, with the rice absorbing liquid, it can become quite thick the longer it cooks.  If you’d like to thin it out a bit, or extend serving sizes, feel free to add more broth to your liking.

This recipe can be found here.