Thought of the Day

"I was only going to eat three cookies but I forgot to count." -Little Critter

The Way I See It...

We participated in "No Impact Week" twice this year (you can google that if you don't know what it is) and both times came away with some new insights and ideas. Above is the list we made during the most recent week. We started at the beginning of the year with small changes like recycle more, restart composting, eat vegetarian once a week, make less garbage, and buy less stuff. Once it started I feel like it snowballed, in a good way! When we started writing down the ways we have and the ways we can make better use of this world's resources this time around, it was amazing to me how easy it was to change my own mentality. Suddenly it just made sense. I want to be a good steward of creation and what a better way to start than with little changes that over the course of one year turn into life-changing ways of living. I really believe our Earth needs saving and I really believe we CAN save this planet.

Chocolate and Mint? YES PLEASE!

Want one of these?

Because this is how good they taste:

For New Year's 2011 my Mom made several resolutions to spend one-on-one time with her kids. One of her "resolutions" with me was that we would each try three new baking recipes over the year and in December we would get together and bake each of our favourites. I did pick out three recipes at the beginning of the year: Chocolate Mint Cookies, Nutella Cookies, and Chunky Cheesecake Brownies. Okay, the Nutella cookies were edible, but overall a flop. I don't know if I ever blogged about the brownies but they were incredible. And these cookies... just plain awesome. So here is the winner for the year.... I guess I saved the best for last.

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Chocolate Mint Cookies
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Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 (4.5 ounce) packages chocolate covered thin mints

Directions:

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the sugar, butter and water, stirring occasionally until melted.  Remove from heat, stir in the chocolate chips until melted and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

2. Pour the chocolate mixture into a large bowl, and beat in the eggs, one at a time. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into the chocolate mixture. Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.  Roll cookie dough into walnut sized balls and place 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.

4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, be careful not to overbake. When cookies come out of the oven, Press one mint wafer into the top of each cookie and let sit for 1 minute. When the mint is softened, swirl with a toothpick to make a pattern with the green filling of the mint wafer. For smaller cookies, break mints in half.

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Oops Can Still Taste Good

We had some friends over for lasagna the other night, and I had everything organized. The dessert would go in right when I took the lasagna out, would bake while we ate, and would come out warm and ready to eat. This is the dessert:

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Hot Fudge Sundae Cake
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When done this tastes like cake on top of chocolate pudding. 

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp baking cocoa
2 tsp baking powder
1/4  tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1 3/4 cups water, very hot

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350.

2. Mix first set of dry ingredients together directly in 9x9 ungreased pan.

3. Mix in milk, oil and vanilla, until smooth. Spread in pan.

4. Sprinkle brown sugar and cocoa over batter. Then pour the water evenly over everything.

5. Bake 40 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

6. Top with vanilla ice cream.

Notes:

Place cake pan on top of another larger and shallow pan in case the pudding bubbles over some.

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Sounds delicious, right? Well it is. What is not to like about it? I don't even use a bowl! I make it right in my pan! Anyways... the cake was all prepped, except for the hot water which was waiting in the microwave to be warmed up. When the lasagna came out, in when the desert. Forty minutes later my oven beeped and I pulled it out. Something was wrong. The top was just crusty cocoa powder and brown sugar... you can probably guess that I forgot about that water in the microwave. Well, I dumped the water on, stuck it back in the oven for ten minutes and wouldn't you know, it wasn't wrecked. It was an "Upside Down Hot Fudge Sundae Cake" since the pudding was on top of the cake instead of underneath. Delicious, yet stressful. So much for being organized.

Want a Car Slurpee?

Bet you can't guess what flavour a car slurpee is.... 

I just love it when Jacob gets creative in order to achieve some project or other. Especially when he get Daniel totally involved. It all started when I gave Daniel my mostly empty container of rosemary to play with while I was trying to make supper. Daniel promptly took the lid off and dumped rosemary all over the floor. Now Jacob wanted a container. He got the empty oregano container. Well, next thing I know they have filled the jars up with cars and stuck straws in them and were having "Car Slurpees." Now most of our cars smell like herbs because this is a new favourite game.

Creativity = Car Slurpees

And here is a picture of Daniel in his halloween costume. 

My little bunny.

Also, for those of you who access this site from our "family" web page: We obviously aren't updating that page and it is because sooner or later that server will be shutting down. So I am just going to keep posting photos here, but they won't always be from in my kitchen.

Boys Love Peanut Butter

One day this week, I was busy doing something (don't remember what) and the boys got all quiet. That usually means something is wrong. Well they had got our giant jar of peanut butter out of the cupboard, took the lid off, and were eating it with their hands. I didn't get a picture of Jacob, but his face was just as covered. Now I can't make anything with peanut butter that I want to feed to anyone outside the family. Needless to say, neither of them were hungry for supper.

Daniel loves peanut butter. He can even say peanut butter.

Also, here is an AWESOME recipe for PB cookies. They are chewy, not crunchy, but I think delicious. I ate WAY too many, so it is a good thing it is a big recipe. I made these the other week (before the boys made my peanut butter unhygienic) and I was kind of upset (okay I was ticked) because neither of the boys would listen when I asked them to move away from the stove so I could take out the cookies. I ended up burning two dozen because I was having a power struggle with them. The funny thing is is that I always ask them to "go stand by the table" when I have to open the oven, and they do. So it wasn't like I was expecting something unusual or inappropriate from them. Anyways, here is the recipe. You have to make them for yourself because now I can't make them for you.

Honey Peanut Butter Cookies
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Yield: 5 dozen

Ingredients:
1/2 cup hard margarine
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup honey
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, mix butter, peanut butter and honey. Add eggs; mix well. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powdert; add to peanut butter mixture and mix well.
2. Roll into 1- to 1-1/2-in. balls and place on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten with a fork dipped in flour.

3. Dip fork in sugar instead of flour for a pretty look. (Sprinkles as Jacob calls them)

4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 6-7 minutes.

And for those of you who have been asking.... a non-kitchen picture of Jacob's Halloween costume. 

Pass or Fail

So I was cooking a roast in the oven this weekend... I pulled it out after 2 hours so Jeff could cut into it and see if it was cooked. It needed a little more time, I thought, so I reached out and grabbed the roasting pan WITH MY BARE HANDS. Jeff said his brain saw it in slow motion and wondered what in the world I was doing because that pan must be hot. Well, he was right. It was hot. I immediately stuck my hands under cold water, then put ice and aloe lotion on my fingers. I burnt five fingers and both thumbs. To tell you the truth, I don't know how it wasn't way worse. I was in intense pain for about two hours that evening but I managed to play the piano at church the next morning.
Despite all that, my from scratch gravy was deemed "savory" by my in-laws. Which I think is a pretty good compliment.