Chocolate Chip Cookies

My parents spent Christmas with us again this year and we had SO much fun.  My daddy loves cookies and I love to make lots of them for him when he visits but I may have gone a little overboard this year.  I made 5 different types of cookies.  At least two dozen of each so we had over 120 cookies!!

One of my favorite cookies is the traditional chocolate chip cookie with pecans.  RJ and MJ also love them so I definitely had to make them for Christmas.  

Hubby and my dad aren't huge fans of the chocolate chip cookie so I made oatmeal raisin cookies for them.  I'll share that recipe later.   

One thing that I did not do for these cookies was use parchment paper on the cookie sheet.  I never used parchment paper before but I gave it a try on a different batch of cookies.  Let me say that I will never make cookies again without using parchment paper.  The cookies just slid off the paper, it was great.

I bought one of these cute holiday tins from Target to put the cookies in.  All of the cookies didn't fit in the tin, so I was able to hide some away from the boys :-0

This is one of the best cookie recipes that I have found.  The boys and I really enjoyed them.  Fortunately, we didn't have to share these with Santa since he is a big oatmeal raisin cookie guy.

Ingredients 

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons hot water

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
3. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

Renee

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Ya Ka Mein

Yakamein, (pronounced Yakameat by local New Orleanians) is a delicious meal made with beef, spaghetti, green onions and eggs.  Many locals also call the dish Old Sober because of it's reputation as a hangover cure.    

No one knows the true origin of the dish.  Some say it originated from Chinese immigrants who were brought to New Orleans to help build railroads between New Orleans and Houston.  Others say it is a version of Korean noodle soup dishes brought back to New Orleans from African American troops who fought in the Korean war.  Whichever is true, I am sure glad someone thought of it.

Since we got a taste of cold weather this weekend in Texas, MJ begged me to make ya ka mein for him.  RJ is not a huge fan, but he does love the noodles, what 4 year old wouldn't??

Not only will this dish help you recover from your hangover, it will also be a treat for your tastebuds and warm your insides on a cold night. 

For all yall who want to make this great cold-weather meal, here is the recipe:

3-4 pounds beef stew meat 
4-5 quarts of water

2 tablespoons of beef bouillon base 

1 teaspoon of Lawry's seasoned salt

2 teaspoons of Slap Ya Mama (Cajun seasoning)

1 teaspoon of onion powder

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

salt and pepper, to taste

1 pound of spaghetti noodles

one half hard boiled egg per bowl of soup

1 green onion, sliced

Soy sauce, hot sauce, to taste

Renee

Superhero Bookmarks

At one time MJ loved reading.  Unfortunately, his love of reading has 

been replaced by a love of video games.  

In one of my pinning adventures I ran across a great idea on the Crafts by Amanda blog that may help to ignite his reading again.

I know that MJ and his friends are into the Avengers, so I thought if he had Avenger bookmarks he would be excited to use them in his books.

Both of the boys really like the bookmarks.  RJ uses them as toys with his action figures.  He insisted that I take pictures of the bookmarks with the "real" Spider Man and Wolverine.   

When MJ brought them to school, he began coming home almost daily asking for certain characters for friends.  After a week of constantly making bookmarks, Hubby started joking that I had a bookmark assembly line going in our kitchen.  

Unfortunately, the bookmarks have not brought back MJ's love of reading, but they have inspired him to pull out his books again.  Fortunately, we make him read daily so he does use the bookmarks and reads whether he wants to or not :-).

Check out the Crafts by Amanda tutorial if you'd like to make your own.  I followed her tutorial for all but Wolverine and Hawkeye. I made my own versions using the Marvel book in the photos. 

Renee

Hubby Does Halloween

I am usually the one who gets excited about decorating the house for the holidays, but this year Hubby wanted to get in on the act and decorate pumpkins.  

We took RJ to the pumpkin patch one afternoon and we bought two large pumpkins.

The final result was really cute.  

Here is a picture we took at night with a candle inside.  

We bought one pumpkin that Hubby thought would look great as a ghost.  RJ was very happy to help with the painting.  

I think the ghost pumpkin came out great!!!  

Hubby did a great job with his pumpkins.

I hope he helps out with Christmas decorating also :-)

Renee

Halloween fun

RJ turned 4 this summer and he is really becoming a big boy.  So while I can still classify him as my baby I made some cute Halloween crafts using his hands and feet.  I found a great Halloween craft idea on Southern Fried Gal blog and I knew it would be a perfect afternoon project for RJ and I.  

RJ had so much fun painting each canvas. 

He especially enjoyed when I painted his hands and foot.  

He said it tickled and he laughed the entire time.

The most difficult part of this project was getting him to keep still while I pressed his hands and foot onto the canvas.  Despite working with a wiggly 4 year old, I think they came out great.  

I will always have these Halloween art prints to remind me of my little RJ.  

Renee

Chalkboard containers

I always feel like I need to organize.  Not only does organization help my house stay clutter free, but also my mind.  

  One cute idea I had was to do the chalkboard labels on my containers.  I've seen so many containers in the store with the chalkboard label on them, but most have been glass.  Since my guys will be using these containers also, I wanted to get plastic to help avoid them breaking.

I purchased these containers from Garden Ridge.  They were large enough for the huge amounts of sugar and flour I keep in stock.  

I also purchased chalkboard paint from Hobby Lobby.  

I used painters tape to measure out the area I wanted the label to be.

Then I painted on two coats of paint on each container.  

After a 24 hour drying time the labels were ready to use.

Not sure if they really help Hubby and the boys, but they do make my pantry look nicer :-)

My next project is to completely organize my pantry.  I am very fortunate to have a huge pantry, but it surely needs better organization.  

I'll keep you posted.

Renee

Peach Cobbler

 Hubby is not a huge fan of sweets, but he does like things made with real fruit.  I found a delicious recipe for peach cobbler on Allrecipes.com and I decided to give it a try.

I went to Costco and bought a large container of fresh peaches.  Unfortunately, they weren't the sweetest peaches I'd ever had, but they were juicy. 

I also made homemade vanilla ice cream to go with the cobbler.

Once the cobbler was done I had to taste it as soon as I took it out of the oven.  It was perfect!!

Even though the peaches I used weren't the sweetest, the cobbler was exceptional.  It had just the right amount of sweetness and the crust was terrific.   

The ice cream was the perfect touch.  This will be my go-to recipe for peach cobbler from now on. 

Renee

Ingredients

• 8 fresh peaches - peeled, pitted and sliced into thin wedges
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
•  
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
• 1/4 cup boiling water
•  
• MIX TOGETHER:
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine peaches, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Toss to coat evenly, and pour into a 2 quart baking dish. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine flour, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend in butter with your fingertips, or a pastry blender, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in water until just combined.
4. Remove peaches from oven, and drop spoonfuls of topping over them. Sprinkle entire cobbler with the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Bake until topping is golden, about 30 minutes.

Nutritional Information 

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 562 | Total Fat: 17.6g | Cholesterol: 46mg

Saints vs. Redskins: A House Divided

This weekend was the official start of football season for my family.  I am a lover of all things New Orleans and that includes my undying love for the Saints.  My hubby, being from D.C.,  is a die hard Redskins fan so we had to recognize yesterday's game between the two teams.  

Even though we are both extremely loyal to our home teams, since we are family, we do support both teams (especially when they don't play each other).  The boys were split on which team they should support.  MJ wore a Redskins jersey, but said he wanted the Saints to win and RJ wore a Saints shirt, and said he wanted both teams to win.  

I had a great time decorating the house and trying to share the love between both teams.  It wasn't too hard considering we both have lots of items for each team.  The one thing I was very surprised to find here in Texas was Redskins duct tape.  It caught my eye at Hobby Lobby the other day and I had to buy it.  Being in Cowboy country I couldn't believe they had anything that said Redskins on it.  I was equally as surprised that they didn't have any Saints duct tape.  I will have to get some of my NOLA folks to send me some for next time.  

Even my Buddah had to get in on this action....he was pulling for the Saints!! 

I made good use of all the glass jars I save by putting the utensils in them.  Hubby was worried that he would be the only person eating out of the Redskins stuff.  Fortunately one of our friends is from the D.C. area and she and her family came over so he wasn't alone with his burgundy and yellow.  

I also made Hurricane drinks for the adults.  They were just what we needed during that stressful game.

I cooked traditional New Orleans food for the game.  Hubby wanted to steam crabs and drink Rolling Rock beer, but considering I didn't remember the game was yesterday until last Tuesday that didn't leave me a lot of time to prepare for that.  Sorry Babe :(

I made a HUGE pot of red beans and rice.  That was 5 pounds of beans!!!  I've never made more than 2 pounds at a time so this was a challenge for me.  I soaked the beans over night and when I woke up the beans had absorbed most of the water and expanded so much I had to put them in a larger pot!!!  When I called my mom to tell her she said, 'Oh, I forgot to tell you they might do that.'   

Gee thanks mom... ;-)

I also made my home made french bread.  It was a hit with everyone.  There is nothing like red beans, rice and french bread.  Yummy.

Of course it wouldn't be New Orleans without a bread pudding for dessert.  I made the best bourbon sauce to go with the bread pudding.  It was delicious if I must say so myself.  I also put together a batch of lemon crinkle cookies.  One of my NOLA girlfriends who came over brought us a batch of her red velvet cake balls, they were a huge hit.  I will have to get the recipe from her because MJ was in love, he even took some for lunch today.

My story ends on a sad note for me because my Saints lost :-(
but I am happy for Hubby and his Redskins. 

Oh well,  I still love my Saints, Who Dat Forever!!
We always have next week so watch out Panthers!!