This Week's Obsessions

What I'm Lovin' This Week:

The first meeting of my book club- we read Angry Housewives Eating Bon-Bons- though I swear I'm not angry;) It was so fun to read a book I probably wouldn't have picked out otherwise, and to have a girls' night in to discuss. Oh my gosh, you should have seen the spread of food & snacks. It was practically a potluck book club meeting! Are you in a book club? Read anything good lately, we could use some suggestions!

On the topic of reading, I found a plan to read the Bible in one year. I think that would just be so cool to have read it cover to cover.

Hot pink nail polish-- okay, so this color is a little bright for me, ESPECIALLY for my fingernails, but I figure my fashion rules can be bend a little for summer. Perfect color with a tan. Love it:)

My daughter's stroller. Not the stroller we put her in, but the baby doll stroller she got for her birthday. She's not yet walking on her own, but she actually squeals with delight when pushing that stroller around the living room. Just wish we had a bigger space for her to roam, I'm constantly moving things out of her way as she plows through!

Side note- do toy strollers count as walkers? And if so, I've heard some conflicting things about babies' walking being delayed after they use walkers. What do you think? Any truth to this? (Hope not...)

And finally...

Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats- okay, so the frosting has a tinge of blue to it, which is a bit off-putting, but I'm telling you, if you are a fan of blueberries and/or blueberry muffins, this cereal is soo tasty. And for those of you who keep track, it's got so much fiber that it's only 2 Weight Watchers points for a serving that fills me up. Yum. Definitely try it out. And if your family looks at you funny for eating blue cereal, have them try some. They'll get it.

Full "Secret" Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

As I mentioned in a previous post, the main "secret" ingredients in this recipe are lemon juice (to activate the baking soda) & ground quick oats (oats put into a food processor) added to the dry ingredients.
Here's the whole recipe if you want to do a taste test & compare to your own... sounds like a good day to me!!

From Easy to Bake, Easy to Make:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup rolled oats, regular or quick
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened (10- 20 secs in microwave- pressing lightly on stick leaves fingerprint, but shape of butter still intact)
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 eggs
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (I skip the nuts)

Makes two dozen cookies.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cover 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. I use aluminum foil. Place rolled oats in blender or food processor and process until finely ground. Combine ground oats, flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a mixing bowl.

2. In another bowl, cream butter, sugars, vanilla, and lemon juice together using an electric mixer. Add eggs and beat until fluffy.

3. Stir the flour mixture into egg mixture, blending well. Add the chocolate chips and nuts to the dough and mix well. Using 1/4 cup of dough for each cookie, scoop round balls with an ice-cream scoop and place 2 1/2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.

4. Bake until cookies are lightly browned, 16-18 minutes (the first time, I timed it to 13 min, and I've used that ever since).

Let me know what you think! Happy baking!

Sippy Cup Stress

It's official!!

We've moved from bottles to sippy cups!:)

Only problem?...She doesn't know how to hold them properly.

Ugh. I should have seen this coming, she never held onto her own bottles either. She hasn't quite figured out that she needs to tilt her head back in order to get liquid to come out. We tried to grab the bottle/cup and show her, and immediately she lets go of the drink as if to say "Well, if you're willing to do it..."

Plus, the particular sippy cup I bought leaks about 70% of the time. I bought a pair, and they're equally leaky. I also bought a cup with a straw, figuring it would tide us over until she got the knack of this sippy cup thing. BUT, the straw is impossible to clean. Especially with milk in it, bleh.

So, I'm excited, yet frustrated. Any suggestions? Does anyone have a secret for getting kids to tilt their heads back? When can I stop being my daughter's drink servant?

Oh, and I'm linked up at Amy's "Finer Things Friday"... go take a look:)

Professional Looking Cake Design

In case I haven't mentioned it before, in my spare time (ha!) I've been working on improving my bakery skills, i.e., baking cakes & decorating them. Ideally, I would like to have a part-time job of making cakes for friends and family, but at the moment, I am just refining my skills. A "practice" wedding cake:


This cake is from a class I took last fall at the local community college. It's covered in fondant, which is all the rage in cake decorating. While my instructor suggested that we use Wilton fondant on our cakes, a classmate of mine told me about a recipe for marshmallow fondant that has saved me time AND money. Good combo, right?

Check out the recipe & let me know what you think. It tastes waaaay better than traditional fondant, and certainly costs a whole lot less. And if you were going to make your own fondant with that whole gelatin method, let me save you a lot of hassle, and say that this is the way to go...

I hasten to add that this type of fondant is best for sculptural type decorating, i.e., making a bow to put on top of the cake. The marshmallow fondant is generally too stiff to use to cover a cake- that's when you invest in the Wilton.

"Secrets" of a Tasty Chocolate Chip Cookie

So being that my hubby loves himself a good cookie or brownie-particularly ones with chocolate chips or M&M's-I'm always looking for new recipes in these categories.

The other day I found an old recipe card I had saved from God-knows-where, and took a look at instructions for "Secret Recipe Chocolate Cookies". So what's the secret? Two of them, actually.

1. Grind 1/2 cup of quick oats into a powder & add to dry ingredients.
2. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice to the batter to "activate" the baking soda. (The recipe promised this would lead to a chewier cookie)

Well, I can tell you that the cookies were amazing. My cookie aficionado husband confirmed. So my question is...what do oats and lemon juice really do for cookies? Why does baking soda need a nudge from an extra ingredient to be activated?

Better yet, you have any cookie secrets?? Spill.

...It's only fair:)