Nostalgia (No Bake Cookies)

 

Now that we're expecting Henne-baby number 2 (who, we found out, is actually Henne-Girl!) I've been thinking a lot about the things that I used to do with my mom when I was growing up.  Every mother tries to be the best she can be, and I've been thinking a lot about what that means to me.  I haven't come up with anything that would make a coherent post yet, just a lot of disjointed ideas and manic lists running through my brain, and I'll sort all that out at a later date.  The only thing my pregnant mind could think of today was No Bake Cookies.

I haven't made these cookies for at least 15 years, but I think about them a lot.  To me, they symbolize childhood.  My mom would make up the mixture and we would spoon them onto wax paper and wait patiently (hahaha) for them to set up in the fridge before devouring as many as we could.  The leftovers would go in the flat red Tupperware container with the opaque lid, where they would sit, quietly tempting us, until after dinner when my father got to them and they were no more.

Planning, Planning, Planning...

Now that I'm up and back on my feet after this pregnancy sickness, I've started cooking again.  The nice thing about not cooking, I've learned over the past 6 months, is that when you don't cook, you don't have to think about what you're not cooking.  No grocery lists (beyond bread, peanut butter and jelly), no menus, no recipes, no nothing.  I'd be lying if I said that wasn't nice.

Now that we're in the swing of things, turns out my family still needs to eat every day.  Who know that families were so high maintenance?  I've experimented with some menu planning systems, from dry erase calendars to a recipe holder with the days of the week on the front, but I just can't seem to find one that I like.  I think part of the problem was that I was over thinking it.  We eat about 15-20 different things in rotation.  If I had a way to keep track of what we'd eaten recently, an easy to read format, and a place to put all this nifty information, my Type A organizer brain would be happy.

Fresh (Greek Pita Pizza)

So...it's been a while.  

 

First, we remodeled our kitchen (yay!) and I wasn't able to cook or bake for almost 12 weeks. 

Then, I had a beautiful new kitchen.

Then, I woke up one morning to take the exam to get certified to administer chemotherapy.  This is a certification that I've wanted to get since I started nursing school.  A friend from work and I took the class together, driving up to North Jersey to this tiny little community hospital and sitting in a freezing cold room with no windows through boring lectures about side effects and IV access and tumor lysis syndrome.  And on the morning of the last day of the class when we were to sit for the exam, I took another test of my own.  

Turns out, we have a Hennebaby 2.0 on the way!!

After the Holidays (Honey Cranberry Scones)

 

So it's been a while.  There were holidays and trips and cleaning and work and all those other things that make up a life.  But today there was a break in the action, and the kiddo and I had a play date with our neighbors across the way.   I love our neighborhood; our neighbors are some of the sweetest you could hope for.  There are trees and grass and other kids to play with once Chase gets big enough to care about playing with other kids.  This is a wonderful place to raise a family, and as more young families move in around us the happier I am that we chose to live here.

In the interest of time and healthy yumminess, I opted for this easy scone recipe for our mid morning snack.  I used whole wheat flour and only a few tablespoons of brown sugar to up the health factor (or at least decrease the dessert factor) and added dried cranberries.  You could easily substitute whatever fruit you have on hand or have a hankering for.  Just make sure you share them with friends.  :-)