Cookie Recipes

Pumpkin Spiced Chocolate Chip Cookies

Take:
1C well-purreed (and drained -- you don't want too much water content) winter squash, such as pumpkin

Mix with:
1/4C milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/3C veggie oil
3/4C granulated sugar (such as turbinado)
2 tsp vanilla extract

When well-blended, add:

1/4 tsp cinamon
1 dash (1/16 tsp) cayenne pepper
2 tbsp cocoa
2 tsp baking powder
2 C (or more) flour

1/3C pecan crumbles
1/3C chocolate chips


Drop dough by the spoonful onto a well-greased baking sheet.
Bake at 350F for 12 minutes.
Makes... 20-24 cookies, depending on the size.



Toffee Clove Puffs

Blend together:
1/4C veggie oil
2/3C brown sugar
1 well-beaten egg.
1/8C fancy molasses (although you can replace this with more brown sugar, if you don't have mollases, as I ended up having to do yesterday, but either way will work).
1/4C sour milk (sour it with lime juice for an interesting dimession of flavour)

Add:
1-2 tsp cloves (depending on how much bite you want them to have)
1/8 tsp each: cinnamon & ginger
2C flour
2 tsp cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1/2C skor-bar toffee crumbles

Roll into 1-inch balls and drop onto a well-greased cookie sheet. (Optional: dip top-side of balls into bron or granulated sugar, if you feel like it).
Bake at 325F for 12-15 minutes.



I made up both of these recipes yesterday -- the first is very, very loosely based on a Louisville Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie recipe from 'The Garden of Vegan'. The second is loosely based on the 'Ginger Snap' recipe from 'The Joy of Cooking'.

I made a batch of each, and brought a couple over to Ami's wonderful, food-tastic party. :-)

Yay Ami!

She is an awesome cook, I will have you all know. :-)

And the party was really, really fun, and my husband was comfortable (and not having an allergic reaction to the three cats, one of whom came and sat on his lap for an hour or two, so hurrah!) and I got to meet Ami god-children! :-D
Well, I say 'children'. I think only one of them is officially her god-daughter, but still.
They're cool. :-)
I confess, I spent a *lot* of time holding Dante -- who is two months old, and big, and not all that fussy even when he's hungry (well, hungry-ish), which is a nice attitude to have when you're a baby at a party.
I think my pituitary gland stirred a little bit at that. My ovaries can't be far behind. ;-)
Hrm.
:-)
I keep on smiling about it, so I think this is a sign.

I think I need to start hording my sleep. ;-)

Anyway.

Today I'm meeting Nocnitsa to sell him a book and have a cup of tea and a scone (or something). Which will be fun. :-)

I'm going to drop into the Chrystal Dawn to get my uncle-in-law some funky rocks for his rock collection (I drew his name in the gift exchange this year).

I need to find some silver photo-mounting-corners, and get my sister a loaf-pan, and my mother a nifty sellection of teas (possibly from The Tea Party shop). :-)
So, yes. Today is the day that I finish (I think) my shopping. Yay! :-D


- TTFN,
- Amazon. :-)

The Cycle of the Seasons

So, I've been thinking about the cycle of the seasons again. (It's that time of year).

It occurs to me.

Winter = Recharge/Reflect
Spring = Renew/Rebirth
Summer = Refine[1]
Autumn = Recieve

So right now we're in the time of reflection and recharging.

Ideally, this is a time to recharge ones mental batteries (as the Land recharges herself over winter, and the Sun takes a bit of a break, going to bed early and getting up late).

Also, in the time of dark and cold, the feasting and bright lights that we all indulge in during Midwinter (whatever holiday/holy day(s) you celebrate) are a way of recharging our bodies and our souls (and warding off the SADD for another month or two).

This is also, I think, a time to reflect on everything that's happened over the course of the year, and determine what the course of the next year will (hopefully) bring.

So...

Things that have happened this year.
I confirmed my resolve to give birth to my children in my living room (despite being scared about how much it will hurt).
I married my husband. :-D
I dropped out of school -- a painful, but ultimately liberating and very relieving decision.
I wrote the rough draft of a novel.

Paul married me.
He graduated and is now officially a Doctor of Natural Health Science
He opened his clinic
He published another book (this one on herbal medicine)


Plans for next year:
Hunt for publishers for my YA novel
Write another YA novel in the same 'world' as the first one
Start trying to concieve our first child (this Summer, some time between June and August -- I'm hoping more for an August conception because that'll result in a kid born in early-to-mid May, which is handy for birthday parties, and means that I won't be heavly pregnant durning Summer).



Thoughts:

If you're hunting for Yuletide tradtions, you might consider co-opting New Years Resolutions to your own devices.

Write down three things that you want to have happen in the next year, and store them in a special box. Next year, open them up and see if they happened.

You might also consider writing down three things that you're thankful for that have happened over the past year, and burning them in the midwinter fire as a way of saying thank you to the deities who help(ed) you out. :-)


Just some food (squash? ;-) for thought. :-)

- TTFN,
- Amazon. :-)

[1] In the sense of 'cultivate'.