Oh What Do You Do In The Summertime?

Well, when it's 115 degrees outside, you do this:

(Charge your little sister a plastic nickel to attend you and your brother's puppet show)

When it's not, you do this:

(Sun and swim at the beach! I'm missing the best picture... Matthew completely buried in sand up to his neck! Ha! Ha!)

Whatever you do, it's more fun with family and friends. Thanks to our friends Nate, Kandy, Dallynn and Connelly, our first houseguests. It was a fabulously fun for one weekend!

Missing You

So, Glen and I decided not to make our trip to see family and friends in UT. How sad. We are missing you all! We appreciate the snail mail, email and calls from you. How delighted we are to receive them! Today I explained to my kids, "No trip." To redeem myself to them (and cheer myself up) I made Ellie Krieger's Triple Chocolate Cookies. Chocolate makes everything better! If I could figure a way to successfully ship them to you through the current Nevada heat wave, I would send them to everyone right now. But I have no resources like that. So I am giving you this recipe hoping we can both enjoy them. (separately) And I promise they're not difficult to make. Promise!

Triple Chocolate Coo0kies, 2005, by Ellie Krieger, Food Network

1/4 c butter, softened (takes me 5 minutes on the counter in LV, you 20 minutes in SLC)

1/2 c dark brown sugar

1/4 c granulated sugar

1/4 c canola oil

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 c all-purpose flour

1/2 c whole-wheat pastry flour

1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)

1/4 tsp salt, optional (use it, it's so much better with)

1/3 c coarsely chopped dark chocolate (2 ounces, or 8 little dark Dove promises)

1/3 c coarsely chopped milk chocolate (2 ounces, or milk choc chips)

(2/3 c chopped pecans, optional, and I don't recommend them)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, mash together the butter and sugars with a fork until well combined. (no fancy-schmancy mixer needed here!) Add the oil and egg and beat until creamy. Mix in the vanilla.

In a medium bowl, whisk (yes, whisk) together the flours, cocoa powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. Stir in the dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and the pecans and mix well. Using a tablespoon, scoop the batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool.

Enjoy eating them and know we're missing you! (Photo: Matthew as a baby)

Please stop touching the produce!

I was in the grocery store this evening. As I excused myself past a woman to reach for a plastic bag, (it will ultimately ruin my local landfill, but that's another post for another day...) I noticed her long nails. 5 inches - at least - of hard, yellow-gray. I tried hard not to stare, but she was shucking ears of corn with her nasty nails to see if it (the corn) was high enough quality to buy. I'm pretty sure that the E coli and salmonella crawling under her nails were more of a concern to me than if her corn had a caterpillar in it! Please stop touching the produce!