Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Bikini Bread and other ramblings

Dad has zucchini ready in his garden now. I love zucchini from his garden. Love. It. Today I made zucchini bread with chocolate chips (with chocolate chips because I was dying for chocolate). Phoebe helped and told everyone she was making Bikini Bread. Not suitably named because you can't wear a bikini after eating two loaves of it like I am going to do. (Recipe from Paula Deen here.)


To update you on weird things found in my fridge, I found a Lego today along with a tomato with a bite out of it. The other day I found a diver "guy". The trend of toys found in the fridge leads me to believe the culprit is Owen. (The tomato incident though has Phoebe written all over it.)


(BTW, the pink stuff in the pitcher in the pic above is my Crystal Light raspberry lemonade that I totally love this summer.)




Chloe and I got our hair cut yesterday. I like hers a lot. Mine, not so much. It's the first time Chloe has ever had bangs in her life. They are long side bangs and she got some layers around her face, and about an inch cut off the length.

And finally, six years ago right now I found myself in the hospital ready to give birth to my baby boy, Owen. Chloe and I had been at the pool all day with my friend Mindy and her daughter Camryn. That was back in the day when we only had one girl each. Those girls would swim for hours and we'd kick back and gossip the afternoons away. That day was very hot and the pool was busy and rowdy. All day I told Mindy I was having contractions. It was June 25th and my due date was July 7th. I knew I was in labor. I oddly didn't panic. I knew it would take forever to have him, as it did Chloe. So we swam. When we were about to go a lady asked if she could have my chair. After I rolled myself out of it, I said sure we were leaving. She said I looked like I was about to have the baby any day. Why yes, I was. I told her I thought that day was the day.

I went home, took laundry off the line, cooked dinner, and got Chloe ready to go to my parents. I told Danny we would be going to the hospital but he stayed on the computer and took his time reading whatever it was he was reading while I scurried around. So that evening we finally made it to the hospital. I was dilated to 3 or 4 (I can't remember which now). The dr. on call sent me for an ultrasound and thought the baby was big (he wasn't, but bigger than Chloe who I barely had)and we should go ahead and do a c-section. I was worried about that because I didn't have one with Chloe. He called my dr. and my dr. said to wait until morning and he'd come in. They gave me cervidil and a sleeping pill. By morning I was ready to have Owen. I pushed for 2 hours and nothing. They were thinking I'd need a c-section so they gave me an epidural. I hadn't ever had one before and found it blissful. Finally after much drama that I won't bore you with, they wheeled me in for a c-section. He was facing up, instead of down like he should have been to be born, and he had a big cone head from being stuck so long. My first boy (as he likes to call himself) was born on June 26, 2003 at 5:37 pm. He was 7 pounds 9.4 ounces and 19 3/4 inches long.






What a joy he was then, and now.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

Phoebe and I made some cookies today. Pumpkin cookies with chocolate chips and pecans, and maple frosting. I love pumpkin. I love chocolate. I love pecans. I love maple. I love frosting.

2 1/4 cup self-rising flour
3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks

Whisk together flour and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter.
Add both sugars and beat until light and fluffy.
Add vanilla.
Add eggs one at a time and beat until combined.
Add flour/spice mixture to sugar mixture in three additions. Alternate with pumpkin in two additions, ending with flour mixture.
Stir in chopped pecans and chocolate chunks.
Drop on cookie tray lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes about four dozen cookies.

Let cool.

Maple Brown Butter Frosting

3 cups sifted confectioners sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
2 tsp maple flavoring

Sift sugar and set aside.
Melt butter over medium heat until golden brown. Watch closely so it does not burn.
Add butter to sugar, scraping all the butter into the bowl.
Add milk and maple flavoring. Stir until smooth.
Spread on top of cookies with an knife or offset spatula.





Phoebe can't be bothered with holding a cookie.