Chewy Chocolate Ship Cookies
• 2 1/4  cups  all-purpose flour
• 1  teaspoon baking soda
• 1  teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4  cup  packed brown sugar
• 3 - 4 tablespoons margarine
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla extract
• 2 eggs or 4  large egg whites (at room temperature)
• 1/2  cup  granulated sugar
• 1/4  cup  light-colored corn syrup
• 1 2/4  cups  semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons buttermilk
Preheat oven to 375°.
Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Beat brown sugar, margarine, buttermilk and vanilla extract until well-blended.
Beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add granulated sugar, beat until soft peaks form. Add corn syrup gradually. Fold brown sugar mixture into egg white mixture. Add flour mixture; stir in chocolate chips.
Bake at 375° for 10 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven, and let stand 5 minutes. Remove cookies from pans, and cool on wire racks.

PAD THAI

1/2 Package Thai-style rice noodles or enough for 2-3 people (medium size noodle - not vermicelli) Boil water, drop the noodles in, turn off the stove and watch closely - it only takes a few minutes and you don't want the noodles to mushy
1 1/2 C raw chicken breast or thigh meat, sliced thin and seared in a pan
2-3 C fresh bean sprouts
Optional: 2 eggs - scrambled neglectfully (let them sit in the pan a while) and then chopped up
3 green onions, sliced ultra thin (grow them in your garden - it's almost impossible to kill green onion)

Throw this all into my special mish-mash SAUCE:
Hot but not boiling on the stove (preferably in a big wok)
1/3 C water
2 T tamarind paste
2 T fish sauce
1 T sweet chili sauce
2 t ground fresh chili paste (try Sambal Oelek)
4 T ketchup
3 T crunchy peanut butter (you know the sauce is ready when the peanut chunks are free from the smooth part)

Shake and Bake Tofu is also yummy with this... and of course fresh prawns!
Top with more green onion and crushed unsalted peanuts

Sweet Potato Pie

1/4 lb. butter softened
3 mashed sweet potatoes
2 C granulated sugar
1 small can (5 ounces, about 1/2 C plus 2 T) condensed milk
1 t vanilla
3 eggs
2 t cinnamon
1 dash salt
2 prepared pie shells, unbaked

1st - mix mash, yolks and cinnamon
2nd - cream butter sugar and salt
3rd - fold in stiff egg white
4th - 400 degrees F for 10 minutes
5th - 375 degrees F until golden on top

Old Fashioned Measures

DROP = 1/60 t
HINT = somewhere between a drop and a smidgen
SMIDGEN = 1/32 t 2 smidgens = 1 pinch 


PINCH = 1/16 t 2 pinches = 1 dash 
(you can actually use the amount that can be pinched between the thumb and forefinger)


DASH = 1/8 t 2 dashes = 1 tad
TAD = 1/4 t
FINGERFUL = 1 t
DRAM = 3/4 t - 1 oz. (but it is smaller when you visit the UK or a traditional apothecary)
SPLASH = 2 - 3 t
DOLLOP = 3 - 4 t
JIGGER = 1 1/2 oz.
GILL = 1/2 C
HANDFUL = 3/4 C
FISTFUL = 1 C

these old measures aren't totally reliable - you'll have to play with recipes a bit if they are from your great great grandparents, but that's what makes them fun

Benny's Cornbread and BennyCakes
1/4 C butter melted in a pan with 1/3 C cooked milk (not boiled or browned)
1 - 2 eggs (3 eggs for double recipe)
1 C buttermilk
1 t salt
MIX
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1 C cornmeal
1 C all purpose flour
2/3 C white sugar
BLEND WELL AND STIR IN WET INGREDIENTS

Pour into square pan for cornbread (375 for 20 minutes-ish or until golden on top)
Fry like pancakes for BennyCakes