Simple Chocolate Chip Cookies

There is nothing earth shattering in this post, just simple chocolate chip cookies.  This cookie dough batter can be thrown together in 15 minutes.  Well, 15 uninterrupted minutes.  Maybe the only thing interesting is that I don't usually cook the dough right away.  Spending some time now, saves me later.  This day I inadvertently cut out some calories too.  Interested now, read on!

It starts with butter.  Please don't substitute.  If  you are going to eat a cookie, eat a good cookie.

Sugar too!

Looks like normal batter to me!

After adding flour, baking soda, salt and the chocolate chips, the batter seemed a tad bit dry.  But not dry enough to make me think twice.

Grab some parchment paper and a scooper!

Now it's time to enlist a helper.  Let him eat cookie dough after every 25 scoops.  Tell him how awesome of a cookie dough scooper he is!

The results:  140 cookie dough scoops, and one 5 year old who just had a lesson in working hard and finishing a job all the way.

Now off to the freezer!

One frozen through, place in freezer bag.

Here is why I freeze.

1.  Time saver!  Frozen cookie dough is very convenient.  We can enjoy a dozen, fresh baked cookies, at anytime without the clean-up.

2.  Portion control.  It keeps me and my family from eating 3 dozen cookies in two days.........well, sometimes.  It's so easy to throw a dozen in the oven.  If my better half knows about the stash we end up with cookies almost everyday.

3.  Money saver.  If I have a stash in the freezer it keeps me from buying this higher priced alternative....

Curious about those inadvertently omitted calories mentioned above?  There must be a reason I goofed. I'd blame kids, but they weren't around when the batter was made.  Maybe I drank one too many iced coffees.

I usually double the cookie recipe, as I did this day.  Do you remember the first picture?  Two sticks of butter.  Read the recipe below.  Okay, if I double it I need 4 sticks.  What!  Leaving out those two sticks of butter erased 1,600 calories from the recipe.  That's about 12 calories a cookie.  You'll eat at least two so it's more like 24.  Fleeting thought- maybe I should cook with less butter.

Oddly enough the cookies baked up okay, and the food critic my husband didn't even notice.  Honestly, neither did I.  It only popped into my mind when I sat down to write this post!  Thank goodness I froze the entire batch.  Once baked, I don't think these cookies would stay moist for more than a day.

Simple Chocolate Chip Cookies


1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Mix above listed ingredients until well blended in a mixer.  While your mixer is on stir add:
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
Stir for 2 minutes.  Add chocolate chips, stir until incorporated.  Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes.

To bake frozen cookie dough I just take the cookie scoops out of the freezer, place them on a lined cookie sheet and wait for the oven to preheat.  Cook for same time as noted above.

Saving Souls: The King of Aram, a Strategic Planner

Who was the King of Aram?  Well not this guy, although I think he could be a King.

So who was the King of Aram? I have a confession. I didn't know until a few days ago.  Okay I'll be honest, here is where I started......

Yes, that is a Children's Bible.  Several days ago the kids and I read the story of Elisha and King of Aram's soldiers (2 Kings 6: 8-23).  We talked about the blessing Israel saw when they treated their enemy kindly.  I always need that reminder.  Loving an adversary is hard!


Then I thought I should read the story from a 'real' bible.  Does a kindle count?

After reading it on my own, I thought more about the King of Aram.  What a strategic planner.  I like a good planner!  I'm sure he had it all together, like this man....

I think the King of Aram thought his strategy to capture Elisha was bullet proof.  He sent his strongest force.  The attack would be a surprise!  Surely he would be successfully.

I am also a strategic planner.  But my strategy is concerned with capturing my kids hearts.  I desire for their hearts to be knitted with Christ.  My strategy includes church attendance, scripture memory work and family bible time.  (I could fill in the underlined with many other things.)  Sounds like a decent plan, right?

King Aram found out that despite his best plan, Israel's security was grounded in the Lord.  I need to remember that.  My kids salvation is dependent upon the Lord, not a perfect bible curriculum.

Don't get me wrong.  Things such as bible time, church attendance and scripture memory are all good things.  They should be part of our day.  I could give you verses that point us to doing each.  Just remember, unless the Lord builds a house, the builders labor in vain.

Saving Zucchini's Reputation: Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Zucchini, at one time, did not hold a place of high honor in this house.  The sight of one would make my little people cringe.  Brave ones would ask "are we eating that?"  Only ignorant babies, including my current one, would willingly snarf  it down.  That is, until they were old enough to be influenced by anti-zucchini peer pressure.

But that has all changed, thanks to a recipe handed to me by a neighbor.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread has created a new attitude toward this summer squash.   This once scorned veggie now holds a place of honor, right next to chocolate chip cookies.

Thanks to that same neighbor's fruitful garden, we had the opportunity to make this bread the other day! Two medium sized zucchini are more than sufficient for one recipe.

 Now for some shredding.  I always have a helper or two.........or three for that!

Sugar may have something to do with the new found love of zucchini.

Mental note, make sure you have vanilla.  If you do not, stop all baking.   Load up four hungry kids in the car.  Take them to a grocery store where they salivate at all the food.  Tell them no to everything.  Pick up vanilla, think to yourself, 'this price seems absurd for such a small bottle.'  Prepare for the check-out line.  Tell kids no twenty more times.  Load kids back into car and head home.
  

Next comes the shredded zucchini.  Did I mention I had helpers?  Lots of helpers, and lots of zucchini on the counter.

Of course some dry goods too.  I sometimes substitute about half of the all-purpose flour with whole-white wheat flour. I know, veggies and whole grains.  What a super mom, making such a healthy recipe!  (Ignore the fact there are 2 cups of sugar in the batter.)

I was too busy guarding the chocolate chips to take a picture of them being added to the mix.  The recipe calls for only 1/2 cup, but somehow the majority of the contents of a newly opened bag disappeared.  I will not tell you if I had a part in the disappearance.

I prefer to bake this in loaf form.  But it works just as well for cupcakes, and makes a good bundt cake too!

Wait patiently........

Slice when completely cooled while warm because you your kids cannot wait any longer. 

Go ahead and stuff as much into your mouth as possible. 

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
3-4 cups shredded zucchini
3 eggs
1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
3 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
5 tsp. cocoa
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix together eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla until well blended.  Add zucchini, mix well.  Mix dry ingredients together and add to zucchini mixture.  Blend well.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Pour into two greased loaf pans.  Bake at 350 for 55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Anyone else have a great zucchini recipe they would like to share?

Saving Money: Homemade Iced Coffee

I might be more obsessed with iced coffee than I thought, given this topic holds First Real Post status. Thanks to the inability to sleep soundly through the night ( I'm blaming 4 infants over the last seven years), I have become hooked on coffee, iced coffee to be exact.

Although I adore a certain coffee company that totes a green logo, I am not in love with their prices. And when I realized I knew Mary, the lady in the drive-thru wearing a green apron, a little too well, I decided to stop frequenting the Four Bucks a pop establishment.



I tried a copycat recipe for the Starbucks bottled frappuccino.  After some trial and error, this version was a winner:

What are you saving?

To me the word save, or saving, is a loaded word!  I find myself doing a lot of it and thinking a lot about it.  I could get all nerdy on you and give a few definitions.......well I just might do that.