Cowboy Cookies Revised

Cowboy Cookies

(from Tasty Kitchen)

MIX: 1 cup white sugar (or Splenda), 1 cup brown sugar, 2 sticks butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

ADD 2 eggs to the above mixture.

IN A SEPARATE BOWL sift together 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder.

ADD to sugar/butter/egg mixture.

ADD 2 cups oats, 1 pack (12oz) semisweet chocolate chips, 1 cup raisins, 1 cup butterscotch chips, 1 small bag chopped pecans.

BAKE at 350 degrees on greased baking sheet for 8-9 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring to cooling rack (otherwise they are so soft and gooey that they will fall apart!)

Cowboy Cookies Revised

MIX: 1 cup white sugar (or Splenda), 1 cup brown sugar, 2 sticks butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. (it helps if the butter is softened, but not melted---room temp. is good)

ADD 2 eggs to the above mixture - one a time.

IN A SEPARATE BOWL sift together 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 cups flour (try whole wheat!), 1/2 teaspoon baking powder. 

ADD to sugar/butter/egg mixture.

ADD 2 cups oats, 1 pack (12oz) semisweet chocolate chunks, 1 cup mixed dried fruit (or more..i just took the bag and dumped a bunch in!), 1 small bag almond slivers (or pistachios, hazelnuts..whatever!)

BAKE at 350 degrees on greased baking sheet for 8-9 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring to cooling rack (otherwise they are so soft and gooey that they will fall apart!)

these (as are the original) are delicious!! lots and lots of fruit and oatmeal. (and, healthy for a cookie) (:

Aug. 16 through Aug. 19

Aug. 16

Did I mention that I'm a baking fool!?

I've baked about 4-5 different things in the past 2 weeks.

Aug. 17

The finish product--Gram's Never Fail Pound Cake

(after it's sat over night and cooled...before delivery)

Aug. 18

Our kitchen, finally set up. The only thing left to do is get some help hanging the pot rack because we can't find any studs! (and yes, we have a stud finder...it's just a really old house & we don't think there are any) (: haha

Aug. 19

Cowboy Cookies--a lake favorite

(revised)

Recipe & more pictures will follow. 

Aug. 8 through Aug. 15

Aug. 8

a hitch-hiker .. he was waiting for us on the window

Aug. 9

Figgy-Figs!

(a huge reminder of my early childhood)

Aug. 10

Mikey layin' on the floor

Aug. 11

One of my favorite pictures. ... It's homemade dough for bagels, which were yummy. 

Aug. 12

(finally) a picture of our new place

ours is hidden behind the tree

Aug. 13

Birthday cheesecake for my dear, sweet friend, Amanda

Aug. 14

Mike & baby David. 

we LOVE him and would steal him if we didn't love matt and amanda so

Aug. 15

I'm a bakin' fool! 

Aug. 1 through Aug. 7

Aug. 1

Aug. 2

prepping/cleaning our new kitchen before we moved in

Aug. 3

on a walk back from Publix

Aug. 4

Craft Time! (: 

I painted a 3 pane window (all old and rusted) that we got from Ben's basement. I LOVE IT! it got a little dinged up during the move, so I'm going to have to put another coat of the Chalkboard paint on it before we can hang it, but it's going to be pretty awesome hanging in the kitchen!

Aug. 5

new Owl Earrings. they were a steal - i only paid $3 for them

(from etsy)

Aug. 6

Happy Birthday Gram

Gram loves coconut cake. So do I. and boy, it was 

d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s

Aug. 7

Mike & Me at Katie & Chris's wedding

7.29 through 7.31

July 29

On a walk back from Publix I found this little guy. He was very cooperative! 

July 30

Sun Scorched

July 31

chandelier 

butterscotch tastes like fall

we've moved. we're still getting settled into our new spot - but for the most part, we've moved. (there are a few things back at Boyce--like Mike's clothes and my plants..haha, nothing else though) i'm enjoying our new space...even though i'm still stepping over boxes and the stair railing and all of the kitchen pots. to me it feels more home-y. maybe it's the carpet. maybe it's that our bedroom isn't just another room in the house. maybe it's that we have our own back porch. maybe it's just that it's ours.

i'm having a hard time studying. i really need to get a move on it. i have 10 chapters left in this huge text book and while i'm enjoying what i'm learning, it is a lot and it's still studying.

my 1/2 marathon training is coming along. i ran 6.83 miles two nights ago at an 8:20 pace. not bad -- i was really pleased with this especially since that's 1/2 of the total distance! i hope i can keep that pace for 13 miles. i have 70 days left to keep training. that seems like forever, but i'm sure i'll be getting up on Oct. 24 thinking "i wish i'd had more time to train!"
(oh yea, here are the new shoes i'm getting--i'm stoked)

after work today (in two hours to be exact) we are lake bound! i am excited about the lake this weekend. as kayla said just this week, "the real world is getting in the way of my tan." we were supposed to go last weekend and couldn't make it happen. i think mike and i both need the time away from everything that's still packed up...and of course, good time with Matt, Amanda, David.

fall is coming. not quickly though, like summer did. once it got hot, it got hot! i can tell though, because the air isn't suffocating when you go outside. i had a (sugar free) werther's orginal after lunch today and it tasted like fall. it made me long for it deeply. fall is by far my favorite season -- the smells, the colors, the crunchy leaves, the crisp air, the weekend trips. i love it all, and i want it to be here now. i hope for us it's a time of refreshment and a time to slow down and really enjoy life. not that we aren't enjoying life now, but it's zipping by. we haven't had time to slow down and just enjoy being married. hopefully that time is coming with fall.

on wednesday i made homemade bagels. if i can say so..they were pretty bang-up. i think mike ate all but 2 of them in one day. (: i've decided i'm going to back something new every week (i'd love to make something new every day, but i'm sure it won't happen, so i'll settle for once a week). i'm new to breads, but i like making them. i'd really like a bread maker, but it's not in budget, so i'll settle for our new (new to us) oven.

7.18 through 7.28

July 18

BEACH!

July 19

Carson and Honey at lunch at Garden City...BBQ!

July 20

one of my favorite pictures i've ever taken!

July 21

Carson's card house...and my last day at the beach with  my fam

July 22

JT at the B2BE "grand opening"

July 23

Papa, Mimi, Me and Mikey

July 24

Last picture of the beach for the year

July 25 

Option #2 for our new apartment (the living room area...) we didn't go with this one

July 26

Mike made breafast!!...homemade doughnuts..definitely sinful!

July 27

Welcome Home Mikey! Our new house!

July 28

Summer thunderstorm

7.12 through 7.17

July 12

Red Jalapeno

July 13

transplanted rosemary

(i'm really excited about this little guy bein' on our new awesome back porch!)

July 14

new tire on the motorcycle..we're back in business!

July 15

Mom's birthday celebration. However---mom didn't turn 50, she turned 48. But, since she's such a HUGE practical joker, we (the kids) thought it'd be hilarious to get a cake with "Happy 50th Birthday Mom" on it! ... Joke's on her! haha!

July 16

Mike & I went to the movies & found EIGHT of these huge, beautiful, glorious windows in a dumpster. You better believe we were dumpster diving for these babies! i LOVE them. i'm going to make a table out of a couple of them, take a couple to the lake house (painted with chalk-board paint in the panes)...and find something good to do with the others!

July 17

Me & Mike at Elizabeth & Steven's wedding

...august keeps crying and she don't know why...

tomorrow marks 10 months of being married to my best friend. only two to go and we'll be celebrating a year. where has it gone? this time last year we were haulin' tail (literally) trying to get all of the trees out of my parents yard so we could have an outside reception. we did it and it was absolutely wonderful.

i have become addicted to several blogs (check out my daily reads). i love finding new recipes, finding DIYs (we're moving & i have several crafts in mind..more on that in a bit) and just reading about other peoples lives

i am also obsessed with ETSY. i bought some OWL i earrings and am eagerly awaiting them in the mail (mike thinks my bird fascination is weird, but i truely love them)

i / we (mostly me) am traing for a 1/2 marathon in October. this is week 3 in the training -- three runs btw 3-5 miles each
i can do this. i can do this...

i am looking forward to couple of days at the lake with Matt, Amanda & David Tingle. I love them dearly.

we are moving on sunday. mike said he'll be sad to leave our first home..i am indifferent. moving out means:
     getting rid of the moldy ceiling
     getting new neighbors (and rid of the old ones..one in particular)
     getting a new address
     having more space (an extra bedroom and sweet back porch!)
     moving forward.together.

oh yea, i am studying for my personal trainer certification (: i am super excited about it, even though i am having to study again. i've found that it's a lot easier when i'm only studying for one thing

7.8 through 7. 11

July 8

the mold is still growing...and we're slowly dying. 

july 9

me & mikey @ BD & Megan's rehearsal dinner

July 10

most of the gang @ BD & Megan's wedding

July 11

*Happy Birthday Mom*

Leaky kitchen...yet again.

Mom's birthday celebration happened a few days later (so you'll see birthday pictures in a few days!)