Tomorrow is Halloween. This is the first time in a long time I am not dressing up. : ( I love theme parties, and in the past have thrown quite a few for Halloween. Unfortunately, a lot of friends were going to be out of town or busy this weekend so we opted not to throw a party this year. It's all good...next year we will throw an awesome one and God willing we will have our baby to dress up in a fun costume as well!
I can't believe the Holiday season is upon us already! So much fun is up ahead in the next few months! Best of all Christmas when I can see most of my siblings again for a few days...darn this distance between us all!
In other news - my parent's dog, Flopsy, just became a first time Mamma! She had 6 little pups, but only 3 of them made it. The 3 that survived are strong little guys with jet black coats and are busy wearing out Flopsy with their needy little whimpers. : ) Right now they look like little rats, but in a few weeks they are going to be adorable miniature schnauzer puppies...then they will be wearing my parents out as well!
Pregnancy update! I am 19 weeks along, and my belly is finally popping out! It is such a weird feeling to have this extra weight in my mid section area - I know I'm not that big, but I already feel like a house that will knock everything down in my way. ; ) It is getting more difficult to move quickly, and my workouts have slowed down in pace since I get winded so much faster now. Thankfully my appetite is back and I am eating food again! Hopefully this will translate into more recipe posts as well. : )
I realized that I didn't have a go to chocolate chip oat cookie recipe...and that just wasn't going to work for me. I played around with a few recipes and came up with this gem! The trick to these cookies is 1) using two kinds of oats - this jumps up the texture appeal, and 2) you must not over bake the cookies...if you do, they will be dry : (
Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies
2 cups unbleached flour
1 cup old fashion oats
1/2 cup quick cooking oats or ground whole oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In small bowl mix: oats, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and chocolate chips. Set aside.
In large mixing bowl beat butter and sugars until creamy - 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl a few times. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat to combine until smooth. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix just until combined. Scrape with spatula and mix again for a few seconds.
Scoop out 2 TBS size balls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake 10-11 minutes...do not over bake!
