That's a big mallow

At the grocery store today, I saw the most amazing sight.

What's so great about that big bag of marshmallows? Let me show you.

What? That looks like any old marshmallow? How can you even say that?

Just look how enormous it is compared to that scrawny little normal "big" marshmallow. Seriously, it is at least four times bigger. There's just one thing I can think of to do with that kind of a marshmallow.

That's right. Light up some charcoal and roast it into a gooey, luscious s'more. Finger lickin' good.

Just wait until I surprise my young women on Wednesday night. They think they love to play "Chubby Bunny" with regular marshmallows? They ain't seen nothin' yet.

Snickerdoodles

It's no secret that I make a lot of cookies. It is probably my favorite hobby. A cookie has got to be worth the calories. I am a self-described pastry snob. I don't eat baked goods just because they are there. They have got to be premium. Don't ever try to feed me a Marie Callendar's pie or a grocery store cookie. I'd rather lick the sidewalk.

I don't often get to choose the cookie I make. The kids (or their friends) make their requests, and I obey. When I do get to choose, I always choose snickerdoodles.

This recipe was Mark's grandmother's. It is absolutely the best snickerdoodle recipe ever. Be prepared to hear, "Wow, I didn't know that snickerdoodles could actually taste good."

Snickerdoodles
1/2 c butter
1/2 c butter-flavored Crisco
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 c flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
Directions:
Cream shortening, butter and sugar together. Add eggs and vanilla. Add sifted dry ingredients. Form into balls. Roll balls in a mixture of 2 TBSP sugar + 2 tsp cinnamon. Place dough balls 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet, and smash slightly with your palm. Bake 8-10 minutes at 400 degrees.

If you don't have somethin' nice to say....

Many of you know that on the day we moved into our house 8 years ago, I smashed my big toe basically off. It was horrible, and the ER surgeon was quite proud of his reconstruction. He told me I would likely not grow a new nail, and that I was missing about .25 inch of the tarsal bone. I still can't feel the end of the toe, and as long as I keep my nails painted, it really isn't obvious which toe is "special." Yesterday one of my sons, who shall remain nameless, said, "Mom, I really can't tell which of your toes is the smashed one." I told him it was amazing how well it had healed. He said, "No, I meant that they are both just so ugly that I can't tell which one is messed up." Yeah. My feet are definitely not my best feature.

The thought that counts

Today was a really fun Mother's Day. It was nice of Noah to load the dishwasher for me. Here's what I found when I opened the dishwasher to unload it. You can't tell very well from this picture, but the pan is completely full of water and the muffin tin is submerged. Actually, it is three muffin tins all stacked inside of each other. But it's the thought that counts. I love my Noah. I might have a talk with him about the basic rules of hydraulics, gravity and drains. But I think I will actually just let him still believe that a dishwasher is just a magical machine that makes dishes clean if you just put them inside of it. At least until he is 9.

Nature Lesson

As I was out running this morning, it was necessary to watch my step. We have a had a few windy days here, and there were many cones along the sides of the roads. Those dang cones could cause a good run to go bad by twisting an ankle. But as I was staring at my path ahead in one particular area, I couldn't help but notice that the cones on the ground did not match the trees that were overhead. They had blown from the other side of the street.

And that gave me the idea for my blog post today. I'll start with a quiz.

What is this?:

Sorry. That's incorrect. It's a fir cone. Let's try another.














Wrong again. This one is a spruce cone. A Norway Spruce to be exact.




Next?







Oooooh. Good guess. This one is a hemlock cone. Last try.

What do you know? It IS a pine cone.

A few years ago, I didn't know my trees. And then we planted 3,000 conifers, and I quickly learned the differences in not only their needles and general shapes, but also their cones. And one day I had one of those moments where you slap your forehead and say, "DUH!" out loud when it occurred to me that what I had been referring to as PINE CONES my entire life were likely not pine cones. Pine cones come from pine trees, fir cones grow on fir trees, hemlock trees produce hemlock cones.

Our kids all know this, too. They will give you a funny look if you ever refer to something as a pine cone when it is NOT a pine cone. They will politely correct you. Same with the needles. In fact, if you do actually find pine needles, the kids will probably ask you, "Is it a 2-needle pine or a 3-needle pine?"

So next time you are hiking (or running), notice the cones on the ground and then look up to see if they fell from a pine tree or a fir tree.

Just to show you how insane our family is about this, when I was in Omaha, I went to the Images of Nature gallery in The Old Market. Mark and I used to go there to daydream in our poor student days. I saw this photograph that I wanted, along with a few others.
I texted Mark a picture of this one and the 2 others I liked, and asked him which was his favorite. He responded, "The owl in the spruce tree." It made me giggle. What other guy would have known that the owl was sitting in a spruce and not in a pine tree?

Yeah. That's how we roll.

Zucchini Muffins

I have always loved zucchini muffins. I have tried many different recipes, and always been slightly unhappy with the result. But a couple of months ago I found this amazing recipe. I never could have guessed that dried cherries were the magical missing ingredient.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

3/4 c sugar

3/4 c brown sugar

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground nutmeg

3/4 cups vegetable oil

1/2 cup applesauce

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups shredded zucchini (about 2 medium)

1 cup shredded carrot (about 1 large carrot)

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans

1 cup chopped dried cherries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325. Combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl. Mix the oil, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla extract in another bowl and pour into the dry mixture. Mix until thoroughly combined. Add the zucchini, carrot, nuts, and dried fruit and mix until just combined. Coat 2 muffin pans with cooking spray or use paper liners. Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full, using an ice cream scoop or a 1/4 c measuring cup. Place the pans on the center rack in the oven and bake for approximately 20 to 25 minutes, or until the muffins spring back when touched. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and let the muffins cool completely directly on the rack.Number Of Servings:24

Mad Scientist

To say that Joel is obsessed with Albert Einstein would be an understatement. In second grade, he had to give a report about a famous person. I believe that is when the infatuation began when he selected Einstein. His report went something like this: Albert Einstein got married. Then he got divorced. Then he married his cousin. Those are three important facts about Albert Einstein.

One happy scientist

Joel will be wearing his new lab coat for pretty much any occasion he can get away with.

A birthday surprise

Yesterday was Joel's birthday, and my mom surprised him with a lab coat that has "Albert Einstein" embroidered on it. Just what every 11-year-old boy wants for his birthday. The look on his face when he opened it was priceless. I'm sure he'll probably try to sneak it into church in the book bag tomorrow.