Breakfast cookies

Today was baking day. I wanted to make a cookie that would offer a bit more energy than just a sugar rush. I had some extra bacon that I needed to use up, and I remembered Breakfast Cookies. Fortunately Taste of Home had a recipe. Here's theirs:

Breakfast cookies:

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
10 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
2 cups cornflakes
1/2 cup raisins

Directions

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Combine flour and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in bacon, cornflakes and raisins.
Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 15-18 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 2 dozen.

I didn't have any cornflakes, and the comments on the recipe complained that they made it too crunchy anyway. So I used 2 cups of oatmeal. Essentially these are oatmeal raisin cookies with crumbled bacon.

It makes for sweet cookies with curiously tasty and crunchy salty bits. The bacon flavor is a bit weird at first bite, but then it tastes really good. I don't think I'd dispense them as breakfast, but as an afternoon snack, they can't be beat.

Springtime sun

It's been in the 70's out here in southern Cali. (Disappointing, really ... we've had like zero winter and this is looking to be a dry, hot year.)

The upshot is, the kids can play outside. Mommy owes her continued sanity to the outdoors.

This is the munchkins dipping the brooms in a puddle and "painting" the sidewalk. The baby stuck her hands in it until the jibblies overcame me, and I dragged her inside to wash her hands.

Munchkin #2 is undergoing potty training. She's almost got it after only three or four days. I just have to harp on her all the time about if she needs to go, because she forgets. I'm sure after a month, she'll be good. That's how long it took munchkin #1.

Alex turns 5

Alex turned 5 yesterday. Since his cousins' birthday is two days after his, and his aunt just had a baby, we decided to combine birthday parties. Alas, I forgot to take my camera. But there were bubbles. And nerf guns. And cupcakes.

It was very pleasant, and the munchkins had a good time. Hopefully we didn't exhaust poor new mamma too badly. I got to see my new nephew and he's a sweetie.

Still no rain

We keep having storms that sweep over California. Each time the weathermen sigh and pronounce them "moisture starved".

See this cloud?

This was after a big ol' storm in which we got sprinkles. Not enough to even get the sidewalk wet. I think the Texas drought has moved to Cali.

The sun was bright.

And the smallest munchkin desperately wants to be outside. She escapes whenever I open the door. Fortunately, crawling babies don't move as fast as say, a running cat or dog, and I can catch her before she goes too far.

Also the older ones stand and yell, "Baby's escaping!"

I say come on March, and let's have some Spring. Maybe we'll even get some rain out of the deal.

Adventures with unleavened bread

Today I ran out of bread. So I went to make some more and discovered that I had also run out of yeast.

I've been reading about the Israelites in the desert, and the Passover, so I've had unleavened bread on the brain. I wondered what might happen if I just made my regular bread recipe and omitted the yeast. Since that's what traditional recipes seem to be, anyway. (I did research traditional Jewish breads, and they're more or less a regular bread recipe with no yeast.)

Here's the second batch.

Nice and flat and really chewy. I think it'll be good with peanut butter on it. The kids have been snacking on it.

My first batch, I forgot to poke with a fork, so they blimped out like popovers.

Undeterred, I cut holes in them and stuck them full of jam. I served them at dinner and they vanished.

So that's been my unleavened bread adventure. We'll see how well they do in the toaster tomorrow at breakfast. :-)

My recipe was something like:

2 cups water
1 egg
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp flaxseed meal (I've been sneaking it into baked goods lately just to use it up)
5 cups flour

Mix the wet ingredients then add flour until dough is firm enough to handle. Roll out on a greased cookie sheet and prick with fork before baking. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes, depending on how crunchy you want your breads.

Ketchup!

See what I made today?

Ketchup!

It even tastes like ketchup. The jar is a little steamy because it was still warm when I poured it in, and I used aluminum foil with the jar ring because I couldn't find a proper lid, but I don't expect this to hang around very long anyway.

Here's the recipe:

1 6 oz can of tomato paste
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder

Combine all ingredients in saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until smooth. When mixture boils, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes, stirring often. Remove pan from heat and cover until cool. Chill and store in covered container. Makes 1 1/2 cups.
From Top Secret Recipes

I used honey instead of corn syrup, and omitted the extra sugar. It came out a little on the sweet side. I think I should have reduced the honey to 1/4 a cup and worked up a tablespoon at a time until it tasted right.

I also only had red wine vinegar, but it doesn't seem to have affected the taste too much.

Also, thanks, Mom, for the batteries! :-)

Park day

Alas, I have no pictures because my camera is dead.

But my hubby left for school today. He was gone five minutes and I asked the munchkins, "Want to go to the park?"

I had planned on doing some school with them, drilling letters and counting pencils and drawing pictures. But ... dang it ... it's a nice day and I haven't been outside in three days. PARK DAY!!

So we hoofed it over to the park and let them run wild. Other kids came and went, so they had other people to play with. Claire wasn't happy about not being allowed to eat sand, so she sat in the stroller, or rode in swings, or sat on a blanket with mom. She's to that stage where she can crawl well, but she hates the feel of grass. So she just tentatively pats it and looks at her hand as if expecting spikes to be stuck in it.

I packed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and brownies, so they had a refuel snack at 10:30.

Hubby came and picked us up after he got off school at noon. By then we were all exhausted and hungry, especially mama.

I covertly tried to cross the monkey bars. I couldn't move my arm to the next bar. I'm absolutely pathetic. I need to run around the playground, myself, just to build some muscle. Is playground activity considered aerobic exercise?