I can't cook to save my life. I even burn frozen pizzas. That's OK, because no one in my house actually eats food, so no one seems to notice. But, the one thing I can do and take great pride in, is baking. I can make a mean cake, scrumptious cookies, and I do not fear a pie or a homemade crust. I do have one flaw with all of these yummy talents. I have lame chocolate chip cookies. They taste great, but they end up completely flat as if they melted, with the chocolate chips sticking up like mountains among the flat desert cookie. Because they're so flat, the edges tend to get a bit too crispy, and when displayed, they just look bad. The flavor has always been there, but they look like a failure.
I have tried every recipe I can find and nothing seems to work. I would go to a party and see these fluffy billowy cookies and I would ask for the recipe. "Oh, I just use the recipe on the Nestle Tollhouse bag." WHAT??? I've used the same recipe! I switched from butter to margarine, to shortening, to less salt, more salt, fresh baking soda and I got nothing.
Until... I found a recipe that has given me the perfect chocolate chip cookie. One that I can display proudly, one that Rob will eat up, one that can be frozen and then doled out a few at a time for convenience. I will share this recipe with you so that no one has to ever endure lame chocolate chip cookies again.
Pam's Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
375* 9-11 minutes
Combine the flour, soda and salt in medium bowl. Cream the cooled melted butter and sugars together in a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Stir in flour mixture until just incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips. Place bowl in the fridge for 10 minutes (or up to 6 hours) until dough firms up.
Drop by heaping spoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. (Don't be afraid to make big cookies, this dough can handle it!)
If you want to freeze them, drop the balls of dough onto parchment covered cookie sheet in the freezer for 20 minutes, then place in a ziploc bag. Just take out the number of dough balls you want to cook! You may need to add a few minutes to the baking for the frozen ones.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
Sorting Laundry
I was sorting the girls laundry the other day. I carefully placed the light and dark items in their appropriate piles and looked at them. There's no need to sort them anymore. I had one pile of dark pink, and another pile of light pink. One big pile of just pink laundry probably would have been sufficient.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
The Mothers Curse
All of the years I was a teenager doing all of the things that I did (even though they weren't really that bad) I somehow avoided "The Mothers Curse." You know, the one where your Mother yells at you in a fit of rage "I hope you have kids just like you one day!" I thought I was home free. So, I get married, have my kids and I realized something. I should have tried harder for the curse, because I ended up with kids just like my husband!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Too many nicknames!
While I was pregnant, we asked Melody what we should name her little sister. She decided Light Stick was a good name. It took a few months for us to convince her that we could call her Light Stick, but we couldn't name her that. So, Melly still calls Tori Light Stick. The other day, Tori was screaming because she was starving since it had been an entire hour since she ate last (she's a much bigger eater than Melody ever was). Her little face was all red and tears were streaming down her face. Melody looks at her, then tells me, "There's a little Red Faced Bobble Head over here!" So now, Melly has switched gears and now calls Tori the Little Red Faced Bobble Head. Go figure!
Welcome Home Victoria!
In preparation of bringing baby Tori home, Rob made a sign for the piggy to hold.
Tori is very content to be home. The hospital was fine, but it's better to be here!
Melody is very eager to show Tori all of her toys, as long as she doesn't play with them!
Tori is very content to be home. The hospital was fine, but it's better to be here!
Melody is very eager to show Tori all of her toys, as long as she doesn't play with them!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Friday, October 30, 2009
The french fry
We went out to dinner for our Anniversary to Applebees since we had Melly with us. A nice kid friendly place, and as long as I didn't have to cook, I'm happy! We order some burgers, and Melly wants chicken and fries.
Our meal comes, and on the first bite of french fry, Melody takes a bite, and accidentally drops the rest of the fry on the ground. Sometimes at home, I may have the "5 second rule", but in a restaurant, if something even hits the table, it's a 'no go' for eating. So this french fry is on the floor, and Melody starts crying. Not really sure why, so we start asking some questions. Come to find out, she's crying because she wants to eat the french fry. We explain to her that it has germs on it from being on the floor. She cries some more and protests:
"But Mommy, remember I washed my hands and got the germs off"
I then explain that the germs are on the french fry, not her hands.
"But Mommy, the french fry already has my bite mark in it, I need to finish it"
I remind her that she has an entire plate full of french fries that still need her bite mark in them.
While all of these excuses are going on, she's wailing quietly on her chair, really upset about this french fry. Rob & I try everything to get her to stop crying and maybe eat something. The tears are popping out of her head, her nose is running, and she's just not into eating. We even try taking bites out of our own french fries and putting them with her dropped one so that it would have friends. Still no good. The wailing continues while Rob & I eat our entire meal.
I then tell her a story about how all the food that's left on the plate gets taken away to a special place in the back kitchen where they get to have a party together. That seemed to do it enough for her to eat some of her food. She was still upset, not in a great mood, and fell asleep in the car on the way home!
Our meal comes, and on the first bite of french fry, Melody takes a bite, and accidentally drops the rest of the fry on the ground. Sometimes at home, I may have the "5 second rule", but in a restaurant, if something even hits the table, it's a 'no go' for eating. So this french fry is on the floor, and Melody starts crying. Not really sure why, so we start asking some questions. Come to find out, she's crying because she wants to eat the french fry. We explain to her that it has germs on it from being on the floor. She cries some more and protests:
"But Mommy, remember I washed my hands and got the germs off"
I then explain that the germs are on the french fry, not her hands.
"But Mommy, the french fry already has my bite mark in it, I need to finish it"
I remind her that she has an entire plate full of french fries that still need her bite mark in them.
While all of these excuses are going on, she's wailing quietly on her chair, really upset about this french fry. Rob & I try everything to get her to stop crying and maybe eat something. The tears are popping out of her head, her nose is running, and she's just not into eating. We even try taking bites out of our own french fries and putting them with her dropped one so that it would have friends. Still no good. The wailing continues while Rob & I eat our entire meal.
I then tell her a story about how all the food that's left on the plate gets taken away to a special place in the back kitchen where they get to have a party together. That seemed to do it enough for her to eat some of her food. She was still upset, not in a great mood, and fell asleep in the car on the way home!
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