Cookie Week / Haystacks

Cookie Week - Day 2

  This cookie recipe comes from my mother-in-law, Ethel. She's an amazing baker & was kind enough to share this recipe with me. 

  These are super fast, no bake cookies. Perfect for days you just don't want to turn on the oven.

Haystacks
makes 15

3 cups oats
1 cup coconut (long, not fine)
6 tsp. cocoa
--
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk
2 cups brown sugar (loose, don't pack)
--
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix first 3 ingredients well.

Heat butter, brown sugar, & milk in a pot. Take it off the heat when it just starts to bubble. Or, if you're careful, you can do this step in the microwave. Be careful though, it can easily boil over. Stir often & watch closely.

Add vanilla & pour into the first mixture. Stir well. Drop by spoonful onto waxed or parchment paper. Freeze for 15 minutes. Remove & place into a container. Store in the refrigerator.

Join me tomorrow for Double Chocolate Cookies. Yay for cookie week!

Enjoy your day!

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Cookie Week Kickoff! Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Cookie Week - Day 1

  Welcome to cookie week! This week I will be sharing my favourite simple, everyday type cookies. Nothing too fancy here. Just tasty cookies to satisfy your sweet tooth, to make for a simple dessert, or for your kid's lunch boxes. I'm kicking cookie making into high gear and starting things off with these totally delish oatmeal raisin cookies. 

  Before I say anything else though, I must say Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians! I hope you have a marvellous day with family & friends. 

  Okay, back to cookie business.

  Funny cookie story: About a year ago, I made these cookies, only when I made them I was out of regular oats & only had a porridge blend on hand. It was made of all kinds of grains - high fibre grains, if you get my drift. The cookies turned out quite good & tasted delicious & my husband had several that day. The next day he asked me what I had put in those cookies because he had spent quite a bit of time in the bathroom, if you know what I mean. I hadn't even thought to warn him before eating them! After that, we called that particular batch of cookies "Remember They Are High Fibre Cookies". :)

Don't you love the owl napkin? I sure do!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

makes 3 dozen

1 1/4 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

--

1 1/2 cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. nutmeg or allspice

-- 

3 cups oats

1 cup raisins or 2 cups chocolate chips 

(Just to switch things up a bit, although you'd have to change the name of the cookie to Oatmeal Chocolate Chip. I make both varieties regularly.)

Heat oven to 375º F. Cream butter & sugars until light & fluffy. Beat in egg & vanilla. 

Mix dry ingredients. Add to creamed mixture. Stir in oats, then raisins. 

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 minutes. Cool for a minute before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. 

~~~~~

I'm looking forward to sharing some of my favourite recipes with you this week! I hope you'll join me again tomorrow for Haystack Cookies.

On a completely different topic, what do you think of my blog's new look? I'm excited to have it up & running. I'm so happy with the finished product. 

See you tomorrow!

Enjoy your day!

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Scrapbooking our summer vacation

  I'm almost finished scrapbooking the photos from our summer vacation to Jasper National Park. I got these 4 layouts done last weekend. 

  Sorry about the less-than-perfect photos of the layouts. I was photographing them in the evening when I had no natural light. 

  I used Echo Park's Country Drive collection for 'Hangin' Out'.

  More Echo Park on this one. I used the Splash collection for 'River Rafting'. I printed a Picnik collage onto an 8x10 sheet & trimmed the sides to make it the 8x8 square I wanted.

  

  I used mostly My Mind's Eye for 'Evening Walk'.

  'Maligne Canyon' was made with a mish mash of products.

  What crafty projects have you been up to?? Drop me a comment & let me know. I'd love to hear from you.

  I'm excited about this coming week. We're headed out of town tomorrow for my husband's grandpa's 90th birthday celebration. On Monday, we have Thanksgiving with my family. Later that day, my mom-in-law & sister-in-law are coming for a week long visit. We love having them!

  Another fun thing about next week is going to be.... Cookie Week! Oh yes. I'm going to be posting 5 of my favourite every day cookie recipes. I hope you'll join me. It's going to be tasty.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm thankful for you.

Don't Mess with My Pumpkins!

  Fall decor is lovely... until it gets stolen!! Grrr! Last night, my husband came home from an evening meeting to find one of my lovely pumpkins (previously residing on our front porch) smashed in front of our next door neighbour's house. I'm positive it wasn't my neighbour's doing. Likely some passing kid thinking it was funny. Don't get me going. Just let me start & finish by asking you to please teach your kids to respect other people's property. I will stop my rant there.

  I'm trying to just forgive & move on. But to protect my remaining pumpkins from harm, what can I do? I thought I might carve something like this into them...

What do you think? Perhaps throwing some explosives into the mix would help as well?? 

I'm trying to enjoy my day. Enjoy yours!

"Thankful" thanksgiving banner

  Well, here in Canada, Thanksgiving is coming up soon. This weekend, in fact! Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie... Mmmm... is it dinner time yet, Mom? :) We're so blessed to be invited to my parent's for Thanksgiving dinner on Monday. It's one of my favourite times of year. 

  For Thanksgiving, I like to add some extra touches to my fall decor. I made this Thanksgiving banner to display at this time of year. 

  I started with 8x8 squares of patterned paper. Then, I wanted to round the corners off to make them look "leaf-ish". I actually used a soup bowl to trace the rounded edge & free cut them. 

Then I:

-inked the edges 

-cut the letters with my cricut 

-stamped leaves in fall-ish colours & cut them out

-gathered all my fall type stickers, etc.

-started decorating!

  Then I punched holes in the top of each "leaf" & used ribbon to connect them into a banner. I hung it under my bar top between the living room & kitchen. 

  Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians! 

I'm thankful for:

My loving Saviour, Jesus Christ

My wonderful husband

My precious children

My warm, comfy home

My fabulous friends

My great church family

And really, what else do I need?

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

Enjoy your day!

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