Brown Sugar Cookies

We've been in the alternate universe which is created when Nana and Bobo come to visit! So, I thought I'd ease myself back in nice and easy with a recipe. This recipe is yet another find from Allrecipes.com. The thing that's really great about it is that this is a recipe that you can vary a million different ways and every one is delicious. It also allows you to have a few fresh baked cookies in 15 minutes flat. And who doesn't LOVE fresh out of the oven cookies?!?

Brown Sugar Cookies II

2/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

1. Mix shortening, butter or margarine, sugars, eggs and vanilla thoroughly. Stir in all purpose or unbleached flour, baking soda and salt.
2. Turn dough onto lightly floured board. Shape dough into ball with lightly floured hands, pressing to make dough compact. Cut dough in half.
3. Shape each half into a roll 2 inches in diameter and about 8 inches long by gently rolling dough back and forth on floured board. Roll dough onto plastic wrap: wrap and twist ends tightly. Dough can be refrigerated up to 1 month or frozen up to 3 months.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
5. Cut roll into 1/4-inch slices. (It is not necessary to thaw frozen dough before slicing.) Place slices about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 9 to 11 minutes. Immediately remove cookies from baking sheet onto wire rack.

Variations:

• CHOCOLATE CHIP: Add 1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips and 1 cup chopped nuts with the flour.
• OATMEAL-COCONUT: Reduce flour to 2 3/4 cups. Add 1 cup flaked coconut and 1 cup quick-cooking oats with the flour.
• PEANUT BUTTER: Add 1 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter with the shortening.
• CHOCOLATE-NUT: Add 1 cup chopped nuts and 1/2 cup cocoa with the flour.
• FRUIT SLICES: Add 1 cup whole candied cherries, 1/2 cup chopped nuts and 1/2 cup cut-up mixed candied fruit with the flour.

Use these variations as a guide for your measurements, but use your imagination for the ingredients! We've even added sprinkles and they turn out yummy every time!

Enjoy!

Zucchini Cornbread Casserole

Everybody needs a good zucchini recipe this time of year--here's a great one!

Zucchini Cornbread Casserole

4 cups shredded zucchini
1 onion, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
1 (8.5 ounce) package dry corn muffin mix
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
8 ounces Cheddar cheese, shredded

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 2 quart casserole dish.
2. In a large bowl mix together the zucchini, onion, eggs, muffin mix, salt and pepper. Stir in 4 ounces of the cheese. Spread this mixture into a greased 2 quart casserole dish; top with remaining 4 ounces of cheese.
3. Bake in a preheated oven for 60 minutes.

This and That

I thought I'd just give a quick update on each of us to let you know what's going on these days...

Jared returned home late Saturday night from his interview in Maryland. While they were very enthusiastic about Jared and will almost certainly offer him the position, he's decided that it just isn't the right move for his career. The company is just starting out (they literally only have three people right now) and Jared isn't confident that the idea they have will be successful or feasible in the long run. Also, he would be spending most of his time giving presentations to get financial backing, at least in the beginning, which he isn't too crazy about. So, it looks like he's back to the job boards for a while. He'll still be under contract at Organix until the end of January, but we don't want to wait until the last minute to find the next thing. Jared's been advised that for every 10K you are asking for in salary you should expect at least one month of job hunting...

We had a really nice anniversary yesterday. We were all so happy to have Jared home and enjoyed going to church together in the morning and then headed out to Nahant Beach for the afternoon. We all had a good time (even Max!) and were sad to go home (especially Ruby!). Jared surprised me with the news that Kay will be coming out either this weekend or next to keep the kids while we go on an overnight somewhere. We've come up with enough ideas of things we'd like to do to fill a month I think! But, we'll enjoy 24 hours too!

I have received my information packets for both Community Bible Study and MOPS now, both of which will be starting in September. My mission for this week is to find a swimming or tumbling class for Ruby to join this fall as well. We'll also be starting story time at the library soon and I think we might be able to do the Barnes and Noble story time too. We'll see. I sense that things will be a little bit less wild around here once the kids have a bit more structure. While we've stayed busy this summer, we've also had a lot of free play time which has translated into lots of arguing and fighting. Ruby will be happy to have more time to play with kids her age and Mommy will be happy to have her a bit more content with life!

Max has been learning so quickly these days and loves reading his books and playing with cars. He also loves playing tea party and restaurant with his sister. Biting has, unfortunately, gotten worse if anything. He has stopped biting me as much, but is now biting Ruby very hard. We've been really consistent with discipline, but so far nothing seems to be working. I'm considering getting a spray bottle and training him like a naughty kitten/puppy!

That's about it for now. Check back tomorrow for Tasty Tuesday!

Interview and Anniversaries

I'm writing this post in advance as Jared has the computer with him today for a job interview in Rockville, Maryland. Please keep my hubby in your prayers as he checks out the job and the area to see if this might be a good move for his career and our family.

Jared will be home in time for our 6th wedding anniversary on Sunday. We don't have anything special planned, but hope we might be able to convince Nana and Bobo to come out for a visit soon so that we can take our first weekend away since Ruby was born! Time sure does fly and we sure could use the getaway. No pressure Nana and Bobo...

Speaking of Bob and Kay, I want to wish them a happy 40th wedding anniversary on Sunday, August 17th! I pray that Jared and I will be as happy in 34 years as you two are. We love you!

I hope you all have a great weekend and HAVE FUN!

Miss Ru

Life is not dull with a three year old in the house. The only quiet moments we have are when Ruby is sleeping or if she's zoned out with the boob tube. At all other times, we hear Ruby's commentary on the world. Here are a few of my recent favorites:

A few mornings ago she woke up and came into our room before I had made the bed and put away dirty clothes, etc. She looked around the room in horror and said, "Oh no! Mommy, this place is a pig sty!"

Ruby is always very concerned about bugs and for the most part refers to them as her "friends". At the dinner table the other night we were having watermelon. As we cleaned up, I asked Jared to put the rinds in a bag since we'd been having some fruit flies in the house. This is the approximate conversation that followed:

R: "Daddy, it's okay. They can eat the watermelon"
J: "Well, I don't want them eating mine, that's gross."
R: "They won't eat much! They need that watermelon to live!"

We just chuckled and bagged up the watermelon rinds. Thankfully the fruit flies soon took the hint that we weren't all as concerned about their welfare as Ruby and flew the coop. Now I guess she'll have to go outside to find some bugs to worry about!

Sandblast!

Last Saturday we had a break in the rain and decided to head out to Crane's Beach in Ipswich for their annual sand sculpture competition. Although it was a bit tricky finding the beach, we were so happy that we took the time to come out. To learn more about this beautiful estate click here!

I hope you'll enjoy a few pictures from our day!

This was our first view of the beach as we climbed up over the dunes. I had hoped to get another picture, but unfortunately I was low on camera battery from the very start of the day.

Ruby with the other bathing beauties on the way to the beach.

Max, as you may remember, doesn't like to touch the sand or water, so he enjoyed wearing Ruby's shades and just relaxing in his camp chair. He kept spotting kites or other kids running by and would point and say, "Oh, wow!". It was pretty cute.

Ruby and Daddy had a great time swimming in the ocean and playing in the sand. Max would get upset if he couldn't see "Bah-bee" (Ruby) or Daddy. He thought it was pretty fun to see them having a good time even if he wasn't interested in joining in!

We were camped out next to the Masters category and got to see them working on this car for the last few hours of the competition. The theme of the competition seemed to be environmental conservation, recycling, etc. The unpublished theme seemed to be Batman though!

Here's a sculpture that I think was supposed to be an electric car. One of the few that wasn't Batman or super hero related.

We have discovered that there are so many beautiful spots in New England. We're looking forward to the autumn for all the beautiful colors, but for now we'll just be thankful for a day at the beach!

Arti-Cheesy Chicken

Don't think about the calories or the consequences. Just make this recipe. It is restuarant quality, absolutely delicious, cannot be missed GOOD! Serve over pasta with a green salad for a to die for meal!

Arti-Cheesy Chicken

1/2 pound sliced bacon
1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cooked and cubed
1 (6.5 ounce) jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 pint heavy cream
1 (6 ounce) can black olives, drained
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 (6 ounce) package feta cheese, crumbled

1. Fry bacon in a large skillet over medium heat. Remove from skillet, leaving 3 tablespoons of the bacon grease in the skillet. Set bacon aside.
2. Add mushrooms to skillet and saute for 3 to 4 minutes over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and add the chicken, artichoke hearts, soup, cream, olives, Parmesan cheese, garlic and salt and pepper to taste.
3. When this mixture begins to simmer, slowly stir in feta cheese. Crumble the bacon into the skillet and let all simmer, stirring often, for 5 to 10 minutes.

To print your own copy of the recipe, head on over to Allrecipes.com!