Another incredibly addicting cookie recipe

My kids have been sick for going on two weeks. And for the first time, "sick" around here doesn't just mean a runny nose or a cough. This sickness includes sinus pressure, bad ear infections and really, really nasty eye goop. On top of it all, Dylan has a man cold- thankfully not the worst one he's ever had but a man cold all the same.

Thank God for health insurance, antibiotics and His mercy which has kept me relatively healthy amidst all of the germs. Also, thanks to these amazing, addicting, not overly sweet, chewy chocolate cookies which have made my life a whole lot more bearable these past few weeks!

Chocolate Truffle Cookies

Note: In the comments of the Baking Bites blog where this recipe was originally featured, several commenters mentioned their cookies had spread quite a bit. I didn't have a problem with that, but two tips I'd be aware of is first, to make sure your butter isn't overly soft - a cool room temperature is what you are looking for (you can tell if the butter is just right for creaming if you press your index finger into the butter and it gives just a little but it isn't easy for you to slide your finger all the way through). Second, chill the batter for 30 minutes if you are working in a warm kitchen or if your batter seems overly soft.

*Makes about 3 dozen cookies

1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 cups semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
approximately 1/3 cup cocoa powder (for rolling)
approximately 2/3 cup powdered sugar (for rolling)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat liners.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and powdered sugar, adding the sugar in slowly so that it doesn’t puff everywhere and transform your kitchen into a white mess. In a fine mesh strainer/sieve, place the cocoa powder and salt and sift this mixture into the butter/sugar and mix until well combined. Beat in the sour cream and vanilla extract. With the mixer on low, blend in the flour until no streaks of flour remain. Stir in the chocolate chips.

If your kitchen is very warm and the dough is hard to handle, refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes before rolling.

Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and roll each ball lightly in the cocoa powder and place on the baking sheet. Do not flatten the cookies. The cookies will not spread very much if the dough is chilled, so they can be placed fairly close together.

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes. They will just barely be set but you don't want to overbake or they will be dry. Let them cool on the baking sheet for 3-5 minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

When the cookies have reached room temperature, after about 30-45 minutes, roll each cookie in powdered sugar until completely coated. Store in an airtight container.

Recipe Source: from My Kitchen Cafe/originally from Baking Bites

Peano Beano

After dinner tonight, Grandma was in high spirits and she insisted upon helping with the dishes. I must admit that this makes me cringe because I know that no soap will be used and everything will be put away -dirty- and into the wrong place. But, who am I to deny happiness to an almost 84 year-old!?

When she started rifling around under the sink and bringing my recyclables out to add to the dishes pile, Dylan went over to the sink to divert her attention away from the trash.

She simply smiled, nodded and asked what she should do with the "peano beano."

Dylan said, "Oh, do you mean the peanut butter (there was an empty jar in the sink)?"

More smiles and nods (You know, like what you might do when you're in Mexico and people are speaking to you in Spanish and you kind of understand what they're saying but not totally) "Uh huh. The peano beano." [as in: duh, that's what I said!]

"Well Grandma, I guess you can just throw that away since it's empty."

"Okay. Yes."

And there you have it!

:)

It's a hard knocks life...

...for Grady.

This past month, he's had his first overnight trip to the ER visit for a spiking temperature, a run-in with a tree (see previous post) and is now on his second round of antibiotics for double ear infections and some nasty eye goop problem.

The eye goop issue is the most disgusting thing we've encountered so far as parents. I won't go into details on how gross and wrong it is to see. But I will say that for two mornings this week, his eyes were literally glued shut from the goop. In case you're wondering, two year-old boys do not like to have their eyes glued shut. Thankfully, a nice hot shower and some super vigorous scrubbing opened them back up. But now his face is all bruised up from the srubbing.

Dylan says that Grady looks like one of those street kids that you meet on a missions trip that are oozing from their orifices but are oh so exited to be alive and want to play with you and hug you and haven't a concern in the world about spreading disease. I think that pretty much sums it up.....(note: this pic was taken after 3 doses of antibiotic so he looks MUCH better than he did...)



ps. we're scheduled to take family pics with the gonsalves' tomorrow. is it wrong to put cover-up on little boys?

This one time in Tahoe....

two of our kids got matching raspberries on their foreheads
from two different sledding crashes
into two different trees.

(guess which parent was in charge?)

emma used her hands to block the branches and, thankfully, has bangs to cover up the fat goose egg.

grady wasn't so quick with his hands and, well.... a picture's worth a thousand words, right?
thankfully, kids are resilient and other than grady's repeated comments about getting an owie from a christmas tree, the rest of our weekend in the snow was great!
(helping shovel out our luge track)

(emma missing a run-in with the tree that got grady)

(thanks for the outfit grandma charlene!)

(purple lips from eating snow)

(landon laughing at his brother)

Thank you to the Dowds for hosting us!

Can you say MELLOW!!!!

He didn't cry at all when the doctor scraped a bunch of gunk out of his ear and declared that he has an ear infection.

He didn't even flinch when she stuck a big ol' swab up his nose to test for RSV.

When the doctor made him turn his neck the direction that he doesn't like to, and then told him he needs physical therapy to unflatten his head, he didn't even squawk.

And as soon as he was done with a bout of smoker's cough and was diagnosed with bronchiolitis, he was all smiles and coos.

Only the shots, the 3 miserable pokes into his fat little thighs, made him upset. He cried at the nurse like she had personally offended him. And then he obediently ate his little vial of rotovirus vaccine.

What a champ!

It's hard to believe that it's been 4 months since we've welcomed this little [fat] guy into our family!

So, what's Landon like? I'm glad you asked....

He's mellow. Chill. Good natured. All around wonderful.
He's been sleeping through the night for about a month now.
He laughs really hard at his older brother's antics.
He spits up ALL THE TIME.
He likes to 'talk.' A lot. (Remember Emma's "waaataaah" phase? I'm pretty sure he's gonna be like that!)
He's a thumb sucker. Yuck.
He LOVES being sung to. And tries to sing back.


How about his stats?

I can't find Emma's 4 month stats, but at six months she was 14lbs 12 ozs.

At 4 months Grady was 14lbs 8ozs

At 4 months Landon is...... 15lbs!!! And that is why I call him the fat kid.

That and because of the comments that every stranger on the streets make: "WOW! He's ONLY 4 months!! He sure is a big boy."

Yes he is. And good for him. If he were a frail little thing, he wouldn't have a chance of survival around his brother who loves him oh so much!

Just another day in paradise...

This morning, as we were going about our business as usual, our dog started barking at the front door. So I looked out to see what she was so upset about and this is what I saw:A school bus, a fire truck, a police car and an ambulance. All RIGHT in front of our house.

Now, except for the school bus, this is not an unusual occurance on our little 10 house cul-de-sac. Since we've lived her for three years, we've seen this sight six times. Twice for grandma, twice for some other elderly neighbors, and once because our next-door neighbors thought their house was on fire even though there was just a potato burning in their microwave (?).

Anyway, after assessing the situation and making sure that nothing traumatic was happening and double checking that they weren't here for grandma, the kids came outside to watch the action. Apparently, the school bus driver wasn't feeling well so away she went in an ambulance while the fire fighters and police officers were left to entertain the three little boys on the bus waiting for a new driver to come take them to their preschool.

While waiting for the new school bus driver, our friendly neighborhood firefighters offered to take pictures with us:
(Sensing that she was about to be left out of the family photo op, our dog somehow opened the sliding door and ran out to join us)

Huh???

My name is Julie. I'm 28 years old, a native English speaker, used to work for and create forms for the SLO school district, hold a bachelor's degree in English, am certified to teach both English and English as a Second Language, made the skill of filling out applications part of the curriculum when I taught.... and I found it difficult to fill out Emma's Kindergarten registration packet.

With a neatly presented packet with instructions like please fill out ALL forms and sign the bottom of ALL forms, one would think that filling it out would be a no brainer. Not so.

First there is blue immunization form that MUST BE FILLED OUT COMPLETELY. No problem right? Well, there are sections on the form that ask for the date of immunizations that I'm pretty certain aren't required. And there is another section that has a dark black line around it that I'm pretty sure is meant for office personnel to complete. But, no, there are no additional instructions that inform the applicant that he/she is supposed to or allowed to leave these sections blank.

Then there were the forms for a signed physical assessment and signed dental assessment that were included in the packet of forms that MUST BE FILLED OUT COMPLETELY. However, upon closer look, these forms are not considered valid if they are completed before March 31st, and are not required until the student is in first grade.

And there were two forms that received the special instruction to SIGN AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE. However, only one of these forms had a line designated for a signature. Am I supposed to just find some blank space at the bottom of the page and sign it anyway?

After I spent WAY too much time filling out these forms, I'm still convinced that I did it wrong. I'm certain that when I go to turn them in today that the school personnel will scorn me and inform me that I'm incompetent. Nothing like bolstering the parent's confidence as they're signing their children over to the unknown and very frightening world of Kindergarten!