Lazy girl’s chocolate chip cookies.

Eugene & I are going over to a friend’s house tonight, so yesterday {after seeing chocolate chips on sale at Aldi} I decided to bake some cookies to take with us. Now, mind you, it was already 9:00 pm by the time I got home & started, so I was feeling tired & not too willing to follow detailed instructions. So, I chose to make the Lazy-Girl version of America’s Test Kitchen’s Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies. This meant, not really measuring any ingredients, not following the instructions, ignoring the hard parts of the recipe, and hoping they tasted okay in the end!

Lucky me – they turned out great! Soft, chewy near the center, but still slightly crispy edges. Delish. {They hit the spot…I had 3 for lunch – oops!}

So, here’s the real recipe with my lazy changes in parenthesis.

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour {I didn’t really measure, just heaped & hoped!}
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 14 tablespoons unsalted butter {I used 1 stick of salted & 2 tbs of “buttery spread” aka cheap margarine from my fridge…didn’t brown like I think it was supposed to, but it tasted fine in the end!}
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar {I used what I had – light brown sugar}
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract {I used my Mexican vanilla & it gave it a strong vanilla flavor & I liked it.}
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk {too lazy to separate it, so I used 2 large eggs!}
• 1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips {considered adding more, but I’m glad I didn’t…this was plenty.}
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts {I didn’t measure, just threw in some chopped pecans.}

Adjust your oven rack to the middle position & preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray your baking sheets. Whisk the flour & baking soda together.

Heat your butter in a nonstick skillet {they recommended not using a dark pan} until it’s melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling the pan constantly until the butter is dark golden brown and has a nutty aroma, 1-3 minutes. {Mine never got dark golden brown, prob. because of the “buttery spread” but oh stinkin well.

Transfer the melted butter to another large mixing bowl & add your vanilla, sugars, & salt.

Whisk until it’s blended well, then add your eggs.

Whisk until it’s smooth and no sugar lumps remain, about 30 seconds. Let the mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk 30 more seconds & do this trick twice more.  It’ll become thick, smooth, & shiny. Ta da…

Add your flour mixture…

Use a spatula to mix this together just until it’s combined.

Add in the goods – chocolate chips & nuts.

Place cookies on your baking sheet, about 2 inches apart.

Bake until the edges have begun to set but the centers are still soft, 10-14 minutes. Transfer to wire cooling rack to cool to room temperature.

I loved that these were a bit thick, not the pancake flat cookies I sometimes get.

YUM.

Oh, and my wondrous thing today is how sparkly the snow is today. “Sparkly” sounds like a princess’s made-up word, but that’s the best way to describe it. I tried to snap a pic. using my phone while taking the pup for a lunchtime walk, and it shows just slightly {more if you click the picture to enlarge it}, but God’s glitter is way better in person!

It’s the best kind of bling!

A visit to Santa and twins.

I just had to share these two pictures of my precious niece on her first visit with Santa. She’s so absolutely adorable…not to mention that this Santa is {SO} great! He’s got me believing! :)

Cate being her curious self, checkin’ out the old man in red…

Guess she likes ‘em! What a pretty smile for Santa…

Onto other topics, last night we had plans to meet up with our small group at church for some casual volleyball. I went upstairs to get dressed & when I came down Eugene just started laughing at me. He pulled his hoodie off to show me that we were wearing the same exact outfit…how precious! {Note the sarcasm, please.} Oh my word we were just laughing so hard because this is probably the third time we’ve dressed identically {by accident} to go out together. I forced him to pose for a picture just to capture the ridiculousness.

Aren’t we just so gosh darn adorable? Maybe this should be our Christmas card this year!  Bahaha!

An actual date night.

I’ve had so many events for work lately with Christmas right around the corner. I worked one Thursday night, two Friday night, and one Sunday. Shew! It’s been a long week – let’s just say that.

Luckily {or, more like, wondrous thing} I had Saturday evening off & I got a text that morning from my college volleyball coach offering Eugene & me two free tickets to the DI NCAA Women’s Volleyball Elite Eight game in Dayton. We made it into a little date night…stopped at the fancy McD’s for dinner on our way & enjoyed a great five game match, with USC finally defeating Stanford in 16-14 in the last game.

I’m 6 feet tall & these girls were so much taller than me!

My college coach did some color commentary for a radio station, thus scored the free tickets for us.

USC & Stanford had played 3 times already this season & Stanford won all three times, so we were secretly rooting for the underdog, USC to win big.

This player was only a freshman, but unbelievably powerful & poised!

Do you see how the middle’s head’s well above the net. She’s way tall & jumps way high. {Slightly jealous.}

We had to laugh at ourselves…since when did McDonald’s count as a dinner date?! That’s what happens when you’re trying to keep a tight fist on the budget for a new house! :)

Regardless of where we ate our burger & fries, it was {so} amazing to spend an entire evening together doing something outside of the house that didn’t consist of work or stressful decisions about life!

{PS Still no news on whether the bank will pay for a new septic. They did agree to pay for the plumbing fixes needed in the basement - around $1,000 - but nothing about the septic yet - up to $10,000. Still praying hard for a miracle!}

Cranberry Orange Bread.

Two days ago, I decided to finally use up the leftover cranberries I had from my FABulous Pretzel & Cranberry Topped Sweet Potato Casserole {it was impressive how long the berries lasted.}

I used the recipe from here, but I doubled it & changed it slightly {as always.} Turned out pretty well! It was a nice change in pace from the typical banana or pumpkin bread recipes I usually gravitate towards.

Cranberry Orange Bread

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cup sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 egg
• 1 cup orange juice
• Grated peel of 1 orange
• 1 orange diced
• 4 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
• 4tablespoons hot water
• 2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries

   

In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients.

In another bowl, beat egg.

Next, you’ll want to grate your orange peel…

Then, to your egg mixture, add your orange juice, peel, butter and hot water & mix well.

Add in your flour mixture, stirring just until moistened.

At this point, I sliced my cranberries in half – not sure if this was necessary, but it seemed to work out fine.

I also diced my orange now…

Gently fold in cranberries and walnuts.

Spoon into greased 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 60 minutes {at least, mine took quite a bit longer} or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.  

The bread is a nice fresh, citrusy breakfast perfect with a cup of hot black tea.

A mini family photo session.

I realized when I typed the title of the post, it sounds like the family is mini, but really it’s the photo session that’s mini…hope you got that correct! ;)

Eugene’s aunt asked me to stop by last night to take a picture of her family while everyone was in town together for a brief moment. I didn’t have much lighting to work with & it had to be indoors because, well, it was fuh-reezing out plus it was dark by the time they were free for pics. So I did what I could with what I had. {It helped that I had a super cute family as models!}

She didn’t want many pictures, just a group shot in front of the fireplace and maybe a few of her granddaughters if it happened to work out. The low-lighting issue was definitely   a challenge, but hopefully I got at least a couple that they will like enough to save!

 

{Oh, and you’ll probably remember little Ava from this photo session earlier this year.}

 

And the grand finale…

What a big happy family, about to get even bigger with two babies on the way!

Merry Christmas to the Wade family – I hope you enjoy your pictures!

Not the best news.

Yesterday, I spent 3 1/2 hours at our potential house having various inspectors and specialists check it. I first had a plumber come check an issue we have to fix for the Health District. Then, I had the septic company come to pump our septic system. Then, the full house & chimney inspections were to follow.

I’ve been praying that nothing unexpected would show up, in particular, that it wouldn’t need a new septic tank because that can run upwards six grand to fix…and we didn’t budget that large cost into in our long list of renovations we were planning.

At first, I thought we were free & clear. The two men who pumped the septic told me that it was only half full, but that they didn’t notice any leaks or issues with it, and it could just be low because of underuse {the house has been empty for over a year & a half.}

So at that point I was just waiting to hear how the full house inspection would go. Thankfully, that all went well – no cracks in the foundation, no termites, no electrical issues, just the repairs we already knew about, a kitchen pipe to replace and a broken dishwasher {we planned for new appliances anyway.}

Right when the full house inspection ended, I got a call from our realtor telling me that he just got a call from the Health District saying that we need to replace the septic tank {we’re guessing it’s because it was low.} Instantly my heart sank. The bank’s selling the house “as-is”, so it’s definitely not likely at all that they will pay for a new septic, and Eugene & I don’t want to spend more than we budgeted so as to keep a comfortable amount of money in our savings account for emergencies {since I’ve already been laid-off once}. With that said, this could and probably will be a deal-breaker for us…unless the bank somehow agrees pays for the septic replacement. :( Also, after we got home, we learned that the fireplace piping was installed incorrectly and will be another $1,640 to fix. So, probably just under $9k that we didn’t expect.

I’m believing in God. And I trust that He’s way bigger than this bank & our expectations. He has a plan for our house, whether this is the place or not, and I’m just trying to trust wholeheartedly in Him. And I’m asking clearly that God has the bank agree to pay for the septic to be replaced.

"But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed." James 1:6

God’s will is perfect, so we’ll see where He takes us.

On a brighter note, after getting hardly any sleep last night {too much on my mind}, I had a wonderful breakfast…

It was wonderful because when I would visit my grandparents in Florida, this was our daily breakfast – half a grapefruit & peanut butter toast. My grandpa passed away in 1999, but I couldn’t help but think happy thoughts about him this morning as I ate my Floridian breakfast. I hope he would be proud of me & the woman I’m becoming today. It’s really funny how our senses can trigger memories. I could practically smell the coffee & cologne on him as I ate my grapefruit! Such a great meal to start my day. :)