Chocolate Chip

i make a batch of chocolate chip cookies at least once a week.
i use the recipe on the back of the nestle toll house package.
i actually have it cut out and taped in the front of my cookbook so i don't always have to buy that brand of chocolate chips.
i can make it without ever looking at the recipe though.
instead of all the butter, i use half crisco sticks.
is that gross?
all butter = flat hard cookies
1/2 butter 1/2 crisco = fluffy, soft and chewy
and you have to make them extra big.

i don't make all of the dough at once.
i make enough for everyone to have one, then keep the rest either in the fridge or i freeze it in dough balls.
let the dough get to room temperature then pop them in the oven for fresh cookies any time.
i read to do that in a magazine once.

fresh hot cookies after school.
fresh hot cookies while reading books.
fresh hot cookies for dessert.
fresh hot cookies during play-doh time.

perfectly chewy and soft.
and huge, let's not forget huge.

cause, you know, cookies make every fun thing more fun.

QUIP O'THE DAY
my father retired from the military as a lieutenant colonel after 27 years when i was a sophomore in high school.

My Cookbook & A Recipe

well.  i promised i'd share how i ever came to possess the knowledge of what separates a pesto from a pistou.  here she is...my cookbook:

this is hands down the greatest cookbook i have ever come across.  now don't freak out.   but, are you ready?? 

it doesn't have any pictures.

gasp.  i know.  not a one.  and i still love it.
my mother-in-law gave this to me for my birthday years ago.  after i started cooking from it, i actually got rid of every other cookbook i owned.  this is my one cookbook.  those of you who know me well know that i am the anti-clutter queen so it's not surprising i suppose that i'd only have one, but you too may be tempted to fling off your old cookbooks for a go at this one here. 

so i'm a nerd.  this is why i love this cookbook so much.  it actually talks about food in a way that helps you understand the food and how cooking affects it so that you come to a more, dare i say, scientific understanding of cooking and baking.  if you read the "about" sections before the recipe sections you will be one educated food chemist ;)

my cookbook actually falls open to this page with the worlds best pancake recipe.

a couple of pages back is my favorite banana bread recipe.  do you see how abused well used the pages are?  makes me even more endeared to it.

in an effort to consolidate, i started adding in other worthy recipes to the blank pages in the front a few years after i first got the cookbook.  here's my moms play dough recipe i've blogged about before.  i can't seem to find the page.  i should redo that one...it's good.

nestle toll house chocolate chip cookies...is there a better recipe?  i think not.

the icing recipe.

an assortment of other awesomeness.  my mom's fondue recipe is insane.  those stuffed mushrooms are ridiculous. 

i recently came across this recipe that is "joy-of-cooking-cook-book-blank-pages" worthy.   it's a 4 ingredient crusty yeast bread.  it was so simple, turned out perfectly and you can add an array of different flavorings to it to transform it and refresh it.  i can't wait to make it again already.

i made a plain loaf and a feta and thyme loaf.  do you see those pockets of cheese in there?  it was delicious.

butter and warm bread.  could it ever fail?

here's the link to the recipe.

Everything but the...

well, here's my kitchen sink.  i figure since there's about everything i own in it...it can wait a bit longer ;)



we've had a couple of frosts already this october.  it's completely finished off my garden, but, before it happened, my basil looked like this:



that huge bush thing in the back.  that's all basil.  fresh, aromatic, amazing basil.  none of which i was able to salvage after the frost. my plans to freeze it to use all year were quickly and abruptly dashed.



i'd been making it into bruschetta & pesto. well pistou technically seeing how there aren't any pine nuts in it.  ask me how i know the difference....  i could write a whole blog post on it.  hmmmm....tomorrow??



oven roast some grape tomatos (olive oil, sea salt & cracked pepper 375 degrees 20 minutes)



toss your garden fresh pistou with some store bought tortellini and call it a meal.  it's even better the next day.  cold.  yum.  this is a go-to.



we randomly drove down to boulder one evening for dinner.  had to get our tree lookin' in before the october snows wipe away all the gorgeous color.  the boys got IBC's with their mexican and were in heaven.  seriously the best pre-dinner entertainment.



if you ever wonder why i'm not in more pics or don't relinquish my camera more often wonder no more.  it's because after waiting a half hour for the picture to be taken...



last night we built a little fire in the nook off our master bedroom.  i dug out a fire pit this summer while jon was in the dominican for the month.   i sweat and toiled to create this cute little in ground pit lined with bricks and pea gravel.  we drank more IBC's and talked for a long long time.  just the 5 of us (we can make it if we try) (do you know what i'm talking about?).



and lastly, per tradition, my mother bought the boys their costumes.  although we don't celebrate halloween, the boys do love dressing up.  rowan chose to be a "wobber" and he's a particularly cute one at that.  he says the number is his "wobber name"



jack's this guy. 



and although we already have a fireman's jacket, finn was set on getting a full fireman costume.



whilst we were choosing costumes, i threw in a box of "boo berry" cereal.



little cupfuls served as a delightful desert.

Garlic Spuds

mix this all together and you get:

AWESOMENESS









this one little box has made for many a dinners amped up one degree.
i don't have to think...side dish....done.

Fresh & Cool

i've probably talked way too much about our homemade lemonade.  we just really love it, and we make it all.  the.  time.  it's so fresh and refreshing and yummy and sweet and tart and fun and on and on.

i've been trying to substitute a bunch of our sugar for agave nectar.  you can read about some of the benefits of it here.  for whatever reason, finn is really into agave.  i'm probably predisposing him to tequilla...

today, we put agave in our lemonade instead of our usual cup of sugar.  it tasted quite a bit different.  the agave really adds a lot of flavor.  it was yummy!

so here's the amended recipe if you'd like:

5 lemons juiced
1/2 cup agave nectar
fill rest of pitcher with water

see why we make it so much? easy.  healthy.  not kool-aid.  plus it's minimal juice, and mostly water.  and i don't strain the lemon juice anymore so there's a bit o' fiber to boot. 





i plucked a handful of mint and lemon verbena leaves from the garden and tossed them in too for a bit of extra fun and flavor.



yum



i also added some sprigs to a pitcher of water to keep in the fridge.
fresh and cool.

you're cool.


your face is cool.


your mom is cool.



picnic table pot of pretties.



ah water.  finn's self-proclaimed "favorite drink."
but that's a picture of rowan.
in pajamas in the middle of the day.



all our little garden friends are popping out to say hello!
hello yellow squash!



helllooooo pumpkins!!!!



helllllooooo bitty carrot wisps!!!!!



the little boys and i have had so much fun messing around in our garden everyday that i threw in some peas and a pea trellis yesterday just for more to grow and tend.