Had to share!

I just had to share this recipe with everyone.
If you like peanut butter cookies with a twist...you'll like this one!

Chewy Surprise Cookies
-Courtesy of Taste of Home-

1-1/2 cups butter-flavored shortening
1-1/2 cups peanut butter (I used super chunky, but smooth is good too)
2 cups sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. baking soda
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 pkg. (10oz.) Milk Duds

In a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening, peanut butter, 1-1/2 cups sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Combine dry ingredients; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Chill for at least 1 hour.

Shape 4 teaspoons of dough around each Milk Dud so it is completely covered. Roll balls in remaining sugar.

Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until set. (I found that I needed to bake them longer than this, so add time if you like them crispy)
Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks.

(Note: do not use reduced-fat peanut butter)

Enjoy!

Opps!

Trying new recipes can be fun and exciting. That is...until you have a disaster. Tonight was one such occasion. I cannot, however, blame the recipe or the sweet person who wrote it. No...the fault is all mine. In this lovely sounding recipe (Lemon Chicken with Rice) it calls for lemon pie filling. Now my pea-picking three tiny brain cells immediately thought of Jello Pudding and Pie Filling in those nice little boxes. I gleefully bought a box of "sugar free" lemon pudding and pie filling (always trying to save a calorie here or there) and proceeded to make this recipe. It should have been a huge red flag when I read that it called for 1-1/2 cups of pie filling. (I can see that some of you are getting where I made my mistake already). But no, I just figured I had made a typo and that the one little box would do what was called for. The next clue to my being "stupid" was that it said to pour the sauce ingredients over the chicken. When I put together the box of lemon pie filling, water, soy sauce and cider vinegar its consistency didn't come anywhere near being able to be poured. Again...I pressed on thinking that I was doing this right. I spread the "goo" over the chicken I had prepared (this turned out correctly) and placed it in the oven. Now, mind you, I love Lemon Chicken!!! So I thoroughly expected this to come out like my favorite at China Boat in Maui. WRONG !!! I can't even describe the appearance of this dish when it came out of the oven. I guess my best description is to say that it looked like it had some sort of brownish, aged, wrinkled skin spread all over the chicken. The chicken was still under all this and actually tasted pretty good when the creepy looking skin was removed. It even tasted like lemon, however, I only had a small amount. I just couldn't get past the "goo skin".

Well...to make a long story short, the light bulb finally came on. Yes, I know, all of you have already figured out that I was supposed to use canned lemon pie filling. DAAAA!!!! I know that they make pie fillings in the can. I've used pie fillings that come in a can. My question is...why wasn't it located right on the shelf next to the box of pudding/pie filling so that I would not make such a dumb mistake? Not to worry, I won't make it again. I also want to know why my three puny brain cells failed me. Normally I can depend on them to keep my going in the right direction. However, in this case they failed miserably.

I am determined to make this recipe correctly. I'm headed to the store first thing tomorrow morning and purchase that can of Lemon Pie Filling !!! I'll let you know how the second round of Lemon Chicken with Rice turns out. Come on three puny brain cells...don't fail me now !!!

Pleasant Hill High School - Class of 1969

When I was in high school, if someone had told me that someday I would be sitting at a computer, uploading (wouldn't have even known what that was) my senior picture and then typing something into said computer and sending it out into cyber space for all to see...I would have called in their reservation to Napa State Hospital. Never would I have imagined that such a thing were possible. I knew about computers, but these were monstrous things that took up the space of a whole room. My world was mimeograph machines and electric typewriters. Wow...we thought we had it all.
The rapid passing of the last 39 years since I was in high school was brought into sharp focus yesterday when I met with 6 of my fellow classmates to work on plans for our 40th Class Reunion in August of '09. As we sat and discussed the various aspects of the reunion, I was overwhelmed by how little I knew these woman. I took a moment, as our chairperson was talking, to look closely at each one of them. In this little group we had the quiet, timid type, the former cheerleader (very confident), the all around leader of the pack, the biker dudette, the victim of a con man, and last, but not least, the most foul mouthed woman I've met in a very long time. I can't say for sure where I fit into the group or just what my description would be if you were able to ask them, but I was both annoyed and honored to be a part of the group. My feelings about participating in the reunion plans were about as mixed as a can of Planter's mixed nuts. Our "foul mouth" kept referring to us as being old. I found that this annoyed me almost as much as her bad language (biker dudette had a pretty mean mouth too), mostly because the last 39 years since high school seem more and more a blur to me. I look at the picture I have posted here and I wonder where did that girl go? I still feel the same things that she felt. I still laugh, cry, love, worry, strive, wish, hope, and all around feel the same as I did then. Why then is she not the person in the mirror? Yes...I know that we must all get older. But that's just it...I only want to get older - Not OLD!!!
So, the reason for the posting of the picture and my ramblings about time and it's swift passing are all part of a request. My desire at this point in my life is for you to humor me. Please refrain from using the word "old" in my presence. I'm not old, my mother is not old (at least I don't consider her to be old), and I'm not married to an old man.
I have friends who throw this word around like it is a badge of honor. Well, I don't consider it to be any kind of prize. I promise you that I will go down kicking and screaming as I progress in this life to my ultimate demise. But right now I don't feel that said "kicking and screaming" is anywhere near commencing. I am banking on the fact that my mother is a spry 85 year old who has the energy of someone half her age.
So...to the women of this family, I say thank heavens for an apparent strong and healthy gene pool. Lets all do the best we can to take care of those youthful genes and live long, long happy lives.

Menu Progress Report

The menus are coming along nicely. We are currently at 75 main dishes that have been printed out with corresponding shopping lists. Heidi has more items that are not formal recipes that she has included in her list of dinners. She has also sent me various sidedish ideas. I have yet to work on these, but now that we have 75 main courses established, I think I can start thinking about sidedishes. We've even thrown in some desserts. Even though Stan and I don't often make a dessert, it's nice to have good recipes for when one is needed.

Heidi and I have set a new goal. We will be making a list of our top 45 favorites from this list of 75+ menus by July 31st.. We've decided that we can either repeat this list twice to make our 90 day food supply or we can add in any other ideas that don't require formal recipes, ie. pancakes, nachos, homemade pizza, etc. This would also include a few nights where we would be going out to dinner.

I have started a binder with the 75 Day Menu "table of contents" page and have all 75 recipes in alphabetical order. Now...most of you are saying, "She's gone completely off her rocker with this", but I'm havin' fun so there's not harm done to my psyche, really !!!

We anticipate that after the 31st we'll be pretty close to making our master shopping list and then be able to head out for the store. This could get expensive. Today I did some shopping at Super Wal-Mart for my current 2 week menu and got some staples from Costco. OUCH...that cost me nearly $300 and... that's for only two people!!!

Hopefully all this menu planning and bulk shopping will have the desired effect. That would be...saving time, money and being PREPARED!

Still Cooking!

Wow, this cookin thing has taken on a life of its own.
Heidi and I have decided to create a 3 month food supply. Well...Heidi made the suggestion that we do this and I readily agreed that it would be a good idea. We quickly started making plans and brainstormed as to how we would get this project underway. You have to remember that we live 2375 miles apart, so this wasn't going to be really easy. We found that as we brainstormed we were needing to describe our thoughts in great detail and hope that the other was getting the picture. After some discussion, we made a plan to get 30 of our favorite recipes together (to be shared with each other), figure out the shopping lists and then send them to each other. All this was to be done by July 15th. After a slow start (about 4 days) I decided Heidi would get way out in front of me on this project so I better get my rear in gear. So...out came all the old family recipes, recipe group favorites and Taste of Home cookbook recipes Stan and I like. It didn't take any effort at all to come up with 30 favorites. I, in fact, got on such a roll, that I came up with 48 pretty quickly. I decided it was just too difficult to keep track of all these when they were on or in many different paper sources (recipe cards, cookbooks, sheets of paper, and then the scraps of paper I have scribbled on). So I headed for the computer. Needless to say, I'm now feeling chained to this computer. I decided to retype all the recipes and add a shopping list on the side of each one. I'm getting really tired of typing the words boneless, skinless chicken breasts and many others that are repeated often. However, I am feeling a great sense of accomplishment. I feel that I've embraced this challange. I'm excited to get the 3 month food supply, knowing that I'll be buying only those items that we use for our favorite recipes. I know for a surety that I will never be one of those that stores a wheat supply that I would never use. After all...how many things can you really make from wheat? Really !!!
My firend, Linda, says that Heidi and I should combine all our recipes, make our shopping lists, make that master shopping list and then put this all together and try to get it published. Linda feels there is a market for a book where all this work is done for someone who just doesn't have the time to do a two week menu, make the shopping list and get to the store in an orderly fashion. I got the feeling that she has difficulty with this herself. Anyway...we are (I think) ahead of schedule on our deadline. It's exciting to see this task come together.
Anyone interested in seeing our finished product? We'd be glad to share !!!