Cookie Confessional

Last week it was my turn to provide "Sweet Rewards" for Relief Society. Our presidency hatched this idea to encourage the sisters to report their community service hours, as requested by our stake leaders. So off I skipped to church on Sunday with a basket full of goodies.

Each beribboned cello bag held six cookies. They looked good. (Presentation is everything!) I had made up a few bags of toffee meringues for my gluten-free friends but the bulk of the basket was chocolate chip. That's the cookie my first counselor had brought the previous week so I repeated it for continuity.

Chocolate chip is not my fave.

I just don't find much to be charmed by the average recipe, unless it's been doctored up quite a bit. Nuts or oatmeal at the very least. The more the better. A few months ago I stumbled across an amazing chocolate chip pecan coconut version at Flour Girls and Dough Boys. Yummy. Unfortunately, that bakery is in American Fork, Utah and I am not.

My college roommate Erika was a master (doctor?!) of messing with the cookie -- she never used a recipe, just tossed in whatever sounded good. And they were good. Now Erika has joined the ranks of my gluten-free friends, but she's passed the cookie making torch to her daughter. Unfortunately for me, they're both in Utah with all those yummy bakeries. Fair? I think not.

So last Saturday I set out to make a mess of cookies. Maybe it was because I knew I'd also be making toffee meringues from scratch, or perhaps is was my innate lack of enthusiasm for chocolate chip cookies, but the first thing I pulled out was a tub-o-dough from Costco. It was a first.

I dumped the contents into the kitchenaid, added pecans, coconut and oatmeal (and some Penzey's vanilla for good measure) and mixed until it looked good. Then I used an ice-cream-style scoop to place perfectly portioned rounds onto parchment-lined cookie sheets and into the oven they went. By the way, the scoop is the key to achieving uniform cookies. People notice. (Presentation is everything!)

So this morning when Sister Clark (Aloha!) called to ask for the "recipe" I laughed. And then I shared it with her. Here's the printable version:

Cliff's Gourmet Cookies
1 tub of dough from Costco
chopped pecans, to taste
coconut, to taste
oatmeal, mashed between clean hands, to taste
Penzey's vanilla, to taste

Mix. Drop by rounded scoop onto parchment lined sheets. Bake. Cool. Enjoy.

Miss Congeniality

I got another one. But again, I cannot complain...


Last night was Kate's first Stake Softball Tournament experience, and the first time we went as a family to cheer her on.

Of course it wasn't MY first stake softball tournament. No, after years of serving in Young Women I am well versed in this super fun stake tradition and have become accustomed to cheering loud and long for our ward's batters -- with an emphasis on the loud. Because it's just more fun that way.

John joined me in cheering/heckling. My reassuring "don't worry, not your fault" called out to less-successful batters was echoed by his slightly more aggressive "you don't need to swing at the bad pitches" jab, which did not go unnoticed by the pitchers. (Of course, true to form, I was the one who caught grief for the comment.)

Kate bore it all extremely well.

While we cheered on Kate and the team, Anna roamed around socializing and helping herself to free snowcones. And once the sun went down and the heat index dipped into the 90s it became downright tolerable out there at the ball field.

I think it was around sunset, as our ward was playing our ward (double the fun, since I only heckle my own) that Brother Jolivette said I reminded him of Sandra Bullock.

Must have been the heat...

Lasagna Love

This has always been my favorite food.
John makes it best. Here is his recipe:

Basic Ingredients:
1 medium onion
1 lb hamburger
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 large can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
salt & pepper
basil (fresh is best)
1 box lasagna noodles -- ubiquitous Barilla
1 lb shredded mozzarella cheese
grated fresh parmesan cheese

Besciamella ingredients:
4 Tbsp - flour
6 Tbsp - butter
3 cups 1% milk (hot)
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Ragu Instructions
Dice/chop medium onion.
Saute in olive oil until transparent on medium heat.
Brown ground beef -- add salt & pepper to taste. Drain off excess fat.
Add crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce.
Add basil to taste. Simmer for 30-45 mins.

Besciamella Instructions
(do this while your sauce is simmering)
Melt 6 tablespoons butter. Add flour slowly and whisk.
Continue to cook until golden. Add milk -- 1 cup at a time, whisking constantly.
Add nutmeg. Whisk constantly until mixture thickens, but do not allow to boil.

Lasagna Noodles
(cook these while sauce/besciamella are cooking):
Cook box of lasagna noodles according to instructions. Don't overcook.
Drain. Rinse with cold water until cooled, so you can handle them.
You will use 9 - 12 noodles depending on whether you do a 3-layer or 4-layer lasagna.

Assembly
Place meat sauce on the bottom of your pan.
Add three lasagna noodles.
Add meat sauce on top of the noodles.
Add besciamella sauce (about 1/2 - 3/4 cup).
-Repeat for each layer-
Add mozzarella to top layer, top with parmesan.
Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees F., covered with foil the first 30 mins.

Delicious.