kynlee.

Hey guys, guess what?

It's really hard to post regularly when you're busy. Ok, ok... I'm not THAT busy. But I am in grad school. And I do have a job. And I do go to the gym. I know it's no excuse. But it's just so hard to find time to (1) choose what to bake (2) buy all the ingredients (3) bake and take pictures and (4) blog about. Whew. That's a lot.

I have to do better though! Because I really do enjoy it. I promise that I'll bake something delicious tomorrow. I haven't decided what yet, but I'm sure that it will come to me.

So for this post, I have decided to share with you some pictures to make your heart melt.

This is my niece. Her name is Kynlee. Is she not adorable? And she likes to help her mommy bake! My kind of girl ;)

She is so cute! I just want to squeeze her and hug her and kiss her! 

For the record, my other nieces (I have 2 others) are super adorable too! I just can't wait to see what a boy from our family will look like! (Someone get on that. I'm talking to you two, Monica and Racheal.)

slight variation.

Hey guys!

Remember when I made Double Fudge Oreo Crunch Cookies in July? Well, I made them again. Why? Because D loved them. And everyone at my work loved them. (As in, asked for the recipe) I also have a class full of hungry friends to feed tonight.

Another reason I made them again is because the ingredients are so easy! The only thing I need to pick up that I don't always have on hand is oreos.

So what did I do differently this time? I drizzled peanut butter over the top. Lets just say it was one of my better ideas. :)

It was my first drizzling experience, but I think they turned out pretty! I was honestly just doing the whole "peanut butter drizzle" thing for aesthetic reasons, but holy moly- it adds the perfect little taste of peanut butter.

I am going to make these cookies again in October- for Halloween- with the Halloween Oreos (with the orange filling). I'm excited! (Is that dorky of me?) Ooooh and then in December for Christmas maybe I could use red/green filled oreos! (Do they make those?) Sorry. Cute cookies get me worked up.


Double Fudge Oreo Crunch Cookies with Peanut Butter Drizzle(cookie recipe from How Sweet It Is)

makes about 30 cookies

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips (I used Semi-sweet)
1 cup chopped oreos (I just cut them into small pieces with a sharp knife)

For peanut butter drizzle: 1/4 cup peanut butter

Cream butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until fluffy. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt and mix until combined.

Fold in chocolate chips and oreos. Refrigerate dough for 2-4 hours or more. (I refrigerated mine overnight and it was fine!) When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees, roll into balls and set on baking sheet.

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. When cookies come out of the oven, remove from baking sheet and put onto a cookie cooling rack with paper towels underneath. Heat peanut butter up in a microwave safe dish until liquidy. Using a fork, drizzle peanut butter over cookies. :)




Soo.. guess what I had for lunch?  A leftover hamburger roll with a piece of cheese and spicy mustard, some pringles, and a pickle. Clearly I spent more time this morning focusing on cookies than I did on making lunch. Priorities, people.

buy local.

Do you know what happens when you buy fruits and veggies from the farmers market? I'll tell you.

1. They taste better.

The produce has not had to travel for days over hundreds of miles in the back of a truck. It was grown at a farm that is close enough to the market that it would be economically realistic for them to drive to the market to sell their produce. That means that it was probably picked VERY recently. As in, today or the past few days. So it's VERY fresh. And fresh = flavorful. 

2. They're cheaper.

When you buy a tomato at the farmers market, you aren't paying for the electric bill of the store you're buying it from, the employees that had to be paid to put the tomato on display, or for the driver that had to be paid to deliver the tomato to the store. You're just paying for the tomato.

3. You're helping local economy.

Instead of pumping money into a foreign economy or another state, you're helping out local small farmers who are probably struggling to compete. 

4. The sellers really appreciate your business.

A lot of the time they will give you extra produce. Yesterday I bought a big zucchini for 75 cents, and the seller gave me two zucchinis. I also bought a quart of peaches (which was overflowing), and after putting them into the bag, he threw in a few extra peaches. When you go to your local grocery store, do they offer you a few extra items for free?

5. You get some exercise and fresh air :)

And who couldn't use a little more of that? ;)

Ok, now that being said.... I clearly shop at a chain grocery store all the time. Like 1-2 times a week.  It's just not practical or possible to buy everything I use at a farmers market, and most of the year it's not an option. I have nothing against. I appreciate them! Imagine if we were still foraging for food and collecting berries old-school style? Yikes.

All I'm saying is that if you get the chance, go to your local farmers market! Check it out. If it isn't your thing, no big deal. The grocery stores do carry local produce from time to time when it's in season, so you can always get some local produce where you regularly buy your groceries. 

PS. D calls me a dork because "I love produce". So what if I like to walk up and down the rows at the farmers market looking at all the produce? It's normal, right? 

no bake cookies.

I have trouble calling these cookies "cookies". There are a couple other "cookies" that my family has always made for Christmas that don't require baking. But at least they don't try to pretend that they're cookies by having "cookie" in the title. They're called nutclusters and haystacks. I just feel like cookies should be baked!

But hey, these cookie impostors taste darn good and require zero to little effort. I'll let them slide- this time. 

These cookies are D's absolute favorite. I actually already had a recipe for no bake's that I got from my sister a while back, but I decided to get D's mom's recipe since he loves them so much. 

Last week my other sister sent me a picture of no bake cookies that she had just made. They made me really, really want to make them. And to be honest, I was never the biggest fan. I know, I know. Chocolate, butter, peanut butter, vanilla, sugar.....what's not to like? Well, I don't know. I guess I was crazy. 

Because since I made them last night, I can't stop thinking about them! You know those pieces of oatmeal that break off the cookie when you're putting them into the container? I snatched those up like I was the grinch stealing every last crumb from all those poor little Whos.

Make.Them.Now. You'll be happy you did. 

No Bake Cookies  

(D's Mom's Recipe)

1/4 lb (1 stick) margarine

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

3 cups rolled or old fashioned oats

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl, combine oats, salt, peanut butter, and vanilla. Set aside. 

Bring the margarine, cocoa powder, sugar, and milk in a pot to a boil. As soon as you see bubbles around the edges, boil for one minute. Pour over the oat mixture. Mix until thoroughly combined. Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper. You can make them as big or as small as you want!

how to blanch a peach.

Have you ever blanched anything before? I hadn't until yesterday. I had 4 super ripe peaches that I was going to bake with. I stood there staring at them. I was debating with myself over whether I wanted to risk the frustration of trying to peel a very ripe, very juicy peach or just learn how to blanch a dang peach already. 

After a little google-ing (googling? neither of those look right.), I was ready. 

First, fill a medium-sized pot about 3/4 full with water. Put it on the stove to bring it to a boil. 

While the water is warming up, fill a medium sized mixing bowl with cold water. Place it near the pot on the stove to make transfers easier. Put about 14 ice cubes in the bowl of water. (Or in my case, open the freezer to look for ice cubes, realize you only have like 10, swear to yourself, dump all of them in the water, and make a mental note to buy another ice cube tray.)

Once the water is up to a boil, turn the heat down a little so the boiling doesn't get out of control. You want it to be boiling, but not spilling-over-the-sides boiling. 

Using a slotted spoon, place one peach into the boiling water. I found that 35 seconds in the boiling water did the trick for me.

After 35 seconds, quickly transfer the peach (using the slotted spoon) to the ice water bath. Roll it around in the ice water for 10-15 seconds, and then remove and immediately peel. 

 

I just used my nails to pick a little piece of skin off near the top and then used that opening to pull large chunks of skin off.

 

Once you get the peach all peeled, repeat the process with the next peach. Do this until all the peaches are peeled. You can keep the water boiling while you peel the peach.

When you're done, you're left with this:

And these!

Now you can cut them all up and use every last bit of their deliciousness in a recipe... or you can just inhale them, which is what I wanted to do. These peaches were so ripe that they melted in my mouth. Mmmmm.

hot cocoa cookies.

Remember I said that this blog would be about my trials and tribulations in the kitchen and also my biking adventures? (Of course not limited to those things, but you get the point). Well folks, I have a tribulation to share with you.

I made these cookies because on Jessica's blog (how sweet it is - check it out!) they looked so delicious! Her pictures are always amazing. These cookies just looked delicious- and I had everything I needed to make them except mini-marshmallows, so it seemed like a no brainer. 

They're called hot cocoa cookies. Here's the recipe. <---- Don't those pictures look TO DIE FOR? Well, I did everything as the recipe stated. I left the butter out to get to room temperature, I refrigerated the dough once made, etc. 

I rolled them into balls and put them onto the cookie sheet as the recipe stated. On the first batch, I sprayed the sheet with cooking spray just because she mentioned that they are VERY sticky (because of the marshmallows and marshmallow fluff).

I put them in the oven, and when they came out...well lets just say I had to cut them into shapes that slightly resembled cookies. I wish I had taken a picture of that first batch before I cut them. They were all smooshed together! Is there anything worse than peeking into the oven and seeing all your hard work melted together in one big blob? I didn't think so.

So on the next batch, I put the cookies farther apart and didn't spray the sheet. I thought maybe the spray was slippery and allowing the cookies to slide and spread out more easily? Well, this batch came out better... they were round and cookie shaped and didn't smoosh together, but they still got really flat.

See? flat cookies.

These cookies did come off the baking sheet better, because I put them in the fridge for like 20 minutes and let them COMPLETELY cool. 

After being disappointed by how they looked, I tried one. They are so gooey and chocolatey and marshmallow-y and delicious! They are so good that I would risk disappointment again just to make them. As you take a bite, you try to pull the cookie away from your mouth but sometimes you get a string of marshmallow goodness. They are slightly difficult to hold without them falling apart, but who cares!? They taste like a cup of hot cocoa in a cookie!

look at that marshmallow fluff goodness

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that this cookie was kind of a tribulation. They aren't pretty, but they taste pretty darn good! :) Maybe I will add a little more flour if I make them again?

Guess what I'm making later today? I'll give you a hint: There are four delicious, perfectly ripe peaches from the farmers market sitting in my kitchen begging to be made into something yummy! Stay tuned, and have a great Sunday!