Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yes, my dear readers. The Beast has made its presence known in the kitchen once again.

Chocolate chip cookies.

Somehow an iPhone seems easier to take pictures on lately. Mostly because I'm fairly certain I've the charger (AGAIN) to my poor Nikon battery. Oh, well. Add that to the list of things to find!

My only issue with this recipe: Soft cookies = 9 minutes of bake time while if you bake longer than 11 minutes you'll feel like you'll break your teeth the next day when you try to eat one.

Original Nestle(R) Toll House(R) Chocolate Chip Cookies

Found on allrecipes.com (ok, so I really found it on my allrecipes.com iPhone app, so what?)

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large egg
• 1 (12 ounce) package NESTLE(R) TOLL HOUSE(R) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
• 1 cup chopped nuts

Directions

1. PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees F.
2. COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Glitter Runs Through My Veins At Christmastime

Mercury glass candleholders from Ballard Designs.

Polka dot stockings from Ballard Designs.

Doormats from West Elm

Christmas Lights dessert plate from West Elm

Feather Wreath from West Elm

Le sigh. Now I just have to wait until the day after Thanksgiving to decorate. I LOVE the holidays!

Book Review: Faithful Place by Tana French

This book was pretty good - Faithful Place by Tana French. I really enjoy mystery novels and I like how the author writes - not only does she leave some things lingering, but the story doesn't come together until the very end. Her writing is suspenseful and each of the characters in the book has a place. Don't you hate it when you read a book and you think, why the heck is this character even here?

Quick summary:

The setting takes place in Ireland - present day and also goes back in time. Frank Mackey leaves his family because they're a bit odd (well, you know, there's the usual crazy siblings, drunk father and typical Irish mother) and he planned on eloping with his secret girlfriend. She didn't show up that night. He left anyway. The family thinks the girlfriend is with him. He thinks otherwise. Blah. Blah. Blah.

Then her suitcase is found and all hell breaks loose. He goes back to his family, finds out the truth, gets in fights with his siblings, re-examines relationships, etc... And yes, the real murderer is found - and like the other Tana French novels, there's a twist. If you don't read ahead like me, you start to suspect but don't actually know until the truth is out there in the book.

All in all, this took me about two weeks to get through reading at night before bed. I'd definitely recommend it if you're into mystery novels. Actually, I'd recommend it if you're interested in Ireland too.

I still have one more Tana French novel to get to, but I also read In The Woods. I also enjoyed that mystery too - so make sure you put that one on your list!

Pumpkin. Pumpkin Cheesecake

Wow. I've really been a slacker. Huh. That sort of sucks, doesn't it?

Really, I haven't been up to much - drinking water, eating eggs & toast, working and crocheting some scarves for Christmas presents. And trying to look for purple sparkly yarn so I can make myself a scarf. I've also been coveting 2 cans of pumpkin puree trying to figure out what I should make. Pumpkin bread? Pumpkin muffins? Maybe pumpkin pie? Oh, wait - I've got to save a can because I came across a Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe in my latest issue of Southern Living. Oh, yes, PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE. WITH PRALINE FROSTING.

I think I was meant to live in the South with all the fabulous food. Biscuits and gravy? Yes, please! Gumbo? Why, yes, please! Crawfish? Ummmm.... YES. Cajun food. YES. Grits? Oh, my Lord. I really think I'd fit in well in Louisiana. Le sigh. I think I can only convince Bimmer Man to possibly move to South Carolina for retirement. Is that southern enough? I think there might be a race track there.

Now I've never made a cheesecake before (GASP!!) in all the years that I've been cooking and baking. I don't even own a springform pan (GASP!!). So I'm going to have to buy one (I'm blushing). Let's just say thank goodness it was up on myrecipes.com to share with you - because I'm way too lazy to even try and type up the recipe from the magazine.

Pumpkin-Pecan Cheesecake

Ingredients

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/3 cup finely chopped pecans
• 5 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 4 (8-oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
• 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
• Praline Topping
• Garnishes: coarsely chopped Pecan Pie-Glazed Pecans, fresh sage leaves

Preparation

• 1. Preheat oven to 325°. Stir together first 4 ingredients in a bowl until well blended. Press mixture on bottom and 1 1/2 inches up sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
• 2. Beat cream cheese and next 2 ingredients at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until blended and smooth. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Add pumpkin and lemon juice, beating until blended. Pour batter into prepared crust. (Pan will be very full.)
• 3. Bake at 325° for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until almost set. Turn oven off. Let cheesecake stand in oven, with door closed, 15 minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven, and gently run a knife around outer edge of cheesecake to loosen from sides of pan. (Do not remove sides of pan.) Cool completely on a wire rack (about 1 hour). Cover and chill 8 to 24 hours.
• 4. Remove sides and bottom of pan, and transfer cheesecake to a serving plate. Prepare Praline Topping; immediately pour slowly over top of cheesecake, spreading to within 1/4 inch of edge. Garnish, if desired.
• Try This Twist! Sweet Potato-Pecan Cheesecake: Substitute 1 1/2 cups mashed, cooked sweet potatoes for canned pumpkin. Proceed with recipe as directed, baking 1 hour or until almost set.

Southern Living
NOVEMBER 2011

Pear Crisp

I've got 8 Bartlett pears that I need to use up and bake with - since I went to Costco this past weekend, I sort of forgot that buying in bulk (especially produce) can be sort of wasteful when there's only two people in the house. Unless you really like something and eat it all the time.

Generally I turn to Paula Deen for baking recipes and this Pear Crisp recipe looks super easy and delicious. I think pears are my second favorite fruit (first is definitely peaches!).

Pictures to come tonight!

How Much Do You Really Want To Know?

About pregnancy.

Seriously. I mean I never heard some of the weird things that happen to your body and really, I don't plan on posting about pregnancy that often (maybe like once or twice more before March, otherwise I plan on sticking to my usual stuff: food, decor and random crap).

I guess I'll tell you the weird stuff that happens so you'll be prepared. Any pregnant women or mothers, please feel free to add more in the comment section.

1. Food that you previously liked will not taste good. I projectile vomit from ice cream, soup and crackers. Strange, yes, part of pregnancy, yes.

2. Your feet swell. Or at least my left foot.

3. Zofran, Reglan and Phenergan will become lifesavers if you have awful morning sickness (and when the doctor starts discussing a PICC line and 24 hour IV Zofran drip, don't panic, just tell them that yes, you can keep down water. For more information on Hyperemesis, please visit helpher.org).

4. Even water tastes weird. (I HAVE to drink water out of a bottle, if not, well then, you've been warned)

5. Animals smell funny.

6. Get at least 4 different scents of body wash plus 1 unscented body wash so you have options.

7. Options for anything are awesome. (ie: strawberries or grapes; easy to vomit or tastes good; clean or you can live with dirty, etc...)

8. Suddenly you have a runny nose. And a postnasal drip. Which you've never had before.

9. Meh, I'm not far enough along to keep going.

Ok, ladies and future mothers: I've warned you of my symptoms. I promise that if you live close by I will come over and clean your fridge, take out your garbage and clean your bathroom. I will make your life easier. Maybe even walk your dog. And help you grocery shop. And not shove crackers or ginger in your face. In fact, I will stop at Subway if you want, get you a 6 pack of N/A beer and happily wish you congratulations and give you well wishes because it's very exciting and pretty awesome...

Bringing the Outside In: Card Holder

Thank goodness I've been feeling a bit more crafty lately. I'm feeling more like me SO... let's get some craft on. Ok, well sort of.

I had an excellent idea that I found on Pinterest and so I decided to take my tired self to Joann Fabrics and try to re-create this. However, I think I failed miserably.

Here's my inspiration:

Very pretty. Plain branches, decorated with cards in some sort of vase... Blah, blah, crafty, blah.

And here's what mine looks like:

Ignore the crappy iPhone photo. I literally stuck branches in a pitcher. And then I started laughing. And then I decided I was way too lazy to take the branches out so I just left them there.

So I think I've formulated a plan for this to not look like the tree from the front yard shit in the pitcher:

1. Get rid of the gumball machine (Hey, Neighbor Heather, you've got 3 kids, do you want it? Plus you live by me so I can just walk it across the yard... please say yes).

2. Find some sort of different catch-all table for the front hall. Maybe something more like this: And bonus points if I can find a real antique.

3. Spray paint the branches. What color? Umm... White? Silver? Turquoise? Red? I dunno... my creativity has gone out the window since I have the spawn of Bimmer Man in my ute.

4. Find some old Christmas cards and hang them up to make me look more popular. BWAHAHA.

Happy Monday.

Resurrecting an Old Favorite: Chili

Last night I craved something. BEANS. Black beans. Delish. And yesterday was an awful day - dark, dreary, definitely Fall-like and it called for something warm and toasty.

CHILI.

So I resurrected an old favorite and a staple dish in the fall and winter in the McTatty household - Chili.

This Chili recipe I posted in 2009 and decided to never post a chili recipe again. I don't know why - maybe because if you post it once then people star it in Google Reader and they always have it handy? But then new followers and readers barely even know it's there, right?

So I'm bringing it back.

I have made a few changes (a little here, a little there throughout the years...)

CHILI

1lb ground turkey (or ground beef)
2 cans black beans
1 can red beans (make it 2 if you're cooking for a crowd)
1 tbsp chili powder (make it 2 tbsp)
1 1/2 tbsp cumin (Change it to 1 tbsp)
1 tsp coriander
Just a little cayenne pepper (seriously, just a smidge)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (ok, 5 - 6 good shakes of the bottle)
1 onion, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes (2 cans if you like more tomatoes)
1 can tomato sauce
Salt & pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed in a garlic press or finely chopped
Plus you can add a half a bottle of good beer (this is optional, since getting knocked up I haven't stocked beer, but trust me, if you get a good dark beer, it makes this chili Heavenly)

Add the onions to a large pan over medium with a tablespoon or two of olive oil, wait about two minutes, and then add the meat to brown.

Add all other ingredients and simmer for about 25 - 30 minutes.

Serve with really good tortilla chips, green onions, cheese and any other delicious topping that you like.

I'm Pregnant

There. I typed it. I just thought I'd get it out there. As you have noticed, I haven't posted any food recipes and now that I'm FINALLY starting to feel better (ok, I'm starting to have good days...) I'm ready to get back into the kitchen.

In fact, I've found several recipes that I really want to make this week, but my poor stomach, I don't know how much I can handle quite yet. So I'll be taking it easy for another week or two (re: eating Taco Bell soft shell tacos, McDonald's chicken nuggets, basically eating like a 2 year old). In the mean time, these recipes that I've pinned from Pinterest should give you an idea of what I've been craving...

My pin is right here.

Slow Cooker Potato Soup

Gah. I'm so excited for fall cooking. I can't wait to start making more beef stew, chicken pot pies and using the crockpot more. Delish!

So, Ahhh... It's Been Awhile???

Let's just say that, um, life, got in the way? Summer has been a bit busy.

But I've been pinning away on Pinterest, so let me show you what I've been looking at:

I want to put something like this in the kitchen at some point - it's pretty cool! Maybe mounted on a wall though instead of inside of a cabinet door.

Goal: Make this to put all the Christmas cards on in the living room. I may have to find a new cheap-o dresser the next time I go antiquing.

I need to find this. Like immediately. And I need two of them - one for upstairs and one for downstairs.

And at some point I need to stop in at Bauer Brothers Salvage to see if I can find some awesome old windows so I can put up old black and white family photos - I think I'm going to take down the cheap card holder in the dining room and replace it with something like this.

And by the way - Bimmer Man ripped out the closet in the basement this past weekend. YES. Bimmer Man: 1, Old House Basement: 0.