Oatmeal Coconut White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Yes I know the name of these is long. But trust me, you want to try them. Right. Now. These have all the best parts of every kind of cookie wrapped into one. I made one mistake when making them that made these not quite as good as they could have been--I had salted macadamia nuts, but also included the entire amount of salt asked for in the recipe. My suggestion is if you used salted macadamias is to at least halve the salt in the recipe. Overall a 4/5 for cookies!

Photo Courtesy of But Mama, I'm Hungry!

Oatmeal Coconut White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Total Time: 20 Minutes

Makes about 3 Dozen

• ½ c. butter (no substitutes)
• ½ c. shortening (no substitutes)
• 1 c. packed brown sugar
• ½ c. granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 ½ c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 3 c. old fashioned oats
• ½ cup coconut
• 1 c. macadamia nut pieces
• 1 c. white chocolate chips
  
  Preheat the oven to 350° F.
• Cream the butter and shortening together in an electric mixer. Add sugars and continue mixing until nice and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Gradually add flour, a little at a time, mix well but not too much! Add baking soda and salt. Add all of the oats, and mix well. Add the coconut, macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips and mix. Drop by the rounded tablespoon onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10 – 12 minutes. I bake mine for 10. Let cool on sheet for at least 4 minutes and then transfer to a rack. Store in bags or an air tight container.

Ranch "Fried" Chicken

Earlier this week, Scott and I couldn't decide what to do for dinner. I've been super busy with stuff for work, so we really haven't been keeping up on our cooking like we like to. It's been more of a make pasta or go out to eat kind of last couple of weeks. Our birthdays were both in there too. And the start of football season! We just haven't seemed to be able to make the time at the beginning of September!

So, in came this recipe. Thanks to the wonderful world of the Tasty Kitchen, I came across this recipe while trying to find something to eat with very few ingredients in our apartment. It was so incredibly easy, and I love that it is baked instead of fried! The ranch gives it such flavor that you don't get in other recipes that use just milk or eggs. I was out of cornmeal, but searched online and found a great substitute-crushed tortilla chips! It turned out great! We gave this a 5/5 and will definitely add it to our list of regular meals!

Ranch "Fried" Chicken adapted from But Mama, I'm Hungry!

Serves 6

Total Time: 40 Minutes

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup ranch dressing
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup cornmeal (or crushed tortilla chips)
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon cajun seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

On a large plate, mix together breadcrumbs, cornmeal, parmesan cheese, cajun seasoning, and garlic salt. Pour ranch into a bowl then dip each chicken piece into ranch and then covered liberally with breadcrumb mixture. Transfer each piece of chicken onto foil covered baking sheet. Repeat until each piece is breaded.

Place baking sheet into oven and cook for 30 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.