Oatmeal Raisin Cookies + Cream Cheese & Pecan Icing

This recipe comes from Darcy - my sister's fiancé's mother - who is also a friend of ours from church. She's known for being a great cook, and during the glorious 3 weeks following the birth of Levi when church friends provided us daily meals (did I mention that was amazing?), Darcy brought us these cookies for dessert accompanying some very delicious potato & sausage soup and hot bread.

Quite a while later when I decided I had stretched the not-cooking out way too long, I asked Darcy for the recipe for those cookies. They were delicious. Half-expecting the recipe to be so complicated that I'd probably never spend the time to make them (I'm generally one for simple recipes), I was overjoyed when she gave it to me.

Ingredients:
Cookies:
2 packages of Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough break-apart squares (oatmeal raisin)
Icing:
1 block of cream cheese, softened
1 stick of butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
3-4 cups of powdered sugar
Finely chopped pecans
*with this basic cream cheese icing recipe, you can probably stretch it and have enough to ice 4 packages of these cookies

Instructions:
Break apart cookie dough squares. Combine 2 squares for 1 cookie, roll into a ball and then flatten them just a little, to get a good "homemade" cookie shape :). Bake according to package directions. Combine cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and sugar. Beat until smooth. Refrigerate if desired. After cookies are completely cooled, ice the cookies. You may add pecans mixed into the icing or garnish on top of the cookies.

 

 

 

 

White Plate "Collage"

After a month of no posting, here I am. December was a month of chaos, and as other priorities rose above playing on the internet, there was no time left in the mix for conjuring up any posts. Things are getting back to normal, and I'm here (though you might see me a little less often than you used to).

I started a little white plate collection a few years ago, and I always intended on putting them up in a random pattern collage, like these:

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 ...but with less order/shape.

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 I don't have this many plates (yet), but I like this.

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My plates were just stacked up in my dining hutch until I thought of where to put them and it finally donned on me that I should put them in a line (instead of a collage) above my kitchen cabinets because it was bare up there. I think it's pretty charming and it subtly takes focus off of the fact that there is no crown on that back wall and a very crooked paint line (for reasons beyond my control)  ;) I will probably add more to them.

 

 

see you soon

everyone else is probably just as busy as I am but I just wanted to drop by here (virtually) and say (type) that i have not abandoned this blog (to anyone who is listening (reading) ;)

we have had some sickness, tragedy, vacations, and general holiday business that is keeping my mind and body focused on other things, with no creativity or time left to write here.

see you soon. 

Christmas Favorites

I picked this jewel up at Marshall's. Instead of a cat lady I'm sort of a wreath lady. I just paused and counted the number of wreaths in my home that I can see sitting here at the kitchen table and let me just tell you, that number is in the double digits.

Remember these old Christmas light bulbs from this post? That was at the beginning of August and I was bummed because it was going to be foreverrrr before I got to decorate with them. Here we are folks.

I showed you my beloved red sleigh last December when my grandparents gave it to me (Levi). It looks nice on our entertainment center. I hope to get it down in the next few days and snap some pictures while Levi still fits in it.

Nothing new here. Same kitchen hutch and I threw some red beaded trees, garland, and rice lights up for Christmas. I have a love for rice lights. I'm aware that they were banned a couple of years ago, then brought back, and now I don't know what the legal market status is on them. But I have about 10 strands of them. There is no way a picture could capture the way that they twinkle (in your choice of 8 different settings), but here is one attempt,

...and here is another.

I'm aware that my posts have slowed down lately. For now, and especially this coming year, I have priorities far greater than the internet. No plans to shut it down though. I do enjoy communicating and sharing with family and friends this way.

I hope everyone takes time to slow down and enjoy this great season.

Simple Peanut Butter Cookies

I got a cookbook made by a local church as part of a wedding gift. I don't remember who, but someone commented that it wasn't a very exciting gift, but I have used the heck out of that cookbook the last 5 years. There are some great "staple" and basic recipes in it that are now some of my staples that I cook all the time.

A couple of years ago (pre Pinterest), I realized I had never made peanut butter cookies (from scratch) when my uncle requested "simple peanut butter cookies" as a birthday present. I grabbed that cookbook and it had a great, easy recipe for PB cookies. I have since added and taken away from that recipe to create my own favorite simple recipe.

I asked my father-in-law what his favorite dessert was (his birthday was last week), fully expecting to make a pie or something equally challenging, but he said peanut butter cookies and oatmeal cookies were his favorite. Here's my simple PB cookie recipe:

Ingredients:
2 C sugar
1 stick of butter/margarine
1/2 C butter-flavored shortening
1 C peanut butter
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 C all purpose flour

Instructions:
Cream together butter, peanut butter, shortening, sugar, and vanilla, and then add the eggs. After it's mixed well, add the flour. Roll into balls and press with a fork to flatten. Add sugar or sprinkles on top. Bake at 350 for 10-11 minutes.

A Love for Dogs

Levi has developed a great love of all dogs. It works out well for him that all of our family (both sides) have dogs. These are some snapshots from Thanksgiving. He had a good day :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Give thanks
with a grateful heart
Give thanks
to the Holy One
Give thanks
because He's given
Jesus Christ
His son

And now
let the weak say I am strong
let the poor say I am rich
because of what the Lord has done
for us
Give thanks