Sweet and salty peanut chocolate chip cookies

More cookies! I found this recipe last month and have made it a couple times since. The taste and texture of the cookies did vary slightly when I very slightly altered the ingredients, but it was quite good both times.
The second time I made these, the flavor closely resembled peanut brittle or candied peanuts, and I think that's because I only had lightly salted nuts on hand and I may have over-roasted them. The first time I made these, I was surprised by the almost meringue-like texture, they were crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside with little pockets throughout.
Either way, these cookies are very good and a nice break from your everyday chocolate chip cookie. I will be making them again.
Here is the recipe from Cooking Light:
Sweet and salty peanut chocolate chunk cookies

Chicago Craft Social, August 14

Yay! Craft Social is back! We had such a good time hosting this gigantic night of crafty fun in May that we've brought it back for a summer session and added an hour of fun. That's not the only thing we've added. Now, you may bring your men friends. That's right, they're crafty, too! And we're glad to have them join us. Now, if we could get some enthusiastic ones to help lead a project, that would be even better. Let us know if have a friend that fits the bill.
Also, we will now have a lovely little publicity/freebie table set up for you to spread the word about your own creative business or for you to peruse and find out what everyone else is up to. Feel free to bring some business cards, postcards, buttons or the like to share. We're excited to learn more about you.
If you're in the Chicago area, or plan to be on August 14, head on over to the Craft Social blog and rsvp. Remember, we do have a limit of 150 guests, so move quickly! Oh, and if you saw a project that interested you last time, but you weren't able to try it, or if you have something you've been dying to learn, let me know and we'll consider that as we plan our dozen plus activities.
Hope to see you there!

Kids and goats

We have been visiting the zoo fairly often and recently paid a visit to the goat pen. I find it impossible to not chuckle and take pictures of my precious children, frightened by overly friendly goats (like my baby in the bottom left, clutching my leg). Apparently, my mom is the same way. That's me in the top two pictures. (Nice beard, Dad). And my kids in the bottom set.

Commentary: When I looked at that top picture, I totally thought that poor baby goat was about to be pulled apart at the middle, like a wormy roll of clay where it gets too thin. Then I finally realized his feet are tucked up under him and it's the body of a different goat behind us.
And how about that front-butt look I've got going on up there in the thigh region? (Thought you'd like that, Amy).

Ice cream sandwiches

We made ice cream sandwiches this weekend for ourselves and some guests and I remembered how fun and easy they are to make and eat. Such a simple dessert when you have most of the ingredients on hand with no cooking, baking, chopping, or measuring necessary.
This is how we made ours:

Mint chocolate sandwiches
Mint chip ice cream
Mini chocolate chips
Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers

Let ice cream soften just a bit, scoop it onto a wafer, sandwich it closed with another, roll in mini chips. Freeze.

Chocolate banana nut sandwiches
Vanilla ice cream
Diced bananas
Chopped lightly salted peanuts (I used an electric chopper, so I don't count that as tedious or laborious chopping)
Nabisco wafers

Let ice cream soften a bit, mix in bananas, sandwich it between wafers, roll in chopped nuts. Freeze.

Now, for really good ice cream sandwiches, I would make my own ice cream and cookies, but when you don't think ahead, these do the trick.

(My daughter wanted to pose with the cookies, so that's the result of her little photo shoot, above).

Weekend organizing

I thought I'd share a few organizational projects today since that's how I've been spending my time recently.
I always take the opportunity while my mom is in town to tackle one or more long-been-a-pain-in-the-rear projects around the house. Projects that I either need physical, mental, financial, or parental help with. Wow, that includes so many things, it's a wonder I get anything done on my own.
This time, since we just moved our 3rd child in with the older two, I needed to do some bedroom rearranging. I've decided to sell the vintage dresser I've been using as changing table and clothes storage for my daughters. The drawers are difficult for little hands to maneuver and that's becoming more important as the kids learn to choose their clothes and dress themselves. Plus, three beds, 2 dressers, books and random toys are a lot in a medium-sized bedroom with multiple walls interrupted by doors, windows, and a potentially scalding hot radiator.
Anyway, my mom treated me to these great collapsible fabric boxes from The Container Store (they are having a nice summer sale) and I filled them with my daughters' clothes and slid them under the crib. Perfect fit. And easy for the kids to pull out and open themselves. My oldest "organized" her clothes box herself which has helped make her excited about the new system.
Oh yes, we used to have nice crib clothes on the bed including a lovely bed skirt, but it was removed after an unfortunate incident last year (mentioned at the end of this list). I imagine this wouldn't work quite as well if it was still in place.

I also chose to rearrange their book collection. We've had them shelved in one of those hideous stackable plastic cube things you get in college (which I did get in college) which is a safety hazard (they try to climb it) and awkward for sliding books in and out.
I was recently reminded that there's a very reasonable explanation for young children emptying out their bookshelves. They choose books by looking at the covers, not by reading the spines. After having one of those, "Ohhh, right" moments, I decided to place their books in bins so they can reach them without climbing, return them easily, and make their selections without carpeting the floor with books. It's nice to be able to conveniently cart a load of books to the other room, too.
These are plastic collapsible bins from The Container Store.

While at The Container Store, we couldn't pass up these crunch bags (which I have found very handy and sturdy enough for kids, also on sale) for storing some items in the living room.
I wanted them to have access to all of their own games and be able to put them away. That has been key in much or our reorganizing. These bags now house some of their games (the others still reside on a low shelf), and their train collection. The vintage basket is housing random baby toys.

Last, but by no means least, we finished organizing the outgrown clothes that have been nagging me for years. This was a huge project (though due largely in part to my not being organized from the beginning) and I felt a massive sense of relief when we finished.
We've been saving all decent outgrown children's clothing to pass on down the line, big sister to little sister (and to my husband's chagrin, sometimes to little brother). Every time the season changes, we have to hit the storage. For one reason, we can't store a year's worth of clothing in the dressers, and also the kids outgrow and need new sizes practically every season.
We finally sorted every item by gender, season, and size, labeled them all, and shoved them in the closet. I used small clear garment zip bags for storing small chunks of clothes-like Girls, 0-6 months, Summer-and then put 4 of these small garment bags into a larger one, labeled something like Girls, 0-6 months-2T, Summer. Making sure all labels and zippers were facing the same direction and easy to read and access, no zippers hiding on the bottom of the bag, but all right at the top where the large bag opens in case I just need to just stick my hand in and grab a few items.
Now when I need to pull out or put away clothes, I can see exactly which bag I need instead of dragging out the seemingly thousands of bags, big and small, and rifling through to find exactly what I'm looking for and then likely missing articles that could have been worn.
This summer, I was so happy to find that my baby didn't need any new clothes (thanks to hand-me-downs) and my older 2 needed very little (thank goodness they grow a little more slowly now).
I'm interested. How do you store your hand-me-downs? Or do you? If you have an idea that is far more outstanding and efficient than mine, tell me at your own risk. I may find out where you live. Or perhaps I'll just be grown-up about it and decide to pass it on to some other plagued parent.

Extreme babywearing

I'm sure babywearing is not an actual competitive sport, but I'm convinced if it was, this mama possum would take home a prize.
My parents watched this possum family struggle through their yard one morning while I was oblivious upstairs. I'm so sorry I missed it!

4th of July cookie-cake

I've never made one of those flag cakes for the 4th. For some reason, I've always strayed from the most obvious holiday fare. Well, pictorial fare, at least. I'm pretty predictable, otherwise. This year, since the kids are old enough to recognize our country's flag, I thought it was time we finally make one. We tried the cookie version.
If you're familiar with fruit pizza, you'll know exactly how to do this. If not, here is the recipe for the pizza and flag.

Fruit Pizza
1 roll refrigerated sugar cookie dough
(or 1 lb. homemade sugar cookie dough)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/3 c powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 pint strawberries, sliced
2 kiwi, sliced
2 bananas, sliced
1/2 c blueberries
or any desired mix of fruit

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Roll cookie out to fit pizza pan (about 12").
Bake cookie dough approximately 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow crust to cool.
Blend cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla together until smooth. Spread on top of cookie crust.
Arrange sliced fruit on top of filling.
Slice and serve.
Refrigerate leftovers.

Alternate filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 jar marshmallow creme (about 7 oz.)

Beat until smooth.
Great as a fruit dip; one of my favorites.

American Flag Cookie
same cookie crust
same filling (I used the fruit dip filling)
1 1/2 pints blueberries
2-6 oz. boxes of raspberries
2 bananas, sliced
1/2 lb. strawberries, sliced
some cherries, pitted and halved
some mini marshmallows
(Keep in mind, much of the fruit was consumed during assembly. If you're not planning on eating it, you could prepare a smaller amount).

Roll crust out into rectangle approx. 10x14 (I did not measure mine, but it was bigger than a casserole) on top of parchment. Lift parchment and place parchment and rolled dough in a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan.
Bake and cool as above.
Blend filling and spread over cookie.
Arrange blueberries in top left corner, optional marshmallows as stars. Arrange red fruits into stripes alternating with banana and marshmallow (white) stripes. We were short a couple stripes, but who's counting?

This is super simple and fun for kids to make and eat. I like it pretty well, myself.

Fun finds at the antique shop

Before leaving Texas, I made a quick run to the local antique shop and happened to find a few great items in booths that were being cleared out. Lucky me!
I'm a fan of painted metal bins, shelves, etc. so I naturally snatched up this storage basket. Maybe I'll spray paint it one day in a color more vibrant than off white.
I found this lovely, ratty quilt, too. The color in the fabric still looks great and the quilt is in good enough condition to use as a throw blanket, table cover, decorative hanging or something. At least if you don't mind the old rustic look. I think it works so well because the combination of colors is so sweet.
I'll save the other finds for another day.
Happy 4th of July!

Breakfast alfresco

Lucky for us as parents that children are satisfied and sometimes absolutely thrilled with activities that are easy to throw together, don't cost any money or involve a car trip, and allow us to relax for a minute in the great outdoors. I suppose the key is often that the activity just happens to be out of the ordinary with regard to our normal routine, but I'd like to think that some of these activities would always be exciting. Like eating breakfast out of doors.
We don't happen to have a yard or even a porch (and also experience winter for about 9 months of the year), so breakfast outside is novel. We thoroughly enjoyed having ours on my parents' back porch.
Besides being enthralled by watching the sprinklers as they popped up hissing and spraying, feeling the warmth of the sun before it rose to scorching, and identifying the hungry birds that pecked at the feeders, the kids remained intrigued by the occasional airplane flying overhead.
I loved being outside with happy children and was thankful for eager hands to set the table.

By the way, we are home now, but I'll probably be recalling our Texas adventures for a while. We were way too busy to record our activities while there!

What's on your fridge?

When I'm in Texas, I try to do things with my dad that I don't do on my own in Chicago. Outdoor sportsman-type things like kayaking, fishing, and shooting.

My dad took me to a firing range the other day and I shot a pistol for the first time (previous experience being pellet or bb guns and a rifle). I figured, considering my newbie status, my scores warranted a bit of display time on the fridge.

Shot-up targets in between sweet kiddie pics, mail from grandkids and BBQ coupons. That's normal, right?

Summertime blues

The kids have remembered some of our activities from last summer so fondly they've begged to repeat them this year. They couldn't wait for my parents to take them to the ice cream shop so they could struggle to keep up with that shockingly blue ice cream as it melted and dripped down their arms.

Ahh...summer in Texas.

Blast from the past

Today I pulled out some of our old (early 1980s) Strawberry Shortcake dolls for the kids to play with. The smell of the accessories alone took me back years. My kids don't seem as impressed as I was at one point in time, but then, they're still oblivious to much of popular culture, thank goodness. They still think Spongebob Squarepants is a dressed up piece of cheese.