Cookies! Cookies! Cookies!

I made a cookie tray for TK's work holiday party. I tried a lot of new recipes this year...it was awesome to use my new stand mixer. I'm in love :)



If anyone is interested, I posted the recipes over on See MoMmy Cook. The brown sugar-brown butter shorties especially stand out as a new favorite for me! For anyone who likes to cook, See MoMmy Cook is a recipe blog put together by a couple of parents of twins from my local twins club to share our go-to recipes. I've been getting a lot of new meal ideas there!

So what cookies have you made this year?

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Green tip for the day: Turn off the heat dry setting on the dishwasher. It only takes me an extra minute or two to run a dish towel along the tops of the glasses before I unload the dishwasher.

The casualties of Thanksgiving...

Can you tell I'm going through pictures (trying to find appropriate pictures for holiday cards. Ugh, this won't do!).

I'm having a bit of a wordless Tuesday, I guess!

Carrot Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here is the Carrot Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie recipe I mentioned a few posts back, for Snickollet or whoever else is interested. It's originally from Taste of Home, with a few minor changes of my own. Plus, I've halved the recipe here so it doesn't make ridiculously huge quantities. If you have to feed a roving band of teenagers or something, feel free to double it back up.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup shredded carrots
2 cups quick cooking oats
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, shortening, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat the eggs and vanilla. Add the carrots; mix well.

Combine the oats, whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 3 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks.

Random unrelated thought: N-man had a huge tantrum today. It lasted for about 10 minutes while we were trying to get out the door, then for quite some time in the car as well. Suddenly, he stopped screaming, and one second later, said, "I'm happy now." Wow, talk about emotions changing with one second notice. Or perhaps I'm finally developing that tantrum-stopping superpower.

Oh dear, that wasn't pretty

I went this morning at 6am to workout after the previous fiasco at the gym daycare. In theory, it's going to work very well I think. I'm a morning person, so this shouldn't be too bad. However, there were a few problems.

First, I got the best elliptical this morning...the one right in front of the window so I can look out onto the world. I don't have headphones, so I can't listen to music or TV. If I don't get the elliptical looking out the window, I have to spend my time staring at a blank wall. Which is fine, but the window is better. So, I was pretty excited this morning. For about 10 seconds. Until I realized that since it was pitch black outside, the window was effectively a mirror. Staring at myself working out is far, far worse than staring at a blank wall.

Now I know.

And to make matters worse, I'm slow. So I look like death 5 minutes into the workout, and I'm not even going fast. It took me a little over ten minutes to go half a mile. How can that be? I used to run track in high school, and the half-mile was one of my main races. I was pretty much always under 3 minutes for a half mile. Yes, I've had knee injuries since then. Yes, I'm 15 years older. Yes, I wasn't sprinting. Yes, I'm out of shape. But still, that seems awfully slow.

Then, I went to do the weight circuit. I was right behind aging super-guy. I mean, this guy had to be over 50 years old, and he looked slight. But he was lifting at least quadruple what I was at each circuit. Okay, fine, I'm not trying to bulk up, just tone, so I lift lighter weights. But still...it made me feel like a big wimp.

All in all, it wasn't my best self-esteem morning. I came home and put on a big sweater. Because it's cold out. Sure, that's my story.

On the plus side, I do feel pretty good.

Random unrelated thought: The boys and I made some carrot oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. It took nearly two hours to make the dough since I had two little helpers. I can't believe they stayed interested for so long. B-man was especially into it, while N-man was kind of popping in and out as time went on. The cookies turned out delicious, but I have to learn to check recipe quantities before I start cooking. This recipe makes 6 dozen cookies. What are we going to do with 6 dozen cookies? I have to look up to see if I can freeze some of the dough since it's just sitting in the fridge at the moment. Oh well, they are yummy! I think I'll be sending some in to work with TK...

The N-Man checks the calendar

January 1. The first day of the year. What does the little N-man do? Decides to climb out of his crib for the first time.

Yep. I know, they're almost two and a half; we got lucky to make it this long without any crib escapees.

And, as if that wasn't enough, he asked to pee on the potty, too. Totally unprompted.

It's like he looked at a calendar and said, "Well, it's 2008, I guess I'm ready to move to the next stage now."

N-Man also cracked us up today by insulting my cookies. I guess I should start by admitting that my mom makes the best Christmas cookies ever. And my boys ate about a zillion of them while we were visiting Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas.

So, for New Year's Eve, I made some chocolate chip cookies. I make great chocolate chip cookies. I swear! Well, I offered N-man one of them today, and he said, "where's Grandma's cookies?" Tough noogies, kid, you're stuck with Mommy's cookies! I also asked him if my cookies were as good as Grandma's, and he vehemently said NO while shaking his head for extra emphasis of how inferior my baking is.

Unrelated thought: I'm not big on resolutions, but I think my next blog entry will be goals I'd like to pursue in 2008. Get them in writing, make them concrete and measurable. Or maybe not. If I made resolutions, perhaps my first would be to write down my resolutions.