Crazy week ahead of me. Hope everyone had a good and safe St. Patrick’s Day. I know I did…but then again I played hockey. Here are this week’s randoms:

MDP has decided that he likes the new Ren in Footloose better than Kevin Bacon. Which has pretty much caused upheaval and many a woman wondering why I am still with him. Though in his defense I actually kind of agree and most of the people who argued for Kevin Bacon have not seen the updated version.

MDP as of today now has two 14 year olds!

Because my pinched nerve was getting lonely my knee decided to join in and get some fluid on it. It was bad for a while and thought it might have to get drained but luckily it looks like it is cooperating a little more. Ironically sitting around doing nothing like they told me didn’t seem to help it. Going and playing 5 games of hockey in 2 days did.

Major props to the Capital One service rep who answered “Hello This is Peggy” when I called. I pretty much died laughing. He did the accent as well. Obviously his name wasn’t Peggy but it was awesome all the same!

Last week other than all the nice treats the dog got I did make her sugar cookies as well…I know bad but she only gets them twice a year. I had seen a version of my favorite store bought cookie the Lofthouse Sugar Cookie in a bar form and decided I needed to see if they tasted the same. They do, but only better. Holy moly these things may be simple but they are nothing short of yummy.

Lofthouse Cookie Bars

I used this recipe but with my buttercream recipe. I also added about 3/4 cup of sprinkles to the cookies to make them more festive!

Buttercream Frosting
¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
5-6 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Milk to thin
Sprinkles

Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.

Add 2 cups of the sugar, vanilla, and then the milk.

On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.

Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency.

Top cookies with frosting and then more sprinkles.

I’ve decided that my ex-husband and I are going to end up like Rita Wilson and Richard Gere in the movie Runaway Bride. I have that pictured in my head as the type of friendship after marriage we will be having. Speaking of the picky eater he did something so incredibly selfless and amazing there are not words. Can’t tell you what that is, yes, you can hate me, but I can tell you it speaks volumes about his character.

I did a rough estimate of my taxes (since I am STILL waiting on one of my W2’s) and cried a little (well maybe a lot). Grrrr… IRS and taxes. But then I passed a fire station and a police station on the way to a public park on a paved road on Saturday morning and was like oh yeah, taxes.

Crazy Cocker Spaniel turns 12 next week, I am gearing up for it. Which means absolutely nothing as I don’t actually know how to celebrate that. I guess just make a lot of bacon. So thankful that she is not a kid where I am expected to throw these ridiculous birthday parties.

Girl Scouts are out in full force in my area. I had a plan. It was a good plan to only buy a few boxes. But everywhere I went this weekend there they were staring up at me with their little eyes (the Brownie girls are the worst with the sad eyes). So I have a few more boxes than planned on and so do the troops. I mostly bought Thin Mints because well I love them. Though I miss the old Thin Mints from my day as a Girl Scout when they were not a chocolate, but just white mint cookie inside. Anyone old like me remember that?

Some people are purist and don’t want you to mess with the cookies, just eat them. But I usually like to dedicate one box each year to baking something with. I decided to go the blondie route instead of brownie because you could see the cookies better, plus there are already a lot of Thin Mint Brownie recipes already out there in the blog world.

Enjoy your week!

Thin Mint Blondies

8 ounce unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
1 cup 1/3 brown sugar, loosely packed
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 sleeve Thin Mint Cookies, cut in half
½ cup Andes Mint Baking Chips (I find mine at Target)

Topping:
1/3 cup Andes Mint Baking Chips
1 sleeve Thin Mint Cookies (minus a few to the stomach of Peabody), cut in half

Spray a 9-x-13-inch pan with baking spray. Set aside.
Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars on medium-high speed for three minutes.

Add in vanilla and eggs (one at a time) and beat for 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl after each addition.

Add salt and flour and mix on low until fully incorporated.

Fold in ½ mint chips and one sleeve of cookies.

Spread into prepared pan. It’s going to be thick and you may have to press down on it with wet hands.

Bake at 350°F 20-25 minutes, or until set in the middle. The minute the come out of oven, sprinkle the chips evenly across the blondies and let stand for one minute to melt a little. Then add cookie pieces, pressing down slightly into the blondies to stay more put. Let cool on a rack.

Serving size depends on how big you cut them. When I cut them I got two…I kid. Kind of.

While on Facebook (my personal page) someone was talking about should they make cookies or not and I of course said go for it. She is going through her weight loss journey (she is doing fantastic) and all the people piped up that she would be ruining all her hard work. It’s a cookie people. A cookie. I suggested to her something that I did when I was on WW and worked for WW which was to make ice box cookies. Slice off two cookies and put the dough in the freezer….really does help with portion control.

You can get to a point in your weight loss where you become obsessed. To this day without thinking I know the exact amount of jelly beans, pretzel sticks, etc I ate just out of old habit. I always stop at 35 Jelly Bellys because that was how many you got. And I can tell you how many WW points almost anything is (on the old plan mind you). But that was my life. Panic if I couldn’t get to the gym that day. Hating myself for going over in my points. Upset if I ate perfect all week only to step on the scale only to lose hardly anything or even a gain. It would literally make or break my week.

I realized that wasn’t the way to live one’s life. And while I still lost a ton of weight on WW and in a quickly manner while still drinking beer, eating sweets (every day), and still getting to eat out it did control my life. And while I got to fit into smaller jeans I was in a perpetual state of being sad or happy based on what number came up on a scale.

When I got sick and had to go back on prednisone I was beyond sad as this meant I was going to gain weight. Anyone who has been on the stuff knows it is almost impossible not to do and I was not on a small dosage and on it for a long time. But it was a good time to come to terms with food. And my body. I weigh more than I did when I worked for WW, though I didn’t gain all my weight back just some of it found me.  I still watch what I eat overall and eat mostly veggies, fruit, and beans (and bacon…yes an oxymoron). But my life is not obsessed with it. I have been working on losing a little as the boy in the photo (apparently not many people want to know who he is) wants to lose a little and I am being supportive. But if there is something I really want, like say pass my favorite BBQ place that is out in the middle of nowhere and I never get out that way (it’s been a year and a half) you better bet that I stopped there and I got a pulled pork sandwich. It was good. The side was not. So I didn’t eat it. We used to have a sign on the cafeteria where I went to undergrad school that said “Take What You Want, But Want What You Take” and I have modified that in my life to Eat What You Want But Really Want What You Are Eating. If it isn’t absolutely oh my God to die for then don’t bother wasting your calories on it?Seriously. I pick through Jelly Bellys to only eat my favorite flavors. Why waste my 4 calories (which is how much they are a piece…from my obsessed days) on a jelly bean flavor I don’t like.

It can be confusing nowadays with a different diet coming out every week telling you what you should and shouldn’t be doing. Here’s what you should do. Eat more real food (Funfetti and Oreo’s being an okay exception ). Running chicken tenders through some bread crumbs and baking them is just as easy as dumping them out of the freezer bag. Well not AS easy but not hard and so much better for you. Michael Pollen likes to say “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” He of course forgot to mention bacon but we will let that slide. I’d also like to add Move Your Body. This doesn’t mean running in 5k’s, going to Boot Camp at 5am with the perky annoying people…it just means going to a 30 minute walk every day. And it doesn’t need to be all at once, do it 10 minutes at a time.

All the talk of cookies made me want some. So I made some. Had some. And I have no guilt eating one. You can’t look at the photo on the last post and tell me I’m not a happy person…because I stopped worrying about the number that showed up and started being thankful about what I had.

And lastly here is my obligatory picture of CCS trying to get you to donate…just two more days of me annoying you.

Chocolate Oatmeal More Chocolate Cookies

1 3/4 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
10 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, loosely packed
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 cup pecans, roughly chopped
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
¾ cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350° F.

In a food processor, process 1 cup of the old-fashioned oats until finely ground, about 30 seconds. You can also do this in a blender if you don’t own a food processor.

Transfer the ground oats to a large bowl add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, whisk to incorporate. Set aside.
Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl; add the egg and vanilla extract.

Beat for another 30 seconds. Reduce speed to low and add the3 ounces of melted semi-sweet chocolate…make sure it is cooled.

On low speed, stir in the flour/oat mixture just until combined. Stir in the remaining 3/4 cup old-fashioned oats, the chopped pecans and chocolate chips.
Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined sheet pan.

Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes – until the tops are cracked (and set), but the cookies still appear moist in between the cracks. Depending on your version of 1-inch you cookies may take longer to bake.

Adapted from Cooks Country Chocolate Edition

It’s Valentine’s Day. If you have someone in your life celebrate by helping out your local florist or chocolatier. If you don’t have anyone in your life celebrate by helping out your local liquor store or bar.
You may be thinking, oh it’s just a cookie, but it’s not. This cookie had all the people who ate it asking what on earth was in them and did I have anymore.

These come from Not Without Salt and the very adorable Ashley who runs that site. Ashley is kind of my blog crush having worked with Sherry Yard (my pastry crush) at Spago…yeah, that Spago. She brought cookies to a meet and greet for the great Helen of Tartlette. She like I often do had made a basic recipe and then just thrown in things she had in the pantry. She had cardamom in hers…I can’t afford that right now. But she also had dried cherries, espresso, chocolate, and a little sea salt on top. Oh my. I loved them like crazy. I wanted the recipe but she didn’t really have one which I actually understand.

So I decided just to take her chocolate chip recipe (which BTW is my go to nowadays) and added the ingredients she used. I came pretty close to what she did so I’m pretty proud of myself.

And lastly a shout out to Arizona for turning 100 years old today. Glad I don’t live there, but you hold some people who are near and dear to me.

Chocolate Chunk Cherry Espresso Cookies

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup Turbinado sugar
1 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 cup All Purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. Baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. instant coffee (I used Via)
1 ½ cups dried cherries (that have been soaked in hot water for 20 minutes, drained and patted dry)
1 lb. chocolate (use the best quality chocolate you can afford. With a serrated knife cut chocolate chunks roughly 1/2 inch)
1/2 teaspoon good quality salt, for sprinkling on top before baking

Cream the butter and the sugars until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes on medium high.

Scrape down the side of the bowl. Continue mixing while adding the eggs one at time. Make sure each egg is incorporated before adding the next.

Add the vanilla and instant coffee. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula.

Combine the flour, soda and salt in another bowl. With a whisk to combine.

With the machine on low, slowly add the flour. Mix until just combined, taking care not to over mix. With a spatula fold in the chocolate and cherries.

If you so choose, and I do recommend that you do, sprinkle a very fine dusting of good quality sea salt.

Bake at 360* for 12 minutes. They should be lightly golden on the outside but still look gooey on the inside.

Adapted from Not Without Salt