(almost) Wordless Wednesday

 (Too fast!)

(Look what I've got buddy!)

(She doesn't normally wear a crown to school.  Just today...ok actually she was the "queen" or teacher's assistant.)

 

 

(Telling us all about the injustices of life, or at least the one about not getting to play with brother's train set.)

Back to Blogging and And 2 Cookie ReMakes

It came to my attention recently that I was suffering from over-loaded-summer-schedule-itis.  Generally, I was able to keep things together.  No one went hungry or without clean socks--unless by their own choice--I'm talking to you, Little Man, my sock obsessed boy.  We did so much every chance we could, it just didn't involve the blog.  :)

But here in Southeast Alaska, the weather has already begun to change.  The cold, hard reality is that...IT'S DONE!  The trees are starting to change colors, the flowers are withering, there's a crispness already in the air.  I actually wore a winter hat this morning when I walked the Little Miss to the bus stop.  (That part may or may not be directly related to the temperature.  It might have had something to do with me still been in my yoga pants and having not brushed my teeth yet...possibly.)  Sorry folks, summer is over here...sniff, sniff. 

Putting up with the short, cool summer is probably the biggest personal sacrifice I make to live in such a beautiful place.  I can put up with the cold winters (they're not too bad--the way winter ought to be in my opinion), the isolation of our capital city (you can only fly or ferry in to Juneau), and the wildlife traipsing through my backyard (a small black bear actually did last week and I saw it with my own eyes!).  But the summers...just not enough for me.  Not that I want the 45 consecutive day streak of 100+ temperatures that our family and friends are experiencing in Oklahoma, but I'd love to take a 10-15 degrees off their hands.  I'm sure they'd be ok with that. :)

So you can see why I go CRAZY when the summer weather heats warms up.  We head to the beach, the park, pick berries, go out on the boat, grill, play in the sprinklers, make ice cream (more on that to come), work in the garden and yard, ride bikes, hike, visit the glacier, and generally soak up all the natural vitamin D possible.  No matter what the temperature actually is, if it's sunny out, we pretend it's hotter.  As in years past, we made lots of great memories and captured most of them on camera...they just didn't make it on to the blog...yet. 

So as you can imagine, I'm behind.  There's so much to blog about and "catch up" on that it's almost a bit overwhelming.  So much so that I found myself ignoring the blog for the past week or so.  Trying to pretend it wasn't there, needing attention.  But I can't ignore it anymore.  So today, I'm back to blogging.  But to keep things realistic, I'm going to just start where I am.  Sort of a "bloom where you're planted" approach.  I hope to get back to sharing some of our summer memories in the near future, but I don't want to continue to ignore the blog and not share future memories.  So here goes...

The other day I made some cookies that I'm really excited about.  Not only are they delicious and beautiful, but they are both second tries at recipes that flopped the first time. 

A few months ago, I was seeing recipes involving malted milk powder on several food blogs that I check.  I became intrigued and started searching for a cookie recipe.  I found one on the Taste of Home website that I thought was fail safe.  But I was really disappointed with the results.  Instead of soft, thick cookies like the picture posted with the recipe, mine looked flat and sad.  They basically fell apart in your hand.  I reviewed the recipe trying to figure out what I had done wrong and tried baking the second pan a little differently, but the results were the same.  So I sort of gave up on it....until this week.  I wanted to make cookies for my husband's hunting trip and started scouring my recipes.  I saw that print out from Taste of Home and felt challenged to not let this recipe remain a failure.  So I surfed the web and found another recipe with excellent reviews and slightly different ingredient amounts.  The resulting cookies were these beautiful babies.

 

Chocolate Malted Cookies (click on title for recipe)

I was so excited when I transferred them from the cookie sheet to the cooling rack that I started trash talking with myself.  "Wohoo!"  "Look at these!"  "Take that Taste of Home!"

These cookies have plenty of chocolate taste, are a bit on the sweet side, and very soft.  Pretty much my new favorite cookie.
The only change I made to the recipe was using parchment paper.  But I only did that because I had some sheets still handy from the other cookie recipe I had just retried.  I don't think the parchment was necessary unless you really want to save yourself some dishes. :)

Then there were these fantastic morsels, Monster Cookies. (click on title for recipe)

Again, I had seen this basic recipe on food blogs in the past and wanted to try it.  Sometimes they are called Kitchen Sink Cookies because they have everything in them except the kitchen sink.  But for me, that name isn't all that appetizing.  So I googled "monster cookies" and found what seemed like a winning recipe from Pioneer Woman.  The dough was SO good, but again they were flat and not like the ones pictured.  I tried them again, got similar results, started questioning my baking skills, and wondered if the Bob's Red Mill baking powder I had recently started using was a bit too weird.

But Shawn really loved the taste of these cookies and so did I, so I was determined to find another version that "worked" better.  After another google search I was able to find a recipe with promise and from another reliable food blogger.  In fact, it was on a blog I check regularly.  So it was right under my nose all along!  The results were GREAT!  The recipe from Brown Eyed Baker was slightly different from PW and I used a few of the mix in ideas from PW in this latest version.  Instead of using Reese's Pieces I upped the amount of M&M's and added peanut butter chips.  I also liked the use of rice krispies in PW's recipe, so the next time I make these I want to try adding those too.  BEB's version also had A LOT of peanut butter in them, but surprisingly I didn't think the flavor was too much.  It basically worked like the glue that kept all the mix ins from falling out. :-)

 

Hope you enjoyed the glimpse at where we're at right now--or at least what's been going on in my kitchen this week.  And I hope you'll climb back on the wagon to enjoy more memories that I share along the way.

A Festive Fourth

We had a great 4th of July and have been going like crazy ever since.  Especially this past week with sunshine and warm summer temps.  It's officially against all rules to do any housework, watch any TV, or spend exorbitant amounts of time in front of a computer on days like that, ya know.

On the morning of the 4th, I finished up some sugar cookies that I made for the annual picnic with our church family.  This was my first attempt at decorating with royal icing.  The results were about as I had expected except that is took a LONG time to decorate each cookie.  If I decorate cookies like this again, I think I might be able to shave a little time off and get them done quicker, but I'm sure they will still take a while to complete.  This is the recipe/tutorial that I used in case you're interested.  I'll have to post my sugar cookie recipe sometime.  I know everyone has a recipe they prefer, and well, so do I! :)  So I'd like to share mine with you too.

Once the cookies were done, picnic things packed up, and we had ourselves ready, I loaded up the kiddos and headed downtown to the parade.  This always ends up being a highlight for my kids every year.  They love seeing all the entries walking by them.  The little miss said her favorite part of the parade was a supped up car that had fire shooting out of it's exhaust.  The little man says his favorite part was when float riders threw candy.

 

 

The little babe enjoyed the parade just like this...the entire time.  He really never moved--just sat there in his stroller peeking his eyes out from under his hood.

 

The Juneau Volunteer Marching Band
always a good performance

more peeking

My friend, Beth,

and her husband, Andy, with the Green's Creek Mine parade entry.
Andy isn't known to be much a smiler (especially in pictures), so I'm a little proud of myself for catching his smile in the picture.  Just wish the rest of the photo wasn't overexposed.  I was having a hard time keeping up with the changing light conditions with sun playing peek a boo with the clouds.

And we also got to see our favorite police officer.  A nice treat for these parade watchers.  Actually this was what our little man said was his second favorite part of the parade.  I'd say it was my favorite too.

Hope you had a fabulous 4th too!

Little Swimmers

 We started out our summer with swimming lessons for both of our older two kiddos.  These were the first for the little man, but not for the little missy.  But these weren't just any swimming lessons.  They happened to be at the NEW pool in Juneau.  This isn't just any pool of water.  We're talking multiple slides, fun wading pools, a whirlpool area--and, hey--it's new!  Both kids were ecstatic about swimming there.

 

They both did great and are already looking forward to the next time they get to take a dip in the pool.

  

A Time for Everything

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance."
Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

Tuesday morning started VERY early for me with a phone call from the husband of my good friend.  My friend was in labor, they were at the hospital, and their 3 year old daughter would be dropped off at my house by another friend on their way to work.  I was excited for the impending arrival of this little one--I almost couldn't go back to sleep.  He did indeed come on that day.  It was his time to be born.

Tuesday night ended with another phone call.  This one came from my mom telling me that her dad, my grandpa had passed away.  Naturally, I was sad to hear he had gone, but I was also relieved for him.  Relieved that he was no longer in pain due to the lung cancer he had been fighting for the past few years.  The last few years have been tough on my grandparents, epecially the past few months.  As my grandma says, "growing old isn't for wimps".

The comforting news is that my Grandpa was a wonderful man that loved God even more than he loved and cared for his family.  His involvement with God's church family was more than just a routine, it was a reflection of his true love for God.  I remember many Sunday mornings at their house, while staying for the weekend, when Grandpa would be busy preparing to go to church where he would often lead singing.  The sound of his strong bass voice will ring clear in my memory.

He also enjoyed having and using a hot tub.  When I was very young I remember diving into the center of the hot tub thankful for what seemed like my own personal heated pool that Grandpa and Grandma kept ready for me to use when I came for a visit. 

Gardening was a huge hobby for Grandpa and he loved tending to things in his green house or the yard.  I always wanted him to show me the lastest plants and flowers that were growing and blooming in his green house.  I particularly loved to see his huge Bird of Paradise plant.

There were also so many summer time outings that I can recall going on as a child with my grandparents and cousins.  Every one I can think of included Grandpa driving, Grandma packing up the trusty picinic basket with lunch, and us cousins piled into the back of their car.  He was always happy to take us on adventures to places near their home.

But even more than those childhood memories, the one I think of with the fondest affection was when my grandparents visited me and their first great grandchild in the hosptial.  The little missy was just a few hours old when they arrived.  I'm pretty sure they dropped what they were doing and started the two hour trek to the hospital within an hour of getting a phone call.  The joy in seeing their first grandchild was evident on both of their faces.  I'm so thankful for the photo above that Shawn took of Grandpa holding the little missy--it's my favorite of him.

His kind, gentle, faithful and loving life was an amazing example for many.  I will miss him, especially his strong and loving hugs, but I'm glad he has been relieved of his earthly pain and can rest with God in heaven.

Love you, Grandpa!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Before the month of June gives way to July, I wanted to squeeze in a post of a scrumptious dessert I made this month.  A few weeks ago, I was able to make the dessert for a friend's baby shower.  I knew immediately I wanted to make cupcakes.  Reviewing my options for flavors, I came up with two that I thought were do-able and ones that my friend would like.  But I had a hunch she'd pick this one as she did with absolutely no hesitation.
I found the recipe here, where the blogger refers to these cupcakes as being "life changing".  Sounds a bit over the top, right?  Well, after I tasted one, I didn't think she was exaggerating all that much.  The flavors in this cupcake are spot on.  Each part of the dessert blends together perfectly.  And the frosting?  Uhh, DE...LI...CIOUS!  Tastes just like cookie dough.  These cupcakes are so good in fact, that I used a few to pay off a baby-sitter the next day and she felt handsomely rewarded for her time.
If you've got a reason to make these I highly recommend them.  Although you should know that you will get more than just 24 cupcakes from one recipe.  I doubled this so we'd have enough to keep a few at home and plenty for the baby shower and ended up with 66 cupcakes!  Oh well!  There was plenty to share that way.  But doubling the filling gave me way more than I needed.  I probably could have made 1 filling recipe work for all 66 cupcakes.  Also doubling the frosting gave me the perfect amount for decorating all the cupcakes with a little bit leftover.  When I make these again I'll probably make 1/2 of a filling recipe for a full cupcake and frosting recipe.
Hope you all enjoyed a sweet moment or two in June.

****
Edited to add...
And you should also know that this isn't a recipe that's just a little more time consuming than using something from a box.  You'll definitely need plenty of time to make each part of the entire cupcake.  I also recommend making these for folks who will enjoy and appreciate your effort.  For me, that doesn't include small children who I think generally eat the frosting and toss most of the cake--just saying.
The recipe for the mini chocolate chip cookies came from this blog.  I used a rounded teaspoon to get the right sized dough balls--worked like a charm.
****

 

Busy June

I can't believe how quickly our summer is flying by already.  I knew it had been a while since I posted but I was surprised when I checked and saw it has been 3 weeks!  Where has the time gone?  Well I'll tell ya where...

We've been camping...with the youth group from church,

overnighting in Sitka to celebrate our 10th anniversary, 

coordinating a wedding...I had my first full blown wedding to coordinate, it was a lot of work but it was a beautiful day for a beautiful couple and I actually like that sort of thing...

 (photo by Courtney Johnson)

and some of us had flower girl duties this month as well,

(photo by Courtney Johnson)

In our spare time we did some chores around the house, 

took walks with our friends

all the way to the glacier (Just try to look at this picture without laughing...I dare ya!), 

We practiced pulling up,  

did some swinging, 

let our bare toes enjoy the cool grass, 

did some bird watching, 

and even more camping.

June has been wonderfully full of lots of discoveries and fun.  Sort of makes me wonder what's in store for us in July.   Hope your summer is off to a fantastic start too.