So I said this blog would include some tasty recipes. I won't disappoint in that department....
Oatmeal Butterscotch and Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 sticks room temp. butter
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. ginger
2 extra large eggs, also room temp. (This is a secret. This is why cookies are good. If you use cold eggs, you just defeated the purpose of creaming together the butter and the sugar. In cooks terms, this tip is worth at least $20. If you see me, and you made these cookies, fork over the moola because I'm sure you reaped the benefits of this tid-bit.)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 cups oatmeal
1 1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips
Pre-heat the oven to 375.
Cream the first 8 ingredients together. Make sure to really, really get it soft and light colored. Whipped up into a deliciously smooth consistency. Makes a HUGE difference in the dense-ness of the cookie. You will have to scrape the bowl down occasionally. I know, use your guns. Then add in one egg at a time, along with the vanilla. *Make sure you stop and take a good whiff of everything you just combined in the bowl.* (You will be happy you did.)
Then add in the oatmeal and flour about a 1/2 cup at a time. Don't over-mix. Never over-mix. Sad news bears when you over-mix a cookie dough recipe. You will get hard cookies. I promise. I've found out the hard way.
Once everything is combined, stir in the goodies. My friend really likes butterscotch chips, so I added some of those. But you can add whatever you want. I think cinnamon chips would have been good in these too.
Drop by regular spoonful onto a cookie sheet and bake around 10-12 mins. I would keep a close eye on them. My first batch, according to my friend, were a little on the 'done' side. I stuck out my tongue to that. Whatever, they tasted good to me. I turn my pans in the oven half-way through. I think it helps bake the cookies more evenly. *I know, sounds annoying, but it works. I promise.*
Then, once they are done and cooled, stuff your face. Eat a lot of them. They are good. Really, really good.
So, enjoy this wonderful little fall-weather recipe. My roommate had a tummy-ache, so I brought one of these in to her room when it was still warm, and she felt better. So these cookies inadvertently cure tummy-aches. Awesome. Make them. You will be happier after you did.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Yip Yip... On By... Ha... Ge...
In a past lifetime, I would have been a sled dog. Hands down.
Beautiful, strong, and fast. Ready to run, happy to run, in the freeeeezzzing cold, and on trail. Running for hours and never getting tired. Running when the sun goes down, and running when the sun comes up.
Yep, I would have been a sled dog.
So I got to experience this magical land called the U.P. this past weekend. That would be the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for anyone who is deft enough to not know what that is. If you live in northern anywhere, you know what the U.P. is. I, unfortunately, had never been there. And man alive, what a happy day it was when I realized I could now join in on conversations about this glorious land! Before I simply said, yeah, I've heard its awesome. Now, I can say with confidence, the U.P. is the bomb. Totally, ridiculously, fantastically awesome. Dream land. This is where you want to spend an extended amount of time if you love the woods and towns where animals out-number people. And where the alaskan husky dogs/puppies run and run and run some more.
Imagine being on trail, back in the woods with 14 dogs pulling an ATV in neutral, during the fall color leaf-changing season.That is where I spent the happiest moments of my weekend. Besides giving some love to the fantastic dogs, watching them run is by far the next best thing. They are amazing! I want 20 of them. Well, actually, I want 40 acres of land in the forest only accessible by 4-wheeler where I can keep 20 of them, to be exact. Yeah, without a doubt, I found that my soul-mate is covered in hair, has a wet-nose, big beautiful eyes, a long wagging tail, and winter running instincts.
My good friend, who graciously took me to the land of woods and dogs, will now have to put up with a girl who is jumping out of her skin to head back... whooops... She definitely should have thought twice about finding me my soulmate... : )
Cheers, U.P., you are are quite spectacular! Can't wait to return to your woodsy ways.
Beautiful, strong, and fast. Ready to run, happy to run, in the freeeeezzzing cold, and on trail. Running for hours and never getting tired. Running when the sun goes down, and running when the sun comes up.
Yep, I would have been a sled dog.
So I got to experience this magical land called the U.P. this past weekend. That would be the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for anyone who is deft enough to not know what that is. If you live in northern anywhere, you know what the U.P. is. I, unfortunately, had never been there. And man alive, what a happy day it was when I realized I could now join in on conversations about this glorious land! Before I simply said, yeah, I've heard its awesome. Now, I can say with confidence, the U.P. is the bomb. Totally, ridiculously, fantastically awesome. Dream land. This is where you want to spend an extended amount of time if you love the woods and towns where animals out-number people. And where the alaskan husky dogs/puppies run and run and run some more.
Imagine being on trail, back in the woods with 14 dogs pulling an ATV in neutral, during the fall color leaf-changing season.That is where I spent the happiest moments of my weekend. Besides giving some love to the fantastic dogs, watching them run is by far the next best thing. They are amazing! I want 20 of them. Well, actually, I want 40 acres of land in the forest only accessible by 4-wheeler where I can keep 20 of them, to be exact. Yeah, without a doubt, I found that my soul-mate is covered in hair, has a wet-nose, big beautiful eyes, a long wagging tail, and winter running instincts.
My good friend, who graciously took me to the land of woods and dogs, will now have to put up with a girl who is jumping out of her skin to head back... whooops... She definitely should have thought twice about finding me my soulmate... : )
Cheers, U.P., you are are quite spectacular! Can't wait to return to your woodsy ways.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Run fast
I can run again. I can run, and run fast again.
So, I fractured a bone in my foot during the middle of July, and was in a walking boot for 6 weeks and didn't run for 8 weeks. It was torture. Absolute torture. I tried LOTS of different kinds of exercise, and nothing worked. Nothing felt the same as running. I swam, and biked, and rowed, and tried to keep doing p90x.(Upper-body stuff at least) But I always came to the same conclusion... Running is the ultimate work-out of all time and nothing will ever compare.
Needless to say, God threw the bone fracture in my path as a way to say, stop taking running for granted. You have two gloriously wonderful feet that will take you many places, but now, you must rest and get to know what life is like WITHOUT two gloriously wonderful feet. Lesson learned. I will never, EVER, take the simple act of running for granted, ever again.
This morning, I got up and put on my fall weather running garb. (This requires my special felt headband that I got at Target from the little kids section for $2.) I slipped on my vibrams ('toe shoes') and bounded out the door. I proceeded to blast into the early morning darkness and immediately feel 'home'. Really, I felt all the most ridiculously cheesy things that you could come up with, all rolled into one. Free, happy, giddy, peaceful, excited, soothed, flying, strong, brave, fierce, whole. I felt together again. Like all of my thoughts clicked together, into a straight line. Nothing was hounding me in the back of my mind. Nothing was keeping me from experiencing the act of moving one foot in front of the other. I was in the moment. Running with a clear conscience. I was savoring the chilly morning. I wasn't taking it for granted.
Such a blessing. I know I'm being sappy, but too bad. I will be sappy happy for as long as possible.
So, I fractured a bone in my foot during the middle of July, and was in a walking boot for 6 weeks and didn't run for 8 weeks. It was torture. Absolute torture. I tried LOTS of different kinds of exercise, and nothing worked. Nothing felt the same as running. I swam, and biked, and rowed, and tried to keep doing p90x.(Upper-body stuff at least) But I always came to the same conclusion... Running is the ultimate work-out of all time and nothing will ever compare.
Needless to say, God threw the bone fracture in my path as a way to say, stop taking running for granted. You have two gloriously wonderful feet that will take you many places, but now, you must rest and get to know what life is like WITHOUT two gloriously wonderful feet. Lesson learned. I will never, EVER, take the simple act of running for granted, ever again.
This morning, I got up and put on my fall weather running garb. (This requires my special felt headband that I got at Target from the little kids section for $2.) I slipped on my vibrams ('toe shoes') and bounded out the door. I proceeded to blast into the early morning darkness and immediately feel 'home'. Really, I felt all the most ridiculously cheesy things that you could come up with, all rolled into one. Free, happy, giddy, peaceful, excited, soothed, flying, strong, brave, fierce, whole. I felt together again. Like all of my thoughts clicked together, into a straight line. Nothing was hounding me in the back of my mind. Nothing was keeping me from experiencing the act of moving one foot in front of the other. I was in the moment. Running with a clear conscience. I was savoring the chilly morning. I wasn't taking it for granted.
Such a blessing. I know I'm being sappy, but too bad. I will be sappy happy for as long as possible.
Friday, September 9, 2011
The Gold Standard
The Gold Standard? What is that? A nice level to reach in one's job? An example of how to treat others?
No. no. noooo.
It's an MCAT study book that weighs, eh, give or take, 20 pounds. It's ginormous! Bigger than my biggest cook book. (By like 10 pounds!) I felt like I was drowning in a sea of thousands of potential paper-cuts. It's one of those books that you would look at, and push as far across the room as you can. Hide it under a blanket, and then take that blanket and bury it in your backyard. Yes, one of thooose books. So, I planted myself on the couch last night to give it a little love. Maybe try and give it a shot instead of running in shear horror from the room.
Needless to say, I made it through a handful of pages and immediately fell asleep. Zonked. Out. Possibly drooling on the book? Who knows. My roommate even looked terrified when I brought the book out to the living room. She fled the room. Don't blame her. It's scary-looking.
What I came to realize very quickly, is that this whole 'studying' thing shall never happen after eight o'clock at night. If I do pull out the book of death, it has to be in a location where immediate sleep will not occur. Granted, this will take some time to figure out. I can pretty much fall asleep anywhere. Couch? No brainer. Living room floor? five minutes. Kitchen table? Eh, give or take ten minutes. See? This could be challenging! But I will find a study location. It will happen. It must happen. Sometime. Soon...
The Gold Standard. Maybe the hideous book is telling me something. It's telling me to open it up. Read. Research. Study. Learn. Because I will find hidden nuggets of gold between the thousands of pages. Nuggets that will help tackle each mountain of chemistry, biology, physics, and organic chemistry that lie ahead.
So I will keep the beast close. Even though it's ugly. And big.... So that I can be reminded of the large, beastly mountain of studying I have ahead of me. And that the sooner I use it, learn from it, and explain contents from it on a daily basis, I can wrap it in a blanket and bury it in the backyard.
No. no. noooo.
It's an MCAT study book that weighs, eh, give or take, 20 pounds. It's ginormous! Bigger than my biggest cook book. (By like 10 pounds!) I felt like I was drowning in a sea of thousands of potential paper-cuts. It's one of those books that you would look at, and push as far across the room as you can. Hide it under a blanket, and then take that blanket and bury it in your backyard. Yes, one of thooose books. So, I planted myself on the couch last night to give it a little love. Maybe try and give it a shot instead of running in shear horror from the room.
Needless to say, I made it through a handful of pages and immediately fell asleep. Zonked. Out. Possibly drooling on the book? Who knows. My roommate even looked terrified when I brought the book out to the living room. She fled the room. Don't blame her. It's scary-looking.
What I came to realize very quickly, is that this whole 'studying' thing shall never happen after eight o'clock at night. If I do pull out the book of death, it has to be in a location where immediate sleep will not occur. Granted, this will take some time to figure out. I can pretty much fall asleep anywhere. Couch? No brainer. Living room floor? five minutes. Kitchen table? Eh, give or take ten minutes. See? This could be challenging! But I will find a study location. It will happen. It must happen. Sometime. Soon...
The Gold Standard. Maybe the hideous book is telling me something. It's telling me to open it up. Read. Research. Study. Learn. Because I will find hidden nuggets of gold between the thousands of pages. Nuggets that will help tackle each mountain of chemistry, biology, physics, and organic chemistry that lie ahead.
So I will keep the beast close. Even though it's ugly. And big.... So that I can be reminded of the large, beastly mountain of studying I have ahead of me. And that the sooner I use it, learn from it, and explain contents from it on a daily basis, I can wrap it in a blanket and bury it in the backyard.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
The Journey
Hello!
Everyone has a story. Everyone has a journey. But who is brave enough to share it? I've decided to start writing my own story down, not because it is anything spectacular, but because it just needs to be recorded. How long am I going to remember how I felt in my early twenties? Living day by day, or week to week because anything beyond that is just too much to think about. If I can put down what I am feeling right now, then maybe I have a better shot at helping someone else in the future.
So here it begins. The tales of a girl who loves Christ, loves her family, loves good food, and loves to run. Without any one of these things, I would not be a complete person. But together, these passions of mine have shaped me in to the person I am right now, and am driving me forward.
Posts to come will feature running adventures, delicious food recipes, and the never ending shenanigans of someone trying to get into medical school. Stay tuned. It's going to be epic...
Everyone has a story. Everyone has a journey. But who is brave enough to share it? I've decided to start writing my own story down, not because it is anything spectacular, but because it just needs to be recorded. How long am I going to remember how I felt in my early twenties? Living day by day, or week to week because anything beyond that is just too much to think about. If I can put down what I am feeling right now, then maybe I have a better shot at helping someone else in the future.
So here it begins. The tales of a girl who loves Christ, loves her family, loves good food, and loves to run. Without any one of these things, I would not be a complete person. But together, these passions of mine have shaped me in to the person I am right now, and am driving me forward.
Posts to come will feature running adventures, delicious food recipes, and the never ending shenanigans of someone trying to get into medical school. Stay tuned. It's going to be epic...
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