GF Cookies

I baked a bunch of GF cookies over the last few days to bring to the families for the holidays. Here is what I made and my thoughts:

Crockpot Chocolate Peanut Clusters- These made A TON. Holy cow. I did use some butterscotch chips and white chocolate chips in place of 1 bag of the regular chocolate chips. These are yummy and addicting and would be great for any occasion.

White Chocolate Peppermint Crisps-This I kind of just made on the fly. I usually make peppermint bark with White chocolate chips and candy canes, just melt the chocolate down and stir in the crushed up candy canes and spread it on a flat pan to cool, then break apart. This time, I threw in some GF rice krispies and dropped little spoonfuls on parchment paper to cool. These are super super sweet, but fun for the holidays.

Oatmeal Butterfinger Cookies-I got this recipe off of Gluten Free Cookie Swap on facebook. Currently they are having their GF cookie contest, so I saw these and thought I would try them out. I really like them. They are a little crunchy but good. EZ however didn't care for them all that much. Here is the recipe:
1/2c butter [room temperature]
1/2c sugar
1/2c brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup Jules GF Flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 c gluten free oats
1 Butterfinger candy bar [the big kind!]
MAKES ~ 2 DOZEN (adapted from bakingbites.com)

1) Preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
2) Cream the butter and sugars together
3) Beat in the egg then the vanilla extract
4) In a separate bowl whisk the flour + baking soda + baking powder + salt together
5) On low, mix the flour mixture into the butter mixture then add in the oats
6) Add in the Butterfinger (after mashing it into tiny bits with a hammer outside [the hammer part and outside part is optional])
7) Drop 1 inch balls 1.5 inches apart on the baking sheet and bake 10-13 minutes until brown on the edges

Fantastic 5 cookies-Again from the GF Cookie Swap. These were by far the simplest to make as there is hardly anything in them, I choose to use hershey kisses to make them like PB blossoms, and they are decent. Some people said they were the best cookies they had ever had, and one of my friends loved them. I thought they fell apart pretty easily but had a decent taste.

1 c. creamy peanut butter
1c. brown sugar
1 egg lightly beaten
1 tsp baking soda
1c. chocolate chips, reeses pieces, m&m's or other chips. (you can also choose to not put the chips in and top with a hershey kiss or reeses peanut butter cup immediately after taking them out of the oven.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together with a spoon until blended. (Do not use a mixer). Drop by spoonfuls (size depends on you) onto a greased cookie sheet. Cook 9-10 minutes. Let cookies cool before removing from cookie sheet.

Monster Cookies-I grew up making these with my mom and still have the recipe. My mom's recipe is practically identical, hers called for a little more peanut butter and a little more M&M's plus a bit of corn syrup. I took Paula's recipe and made it with only 4 cups oats as that all I had and did half as is with the recipe, then followed my friends advice and added a bit of cinnamon and added raisins and made the rest. This recipe made 7 dozen regular sized cookies even though she said it only makes 3 doz. I have a lot of these too but wow are they super good and so easy to make GF by using GF oats. Yum.

I also made a recipe for Banana Blueberry Muffins out of the book "Free for all Cooking" By Jules Shepard that my sister gave me for my bday. These are wonderful too! Oh man, I must admit, these are the best GF muffins I have had, SOOOO light and fluffy. Yummy. I have made a few things out of this book and so far all have been superb! Highly recommend it for any allergy issues. She has recipes for all sorts of allergy free dishes not just GF but vegan and eggs, nuts, ect. It is a great book so far!

Alright, enough about food! Happy Holidays!!

Ramblings at 24 Weeks

How did I already end up at 24 weeks pregnant and plus a huge amount of weight, I don't know. Last week at the doctor when I stepped on the scale I had gained 10 lbs in the last month. I about lost it. I never had that much of a jump with P but the doctor didn't seem to care. Since then, I have worked out every day (but still have been eating cookies and ice cream.) :) I thought running was going to go out the window, but I am still able to run 3/4 miles 3/4 times a week. And managing to run 9:15-9:30 pace most days which is impressive to me for as much weight as I have packed on.

P still has no concept of what is going to happen. I finally said to her there is a baby in mama's belly the other day, but she could care less I think. She is happy as can be and is lots of fun. Running around and babbling up a storm. The talking is coming very slowly. She definitely says mama, dada, piper, all gone (all ga), more (she signs this too), papa, go, car (ca), dog (da), cat (kind of), bye, hello, hi. and tries to say a few other words for people she knows like her friends at school and in the neighborhood. She can also sign a few words too like please, more, baby. The cutest thing is her trying to say I love you which you can tell she says the I and love part but doesn't get you.

And she can do a few animal sounds, cow (which she only does mmmmm), bear (grrrrr) and lion (roar). Quite fun.

I finally finished up the semester of 4 tues/thur classes which was exhausting. My spring though will be super nice. Just one class that will meet 3 days a week but only for 8 weeks, so I am done at the beginning of March. It is a brand new class, but having only one will be super nice. I am hoping to get two papers written and submitted to be published though before baby number 2 arrives.

Last up a few photos:

Having fun in my new P sized chair:
Hello:
I can fit inside a file box:
Loves to read:
Close up:

Helping decorate the tree:

Photo Shoot

We had a mini photo shoot at the end of October and got some great photos with Two Clicks Away Photography. Here are a few (minus the one we actually used on our xmas card so it can be a surprise). How can you not love her!