COCONUT OATMEAL COOKIES!!!

coconut oatmeal cookies

2 cups ap flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp milk
1 cup brown sugar (light or dark), firmly packed
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs (large, extra or jumbo)
1 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

Preheat oven to 350F.
Sift together flour, soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
Cream butter and sugars in a large bowl until well combined. Beat in vanilla, milk and eggs until light, about 2 minutes. Stir in flour mixture. Add oats and coconut.
Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake for 11 minutes at 350F. Cookies will be lightly browned.
Let cool for a few minutes on baking sheet, then move to a wire rack until completely cooled.


okay, i seriously think that i have become addicted to nic (aka baking sheet) and her beautiful blog filled with recipes. if you haven't hit one of the many links that i have already up about her site...i am begging you to run over there.

i got this recipe in her archives and lemme just say that i think that this is one of the top 5 cookies that i have ever made (and i have made a lotta cookies). this is definitely a keeper.

can't wait to see what the people at work think of these.


NOTE: *i also made about half a dozen with nestle swirls chips in chocolate and caramel instead of coconut. DELISH!!! i will def. play around with this recipe. maybe try nuts, dried cranberries, etc.

ELIZABETH NEEDS!!!

after i finished the last post, i decided to surf around my links. over at misocrafty i saw where she posted to google your name with the word "needs" next to it and post the top 10 things.

here we go...

Elizabeth Needs Protection

Elizabeth needs to be loved, pursued and reassured (this musta really been written about me...seriously!!!)

Elizabeth needs the indirect image of Darcy in this portrait to view the man

Elizabeth needs a nuk

Elizabeth needs to stick around, and be featured a bit more

Elizabeth needs to find something quick, and she only remembers a few
keywords related to it, she uses Omea Pro's Desktop Search functionality

Elizabeth needs to be able to express her feelings to someone she trusts (again, really about me).

Elizabeth needs to show more emotion (if you ask anyone that knows me, they would prolly say that i need to show less emotion..lol)

Elizabeth needs to follow up with Margaret to confirm she is OK with this.

Elizabeth needs housewares, like bedding and gadgets (who can't use more gadgets?)

that was fun!! another great site is googlism. type in your name and see what happens.

here's are a few of my favorites:

elizabeth is waiting to be found

elizabeth is smart and brave

elizabeth is fine

elizabeth is mine

elizabeth is caring

elizabeth is as lucky as she is shrewd

elizabeth is a tour de force of imagination


what are your favorites about your own name???

PAPA RONI'S AND COCONUT BREAD...YUM!!!

i've been promising the kiddos delivery pizza for the past two weeks, however, the only pizza place around me that delivers is a mom and pop place called papa roni's and they haven't been delivering the past couple of weeks. so i left work a lil early to go pick one up before i got the kiddos.

that is the first time that i have been inside in such a long time. i love the whole small, quaint italian restaurant feel to it. in the bakery cases i saw cannoli shells, tarts, cheesecake,and cookies. the smells were devine and you are able to see them (the owner and her teenage kiddos) cooking up some yummies!

as i stand there on teepie-toes taking sneak peeks of what they are doing back there, i wish that i could work there. i wanna make pizza and cannoli. i almost think i am going to open up my mouth and ask if i can work one day a week. even if its just to make cannoli filling.

then that reminds me of my dream....my dream to bake all day long. before i got pregnant with mikey, i had received the application to attend a local culinary school. i was going to attend the culinary school, master in pastries, then one day have my own show on the food network. believe you me, i have plenty of practice. for as long as i can remember, when i would whip something up in the kitchen (and i did this quite a bit when i was little up until highschool...me and my bros were latch key kids) i would talk as if i was talking into a camera. i giggle now as i think about it.

but thats the dream.

to bake.

all.day.long.

maybe one day.

for now, i have the pleasure of baking for my wonderful family and the officers who visit my office on a regular basis.


chocolate cannoli


pizza delicioso


a loaf of tomato & basil bread for lunch tomorrow.

speaking of baking, i am completely addicted to baking sheet. while checking it out today at work, i came across a recipe for bills coconut bread. bill has quite a few restaurants in australia and a couple of cookbooks that i would like to get my hands on.

once i saw the recipe, i knew i had to try it. i did however have to adjust a few things based on what i had on hand (like i didn't have any milk, so i used coconut milk, and i don't know what caster sugar is (which i plan on looking up) so i used regular ol white sugar).

i've already tried a lil piece and it is devine. when i first read in nic's post, she mentioned that she couldn't wait to toast it in the a.m. and put butter on it. i kinda thought that that didn't sound real good, but after tasting the bread, i see how that would be delish. its sweet without being too sweet.

here's the recipe with my substitutions in ( ).

Bill's Coconut Bread

2 eggs
300ml (1 1/4 cups) milk (same amount, only coconut milk)
1 tsp vanilla
350g (2 1/2 cups) flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
225 g (1 cup and a bit) caster sugar (same amount, only white sugar)
150 g (2 cups) shredded coconut
75 g (1/3 cup) butter, melted


Preheat oven to 180C /350F.

Whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla.
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon. Stir in sugar and coconut. Make a well in the center and pour in egg mixture. Stir until just combined.
Add butter and stir until just smooth, being careful not to overmix.
Pour into a greased and floured loaf pan and bake for 1 hour, or until tester comes out clean.
Cool in tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

nic's notes: I have used lowfat milk to no ill effects in this recipe. I have also used sweetened coconut and reduced the amount of sugar slightly. Bill Granger suggests that this loaf will yield 8 slices, but I probably cut it into 12. Enjoy it plain, or toasted with butter!

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!!!

well, i needed some baking therapy tonight and i decided to try some yummy looking chocolate chip cookies that i saw over at baking sheet.

unfortunately, i was on the phone with mike was i was making them therefore, i added both eggs whole instead of one whole egg and one egg yolk. i don't know if that contributed to the fact that my cookies look completely different than hers or not.

they are still very yummy!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
(thanks to the Best Recipe)
2 cups plus 2 tbsp ap flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter (12 tbsp), melted and cooled until just warm
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, whisk together butter and sugars. Beat in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, followed by chocolate chips.
Drop by (scant) 1/4 cups onto the baking sheet and pat lightly so the cookie is an even thickness, not a ball shape. Cookies will spread as they bake and this ensures a more even spread.
Bake at 325F for 15-17 minutes, until just turning light brown all over. The edges should only be very slightly more brown, if at all, from the rest of the cookie. Allow cookies to cool before removing them from the baking sheet.
Makes 18-24 large cookies

MORE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING DONE!!!

while i was over at wee wonderfuls, hillary posted some amazing toys that she found while surfing the net. on of the items she had were some lace up cards from a website called genius babies. i knew i needed to check them out. they would be perfect for bella and she can "sew" with mommy.

once i got to the site, i saw a ton of cute things. here is what i ordered:


bella's "sewing" cards


a united states bingo game for mikey


a united states map puzzle for mikey


and some candy dominoes for me that are going to turn in to some really cute crafty things.

and the best thing, is shortly after i ordered the items, i got and email saying that they were already shipped and will be here on thursday!

talk about customer service!!

SOME NEW BLOGS!!

i've been meaning to post some new blogs that i have been checking out. maybe tomorrow i will get them over to my daily obsessions :)

i heart sensible shoes
tania
polka dot stripe
baking sheet
cupcake cottage
creature comforts

here lately i have really been into food related blogs. ya know how i am about hoarding recipes.

:)


wow! i just found this wonderful source of scrapbooking/card inspiration. i will def. be visiting her often.

self-addressed

THE HALLOWEEN DECORATIONS ARE FINALLY UP!!!

so i finally got the halloween decorations up after promising mikey for the past week. after dinner, mike popped up some popcorn and we go to work. the kiddos had so much fun digging thru the boxes and running around deciding where everything was going to go.


digging thru the spooky goodies.


mike bringing a bat to life.


yummy popcorn.


see how good?


did you see that ghost that was helping us out?

WHO'S YOUR 80'S HEARTTHROB????

mine is....

Your 80s Heartthrob Is

Jason Bateman

Who's Your 80's Heartthrob?

KAFFEEE!!!

this morning, while drinking my morning coffee, i decided to let bella have a lil taste. everytime she sees me drinking a cup, she asks "is that you're kaffeee?". so after is was pretty much lukewarm, i asked her if she wanted a sip. of course her eyes got all wide and she shook her head yes.

i let her take a lil sip and she said "that's good kaffeee!".

glad my girl thinks her mommy can make a decent cuppa kaffeee!

COOKIES, CARAMEL APPLES, & THE ADAM'S FAMILY!!

well, as i mentioned before i have been in a bit of a funk and i knew some good ol cleaning (especially since it was very overdue) and some time with the kiddos was just what i needed to help get me outta it.

the other day while i was surfin' around, i stumbled across a post over at turkey feathers about some yummy looking cookies. i knew after all the cleaning i did friday night and this morning, that this was just the thing i wanted to do with mikey and bella.

the cookies were a success and very, very delicious. we did sprinkle ours with extra orange and purple sprinkles.

harvest moon cookies

Into the mixer bowl combine:

1-1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Into another bowl combine:

1-1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Into a sandwich-size plastic bag:

1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
*Lightly grease cookie sheets if they aren't the non-stick variety.*

1. Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla until blended.
2. Gradually add dry mixture until soft dough forms.
3. Drop dollups of dough onto a lightly floured surface; roll into 2" balls.
4. Toss & coat balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture inside plastic bag.
5. Place balls on cookie sheets about 3" apart.
6. Flatten gently to 1/4" with bottom of a glass.
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden around the edges.
8. Cool for 2-3 minutes before removing to cooling rack.
9. Store in airtight containor when completely cooled; but eat a few first!


bella giving the cookies a good shake.


now its mikey's turn.


smooshing the cookies out some.


yum!!!!

after the cookies were done and the kiddos were in their room watching a movie and gobbling them all up, i decided that i wanted to make caramel apples. i have never made them before and its been forever since i ate one. boy were they delicious!!



the adams' family then came over for a yummy dinner of meatball hoagies and alfredo noodles (with cookies for dessert of course). i highlighy suggest buying premade meatballs, throwing them in a crockpot with jarred spaghetti sauce and calling it dinner! very, very good!

all in all saturday was a busy day filled with lots of accomplishments and good company!

RECIPES, RECIPES, AND EVEN MORE RECIPES!!

as we all know, i love to cook (especially bake). so when i see something i know i may wanna cook in the future on the food network, a blog, or any other website, my printer gets to work.

this doesn't sound like that bigga deal right?

well the problem takes place when i have stacks and stacks of paper all over the place. i didn't even make all the recipes i have. then the ones i do use, when i try to find them again, they are in the piles of all the other recipes.

what solution is there for this?

of course there is two problems:

1. not forgetting about some of the recipes i have and actually using them.

2. and of course storing of all them.


for #1, i have thought about really sticking to the whole making a menu thing. i would prolly do it on a sunday night and plan till the next sunday night. i could go thru some recipes and go thru what i already have on hand and plan this way. this would prolly also help if i went thru the recipes around grocery shopping time.

for #2, who knows. i have a recipe box (which really doesn't work for me) and i have two cabinets completely devoted to cookbooks and all those damn pieces of paper. i've thought about bloggin' the good ones and making links to em on my sidebar, but that may be a lot of typing.

so what do all of you cooks do about this? i feel like i am missing out on some good eats b/c i can't find the recipe or i completely forget about it.

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

okay, i'm off to print out this recipe ;)

A NEW DO AND A VAMPIRE!!!

i forgot to mention that wednesday i got my hair cut and highlighted. i am absolutely in luv with it and every day i look in the mirror i am amazed that i have never had my hair highlighted before. this picture isn't the best. it was taken right before bed and the lighting was bad. and why is that in pictures, my nose looks HUGE in but when i look at myself in the mirror, it doesn't look that big??? does this happen to anyone else???



oh and i have to mention something funny...this a.m. while i was helping mikey get ready for school, i noticed that when he put on his shirt that he didn't tuck down his collar. i said "come here baby so i can fix your color" and he said "but i like it that way. i look like a vampire".

BLAH!!!

i haven't posted anything this week b/c i have felt completely blah! my mind is swimming with all of things that i have to do and then i forget those things b/c my mind then starts swimming with other things that need to get done.

thank goodness tomorrow is friday. maybe after the weekend i can get back into my groove.

A DAY OF BUBBLES!!!

today we went to mom's to grill out. my aunt had sent the kids their bday presents and inside were bubbles. i knew this was a prime picture taking opportunity. i hope to get the rest of the pics up on flickr....but ya know how that goes.


mikey blowing bubbles.


isabella giving it a go.


mikey took this shot of me blowing bubbles. he is quite the photographer.


me and mike.


a pic of me and mikey in the reflection of the door. i luv this pic and will prolly print it out at some point.

HERSHEY COFFEE CANDY BARS & AN EYEBALL CAKE!!

today me and the kiddos did some running around. i wanted to make an eyeball cake that i saw in an issue of nick jr. so we hit the dollar store to get some candy. even though the candy for the cake was kinda a hit and miss, i did spot some other candy that i haven't seen before



hershey's apparently has come out with a line of candy bars that have a coffee flavor to them. i haven't tried them yet, so i will keep ya posted.

after the dollar store, we hit the party supply store so we could pick up mikey's halloween costume. thank goodness they had a "jack sparrow" (pirates of the carribean) costume. i can't wait to see him dressed up.

after that we dealt with the hell of walmart where we picked up a few things along with the candy for the cake.

once we got home, we got busy making the cake.









it was pretty darn delicious. next time though, i will use chocolate frosting and be more detailed on the eyes. the kiddos didn't care though they thought it was great!!

ANOTHER REASON TO LUV FALL!!!

every fall i look forward to little debbie coming out with their fall snacks. especially this one. ahhhh...a pumpkin filling. they are simply delicious.

i wish they were out year round.


NOTE: i have written them asking if they would keep them out year round and they disappointed me by saying that they are strictly seasonal!

RATS!!

MIKEY'S BDAY "PARTY" AT SCHOOL!!

well, today was mikey's lil bday party at school. i brought the previously mentioned cupcakes and hawaiin punch. when i got there, the kids were in centers and i started to set eveything up. its funny, i really didn't know what i was supposed to be doing, but i poured drinks. while i was pouring drinks, mikey and his teacher sat at the same table that i was pouring drinks at and started working on writing his name (she was doing this with another student when i walked in). i pretended that i didn't notice what they were doing b/c mikey was starting to get distracted. so i started looking around at things in the room. they had these huge pads of paper where the teacher had asked the children a series of questions (what is your favorite color, what do you want to be when you grow up, & my family likes to...) and she wrote down their answers. of course i scanned for mikey's name and read his answers"


his favorite color is black.


his family likes to play on the computer (this made me laugh at loud when i read it). when his teacher had asked if this was true, i said absolutely :)


when he grows up, he wants to go in the army (its in his blood...lol).

so after everyone finished the last of their cupcakes and juice, i headed off to the thrift store that is right down the street. i may not have a mcdonalds that isn't more than 15 or more minutes away, but by gosh i get to have a very decent thrift store right down the street. this is usually where i can find some good books. this is what i found:


great book!!!! i already finished it (okay, so i'm posting this on sunday and i started the book on friday and finished last night). john saul is simply the best!!!


a book on omelets


more books for bella's collection.





after i picked the kiddos up from school, i noticed that i had gotten an email from crayola and they posted a great link showing that they had oodles and oodles of coloring pages. so i printed so halloween ones out and we all go to coloring.













all in all it was a pretty great day :)

SKULL CUPCAKES!!

tomorrow is mikey's bday celebration at school. so i made cupcakes to bring in with fruit punch for the festivities. these were the gummy skulls that i bought for mikey's bday party (that has not happened yet...lol). i happened to have enough for the party and for 24 cupcakes.

i spoke to mikey's teacher today and she told me that it birthdays are very important in her classroom and wanted to make sure that all the children who had bdays in the past month were celebrated as soon as possible. she also told me that the children draw a picture for the bday student of a present that they would give them if they could and put it in a bday box. i think that is one of the sweetest things i have heard a class do.

i am so glad that ms. upton feels her students bdays are important, b/c we do too!!!