Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

 Like every mom, I could tell you how busy I am.  I am the treasurer of this and I am the president of that.  I have social engagements on top of laundry, housework, swim team, and homework.  Oh yeah, I have a husband too.  He needs a haircut and his underpants washed. 

See, I am the busiest woman on earth.  That’s why I haven’t emailed you back, taken you up on your lunch date, or been blogging……because I know you have been waiting for a new blog post.

Really though, on top of the busy mom stuff, I’ve just been playing on Pinterest. 

I am addicted.

So I made these cookies, not just because they are good, but more because they would make an attractive Pin.

I know.  I have lost my mind.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Ingredients:

·        1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

·        2 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened baking chocolate

·        1 cup sugar

·        ½ cup Butter Flavor Crisco

·        2 eggs

·        ½ tsp salt

·        1 tsp vanilla

·        1 ½ cups flour

·        ½ tsp baking soda

·        ¾ cup finely chopped peanuts

·        36 Reeses miniatures peanut butter cups

·        1 cup melted peanut butter chips for drizzle

Combine chocolate chips & chocolate squares in bowl and microwave at 50%.  Stir after 2 minutes.  Repeat for an additional 30 seconds until chocolates are smooth & melted.

Combine sugar and ½ cup shortening in a large bowl.  Beat at medium speed until blended and crumbly.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, then salt and vanilla.  Reduce to low speed.  Add chocolate slowly.  Mix until well blended.  Add baking soda & flour until you have moldable dough.

Shape dough into 1 ¼ inch balls.  Roll in crushed peanuts. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.  DO NOT OVERBAKE.  Cookies will be soft.  When you remove them from the oven, immediately press a peanut butter cup into the center.  Let cool on pan for 1 minute, and then move to cooling rack.

When cookies are cooled you can add the drizzle.  Melt the peanut butter chips at 50% in the microwave for about 1 minute.  Stir until smooth.  Add the melted chips to a plastic sandwich bag and cut off a small corner.  Squeeze out and drizzle over cookie.

Yummy, chewy, chocolaty, peanut-buttery goodness.  Perfect for a fall bake sale.  Plus, they will look fabulous on Pinterest don’t you think?

To follow my pinning adventures……CLICK HERE!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

It has been such a busy couple of weeks I have hardly had time to sleep, let alone blog.  So, after cleaning today with the girlies, we decided to take it easy…before I blogged. 

I took easy to a whole new level.

I made Spinach Artichoke dip for lunch.  For myself.  No sharing.

Nom.  Nom.  Nom.

I did take a few pics for you though, so you can see my laziness shine through.  The dip. In a bowl. On the couch. In front of the TV.  With my Twilight plastic cup filled with Diet Cherry Coke (my fav).

Want some?  Make your own.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Ingredients:

·        8 oz of cream cheese

·        ¼ cup mayo

·        ¼ cup sour cream

·        ¾ cup chopped drained spinach (I used frozen)

·        1 can artichoke hearts diced up

·        1 Tablespoon (at least) chili powder

·        Tortilla chips, veggies, or crackers for dipping

Soften the cream cheese in the microwave until it stirs smooth (1 minute).  Mix in mayo, sour cream, spinach, artichokes, & chili powder.  I take the stems out of the artichokes because yuck….I hate them.  I probably add more chili powder because I like a little spice and the ingredients really cool down the spice.  Be brave….add a lot! Dump the mixture into a baking dish. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.  Bake at 400 until cheese is beginning to brown.  (I think it is about 20 minutes but remember, I was being lazy and forgot to time it.

It’s so good even Edward wanted some.

He didn’t get any.  I ate it all.

Why I Haven't Been Blogging.....Biber Fever

I just wanted to tell everyone who is emailing and facebooking me about my blog posts……or lack thereof, that I PROMISE there will be more.  I have just been so busy lately.  I won’t go into details on exactly what I am doing, but it includes my mother-in-law coming and staying with us for FOUR weeks.  So you understand, right? 

Just kidding Sandy, I am totally thankful that I have a mother-in-law that I can tolerate for four weeks!

The real reason I haven’t been blogging much is because all three of the girlies have been sick.  We went to the movies a couple of weeks ago and just haven’t been the same since.  The symptoms the girls have been having are jumping up and down, squealing/screaming, and ringing of the ears.  The squealing sound is similar to the sound I once made at a New Kids on the Block concert, and the ringing is this “eenie-meenie-miney-mo-lover” sound….over and over and over.

I took them to the doctor yesterday to see what was up, and it turns out that they have a Japanese form of what the US calls Bieber Fever.  In Japan, I guess they call it Biber Fever.

The only way to cure the girls of this Biber Fever is to take away their iPods, don’t let them hang out with their friends or go to school, and keep them far far away from the May 17 Justin Bieber concert in Tokyo .  It’s going to be rough.  Grandma Sandy has been known to buy the girls things….and I wouldn’t put concert tickets past her.  Especially since the room we are letting her sleep in is covered with posters like this…..

So there it is.  We are gravely ill at the Three Girlies household.  I promise I will give my blog the proper attention it deserves over the summer.  I miss it and I miss the compliments, attention, praises, and love I get when I write in it.  I hope you, my faithful readers, understand. 

Writer's Block With a Side of Brown Rice

Geez!  I have really dropped the blog ball…..haven’t I?  It’s been something like 10 days since I have posted anything.

My mom is wondering where pictures of her grand babies went.  I have had four of my friends tell me they don’t want me to blog about running anymore…..they just want the naughty recipes back.  Even my husband asked, “Whatcha blogging about lately?”

Hmmmmm…..I don’t know.   

I think I am in a blogging vortex.  What I mean is, I have a mass of ideas (in the form of a liquid) with a whirling or circular motion that tends to form a cavity or vacuum in the center of the circle……and the mass is just swirling into nothing. 

I’ve got NOTHING!!!!

So, I asked my three girlies, “What should mom blog about today?”

“Tell em’ about your haircut mom.  Its kinda cute.” said Abbey, age 12.

Kinda cute?  Ouch.

Let me explain…….I was in the shower, trying to get though my mass of crazy curly hair, and I became angry.  So, I climbed out of the shower without even drying off, dribbled down the hall to find the scissors, and went back to the bathroom even angrier.  I was cold and wet with crappy hair.  Now I know how my dog feels when we give her a bath.

Anyway, I took those scissors to the back portion of my hair, made the cut, and when a four inch hunk of hair landed in the sink I said out loud, “Oh crap.”

Now I have a curly shorter do……..that’s kinda cute.

When I asked Allison, age 10, what I should blog about she just asked me when she could start a blog.  Allie wants to start a blog about photography.  She steals my camera ALL the time, goes outside, and takes hundreds of pictures of whatever she finds, until the battery runs dead.  About, one out of every 200 pictures turns out really good.  I need to get the girl in a class.

Finally, I asked Amber what I should write about in my blog.

“You could write about brown rice.” She says.

“What?”  I was confused.

“You know mom, that brown rice that is really good, except for the mushrooms.” She was now jumping up and down the way a seven year old does when they think they have a really great idea.

Ah yes…..brown rice.  This is for all of my friends (or maybe just for my friend Theresa) who miss the naughty, bad for you recipes that I was posting back when this blog started.  It is easy and a really yummy side with chicken or steak.  Enjoy!

Brown Rice

I bring the butter and soup to a boil, add rice and then cover and simmer on med low, stirring every 15 minutes.  I add about ¼ of a cup of water when needed.  Sometimes I need it, sometimes I don’t.  Go figure.

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I Am Going Crazy...Again

I love being a mom.  I love staying at home.  I love being a stay-at-home mom.  Sometimes though, you can get a bit crazy.  Admit it. Staying at home 24-7 can randomly send you spinning out of control.  I should know….I have occasionally spun out for 12 years now.

How out of control, you ask?

Like the time I decided to become a Stampin’ Up demonstrator.  My husband was in dental school, we had two kids, received a $950 stipend and our rent was $700.  We didn’t have enough money for things like nice toilet paper and brand named cereal, let alone a $150 demostrator kit.  But I was hooked, and I was going to be top SU demonstrator, and I was going to win the pink Cadillac.  (Or wait, maybe it was a tote bag.)

Then there was the time that I had randomly found Hand Painted Mosaic Tiles on eBay.  What the…….????? My idea was born and it was sweet.  Everyone would have kitchen sink backsplashes containing my creative musings. I bought oodles of ceramic paint, cleared out Home Depot of little tiles, and got to work.  I actually sold some of them and possibly even paid for my supplies.  But then we moved to Germany, my paints dried up in storage, and so did my dreams of being a world famous mosaic tile artist.

It gets even better. One day I went to a bead store with my mom.  I’m creative and artsy.  I did some research and bought a book called “How to Get From Where You Are To Where You Want To Be”.  So why couldn’t I purchase a couple of thousand dollars in beads and start a jewelry business?  My husband rolled his eyes as I slowly began to amass my stash of BEADS and Three Girlies designs was born.

Amazingly, within about 3 months my bridal and bridesmaid sets took off.  I could not make them fast enough.  In year one I made a little over $10,000 and was sitting in my trendy uptown design studio at my kitchen table, creating unique Hollywood worthy jewelry for the stars making the same boring necklace and earring sets over and over and over. I was an assembly line worker and a packaging company. Instead of figuring out how to outsource to China, I threw all my beads in a couple of plastic totes and shoved them up into a closet.

Fast forward a few years and I start this blog.  I definitely need a new camera and I NEED to hire a blog designer.  I have no idea what I am doing but I am pretty sure that I could be world famous. For reasons I can’t comprehend, my husband is hesitant about buying me the $800 camera.  I wonder why?

What is wrong with me????  If I had stuck with it, could I have been top demonstrator for Stampin’ Up?  What would have happened if I responded to the e-mail from a custom tile company who loved my designs?  Was there something to the idea I had of making a pitch to David’s Bridal, to create a line of jewelry for them? Again I ask, what is wrong with me????

So here I am once more, at the precipice of greatness……okay maybe not greatness, but I can tell it is somewhere important.  It is somewhere important, because I can quit blogging and let it swirl into my ever spinning out-of-control tornado of unfinished projects, or I can just keep typing.  And it doesn’t matter that my husband won’t let me buy an $800 camera for a few foodie posts.  And it doesn’t matter that I get sick of cooking sometimes and so I blog about running or going out of my mind.

It doesn’t matter because this is me.  I am a crafty stamper, an artsy painter, and a classy jewelry designer.  I am a runner and oh I forgot to mention, a licensed hairstylist.  I am a wanna-be graphic designer, a mommy blogger, and my husband’s biggest cheerleader. 

They may seem like crazy endeavors, but there is a reason behind all that madness.  I actually haven’t went insane all these years of staying home doing laundry.  He might not know it quite yet, but my husband will love me MORE after he buys me the camera. (Heck, he might read this…I had to try.)  For my girls, I am an endless example of, “You can be whatever you want to be when you grow up.”…..and I think that’s a pretty great kind of mom to be.

Hmmmmmm…..I wonder what I am going to be next?