BAKE UP SOME HOLIDAY COOKIES

I love Easter time, because the M&M's are pastel!  Look what cute cookies they make.  2Groovydude and I made these this weekend for Easter.  But the great thing is...our friends at M&M's make color combinations all year!  Thanks, guys.  So, that means Christmas red and green, Valentine's red, white, and pink...get the idea?  Or if you go to their website, you can order whatever color you want with whatever you want written right on that little M&M.  http://www.mymms.com/

That is so cool!  I want to order all purple M&M's or all something, I can't decide.  Did you know they make black M&M's?  Oh yeah, check it out.  It makes the M&M's look so much slimmer.

I know the first time I ate these cookies, my friend Rona or her mom made them.  But this recipe is not hers. So, I'm not sure where it came from, but it does not have flour.  I was little freaked out by that, but they are, by far, my family's favorite cookies.

This time I used the pastel M&M's and Hershey's Cinnamon chips and at the last minute I thought it would look even more Eastery with some white chocolate chips, so I threw a few of those in, too.

So, mix it up with this recipe and try what you like.  Daddio's favorite is butterscotch chips instead of chocolate.

Monster Cookies w/Holiday Colors

2 eggs

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 t. vanilla

1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 cup butter

1 cup peanut butter

3 cups oatmeal

M&M's

Chocolate chips

Combine all ingredients in order listed.  M&M's and chocolate chips to taste.  (I use 1/2 bag each.)  Place additional M&M's on top of cookies before baking.  Drop onto baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

I have been eating the leftover cookies every morning for breakfast.  You know, like granola.  Yeah, that's right, they are good for you!

Ramp It Up!

Daddio has been helping build ramps for people in need for several years through a program in Tulsa, OK called Kirk Carpenters from Kirk of the Hills church.  Now we are attending First United Methodist in Claremore, OK and had an opportunity to build a ramp in that community.  Well, Daddio knew what to do, of course.  Here is our first ramp project.

Early morning arrival at the home where the ramp will be installed.

This is Margie.  Margie needs a ramp to access her home.

Daddio and 2Groovydude setting up shop for the project.

Steve and Jeff remove the current porch railing, so the ramp can be installed.

First porch platform frame installed. 

Laurie, in the background with the shovel, put this form together with a very little help from me.  That girl can swing a hammer and I want her to get credit, because I was her helper and couldn't take pictures while I was holding boards for her to hammer.  I'm not sure I could even be called a helper, but I did get lots of pics while I was being useless.

Now the boys are setting the posts for the ramp. 

Ramp frame being installed. And yes, this was another product of Laurie's, that she completed while I was getting in her way.  But, I did help dig the hole, that the ramp has to sit down in, to get the proper slope.  Or I should say, I attempted to dig a hole, then the guys came over and finished it.  Seriously, I'm just the one taking the pics.

2Groovydude got pretty good at hammering those nails also.

Bob and Daddio put the platform for the ramp in place.  A perfect fit, yeah Daddio!

A few more nails to secure.

2Groovydude and Laurie work together to get the job done.  I never knew you could lounge and hammer nails at the same time.  Leave it to 2Groovydude.

Now more posts for the railings.

Next the outdoor carpeting is glued down.  Steve did a great job cutting the carpet to size.

The ramp is complete and Margie is a happy lady.  I should mention that Steve and Bob also put a railing on Margie's back steps, but I was around front and did not get any pics.  Oops.

Thanks to all you cool cats who volunteered to help Ramp it Up!

GREEN TEA TIME

I told you in an earlier post about the Decaf Hot Cinnamon tea from Harney & Sons. 

http://www.harney.com/

Now, I want to tell you about the Decaf Sencha green tea that I ordered, but mainly because I want to tell you about my cool teapot.

I bought this teapot a few years ago from Tea Guys.  http://www.teaguys.com/  They still have teapots but not this glass one...they have switched to a ceramic pot, but the same idea with a stainless infuser.  You can still find the glass ones at http://www.teavana.com/ plus several other cool shapes and sizes.  Just search glass teapots.  They also have cast iron pots like you see at PF Chang's restaurants.  Don't even get me started on PF Chang's...love it!  http://www.pfchangs.com/

Okay, back to green tea and teapots...I'm so easily distracted by good food.  Add some water to the pot.  I heat about 1 3/4 cups at a time, then if Daddio comes to steal it, I have a cup also.  Just pop it in the microwave.  I've read that green tea brews best at 180 degrees, which is about 3 minutes in my microwave.  Yours may be different, just play around with the times and stick a thermometer in it and see.

Drop the infuser, with suggested amount of tea, into the water to steep.  The infuser is a small glass with tiny slits cut in the bottom to let the water in, but keep the tea leaves out of the water.  You will still get a few tiny specks, but it won't hurt you.  I would really suggest this kind of pot for loose tea, because you can cut out the straining step.  Green tea tastes best when steeped for 3 minutes and after that it starts to taste bitter.

Put the cute little lid on and wait.  This is the hard part, so go put a load of laundry in...and your tea will be ready.  I actually have to set a timer, because if I walk away, I will forget about the tea and leave it too long.

And the tea is done!  See the nice color, not really green.  The green teas I like best have a green color before steeping, but look like regular tea, after.  The ones that are still green are okay, but not my favorite, too weak tasting for me.  I like the strong stuff.

Be sure and check out the Teaguys website because you can mix your own tea flavors.  I've done some good mixing and I've done some bad, so make sure you know what you like before you start the mix. 

The Teavana, which is a new site to me, has really cool stuff and yummy looking tea, but I haven't tried any of them.  I will be checking it out, though.

And just go to PF Chang's and eat!  Oh yeah, and order some tea, it's a fun time.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS, AGAIN!!

Okay, I'm sorry for another brussels sprouts recipe.  If you don't think you like them you should try them, if you've tried them and don't like them just go to the next post.  I eat a lot of veggies, so my recipes tend to lean the veggie way.

But seriously, don't they look yummy?  And they are yummy.

Remember the Spicy Apple Garlic Jam from the Roasted Pork recipe?  Well, I was checking out their website http://www.earthnvine.com/ to figure out how to use the other half of my jar of jam and found this recipe for Sweet and Salty Brussels Sprouts.

Boil the sprouts and add crispy bacon, parmesan cheese and Spicy Apple Garlic Jam and enjoy.  (See recipe at the website under the Spicy Apple Garlic Jam page.) I also added some freshly ground black pepper, because I think everything needs freshly ground black pepper.

As the recipe says, it was a nice mixture of sweet jam and salty cheese and bacon.  Between Daddio and I, we ate every bite.  Go ahead, give it a try.

ISN'T IT LOVELY?

A few days ago our Yoshina cherry tree bloomed.  Wow!

It is beautiful, it has more blooms on it this year than ever.

My hyacinth also bloomed out when I wasn't looking.  The little green leaf buds in the background are the hydrangea.

This is a sedum.  I really like these plants because they will grow anywhere.  This one is called "live forever" or that's what I've been told.  The ones called that at the plant store don't look like this one.  My friend Laura B. gave this one to me and I just keep breaking it off and starting new ones, another great thing about sedums.

This sedum is called Angelina with the yellow tips. If I was going to plant only one it would be this one, because it just stands out and catches your eye.

The one below is smaller than the live forever and a deeper green.

  This one is like the angelina, but in a spruce color.  I like the variations in color that you can find, something for everyone.

The reason I have come to like them so much is that they are succulant plants that will grow in my rock garden. We have killed numerous plants on a little slope in our front yard, but all these varieties of sedum are growing and spreading like crazy. Not much water is required and they are tough cookies.