Week 129, 6-10-2018

I've heard that anything you do 28 times in a row becomes a habit. So though I intended to take a break from blogging, I just had to do an informal mini-post.

Stormy won't use the chair on the left with the blanket. She uses the one on the right without a blanket. I washed her blanket and put it on the one on the right and - you guessed it - she moved to the one on the left. Maybe she feels she's more color coordinated that way.

Good cookie recipe. Make dough and then refrigerate 3 hours to 2 days. Slice and bake.

COCONUT CRISPIES

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp coconut flavoring or vanilla

1-3/4 cups flour

1 cup flaked coconut

Cream butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl.

Beat in vanilla.

Gradually add flour to creamed mixture.

Stir in coconut.

Pull out a sheet of waxed paper, at least 18” long.

Dump cookie dough on waxed paper and form into a rectangle which is 12” by 3” and 1” high. 

Wrap dough and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.

Heat oven to 300°.

Unwrap dough and slice crosswise in 1/4” slices. Place 1” apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake 18-20 minutes or until nicely golden around the edges.

Makes 48 cookies.

If you're old enough, you remember the Jello cake. One of my favorites. Nice and moist.

KATHY’S  JELLO CAKE

1 box cake mix, any flavor

1 small box Jello, any flavor

4 eggs

3/4 cup water

3/4 cup oil

Heat oven to 350°.

Grease and flour a tube or Bundt pan.

Mix all ingredients and beat for 4 minutes.

Bake 45-50 minutes.

When cool, frost, drizzle with glaze, or dust with powdered sugar.

I worked with a lady named Wendy who belonged to a Toastmasters group. Dinner was served when they met, so Wendy made frozen dinners of leftovers, and when she went to her meeting, her husband ate one of the frozen dinners. So now I call them Toastmaster Dinners. I found the perfect containers for Toastmaster Dinners at Sams. They come in a package of 25. (Don't be misled by the package which says 50, because it's 25 containers and 25 lids). They're dishwasher, freezer, and microwave safe plus they're reusable and just the right size.

I used them for leftovers from working on the Sunflowers and Strawhats dinner for the Everyday Theme Dining book. Here's the invitation.

The table

The menu

The food

The Party Favors were the sunflower refrigerator magnets by each plate.

Say farewell to my Christmas decorations.

They'll be in the church Christmas bazaar sale at Jean's church.

My sister-in-law Becky is a professor and counselor at Pitt State in Kansas. Brother Jim sent me a copy of the email Becky received from a former student, and in the subject he put, "This is why we're proud of her". 

Hi Dr. XXXXXX,

As you have known for a while, I have wanted to be a school counselor for many years now. My desire began while I was in high school with tutoring and mentoring my peers that were struggling academically, as well with my psychology courses that intrigued me. My program through Pitt State was such a blessing because it allowed me to get the best of both world with majoring in psychology and minoring in my education fields. Allowing me to get many of my psychology courses out of the way while setting me up for teaching to gain the classroom experience has been so beneficial to me. And now that I have been teaching for a few years and have a year under my belt of school counseling I am even more sure that I've made the right decision with the path I've chosen. I hope that down the road I can make just as much of a difference in others lives as you have. I admire you on many levels, but a major achievement that you have is training so many successful school counselors. Your program has caused a ripple effect in the schools of good counselors, and students getting the help they need. Thank you for everything you have done for us!

And that's not the only reason we're proud of her - she's putting the final touches on a textbook she's written to be used by counseling students. It will be published and distributed in the fall. Becky has been named Teacher of the Year by the students many times. She's even won state awards. Her students keep in touch and come back to visit. She has pictures of their children in her office. Yes, we're very proud of her.

If you've been looking for the original Quaker Oats oatmeal cookie recipe, here it is.

QUAKER’S BEST OATMEAL COOKIES

1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1-1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3 cups uncooked oats, quick or old fashioned

1 cup nuts of choice (optional)

Heat oven to 375°.

Beat butter and sugars until creamy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.

Add combined flour, soda, salt, and spices.  Mix well.

Stir in nuts and then oats.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake 8-9 minutes for a chewy cookie or 10-11 minutes for a crispy cookie.

If you're wondering why all the baked goods this week, it's because niece Sarah stopped by and I hadn't a thing to serve. I've been avoiding sweets, so none in the house. How embarrassing

I'm ready for you now, Sarah, so come on by.

A friend sent this, and I'm sure some of you have seen it already, but watch it again - you can use another smile. Click HERE.

On Friday we celebrated the life of our brother Sonny on his birthday. It's been over two years now since we lost him in an auto accident, and I still miss him every day. I remembered a funny Sonny connection to Red Lobster, so that's the restaurant I chose. 

As you probably know, you're required to fast before a colonoscopy, so when I took Sonny for his and it was finally over, he was starved. He was also still a little weird from the anesthetic. He wanted to go to Red Lobster, so that's where we headed.

He got very indignant because he wanted the Admiral's Feast, and it came with only two sides. He told me, "I don't understand why I can't have three sides, because I want a baked potato and slaw AND broccoli." His feathers were really ruffled, and normally he's a sweet kind of guy. Oh, those anesthetics!

I explained that he could have three sides. The menu just meant that dinner came with two sides included in the price. They would just put an extra charge on my bill for the third side. That pacified him and he got his three sides and ate every bite. As we drove to his house, he continued to talk about the meal - how hungry he'd been, how good it tasted, how he loves broccoli, etc.

The next day, after all that, he didn't remember a thing about that meal.

In his honor, I ordered the Admiral's Feast with TWO sides; salad and rice pilaf. Bill helped with some of it, and the kitties feasted on the balance.

STAY COOL

THANK YOU FOR SHARING MY LIFE