Shadowing Practice: EASY Recipes For The Week Anyone Can Make! - Learn English Speaking with Video

so you all know that i love to cook and i know

that you love it when i share recipe videos

so over the past week or

so i have just been filming some of the things

that i've been cooking for me and my husband

and my dad who comes over for dinner

so i'm going to share with you five different recipes in

this video i made a pork tenderloin with caramelized onions for a side dish i made butternut squash with spinach

and orzo it was delicious my husband made smash burgers on

a new flat top grill accessory outside it is going to

blow your mind it literally blew mine these were the best

burgers i've ever had in my life i'm going to show you how i made homemade ranch dressing

and used it on several different things throughout the week

and then to top it off one night we were dying for one of our favorite cookies it's a cookie

that has cashews and toffee and chocolate chips and oatmeal

so easy to make and we just stuff our faces they are

so good so let's just get into the video

and all the recipes and i'm going to show you exactly how i did it

so let's start out the video with pork tenderloin with caramelized onions this is so incredibly simple.

It cooks in about 30 minutes max and it is a show stopper.

The taste, the flavor that comes out of these caramelized onions when you put it on that pork tenderloin is amazing.

When this pork tenderloin is finished and it's covered in these onions, I like to put it on a nice looking serving tray and bring it out to the table.

It doesn't look like much.

It really doesn't because it's covered in these onions

but oh my goodness the taste is amazing

so all you have to do is chop up about two yellow onions just pretty thin slices

and melt two to three pats of butter in a medium

heat skillet you don't want it super hot add your onions

into the skillet make sure they're all kind of broken up

and not in huge chunks and you're just going to let them sit you're going to let them warm.

It needs to be on a lowish heat.

You don't want anything crazy high.

You're not trying to brown your onions.

You just want to slowly saute the onions until they become translucent.

They start to caramelize.

Just leave the onions at the side to do their thing.

Then take your pork tenderloin.

Make sure to pat it dry.

This is super important.

You don't want a wet watery pork tenderloin

and then you want to season it really well with salt

and freshly cracked black pepper season one side and then turn it over

and make sure to equally season the other side and

if you have a really big pork tenderloin you may want

to also season the size sometimes just doing it on the top

and bottom doesn't get the whole pork tenderloin properly seasoned then in a dutch oven

or a heavy bottom skillet

that does have a lid you want to melt a couple tablespoons of butter and then drop your pork tenderloin in.

You want to make sure to kind of sear it on

both sides maybe one to two minutes max until you get this really pretty brown crust on each side.

Put the lid on your dutch oven and let it just lightly simmer for about 10 minutes.

That's it just lightly simmer.

Let me check back on my onions over here.

Look they're starting to get soft.

They're getting a little bit of brownness on them.

Oh my goodness and they smell so good.

I'm going to turn the heat on super super low.

I'm going to add a little bit of salt and more freshly cracked black pepper.

I love black pepper and the key is a little bit of brown sugar.

I didn't measure this y 'all I'm just kind of measuring everything by hand maybe two tablespoons of brown sugar

and you can see when I start to toss

that around the brown sugar melts in the butter

and it starts to infuse itself into these sweet onions and

when everything is melted and your onions are absolutely beautiful

and you can just smell them

and you want to dive right into them turn the heat off on your onions

and just let them sit and look at

that bubbly goodness oh my I have to use a meat thermometer I want to make sure

that the thickest part of my pork tenderloin is about 150 on a pork tenderloin the edges are thinner

so it's going to be a little bit warmer in there I love this meat thermometer

because I can turn it in any direction and it will kind of flip around and show me the temperature. So.

add your caramelized onions on top of

that beautiful pork tenderloin just set them right on top make

sure you get all the goodness out of the pan

and just completely cover your pork tenderloin with these golden caramelized onions oh it just smells

so good pop it back into the oven for just a couple minutes maybe five minutes

and those onions will start to melt even more into the pork tenderloin.

Check it for temperature one more time.

Put it on a beautiful serving platter and then you have dinner.

Look at this sweet wonderful goodness.

You can serve it with lots of different side dishes and I have a really great idea for you.

I just made mashed potatoes and sweet carrots for dinner that night.

Super simple but delicious.

So let me show you how my husband made the smash burgers and smash burgers really are all about the accessories.

You have to have the proper things to make an excellent smash burger

so my husband just has your typical weber gas grill

that has the grill grates inside well on amazon he found an insert

that is specifically made to go in a weber grill it's a flat top griddle insert

so basically it turned his weber grill into sort of like

a blackstone idea without having to buy a blackstone itself

so you just measure your grill this insert the flat top

comes in all different kinds of sizes it is made for Weber

and it just drops right in

and it is made to do smash burgers hibachi anything

that you would do on a flat top griddle

so then he bought a Cuisinart brand smash burger kit

so in that kit is a press

that is a must to make proper smash burgers it has

a spatula with a beveled edge this is also key to make smash burgers it came with a little seasoning can

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with big sprinkling holes in the top this is also super critical

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because smash burgers cook so fast you don't have time to do salt

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and pepper and seasonings so you mix up all your seasonings in here

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and you can just grab it put it all over your burgers

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and the kit also came with pre -cut pieces of it's

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like wax paper this is key you need wax paper with your smasher

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so to make the proper smash burger you take your ground beef my husband likes 80 20 blend

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and you portion it out into quarter pound balls now don't squish the balls compact just you know four times

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but just so that you have a round shape

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but it's not pressed real hard together so get everything you need Make sure that your flat top griddle is hot.

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Take all your accessories outside.

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We put bacon on our smash burgers and cheese so we had everything ready to go.

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So this is going to happen super super quick.

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Put your piece of wax paper on top of the ball of beef and then press it with this smash burger press.

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Press it all the way down.

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Make sure it is totally flat

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and then you can pull off the piece of wax paper and use it on the next ball of ground beef.

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My husband was able to make four different burgers with just

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one little piece of wax paper then you want to take a silicone brush

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and put regular mustard on top of your burgers now

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if you don't like mustard my husband doesn't even like mustard

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this just becomes flavor it is seasoning it is essential to make a perfect smash burger

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so smear a little bit of this all over the top of your burgers take your seasoning can

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which you've already put in here salt pepper a little bit

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of onion powder some garlic powder really whatever seasonings suit you

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and then sprinkle it on top of your burgers and

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because you brushed them with mustard

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which is a little bit wet it will help to make

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your seasonings stick to the smash burgers then after your smash burgers have been on there for maybe a minute

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and a minute and a half at most you want to take this spatula

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and the reason this spatula is so critical is

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because of this beveled edge

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and it is super strong it is not going to bend under pressure

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and you are going to get up underneath each of your smash burgers

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and flip them over and listen to this sound

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when my husband started flipping these burgers we were like wow we were

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so excited flip all of your burgers over let them sit

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for about another minute put your cheese your bacon whatever you want on top

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and then get them off the flat top with a spatula

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and serve them on some buns you are just let me just tell you these smash burgers are in

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incredible so throughout all these recipes if i'm using any special kitchen tools

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or appliances or certain things

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that i think you need i will list my favorites down in the description box then a great side dish

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that you can make with the pork tenderloin you can make

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it with chicken you can make it with steak you can make it with anything is roasted butternut squash spinach

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and orzo There's a little parmesan cheese in this dish.

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It whips up in no time and it is so good.

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So take your butternut squash.

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You do not have to peel it.

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Just cut it in half and then start dicing up little cubes, kind of bite -sized chunks.

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These are not going to get smaller as they roast, so get them the size that you want them to be to be able to easily eat them.

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Lay your butternut squash out on a baking sheet.

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I just kind of eyeballed some extra virgin olive oil.

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I seasoned it with freshly cracked black pepper and more kosher salt.

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Give it a really good toss and spread them out on the pan.

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You want an even layer.

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You don't want your butternut squash stacked up

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and now you want to put your butternut squash in a preheated oven 400 degrees

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and roast it for about 20 to 25 minutes.

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You want to boil one cup of orzo.

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Orzo is pasta.

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Looks like rice but it is just pasta.

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You drop it into boiling water that is lightly salted

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and let it go for about nine minutes drain it really well

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and set it to the side then you want to heat up a skillet add a couple tablespoons of olive oil

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and drop in about three cups of fresh spinach i just

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bought my spinach at the grocery store it's already washed it's ready to go make sure

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that your skillet is pretty hot when you put your spinach in

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because you want to wilt down the spinach it's going to cook off a lot of

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that water and moisture

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that spinach typically puts off just let it go it happens

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pretty quick it'll start to sizzle in order to start to shrink down

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so you'll think oh my goodness this is a lot of spinach

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but by the time it wilts down you have just a

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little bit of spinach i mean you can see here as i'm stirring it it is getting smaller

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and smaller the leaves start to turn a really

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dark green and you can start to smell it

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and that's how you know your spinach is wilting i seasoned

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it with a little bit of onion powder some garlic powder

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some fresh thyme i like to squish the thyme in my

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fingers before i drop it in keep stirring it around just make sure all the spinach is covered in your seasonings.

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Look how small it's getting.

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I basically just have a little bit of spinach now.

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My butternut squash is finished.

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Look how caramelized and beautiful and brown.

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It smells nutty.

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Oh my goodness. So yummy.

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Add your butternut squash into the skillet with your spinach that is still wilting.

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It's still cooking.

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It's on a medium heat at this point.

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Drop all your squash in there then add your orzo now i cooked one cup of orzo but

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when you cook it it kind of fluffs up i had

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a lot of orzo i ended up adding about three quarters of what was in my pan

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and then toss all of your ingredients around really well make sure

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that the squash and the spinach

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and the orzo were all combined i added in about two handfuls of freshly grated parmesan cheese

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and to be honest here y 'all I wish

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that I had reserved about a quarter cup of my pasta water so

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that I could have added it to the orzo at this

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point I did add some more extra virgin olive oil

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because I felt like my pasta was a little bit dry you just kind of have to eyeball it

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and get it to your liking

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but look at this it was the most incredible side dish

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I felt like I was eating super healthy I was getting my veggies in

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and on this particular night I had it with more sweet carrots some grilled chicken

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and it was a great dinner light

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and really healthy look at my plate not super fancy

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but everybody loved it

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when I need ranch dressing I love to make my own recipe it is

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so simple I made ranch this week

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and put it on top of a buffalo chicken salad we had grilled chicken one night

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and just kind of used it as a dipping sauce.

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I had another form of salad for lunch one day and of course I used my homemade ranch.

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We grilled chicken one night and I marinated my chicken in the ranch dressing.

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There's just so many uses for ranch dressing you can never go wrong.

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I always have some in my fridge.

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So in a small mixing bowl add one half a cup of cold buttermilk, one half of a cup of sour cream.

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It's kind of hard to do this without making a mess.

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I know how i always get it all over my countertop

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add a half of cup of real mayonnaise any brand will

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do see what i mean i just make a dang mess one teaspoon of white vinegar one teaspoon of onion powder,

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one teaspoon of dried parsley, a half of a teaspoon of garlic powder,

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a half of a teaspoon of kosher salt, about a quarter teaspoon of my homemade basil salt.

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I don't have a recipe for this right now y 'all.

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I'll share it later this year when I make more and about a half a teaspoon of freshly cracked black pepper.

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Take a whisk and just whip whip whip stir stir stir and you really do need a whisk.

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A spoon will not break up all of those seasonings but once you have it whisked together look at that texture.

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It is wonderful ranch dressing.

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I love to store mine in a bottle that has a squeeze top.

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I'll link my favorite bottle in the description box along with everything I'm using in this video.

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I always have ranch dressing in my fridge just like this

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and I love ranch dressing on a buffalo chicken salad with boiled eggs and bacon.

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It is so good and one night we were dying for cookies.

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We just wanted something warm and gooey and sweet and I've been making these cookies for gosh over 20 years.

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It's my favorite cookie recipe.

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They are incredible.

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You are going to want to eat them directly out of the oven.

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They are warm and gooey, but they have crispy edges.

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Then the next day, I love to pop my cookie in the microwave for just a couple seconds.

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My husband loves his cookies cold, so you just cannot go wrong with these cookies.

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They're incredible and so easy to make.

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In a small mixing bowl, you need a quarter cup of old -fashioned oats, one and an eighth cup of all -purpose flour,

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a half of a teaspoon of baking powder, and a half of a teaspoon of baking soda.

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Also add a quarter teaspoon of regular table salt.

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Kind of mix it all together with the spoon.

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It doesn't have to be perfect and just set it aside.

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In another large mixing bowl, you want to add one stick of room temperature your butter, a half of a cup of regular granulated sugar,

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and a half of a cup of firmly packed brown sugar.

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Take an electric mixer.

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You want to get it to about this point.

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It's totally fine.

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It does not have to be completely incorporated because it's going to get better as we continue adding our other ingredients.

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Add one egg into your sugar butter mixture and a half of a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

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Use some really good vanilla.

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And take your electric mixer and just beat it again.

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That egg and the vanilla, the moisture from it, will break down all the sugars in the butter and make it all incorporated.

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See how it starts to get gooey and sticky and liquidy.

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And then, oh, see, here we go.

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It's totally fine, just like this.

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Slowly add in all of your dry ingredients, everything that was in that flour mixture.

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So I'm going to add a little bit

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and then on a very low speed use my electric mixer and just mix it enough so that it starts to incorporate.

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You don't want to fully incorporate everything because we don't want to over mix our cookies.

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Just blend it enough that you have everything sort of incorporated and then add more of that flour mixture.

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I do this in basically three parts until everything in the flour mixture is fully incorporated into my batter

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and I'm just beating this on a very slow speed just to kind of pull that flour into the cookie mixture.

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I'm going to add in the little last bit.

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There we go and whip it together again just one last time.

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So once I get to the point that you know what I need to scrape down this bowl just take a spoon.

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You can even use a silicone spatula.

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Make sure that there's no flour remaining on the side of the bowl.

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Get it kind of pulled into that batter.

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Scrape your spoon for sure and then one last whipping with your electric mixer just to make sure everything is incorporated.

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Then we're going to add in by hand a half a cup of cashews, two ounces of chopped up toffee bits.

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Make sure that you buy the toffee bits that has the chocolate on it and not just the toffee by itself.

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That was one quarter cup and then three quarters cup of chocolate chips.

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You can use regular milk chocolate.

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You can use semi -sweet.

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Really just whatever you have.

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Today I'm using semi -sweet.

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So that's three quarter cup of semi -sweet chocolate chips.

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You're going to stir these ingredients in by hand.

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You're going to need a spoon.

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A silicone scraper is not going to get it

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and on a really big baking sheet lay out your cookies

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i like them to be kind of rustic looking i don't

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form a ball i just grab about oh a couple tablespoons of batter

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and then use my finger to put it onto the baking

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sheet you're gonna continue to do this until your entire baking sheet is full of cookies

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and when these cookies cook they flatten they spread out

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so make sure

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that you leave a lot of room between your cookies you

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want your cookies to be able to get crispy on the bottom and grow without sticking to the cookie beside them.

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Then bake your cookies in a preheated oven at 325 degrees for about 15 to 18 minutes.

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Just keep an eye on them.

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And when you pull them out of the oven, oh the edges should be golden brown.

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The bottoms are slightly crispy and I immediately get my cookies off of the baking sheet onto a wire rack to cool.

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I don't want them to cool on the baking sheet.

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I want them to cool on a wire rack.

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Look at this goodness.

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Thin, crispy, warm.

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You have crispies from the toffee, crunchy from the cookie, chocolate from the chocolate chips, and chew from the oatmeal.

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I love these cookies.

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So I hope that you saw something yummy and that looked delicious in the recipes that I just shared with you, and you want to make it now for your family.

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Have a good day.

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See you later.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “EASY Recipes For The Week Anyone Can Make!”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: onion, cookie, burger, add, tenderloin. This video has 96 sentences and 3613 words to shadow. The speech runs for 21:18. The speaker talks at a natural 170 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 77% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
cookie noun	/ˈkʊki/	A small, flat, baked good which is either crisp or soft but firm.
onion noun	/ˈʌn.jən/	A monocotyledonous plant (Allium cepa), allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice.
burger noun	/ˈbɝ.ɡɚ/	A hamburger.
smash verb	/smæʃ/	To break (something brittle) violently.
squash noun	/skwɔʃ/	Cucurbita maxima, including hubbard squash, great winter squash, buttercup squash, and some varieties of pumpkins.
ranch noun	/ˈɹænt͡ʃ/	A large plot of land used for raising cattle, sheep or other livestock.
bake verb	/beɪk/	To cook (something) in an oven (for someone).
grill noun	/ɡɹɪl/	A grating; a grid of wire or a sheet of material with a pattern of holes or slots, usually used to protect something while allowing the passage of air and…
recipe noun	/ˈɹɛs.ɪ.pi/	Any set of instructions for preparing a mixture of ingredients.
goodness noun	/ˈɡʊdnəs/	The state or characteristic of being good.
powder noun	/ˈpaʊ.dɚ/	The fine particles which are the result of reducing a dry substance by pounding, grinding, or triturating, or the result of decay; dust.
pepper noun	/ˈpɛp.ə/	A plant of the family Piperaceae.
oven noun	/ˈʌ.vn̩/	A chamber used for baking or heating.
incorporate verb	/ɪŋˈkɔɹ.pɚ.eɪt/	To include (something) as a part.
butter noun	/ˈbʌtɚ/	A soft, fatty foodstuff made by churning the cream of milk (generally cow's milk).

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
break up verb		To break or separate into pieces.
break down verb		To stop functioning.
end up verb		To bring to a conclusion.
get up verb		To move in an upward direction; to ascend or climb.
heat up verb		To heat, to cause to become hotter.
lay out verb	/ˌleɪ ˈaʊt/	To expend or contribute money to an expense or purchase.
mix up verb		To mix or blend thoroughly and completely.
pull off verb		To remove by pulling.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	have just been filming · i've been cooking · I've been making
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is finished · is melted · is made
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	you've already put · have been
Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past	were dying · was eating

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 52 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: thin /ˈθɪn/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/, thermometer /θɚˈmɑ.mɪ.tɚ/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: smash /smæʃ/, squash /skwɔʃ/, sheet /ʃit/, dish /dɪʃ/, freshly /ˈfɹɛʃli/
Long words — get the stress right: incorporate /ɪŋˈkɔɹ.pɚ.eɪt/, ingredient /ɪnˈɡɹiːdi.ənt/, accessory /əkˈsɛs.(ə.)ɹi/, incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/, caramelize /ˈkaɹ(ə)məlʌɪz/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like cookie, onion, burger.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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