Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

The quest for true domesticity continues. I tried to make apple crisp, which was a flop... BUT I made these delicious cookies and they turned out incredible!! I thought I would be 0/2 when I messed up the amount of baking powder. However, I managed to save it by tripling the recipe. So there are cookies galore at my house-- come visit!!

Ingredients:

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional-- I skipped these)

Directions: 1. Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well. 2. Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. 3. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

Dinner tonight...

Included these: delicious loaded mashed potatoes (they tasted amazing and they were so, so, easy) and these dinner rolls (with about a million more frozen in the freezer for future use). Thanks Thompson girls. I am contemplating making something pumpkin for dessert. Maybe there is hope for this undomestic goddess after all. =)

Help!

I know someone out there must know... How do you get baked on Pam off the sides of a glass casserole pan? It looks so icky. Any suggestions would be much appreciated...

One step closer to crazy cat lady status..

Cody Pablo is still alive and kickin' (and biting and scratching...)

Because he has been a bottle fed baby raised without a mom cat or littlermates his kitty manners.... leave a lot to be desired. I am like 90% certain that the vet techs draw straws on who has to take his temperature. He has been called everything from "naughty" to "obnoxious" to "mutant kitten". The thing is, he really is just playing and doesn't mean to be aggressive. But he is getting bigger and stronger and, well, the bad behavior is getting old...

So in an attempt to help him get out his playful energy and possibly be put in his place, we have a new member of the Stephenson household:

Saffron. This picture really does not do justice to her cuteness but she is terrifically wiggly and it was one of the only the pictures I could capture of her face. I had contemplated adding a second cat on Facebook and someone I knew from high school contacted me and said he had a litter of cats he was trying to find homes for. Slightly older than Cody and a little bit bigger. She was the only girl in the litter and was used to keeping her brothers in line. Sounds perfect. He had named her Saffron. We had intended to use Saffron as a middle name (since apparently all our cats must have two names) and choose a new first name. I wanted either a Shakespearan Heroine or a famous psychologist. Isaac wanted to keep our Backyardigans theme going and continually suggested "Tasha" or "Uniqua". Anyways, it took too long to decide and in the meantime she has just been Saffron, so we are keeping it.

We have been keeping them seperate for now and introducing them slowly.

She doesn't seem to care for Cody a whole lot (she will sniff him and will tolerate him batting at her face a few times before she starts hissing).

On the other hand... he is obsessed with her and spends many hours now like this...

Parked outside her door listening for her, sticking his paws underneath and talking to her. So we are trying to take our time with the introductions so that she isn't traumatized and hopefully they get along. Oh, and the vet told me she is old enough to get pregnant (What?!?), so that adds a whole new twist while we wait for them to both get fixed in the upcoming weeks..

Keep your fingers crossed that they soon become fast friends...

Liveable green

A rainy Saturday afternoon.... A huge drum of FREE "Livable Green" (sage green) paint inherited from my parents when they painted their basement... A fantasticly hardworking brother... A handsome little helper... Hurray! My kitchen isn't blindingly white anymore!!! (the only shot I can take right now that wouldn't be littered with dirty dishes or other detritus that seems to be magnetically drawn to all surfaces in my kitchen)...

Feel good story??

Am I the only one who reads this differently? I think this story is a bit sickening and terrifically sad. This boy was obviously a talented basketball player but because he was autistic he was never considered to be an actual player. Just the token special ed water boy despite obvious basketball talent. This is NOT inclusion. Thoughts?

It's been way to long. I will try to do some updates this weekend. First and foremost, I have a camera again! My fabulous aunt gave me one that she didn't need anymore. So pictures are back. Wahoo! Recently we went to a huge cornmaze. There were actually three individual ones. They were insane!!! I didn't think we would ever make it out...

Wondering if we would be spending the night among cornstalks...

2 miles later the end is in sight! (and that was the easiest of the three!) Isn't he handsome?? The other big news is Isaac is officially old enough to play soccer in the under six league at North Coventry Soccer. He is on team purple, with two other boys and three girls. He loves it. I am actually enjoying being a soccer mom. It's so fun. I find myself getting a little competitive and having to remind myself that they are 4,5 and 6...

He's number 5.

He loves wearing his "knee paddles" (shin guards) even when it isn't game day...