Just Because Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have no idea where I found this recipe. But it is yummy!  

 Step 1. Find yourself a little helper.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I like to use milk chocolate)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, baking soda & salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar & white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, & egg yolk until light & creamy.

 Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon.

Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Enjoy

Shabby Apple

Entering into the blogging world I have discovered a few new things. One of my favorites is Shabby Apple

I heart this Dress!!
I am loving their dress designs!

Check them out!
http://www.shabbyapple.com/

Rosette Headband

A break from all my other projects!

I have quite a few of projects that need to be completed but very little motivation. As an attempt to procrastinate from these projects I decided to do a little craft. This is my new rosette (I love that word) headband. Maybe I will put a tutorial together later but for now, here are a few photos.



Fridge Makeover

I have been needing some new magnets for my fridge and I figured why not make them? After searching through my craft drawers I found these scrapbooking flowers that I used for baby shower decorations over two year ago. Why not put them to good use? I glued some magnet tape on the back and this is how it turned on. A little girly but not bad. I also now have this nifty calendar and plan to put it to good use (although the calendar needs a bit of a makeover itself).

(Note the bike Asher wants)

Magazine Love

If you are anything like me you receive one or two parenting magazines in the mail. For me these magazines go directly from the mail box to a place where I am most likely to read them - The bathroom. It is in the bathroom that I have found great ideas for easy recipes and kids crafts (usually a few months after I receive the magazine). My latest find that I am super excited about is from a Focus on the Family magazine. In their January issue they published an article called "50 Guilt Free Resolutions" (yes, I read an article about New Year’s resolutions in March).  I wanted attempt some of these resolutions and share the results with you.

The first "resolution" I tried was #41 (I am not one to start at the beginning)

#41 Write a Love letter to your spouse. Sign your pets name.

I know this sounds a bit weird but I am happy I did it! I wrote a letter from our Golden Retrieve to my husband and sent it off in the mail. For this one day my husband checked the mail there was something more than junk mail and bills. It was nice to see him laugh - even if he thought I was a bit crazy.

The Love Letter

Rico

Cookoff-Winning Veggie Chili

Earlier this week I posted the following recipe from Whole Foods and tonight I had the opportunity to give it a try! Yum! The only problem I had with this recipe I that I have a hard time following recipes. Not because they are hard to follow but because I have more fun making them my own. I loved how it turned out but I did make a lot of changes. I will note my changes in orange below.

Cookoff-Winning Veggie Chili (Mine was more veggie with a little meat)

 (Will post a photo ASAP)

Serves 4 to 6

This uniquely rich chili combines warm spices and chocolate — like a Mexican mole sauce with traditional vegetarian chili ingredients. Delicious with fresh corn-studded corn bread and maple butter and a crisp, light green salad. Serve garnished with sour cream and avocado slices, if desired. Veggie chilies cook much quicker than meat based ones. If you want to simmer this for a while, turn to low and add another cup of broth.

Ingredients

3/4 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed and drained (or kernels from 1 ear corn) (I did not include any corn because I cannot eat it right now. But I think is would be yummy in it)

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided (I did not measure this out)
1 medium eggplant, peeled and diced (about 3 cups) (I used about 2 cups)
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped (I used my garlic press for this)1 medium white onion, peeled and chopped (Used only 1/2 Onion) 1/2 jalapeño pepper, minced, more or less to taste (Next time I will use 1 whole jalapeño) 1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon smoked or regular paprika (I did not use this because I forgot to buy some! Oops)1/2 teaspoon chili powder (I used much more chili powder!!! Use to taste)Sea salt and black pepper
2 (15-ounce) cans no-salt-added black beans, rinsed and drained (Used 3 cans of a bean trio)1 (14.5-ounce) can fire roasted or regular diced tomatoes with juices (2 cans)1 cup gluten-free vegetable broth (chicken broth)1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (completely forgot to put this in!) 2 tablespoons dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips (two small handfuls)

I also added

3 small yellow squash

1 pint mushrooms

1 bell pepper

1/4 (?) ground Turkey

1 Can on Tomato Sauce (not sure if this was a good idea. Next time I might just add more diced tomatos)

Served with shredded pepper jack cheese on top

Method

In a large heavy skillet, roast corn kernels over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until beginning to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove and set aside. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet over medium heat and cook eggplant with a pinch of salt until golden, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, heat remaining tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute, then add onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in jalapeño, cumin, cinnamon, coriander, paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper. Cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently. Stir in tomatoes, beans, vegetable broth and lime juice. Bring to a simmer. Simmer 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in corn and eggplant. Add chocolate and stir just until melted. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve immediately.

In a large skillit I sauted garlic and onion in olive oil. I then added all the veggie and covered till soft. I then added all the spices to the veggie

In a separate skillet I made the turkey sausage seasoning it with a little more of the spices listed.

Once veggies were done I added in the mean, tomatoes, tomato sauce, beans and chocolate (and a lot more red chili powder to taste).

Love a Deal!

As a new mom people love to give you clothes for baby. You are showered with new born clothes.  I soon found out baby does not stay a new born forever and eventually grows out of these clothes. Because Asher is so small I have been able to stay away from buying clothes for him for a lot longer than expected.  But as Asher grows he is now quickly running out of clothes. Thankfully, the Lord's blessings in this area have continued!

If you are from Albuquerque and are a parent you are sure to have heard of a store called "Other Mothers." It is here that you can buy used children’s clothes for just a few dollars. I have now found that this is overpriced! Say what? Let me explain. Every Saturday Other Mothers has two sales. The first is a 25 cent sale. This is basically a mad dash to find clothes in your baby's size for just a quarter an item (be careful not to get an elbow in your eye because it is a bit crowded). The next sale that starts later in the day is a dollar a bag sale. It is this sale that I was able to come away with some fantastic loot! I paid just $2.14 for all of the clothes pictured below (baby not included). So, if you do not mind sifting through piles and piles of clothes (no organization whatsoever) to find something, untorn, unstained and in the size you need it is an amazing way to stock a very empty closet. It is amazing what you can fit into a bag when you really try!

I have to say Asher is quite excited about all his new clothes!

Hiccups

Every now and then I get a bad case of the hiccups. The kind that are so loud they could set off car alarms and so intense they begin to hurt (although you do get a good ab workout).  It was a case of these hiccups I came down with last night. They were so bad I actually was afraid I would wake up Asher if they went on any longer. I tried everything. I tried drinking water, holding my breath and even scaring myself. Nothing worked. I became desperate. And then I remember that whenever Asher gets the hiccups I always know what to do to get rid of them. All I have to do is simply feed him. As long as he was sucking his hiccups would go away. And as silly as it sounds I tried it. I just sucked on my tongue (Yes, I am actually blogging about this) and within seconds my hiccups went away! I think I will forever be remembered as the girl who found a cure for hiccups!

Photos of my boy.

I love these Feet.

Lens Baby + My Baby = Super Cute!

Have to love that sky!

He loves his Sock Monkey!

I love this photo because you can really see the brown in his eyes.

It is there!



Spring is here and I am ready for a tan!

I cannot express to you how excited I am for summer. Last year I was pregnant, swollen and unknowingly had preeclampsia. Needless to say, all I did was stay inside and lay on the couch. As a result of this, I have not seen the sweet sunshine of New Mexico in two years! I am very excited to get to know the sun again and to go outside without the possibility of planes mistaking my legs for light signals on a landing strip (they are that white). To honer these first few days of sunshine I did what come naturally to me. Take photos! Here are the first few shots of sunshine! Let’s see if I can get them posted before Asher wakes up! :)

Rico wanted to play too!

Asher was ready for a nap.

White Chocolate Popcorn

Yum! I make this every Christmas for friends and family but it can be enjoyed all year!

 

White Chocolate Popcorn

What You Need:

• 3/4ths bag of white chocolate chips
• 2 bags of lightly salted popcorn (or the equivalent)
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil (olive oil may also be used)
• Large casserole dish
• Double boiler

What You Do

1. Pop the bags of popcorn and spread evenly in casserole dish (make sure you take out all the unpopped kernels).
2. In the double boiler melt the chocolate and oil until smooth on medium low. DO NOT OVERHEAT!
3. Pour the chocolate over the popcorn and mix (I find that once the chocolate has cooled enough it is easier to do this with your hands)
4. Place in fridge to cool for about 15 min.

How to make it your own!

Once I was comfortable with making this simple recipe I started to make it my own. Before the chocolate cools sprinkle with your choice of toppings.

A Few Ideas

•  Red chili powder,
•  Peppermint hot chocolate mix and mini chocolate chips
• Cinnamon (YUM!)

The Lord is My Shepherd

Now that I am not teaching, I have found that the time normally filled with lesson planning and grading is now filled with learning new hobbies. While Asher is soundly sleeping in his crib I am leaning how to sew, needle point, crochet, bake and even paint. Now I realize I should be using this time to clean the house and cook dinner for my wonderful husband but the truth is that I have quite an aversion to cleaning. So, hobbies it is.  My latest project achieved is a Psalm 23 painting. I am pleased with how it turned out but I have no desire to pick up the paint brush anytime soon.  Let me know what you think. :)

Challenged by a Friend

I have started a blog. For the third time...

Given my two previous blogging (is that a word?) failures I was convinced that I would never again give this blog thing a try.

But I have been challenged by a friend.

This makes me think.

Not about blogging but about friends. According to my Facebook I have 277 friends (not bad for a homeschooler). 277 faces. Do I really know these friends? Do they challenge? Do I challenge? I am not talking about challenging people to start blogs but about real challenge. Proverbs 27:17 says, "As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend." Am I truly getting to know these friends? Am I challenging?

I have found great encouragement in the friends who have stepped forth and challenged me (thank you Cynthia). I praise God for those people in my life. And it is my prayer that I may truly challenge and edify those I call my friends.

As for the blog... Third time is a charm?