Merry Christmas Cookies!

 Sam's second playdate was a success!  Our friends Jess (the mama) and Cayden came over this afternoon.  First order of business: lunch!  The boys had quite a feast- eggplant fries courtesy of Jess- yum!, cheese, chicken, roast acorn squash, and tofu- the mom's had sandwiches!

Sam was in awe of Cayden's ability to walk- he's so close to crawling!

See!  Crawling is so close, yet so far- finally getting that belly off the ground.  Go Sammy, go!

Then they played pass the pacifier (ew, but funny) and tease the doggie!

Next up- tissue paper shredding!  Who knew we had so many fun things to play with at our house?  They were so sweet with each other- Sam definitely needs to hang out with other kiddos more often.  Mama is old news- other babies are so fun to poke and be poked by!

While the boys crawled, cruised, walked, and fell over, Jess and I got busy decorating!  I've mentioned my 1st edition Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book before- I still love it.  It's just so...of the times.  It suggests broiled grapefruit, peanut butter-bacon canapes, and jellied bouillon for appetizers and has a three page spread on table service.

Considering how much I enjoy keeping house, I think I was born in the wrong era.    Though I'm pretty sure my Where the Wild Things Are t-shirt would not have been considered appropriate mommy attire for a playdate...or ever.

 

I followed the recipe for the light dough:

1/3 cup soft shortening (I used unsalted butter)

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

2/3 cup honey (I used half honey, half maple syrup)

1 tsp vanilla

2 3/4 cups flour (I used King Arthur White Whole Wheat)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Mix together thoroughly: shortening/butter, sugar, egg, honey, and vanilla.  Sift together and stir in: flour, baking soda, and salt.

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes (I baked for 8 minutes and they came out perfect!)

These have a definite honey taste and are super sweet, but isn't that what you want in a iced sugar cookie?  Besides, I think people who say things are "too sweet" are bonkers.  

 

Rather than dealing with homemade frosting, I bought the Betty Crocker cookie icing.  It worked perfectly and was pretty much mess free- love!  The taste isn't half bad either...I love how I'm being so non-committal about the taste- I've eaten like 7 cookies!  They are delicious. 

Must give them all away NOW.   

 

This one is clearly my favorite- that white blob would be a shout out to my hometown!

A race to remember

I missed running.  After running a half marathon last year, I lost my drive.  Burn out is totally real, plus I had pretty much crippled my hips with poor training.  

Then I got pregnant and had the perfect excuse to stick to walking.  Running with a basketball attached to your front is awkward and ya know, I didn't want the baby to fall out.  

After Sam was born all I wanted to do was get out of the house, but my stupid c-section benched me for 6 weeks.  Around week 4 I decided to throw caution to the wind and walk the dog.  I didn't die.  At week 8, I ran my first mile and I've been trying to get my groove back ever since.

But then I had another excuse- I was SO tired.  There is a reason sleep deprivation is used as torture- after weeks of no sleep, I would have confessed to pretty much anything just to get some shut eye.

I signed up for the Memphis Soul 5K BBQ run in the midst of my postpartum haze.  I  figured it would motivate me to get in shape.

It didn't. 

And then...out of nowhere...a miracle happened.  Sam slept through the night.  12 beautiful hours of peace and quiet.  Then, he did it again.  And again.  A whole week of glorious sleep- I was beyond thrilled.  

My cheer squad!

Any race that starts at a bar has got to be a good time.

This would be my pace- what up, slow folks?  The 10 minute pace group was HUGE and likely full of a more than a few liars.  10 minute miles are no joke. 

I finished in 36:27 which would be a 11:44 minute mile- booyeah!

And then I came home and made bread.  I know, I know- not the best way to cool down, but so, so worth it.  Plus, since I didn't buy bread this week, Nick's sandwiches would have been very sad without it.

I followed this recipe from TheKitchn to the letter and it was wonderful! The tutorials were also super helpful.

Sometimes I like to pretend that I'm one of those fancy bloggers who gets everything all set up and pretty and uses a light box to get the perfect shot....then I stop being polite and start getting real.  Please note the giant stuffed carrot in the background. 

Does anyone else think that sea monkeys and yeast are the same thing?  Alive, yet not alive...and 100% weird.

Kneading is seriously so much fun.

My first rise was in the oven with just the light on.  This provides just enough warmth to get the dough puffing.

Check out that crumb!!!

 

 

 

 

 

If only I had a video of the bread happy dance I did after this came out of the oven...I probably wouldn't post it, but I would watch it on bad days and remember how completely awesome I am.

Finally, a PSA for you, good readers- don't start making bread at 6:45 PM.  You will be up LATE. 

Scenes from a weekend