It's Been Awhile

Whew!  July has been so busy and full of adventure!  Things are starting to slow down around here and I think we can finally find our routine just in time for school to start in a few weeks!  I have a lot of fun blog posts that I've been meaning to blog all summer, but my brain was definitely in vacation mode!  Right now, I am working on giving my little space a little update.  Bear with me while I get things going.

I've been posting a ton to instagram. . . feel free to follow me and see what I've been up to. . . It has been a BUSY summer!

Happy end of July!

Flashback Friday: My favorite Dessert wins!

I have a nice cold iced coffee and I am sitting here blogging.  I mean power blogging.  Why don;t you go grab your favorite drink. . . I'll wait.  That way it will be like you and I are having coffee together.  It's one of my favorite things to do. 

Did you get your drink?  Oh, good.  I hope it's a good one. 

This week has been a strange week.  I had things planned to do with my boys this week: the movies, patriotic crafts, possibly some water play (but we are in a drought and it's so stinking hot and muggy here it's just more fun to  never leave the house!).  Unfortunately the kids have been sick with a nasty cold/fever bug.  The TV has been on non-stop.  Never have I been more thankful for Netflix!  I think my oldest has watched an entire season of Mighty Med.  But between TV, random naps, cough medicine, and saline spray, I think we ill be back to the land of the living in time for our vacation next week.

Anyways, late last week the hubby forwarded an email about a dessert competition for their annual symposium.  This year the theme was a hobbit themed and I had all these grand ideas of getting fondant and fudge striped cookies and making doors or even making  a blackberry pie, but I seriously forgot about it until Monday night when I was reminded about it.  Yep, with our anniversary and Weston getting sick, it just got forgotten.  I felt so bad.  So, Monday night I ran to Target to get supplies for my eclair torte. . . My husband loves it and it always goes over well. 

He even made this really cool sign for it.  He was pretty proud.  In fact, he did most of the work himself, which was so nice!  I love easy desserts that make it seem like you put sooo much time and effort in them.  That afternoon, he texted me saying that it won!  And, seriously, this recipe has been my go-to recipe since before Jon and I had even met (we just celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary!). It just does not lose it's popularity. 

So, click on over here to the original post (from 2010) to get the recipe! 

And hey, tomorrow's the 4th of July. . . this would be super yummy for your BBQ! 

Magazines are cool and so is Chocolate!

I like magazines.  I like them a lot.  My favorite ones are centered around food and crafts.  I am sure that isn't surprising.  However, sometimes they get stacked up until I have time to read them.  This week, I have started tackling that stack. . . and boy does it feel good to sit, relax, and read.  This week, my kids are fighting a nasty cold and so in between cuddling and taking temperatures I am getting some reading done, and this obviously leads to baking. . . despite the fact that it is incredibly hot here!

I blame my bff for this recipe. . . it's her fault for subscribing it to me.  But seriously, I love my gift, and I think my family does too, because the cookies are getting rave reviews from all my test tasters.  

But, despite the heat, chocolate sounded so good and this recipe looked yummy!  And so, while my kiddos were taking a nap this morning, I whipped these up really quick.  They hit the spot, especially when my littlest sickling was whining at exponential proportions.  I mean, these things are sooo good.  I think that you should make some.  soon.  in fact, today, maybe.
 

 Triple Chocolate Cookies
adapted from allrecipes magazine, feb/mar 2014

Ingredients
8 oz. chopped semi sweet chocolate, metled
1 cup flour
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup dutch cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
5  TBS butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt chocolate chunks in microwave, stirring every 30 seconds.  Set aside.  In your mixing bowl cream together butter and sugars until nice and creamy.  Add eggs and vanilla. Stir in melted chocolate and then add dry ingredients.  Mix in chocolate chips.  Let sit for about 30 minutes. . . if you can. 

Using your medium cookie scoop, scoop balls onto silpat lined baking sheet and gently press down balls with your palm.  (I find that you are more likely to get the crinkly, perfectly round look rather than a pile of chocolate that closely resembles a pile of poop. . . and please tell me that I am not the only one who thinks that/!?!) 

Bake for 10 minutes and then let sit for another 10 minutes . . . if you can keep away for that long, that is! 

Then eat. . . and maybe save some for a friend.