the therapeutic value of chocolate chip oatmeal raisin cookies

uummm...the scent of cinnamon-y, vanilla-y and oaty, just baked and out of the oven, carefully bouncing from one hand to the other and finally tossed into my mouth, burning my tongue but not caring a bit, goodness.

is there anything better in this wide world than homemade cookies? i don't think so. maybe you do, but, then, we probably can't be friends.

too bad.

hubs loves oatmeal raisin cookies, so since i love him, i made some. i like to amp them up a bit with coconut butter and chocolate chunks. plus, i like 'em a bit salty so my recipe has a bit more than the usual. i was out of brown sugar, so i just added some molasses to part of my white sugar and voila! easy peasy lemon squeezy.

i've had a sinus headache for almost 2 weeks and focusing on this simple, pleasurable task of baking cookies took my mind off it for awhile. but, alas, i'm off to urgent care for some antibiotics anyway.

maybe i'll take a few cookies with me...that job cannot be fun.

try your own batch and let me know how they come out :)


Oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies

2 sticks salted butter, slightly soft but not mooshy
1 tbs coconut butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar (or a cup mixed with 1.5 T molasses)

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs, room temp
2 tbs vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 heaping teaspoon baking soda
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups old fashioned oats (not instant)
1 cup raisins
1 cup chocolate chunks or chips

heat oven to 375 F

cream butter and sugars. add eggs, mix well. add vanilla and mix. in small bowl, combine flour, soda, cinnamon and salt. combine flour mixture with sugar mixture and mix until just together. stir in oats, raisins and chocolate.
scoop onto parchment covered cookie sheets, 12 per sheet, makes about 4 dozen.

bake 10-15 minutes, depending on how hot your oven actually is...should be golden but not too firm. let cool on cookie sheets 2-3 min. transfer to wire racks until completely cool.... yeah, right.

~uumm nummm!

fish and dogs and dads

why not a review?

so, we have done a bit of exploring Holland and Grand Haven...just scratching the surface, mind you, but it is cool to be so close to fun tourist towns. and wierd.

we ventured into Holland last thursday, blissfully unaware that the streets would be filled with musicians and street performers...but it was cool and the kids enjoyed the juggling mime!

(personally i think mimes have issues. big ones.)

anywho, we popped into 8th steet grille for a bite...little miss m wanted fish sticks. and sadly, when we ordered fish and chips that's kinda what we got...just really large, deep fried fish sticks. Not horrible, mind you...just...well...little kid food meant to be grown-up food.

it kept us from starvation.

they have some pretty yummy soups that are homemade, so that improved things a bit, but not much. i doubt we'll go back. thankfully, holland has much more to offer. look for a review of boatwerks coming soon :)

friday we headed into grand haven and ate some truly delicious chili dogs at downtown dogs....cute dog joint with all the usual offerings: chili fries, kraut dogs and shakes. yum. go next time you are in grand haven! i plan to have a permanent butt print on one of the retro red stools.

much more than starvation-prevention, peeps.

finally, the best food we had in the past 4 days was absolutely, hands-down...dad's homesick-curing big breakfast. thick bacon, dearborn ham, eggs cooked in piggy fat, english muffins, waffles...ooooh so good. i won't eat again for a week.

(where are my stretchy pants?)

happy father's day, dad. i love you. and not just because you are one of 3 people who read my blog.

but it's a big part of it.

umm numm!

ok, first up: a rant!

yay!

so has anyone else watched much of the new cooking channel? i've watched an embarrassing amount of the food network and have few problems with it...well, except for emeril since he's a tool and I doubt he can actually cook...

however.

the cooking channel seems to be filled with jerky, self important snobs who have taken ALL the joy out of cooking and eating by intellectualizing it. jerks, i say.

i really hate that cooking in all its wonderous, myriad forms has become so much less about the food and so much more about the, ahem, chefs.

case in point: one particular program highlighted a couple of wierd, bearded, amish-looking brothers (although clearly NOT amish, just so self-important that they can now eschew all standards of hygiene and general presentability) who desire to "bring the people closer to how chocolate is actually made".

the show goes on to show us how they accomplish this: mainly through the use of pompous machines with pompous, complicated names and really pompous, complicated procedures...and of course this is all delivered to the camera in the most dour, unsmiling and super-pompous way possible by said wierdos.

they even hand wrap their chocolate bars. by hand.

did i mention they design their own wrappers? yep. all by themselves.

yeah, I feel closer to the chocolate now, man.

sigh. why can't people get over themselves? it's not heart surgery, dudes. it's food.

think i'll make some brownies now.

no, they won't come out of a box but i promise they will not be hand wrapped.

um num!

well, hello blog!

first blog ever. cool.

it's a bit like dear diary, isn't it? only a whole lot less private. well, and there's probably less kissing of boys, fighting with girls and pissing about rotten parents...soooo that's good.

my head is always spinning with mostly useless information and up until now I have not had a good outlet and my put-upon hubby is probably sick of listening to me...so, here. we. are.

hopefully, this blog will be part rant, part restaurant review (if I ever find a sitter), part reflection, part recipe.

that's a lot of parts, peeps.

might take awhile to be, you know, useful to anyone!

...umm, if ever.

oh yeah, and I'm gonna try to be funny, too.

mostly, i'm just trying to live it big...thus the moniker "eat life"...yep, I love to eat but I also have tried my whole life to eat life in great big gulps, getting as much out of it as possible.

so, come along on this ride...it should be fun!

~um num!