Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

So I realize that most people probably know how to make cookies, but I love Oatmeal Raisin so much I had to post this. Nothing fancy here, I just use the recipe on the lid of the Quaker Oat can.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 lbs (2 sticks) softened butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
2 eggs (room temp)
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups old fashioned oats (uncooked)
1 cup raisins (I used more like 2 cups b/c I love raisins)

DIRECTIONS
1) Beat butter and sugars together until creamy
2) Add eggs and vanilla, mix well
3) Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Slowly add to butter mixture and beat until well blended.
4) Stir in oats and raisins
5) Drop by rounded spoonfuls unto a greased cookie sheet
6) Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes
7) Let cookies sit on pan for about 1 minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool
*this made about 45 cookies for me :) YUM!

Beef Stroganoff

I have always made Beef Stroganoff using ground beef, noodles, and a creamy sauce made from sour cream and cream of mushroom soup. There is nothing wrong with it, but tonight I tried making a different version of Beef Stroganoff that my friend Michaela showed me. I am sure I left out something from what she originally told me, but this is what I did :)

Ingredients:
Sirloin Beef Tips - 1 lbs (room temp)
Olive Oil
Butter
1/2 cup chicken broth
Mushrooms
Onion - 1 medium
Seasonings to taste (I used garlic salt, pepper, and a hickory flavored steak seasoning)
Cream of Mushroom Soup - 1 can
French Onion Soup - 1 can

Instructions:
Start by heating a little butter and olive oil in a saute pan and cook/sear the beef tips on all sides. You don't have to cook them all the ways through because they will cook more in the crock pot. Season the beef with whatever spices you like.

Once the beef tips are seared, place them in the crock pot along with the french onion soup and cream of mushroom soup. To get the flavor of the beef drippings out of the pan, heat the chicken broth in the same saute pan while scraping the bottom. Add this to the crock pot as well. Cook on high for about 2 hours and reduce heat to low.

About an hour before you are ready to eat, slice up the onion and mushrooms and saute in some butter and olive oil. Since mushrooms loose their moisture when salted, wait to season the mushrooms until they are fully heated through. I also added a little balsamic vinegar and white wine to give the veggies more flavor. Add the sauteed onions and mushrooms (and any liquid) to the crock pot as well. Continue to cook on low for another hour.

Be sure to stir periodically and taste the sauce; adding seasonings as you like. I like the sauce to be a little thicker, so I added some corn starch as well. If you do use corn starch or flour to thicken the sauce, be careful not to add too much, or it can alter the flavor of the sauce.

When you are ready to eat, serve the beef tips and sauce over cooked noodles (or rice) and enjoy :)

This made enough for Brandon and I to each have a good sized portion tonight, and still have about 4 servings of leftovers. Yum! Thanks Michaela!

This is not my picture, but it looked similar to mine.

???

Is it bad that as soon as I find out/plan/know that somebody is coming over to our house, the first thing I do/think is of what I can cook for them??

My family (parents, brother, and sister-in-law) are coming over for Christmas and I am already planning what I can cook and bake.
Traditional or nontraditional? How many side dishes? How many desserts? What healthy options can I make? How much of everything do I make? Should I make some things before hand and freeze? Oh how I love to cook/bake! wait a minute...IT IS ONLY OCTOBER!!!! I think I have a problem...

In other news... my dog just sneezed on my husband... I laughed :)

Black and Whites

Whenever Brandon is in a show, I tell him to put all the cast members names in a hat, and draw one out. Whoever he draws, gets to pick a treat for me to make the cast. (last time is was the Suessical cake) This time a girl requested Black and White Cookies (also called Half Moons). I had never heard of these before, and the girl said that she remembered them from being in New York and has never been able to find them since. I looked up several recipes on line, and the common theme was that they are from New York bakeries, and must be really hard to duplicate the original taste. Most of the comments I found were of people reminiscing about these cookies from when they were little, or when they lived in NYC, and that although the taste was close, it wasn't quite right. Well, I have no idea if I am remotely in the ballpark but here is the recipe I used (I tweaked and combined a few different recipes):

Cookies:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 3/4 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

1- Cream butter and sugar together until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and beat in between each egg. Add the milk, vanilla, and lemon. 

2- In a separate bowl stir together cake flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. 

3- Add dry ingredients to the egg mixture gradually, mixing well between each addition.

4- Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup (maybe a little less) to spoon batter on a greased cookie sheet and flatten slightly. You want them to be about an inch thick. (These cookies are a little on the bigger side)

5- Bake at 375 for 11-14 minutes or until edges JUST start to turn brown (they are very easy to burn, so watch them)

6- Use a THIN metal spatula to remove from cookie sheet, and cool before frosting.
 

White Frosting:

•  3 Cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2 Tbsp light corn syrup 
• 1 Tbsp butter 
• 1 1/2 tsp clear imitation vanilla extract
• Enough hot water to achieve desired consistency.

1- Combine ingredients and whisk until smooth
2- Frost half of the cookie with white frosting and wait until set before frosting the other half with the black frosting.

Black Frosting:

• Follow the same recipe as the white, but add  4 oz semi-sweet chocolate. 

1- In a double boiler, melt chocolate and add to the frosting.
2- If you want a richer taste, add more chocolate.
3- You will probably have to use more hot water than the white frosting to get the right consistency.
4- Frost the other half of cookie, and enjoy.

**Amy's Notes**
*These are very simple tasting cookies (remind me of a fortune cookie) with a thick/dense texture, with a hint of lemon. They are not crispy at all, and are more cake-like.
*For the frosting- if you want to spread the frosting on with a knife, leave it a little thicker.
*However, if you want a really smooth and shiny finish, add more hot water and make the frosting a little on the thin side.  Use a piping bag with a fine circular tip to make a boarder first and allow to dry. Once you have the boarder, fill in with the middle and allow to set/dry. This way there will not be any marks/streaks and the frosting will dry very smooth. (this is what I did) It took a while longer, but it looked nice.

Mud Factor 5k

The day started off early (5:30 AM) by waking up to get ready for our second 5K. It was a run with various obstacles along the route called Mud Factor.

In our information packet that was sent to us, we were told to arrive 1 to 1 1/2 hours prior to our wave time to make sure there was ample time for parking, registration, and general "getting ready". Waves were every half and hour starting at 9:00 AM, and the last wave was at 1:00 PM. Our wave was at 9:30, so technically we were supposed to show up between 8:00 and 8:30... lets just say my math skills were taking a vacation for the day and we ended up getting there at 7:00 AM.

We were the first people there (if that wasn't obvious) and even got there before the volunteers that were working the race. So, we had ample time to walk around the location, take pictures, and try to keep warm (it was around 55 degrees).

We decided to just run in the 9:00 wave instead of waiting around another half hour, and we figured nobpody would notice. Once the race started, we ran over hills, climbed over and under walls, through a muddy creek bed, jumped over hay bales, across a railroad bridge, through a tunnel, across another creek, and over a cargo net. I have no idea how many people ended up running over the course of the day, but there were a LOT! We finished the race in about 40 minutes.

After the race there were wash stations, a beer tent, music, food, and keg toss. Since one of the last parts of the run was going through a creek, most of our mud got washed off so the pictures don't really look too dirty.

Before the run

Cargo net - last obstacle

 My absolute favorite pair of tennis shoes were from my freshmen year of high school. Our whole basketball team got matching shoes, and I just always loved them. Although I have super glued them multiple times and they were really in pretty bad shape (in some spots the tread was completely worn smooth), I could never get rid of them.... until now. I decided to give my shoes one last blaze of muddy glory before giving them the toss. It was a good 11 years :)

Worn off tread... at one point the bottoms were light blue

Before the race

After the run.  Most of the mud fell off or got washed off in the water.

Cheese and Herb Pull-Apart Bread

Here is a yummy new recipe I tried for a cheese herb pull-apart bread. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
4 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbs snipped chives
3 to 4 Tbs herbs (I used oregano, dill, and basil)
Cheddar cheese - grated
Milk - to glaze

Directions:
 1) Put yeast, sugar, and 1/2 cup warm water in a small bowl and stir until well mixed. Leave in a warm place  for 10 minutes or until the mixture is frothy and has increased in volume. **Note** If the mix does not froth, it means the yeast is dead and you will have to start over.
 

 2) Sift flour and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle, add yeast mixture, and 1 cup warm water. Mix until it sticks together in a soft dough.

3) Take dough out of bowl onto a floured surface and knead until smooth (aprox 10 minutes).

4) Place dough into a large greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a damp dishtowel until dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour.

5) Punch dough down and knead for a minute or two. Divide the dough into 3 inch flattened circles (about 20 circles)

6) Mix chives and herbs together in a small bowl

7) Lay one of the dough circles flat and sprinkle with a tsp or so of the herb mix and then with cheese (amount as desired)
                              
8) Press another circle of dough on top and repeat with remaining herbs/cheese and dough circles.

9) Grease a loaf pan and squish the circles together as you set them upright in the pan. Cover and set in a warm place for about 30-45 minutes or until well risen.

10) Brush the loaf with a little milk and bake for about 30 minutes in a 400 degree oven or until top is brown and crusty. Cool and enjoy :)

GLOW RUN 5K

Chase, Richelle, Amy, & Brandon... Glow Run 2012, "Team Ermahgerd" :)

 Ok, not a post about baking but.... I RAN MY FIRST 5K!!

It was the Glow Run in Omaha, NE with my hubby and a few good friends. The race started at 8:40PM and everybody was decked out in glow-sticks, neon clothing, glow paint, glitter, etc. I even got Brandon some gloves with sequins and light up finger tips! :)

My first goal was to run the whole race without walking
My second goal was to run it with an 11 minute mile pace

I met both goals and finished with a time of 29:10 (chip time) and getting the overall 1268th place out of +3500, and 204th out of 513 in my age group. YAY!! It was insane that so many people showed up. I actually didn't even cross the "starting line" until the race was about a minute and a half in... there were THAT many people in front of me!! CRAZY! Along the route there were "glow stations" which were groupings of black lights that you could run under and really see the glowing goodness!
I had glow bracelets, necklace, ear rings, face paint, neon fishnets, glow nail polish, lipstick, and of course the bright orange hair :) It looks fun in the pictures, but even better under the black lights!

Getting pumped up before the race

Post race with our medals!

 This was an awesome experience and I am so glad I got to do this with such wonderful people. This morning Brandon and I actually signed up for a couple more 5Ks in the coming months. The next one will be at the end of September and is a "Halloween Fun Run", so we will have to think of costumes. The other is in November and is called the "Beer and Bagel Run". It is actually a little over 4 miles instead of a 5K and is more of a tail run rather than pavement.

PS: Shout out to my Sister-in-law and a bunch of friends that did the Zombie Run 5K the same day in St Louis, MO! Looks like it was fun!