Aloha Cookies

Aloooha Baggers! Does the winter season have you down? Are you pining away for azure waters and white sand beaches? Well, we here at The Bag Meal Test Kitchen firmly believe that it is best to eat your way through your travels! Besides, if you can't travel, you can always eat, so it works out both ways! ;)

You have probably noticed that there is a lack of dessert bag meals in the book. There are several reasons for this, one being that those publisher folks have these crazy things called "page limits," another being that The Bag Lady lives by The WoW Diet (click here for more info) and so she doesn't do many desserts. But we are thinking of you and are willing to take one for the team, so The Bag Lady has put on her dessert hat and developed some new yummies for your food storage needs. Besides, if you're in the middle of a disaster, what spells comfort like a warm cookie pulled fresh from a solar oven?

These cookies are a burst of tropical fusion on your tongue! Bite into one and you'll be transported to the azure waters and white beaches of your favorite island. (To enhance the experience hold an EMPTY glass up to your ear and you'll hear the ocean.) The buttery cookie hugs mounds of sweet flaky coconut and smooth white chocolate chunks. The delectable crunch of macadamia nuts rounds off the texture play nicely. So bake up a batch, hold a glass to your ear, close your eyes, and chase those winter blues away! (Yes, we at The Bag Meal Test kitchen are easily entertained.)


Aloha Bag Meal Cookies
1 yellow cake mix
1/2 cup canned butter, melted*
1/3 cup bottled water
Resealable bag: 3 tablespoons powdered whole egg**
Resealable bag:1/2 cup flaked coconut, 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, 1/2 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl combine cake mix and powdered egg. Stir in water and melted butter. Add remaining ingredients. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet 12-14 minutes or until edges are slightly golden. Allow to cool for a few minutes on baking sheet before moving to cooling rack.

*Remember you want to save your canned butter for a real emergency, so if you're making these at home, substitute fresh butter.

**If you want to use fresh egg, only put in 2 fresh eggs and decrease the water by 2 tablespoons.

Another Contest!

Hey there baggers!

We realize that we have more than fallen off the blogging boat...we pretty much drowned. BUT we're happy to announce another contest! This one is courtesy of a fellow bagger and blogger- PitterPatHeart. Keep tabs on her bag meal adventures and find out about the contest here. You can only enter this give away through PitterPatHeart's blog, so make sure you leave her some comment love!

Keep bagging and I'll see what I can do about getting some exciting new content up on the blog! An exclusive recipe perhaps? (I promise, it will be sooner than later...)

CONTEST WINNERS!

Hello folks! The puppies are doing well. They now have teeth and are beginning to scurry about the house!

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for... OUR WINNERS! (in no particular order)
Aubri-Pepper
Donna-Deogee
Janice-Bubbles

Please email The Bag Lady and let her know your mailing address and whether you would like a copy of It's in the Bag, Gluten Free, or The WOW Diet!

Cheaper Bags

Apparently, the bag meal craze is taking off and suppliers are taking note. Some stores are wanting upwards of $0.45 a bag! As of today, Uline is the cheapest site that we know of. Check it out, stock up, and let us know if you come across a better deal.

Happy Bagging!

The puppies have arrived!

In case you haven't heard, the puppies are here! There are 3 girls and one boy. We're still accepting suggestions for names. Remember, the top 3 names will get to pick a title from The Bag Lady's collection.

CONTEST!

We're excited to announce our first contest! In honor of The Bag Lady becoming a Grand-puppy-parent, we are accepting suggestions for puppy names. The top 3 winners will win a book of their choice from The Bag Lady's collection. When the puppies are born, we'll post pictures for inspiration, until then here's the rules.

Rules:
1. Only one entry per person.
2. No duplicate entries.
3. Submissions will be accepted via blog comment, facebook, email, or messaging.
4. Winners will be announced in Feb.

Good Luck!

Pasteurizing Eggs

Ever wanted to make a recipe with raw eggs and you worried about getting sick? Maybe you have a thing for raw cookie dough, but your mother always warned you about bacteria? We have your solution.

Salmonella Entertidis is a bacteria that can infect chicken's ovaries. The bacteria gets "packaged" with the egg yolk when the white and shell form around it, making the egg contaminated before it is laid. About one egg in every 20,000 actually contains salmonella bacteria, but if it's there, it's dangerous. There are ways prevent illness. According to the FDA, refrigerating eggs below 40 degrees Fahrenheit limits Salmonella growth and fully cooking eggs destroys the bacteria.

I know what you're saying, "that's well and good, but I don't want to give up raw cookie dough!" (I know I don't) the good news is, you can pasteurize eggs at home, and it's easy too! Pasteurization is a process of heating a food to a specific temperature, for a specific amount of time, to kill specific bacteria. (My, my, what a specific process!) Salmonella bacteria are killed at a temperature of 140 degrees in about 3.5 minutes.

So, if a room temperature egg is held in a bowl of warm water--lets say 142 just to be safe--for 3.5 minutes, any salmonella bacteria will die. It takes 5 minutes for an extra large or jumbo egg.

Ready to try it yourself?

Place the room temperature eggs in a colander and lower them into a pan or bowl of 142 degree water. Put an instant read thermometer in the bowl to make sure you have a high enough temperature and that it remains constant. If your eggs are medium or large, leave them in the water for 3.5 minutes; for extra large or jumbo eggs, leave them in for 5 minutes. When the time is up, remove the eggs, dry them, and refrigerate them in a tightly covered container.

Viola! Now go enjoy that raw egg smoothie! I'll be sticking with cookie dough. ;)