death of a laptop... my day job

It was beautiful. It gave life to Facebook, Craigslist, Twitter, and Homegrown.org. Hundreds of favorites bookmarked. Blue on the outside, covered in My Little Pony stickers. The occasional sticky keys from cracker crumbs, spilled coffee, or syrup. Smudged screen from sticky fingers, sneezes, licks. Rarely was it ever idle unless I was chasing down kids. Perhaps it was jealous.

Sadly, my laptop has died. The black screen of death came again and it could not be revived. No CPR. No jump drive with special coding and updates. Nothing. An untimely death. And of course a deadline was looming and pictures needed to be edited. I'm sad. I cried. I'm still mourning. You may shed a tear for me.

Thankfully, I was able to copy my pictures, recipes, and notes to the external hard drive. Now I'll be camping, temporarily, on my daughter's laptop. She's glaring at me as I type.

Now, I'll be saving my tips for a replacement. Sigh.

Weekly dinner menu

Below I've included our dinner menu plan through Sunday, September 26th. I won't claim that we stick to this exclusively, sometimes something like a volleyball game, soccer, or life gets in the way and we have to switch things up for convenience, but I'm hater on drive-thru so usually it's exchanged for some breakfast dinner or snack night.

Sunday, Sept. 12 - BBQ Salmon with steamed baby reds and green beans - or it'll be pancakes

Monday, Sept. 13 - steamed veggies with rice noodles

Tuesday, Sept. 14 - minestrone and fresh whole wheat bread

Wednesday, Sept. 15 - Chili dogs and home fries

Thursday, Sept. 16 - baked macaroni & cheese with green beans

Friday, Sept. 17 - homemade personal pizzas

Saturday, Sept. 18 - leftovers/new recipe

Sunday, Sept. 19 - keilbasa, potato salad, & homemade rolls

Monday, Sept. 20 - rice noodles, with cabbage, cilantro, & sprouts

Tuesday, Sept. 21 - won ton soup and cabbage salad

Wednesday, Sept. 22 - scrambled egg burritos

Thursday, Sept. 23 - chicken/beef/veggie skewers

Friday, Sept. 24 - Crepes! Sweet or Savory

Saturday, Sept. 25 - leftovers/new recipe

Sunday, Sept. 26 - Turkey Dinner!

If ever, you have a question about how I do my menus or recipes just send me a message. I'm more than happy to share.

Doh! part deux & a recipe

Since I've clearly been neglectful to this blog, I have decided a recipe is in order. Something I haven't done in ages, therefore, it should be a treasured treat for you all.
COWBOY COOKIES dude!

So simple a four year old can do it or George Bush's wife -what's-her-face, Barbara. No. Laura. That's the right Bush wife, Laura.

Cowboy Cookies
(recipe adapted from Laura Bush's Cowboy Cookies)

makes about 3 dozen large cookies depending on size
prep time: 15-20 minutes bake time: 12-14 minutes

ingredients - adapted for what we had on hand
3 cups all purpose organic flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon -this is too much for us, so I use just a bit less
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter at room temp.
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla
3 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
3 cups organic old fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups organic flaked coconut

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees f. Cookie pans should be coated with parchment paper or silpats

2. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, and salt

3. In mixer bowl, cream butter on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Beat in sugars, scraping sides until fluffy for about 3 minutes.

4. Add the eggs, one at a time, cream well after each egg. Add the vanilla.

5. While reducing the speed, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture gradually, until just combined.

6. With a big spatula or wooden spoon, fold in the oats, chocolate chips, and coconut.

7. For each cookie drop 1/4 cup of cookie dough onto the cookie pans, about 3 inches apart. Bake until the edges are set and browned, and the middle is still fluffy looking. Baking about 12-14 minutes. Cool on the pans and chow down baby!