 You didn't really think that I could visit a dude ranch and NOT post a cowboy cookie recipe, did you? 🤠 The blog practically writes itself. 😅 Have you ever seen more authentic looking cowboys and cowgirls? 😂🐎
We dressed the part and we played the part of cowboys and cowgirls. And we had a blast! We weren't exactly living like true cowboys though. We feasted on 3 meals a day prepared by the ranch chef. And even though real cowboys may have had a cook, I'm fairly certain that there were no 5:00 appetizer hour with charcuterie boards and bacon wrapped shrimp. 😅  I didn't even mention the bottomless plate of freshly baked cookies that were available for us to snack on all afternoon. And it might surprise you to find out that the most common cookie on the ranch was a brown sugar blueberry cookie. Not sure if that's an authentic cowboy treat but boy, were they delicious. 🍪 And before you ask the question - I have no idea why they call chocolate, coconut, oat and pecan filled cookies - cowboy cookies.🤷🏻♀️ Maybe it's the foods that cowboys need for fuel for long cattle drives and penning practice.🐄 I didn't drive any cattle while I was on the ranch but, I did participate in some team penning so naturally, I felt fully qualified to eat cowboy cookies.  Cowboy Cookies 1 cup butter 1 3/4 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1 cup brown sugar, packed 1/2 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs 1 tablespoon vanilla 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats 1 cup toasted coconut 1 cup chopped pecans or candied pecans 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips
Bake for 10 to 14 minutes at 350 or until cookies are golden brown around the edges but still a little soft in the center.
Cowboy cookies have oats which, of course, means that they're a perfectly acceptable breakfast treat.🤣 Ciao!
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 Well Weebly - you've won the battle.🏳😩 After months of finding my daughter's water skiing pictures on baked potato recipes and silly dog photos where chocolate chip biscotti pictures should have been displayed, I think I've finally found the source of the problem. I don't want to throw my website host under the bus but... they've been allowing pictures to be randomly swapped between my blog posts for a couple of years now. 🥺 I won't bore you with the details about how this happened but sufficed to say, I'm working to remedy the situation. I will admit that I was more than a little upset when I found out that the only way to restore the original photographs on my blog posts is to remake every single recipe and retake and upload all new pictures. 😩 We're talking hundreds of blog recipes! So, this year, I'll be systematically going through all of my recipes from the summer of 2020 to the end of 2022 to make sure that they all have pictures that match the recipe. This is a sloooooww process but bear with me, I'll get it done eventually. 📷  To all of you who have emailed, texted and called me about strange pictures on my blog - I've heard you and do appreciate you reaching out. The silver lining in the whole situation is that being forced to remake the recipes using my own blog gives me a chance to rereading the stories and reminisce about each blog post. Taking a deep dive into my recipe index also made me aware of just how many questionable food choices I've made over the years.🤣 I didn't realize that my raging sweet tooth was so obvious.😬 Why has it never occurred to me before that having 21 different cinnamon roll recipes in my repertoire, might be a little excessive? Too many?😅 Well, here's to contributing to my sugar addiction with one more cinnamon roll recipe.  Cinnamon Rolls 1 cup warm milk 3 Tbsp. sugar 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast 5 Tbsp. butter, softened 4 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, divided 1 egg 1 tsp. salt Filling ½ cup butter, softened ⅔ cup granulated sugar 2 Tbsp. cinnamon Glaze 2 ½ cups powdered sugar 2 Tbsp. milk 2 tsp. vanilla
 Whisk together glaze ingredients and drizzle over warm rolls.  Here's to a year of revisiting blog recipes that I'd long forgotten about. In the meantime, if you happen to run across a post with pictures of me doing a handstand - feel free to reach out and let me know.🤪 I'm sure that there are more crazy pictures out there that I've missed.
Ciao!
On the scale of impulsiveness, I'd consider myself to be way closer to the planner end of the spectrum rather than a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of girl. But, for some unknown reason, I decided to conduct an informal poll of my level of impulsiveness from my kids perspective. #carefulwhatyouaskfor 😂 The results are in. My kids ranked me between a 2 and a 4 on the impulsiveness scale. And my daughter-in-law gave me a 5 - with the disclaimer: "in a good way." 😅 I feel like that's fair. In general - I would agree that I don't make a lot of impulsive purchases or stray from my well thought out plans very often. I rank low on the impulsiveness scale but honestly, I'm not unhappy about that. I like being a planner and a list maker. I hardly ever enter a grocery store without a well thought out, categorized grocery list that's sorted by aisle and shelf. I'm an efficient shopper - what can I say? 😅  Hobby Lobby has actually labelled their bins near their checkout counters as "impulse buys." I kind of love that they call it what it is. They're filled with the kinds of things that you browse while you wait in line to pay for your purchases. The kinds of things that a non-impulse buyer, like myself, would never buy.🤣 Unless it's a skor bar. 😂🍫  Yup, you read that right - the girl who doesn't buy impulse groceries, cannot pass up a Skor bar in the checkout line.😬😅 I have absolutely zero will power to resist a delicious, chocolate covered, crispy, buttery toffee bar. I love them so much in fact, that I stock English toffee bits in my pantry which are basically a crumbled Scor bar. And I sneak them into as many desserts as I can. Cookies, cakes, brownies - they're all better with toffee. I feel like English toffee elevates the flavor of everything that I put them in. These toffee chip cookies are an amazing example of a chocolate chip cookie that's brought to a whole new level when I toss in a handful of toffee bits.
Toffee Chip Cookies 2 1/2 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup butter, softened 3/4 cup sugar 3/4 cup brown sugar 2 eggs, room temperature 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 cups toffee bits 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
Bake cookies 10-12 minutes at 350. Let cool on baking sheet slightly.  There's nothing better than homemade chocolate chip cookies on a rainy day. I'm hoping these chocolate and toffee filled, treats bring a smile to your face today.😊
Ciao!  I've got exciting news! We've called our Georgia house home for 17 1/2 years and we've finally decided to take the plunge and finish our basement. This project has been a long time coming. I'm pretty sure that we started dreaming about what the basement space could become, before we even moved into this house. 😅 An empty slate = endless possibilities and over the years, we've discussed them all of them from adding movie theater rooms to flight simulator closets. 🤣 So after years of bouncing crazy basement ideas off of each other, we decided it would be best if we brought in some professional help. Turns out, our interior designer had some clever ideas of her own - and hers were much more realistic. 😅
Do you think we have enough refrigeration space? 😂😂😂 I failed to mention that we also asked the designer to incorporate an industrial sized refrigerator and freezer into our basement design.😬  What I didn't document was the state of the basement before we cleared out 17 1/2 years of junk. 😅 Turns out, the more space that you have to store stuff - the more stuff you store. 🤷🏻♀️ And, surprise, we were storing a whole lot of stuff that we didn't really need.😅 A good basement clean out was long overdue. I actually really enjoy the purging and organizing process. Well, I like the end result - the process ... not always fun. I admit that I'm not so great at cleaning out closets regularly but I do a frig clean out on a fairly regular basis. Every once in a while, a frig clean out, turns into a delicious new soup, casserole or even a sandwich. A handful of spinach, a couple slices of cheese, a spoonful of hummus and a some veggies -all that needed to be eaten soon, proved to be exactly what I needed for a scrumptious meatless sandwich. 🥪 This was one of the most delicious frig clean out meals that I've ever made.😋  Veggie and Hummus Sandwich 4 slices hearty whole grain bread, toasted 1/3 cup hummus 2 slices gruyere cheese 1 cup spinach 1/2 cup peeled and grated carrots 8 peeled cucumber slices 6 avocado slices 4 tomato slices avocado slices Small handful sliced red onion, rinsed under water 1/2 cup broccoli or alfalfa sprouts  Spread hummus over bread slices.  Layer veggies on top.  Top with a slice of cheese.  Add remaining bread slice and cut in half.
Here's to me making it through another home renovation project without threatening to kill my poor husband. 🤣 Ciao!  Just to be clear, I'm aware that the recipes on my blog can be a source of temptation for some. My followers have let me know that food pictures that pop up on their Facebook or Instagram feeds after ten o'clock are "torturous." 🤣 I get it. I actually make an effort to post recipes early in the day so as not to tempt anyone trying to avoid late night eating temptations. I also try and post a good variety of recipes. Believe it or not, what may seem like random recipe posts are actually somewhat calculated. A chicken recipe, followed by a butterscotch cookie recipe and then a potato salad - yup, that's exactly the way I intended it. 🤣 A little something for everyone - all in the same week.  This Apple Pie Fruit Bar recipe is for anyone looking for a sweet treat without refined sugar or processed ingredients. The ingredients are simple and the recipe straightforward but the flavor --- intense! I don't know about you, but I feel like I overindulged on sugary snacks over the holidays and even though I'm still craving all the sweet thinks - I'm trying to cut back on my sugar intake. These Apple Pie Fruit Bars help to satisfy my sweet tooth while limiting my processed sugar.  Apple Pie Fruit Bar ½ cup dates (about 5) ¼ cup raisins 1 cup dried apples ¼ cup almonds ¼ cup walnuts ½ tsp cinnamon  Soak raisins and dates in hot water for 30 minutes.  Add all ingredients to a food processor.  Blend until smooth.  Shape into an 8" square. Place on a cutting board and freeze 30 minutes.  Cut into squares.
You can store these bars in your refrigerator for up to a week but if I'm being honest - my Apple Pie Fruit Bars have never lasted that long.🤣 Ciao! |
