Thursday, April 30, 2009

Cookies and flowers



All 3 of these recipes are based on cookie recipes from an online healthy eating - weight loss site. They are good, basic ingredient cookie recipes that make small batches.

I put some of the cookies in jars for snacks and desserts for the next week , froze half of the dough of one recipe and bagged up single serving size baggies of cookies to freeze for Jeff's lunch box.



Caramel Cookies
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp baking soda


Preheat oven to 400°F.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar, egg and vanilla extract. Add remaining ingredients and beat thoroughly.
Scrape dough out of bowl and onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Roll dough into a log, about 2 1/2-inches wide; completely wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate until firm, at least 20 minutes or up to overnight. (I made mine into 2 rolls, baked one after chilling and froze the other roll for later)
Cut dough into 1/8-inch-thick slices and arrange on several large ungreased cookies sheets about 1- to 1 1/2-inches apart. Bake until lightly browned around edges, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet for about 1 minute and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Yields about 45 cookies



Chocolate Pecan Spice cookies This is a puffy cookie, it does not spread much while baking
pecan halves - 1 for each cookie, about 24-36
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp apple butter
1 large egg white
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder


Preheat oven to 350°F.

Combine sugar and butters in a medium bowl. Beat on medium speed with an electric mixer until soft. Add egg white and vanilla; beat until combined, scraping mixture off sides of bowl as needed.
In a medium bowl, whisk together cocoa, flour and baking powder. Add to butter mixture; beat to combine.
Drop dough by even teaspoonfuls, about 1 inch apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets. Place 1 pecan half on top of each cookie. Bake for 12 minutes; remove from oven and allow to cool on pan for 5 minutes. Remove cookies with spatula to a rack to cool completely.

Yields about 24-36 cookies




Oatmeal Pecan Lace Cookies These spread a lot, leave room between each one on the baking sheets or you might end up with one giant cookie mess.


1 1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chopped pecans, finely chopped (or any nut you like)
1/8 tsp table salt
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 large egg - beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350ºF and cover 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or just grease them lightly..
Mix oats, sugar, baking powder, pecans and salt together in a medium bowl until mixed.
Add butter, egg and vanilla to oat mixture; mix well.
Drop teaspoonfuls of batter onto prepared cookie sheets and flatten each out, leaving at least 2-inches between each cookie.
Bake cookies until edges turn golden, about 8 to 12 minutes. Let cookies stand on cookie sheets for 2 minutes before removing from baking sheet.



Yield - about 2 dozen cookies

visit Gayle at the Grocery Cart Challenge for more low-cost recipes.









Changing the subject, here are pictures of my favorite plants that growing in our yard right now.



first iris to bloom this spring

pansies

dianthus


hosta

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

what a difference $1 makes



I bought this nice denim bedskirt and 2 pillow covers at the $1 a bag rummage sale last month. I did not intend on using it on my bed but bought it because it was such nice denim fabric.

Yesterday, I saw that this star quilt has just a little blue in it so I thought I would try it on this bed and am really happy with it.
This bed skirt is such good quality that even the fabric part that goes under the mattress is the same nice denim, not that psuedo-interfacing material that is used for most skirts.

The sheets are red and white gingham. I was not really going for such a country, patriotic look but the room is really comfortable and looks more finished now.

One corner of the room has this quilt rack.


We put a chair in each of the corners by the window.



There are no dressers or chest of drawers in this room because our closet is big enough to hold our clothes. That leaves plenty of extra space in this room. I would really prefer this room was smaller but houses now just seem to be increasing the size of master bedrooms, not making them smaller.

Coupon Cartoon

This cartoon reminds me of my children when they were little. They did not shop with me very often but when they did, they knew I used lots of coupons and they even thought you had to have a coupon as well as money to buy something.

They were very sweet and they said please a lot too.





I look forward to my emails everyday from http://icanhascheezburger.com/ and http://ihasahotdog.com/
I like them so much, I've even made scrapbooks of the funniest ones.

Week 17 2009



Purchases

1 loaf bread at Dollar Tree

Walmart

pack of 20 small tortillas
egg roll wrappers (I used 6 and froze the rest)
2 12 ounce bacon
clementines, potatoes, frozen peas and corn
4 boxes crackers
1 Kraft dressing - I had 1 more $1.50 coupon
1 gallon skim milk
Meals

April 22
French Onion Salisbury steak with fresh spinach

April 23
Chicken breasts with dressing and oven roasted asparagus

April 24
Soft beef tacos

April 25
sandwiches for lunch
Asian veggies and chicken with rice and egg rolls for supper

April 26
cereal for breakfast
BLTs for lunch
baked turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes and big salad for supper

April 27
leftover chicken/rice from Sat. and big salad

April 28
Turkey shepherds pie with fresh spinach and green salad
for more menus and shopping totals, visit Gayle at Grocery Cart Challenge

Friday, April 24, 2009

Busy Baby

Grandson Gavin is 11 weeks old and he is already so busy. He loves to watch his mobile or lay on a play mat. And he kicks and waves his arms more than any baby I've ever seen.
This video is less than 30 seconds long and I promise it will make you smile.