Recipe Thing

Just wanted to pass along a really neat website I happened to find. It's called RecipeThing (similar concept to LibraryThing). You can add, catagorize, print, and email your recipes as well as search other's recipes. I've only added two of mine (mostly because I feel guilty that I'm not adding Andrew's books to LibraryThing, which was supposed to be his Christmas present last year. . . ).

The reason I'm posting this is to ask any of you who might be interested in adding your recipes to let me know your username so that I can add you to my "friend's list," and we can swap recipes. And, yes, I did just watch the movie Julie and Julia which has inspired me in the realm of cooking that much more. My username is AnchorJules40.

Chewy Chocolate Cherry Cookies

Chewy Chocolate-Cherry Cookies

1 cup all purpose flour (about 4 1/2 oz.)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg
2/3 cup dried tart cherries
3 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking Spray
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with mixer at high speed until well blended. Add vanilla and egg; beat well. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture. Beat just until combined. Fold in cherries and chocolate chips.
3. Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or just until set. Remove from oven; cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire racks. Yield: 30 cookies.

The Little Chef

The Finished Product=One Happy Little Boy!

New Smyrna Beach June 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Favorite Flowers

Okay, so I'm a really, really, really amateur gardener (can't overemphasize that point too much), but I love flowers and planting them reminds me of my Grandaddy who had an amazingly green thumb. Plants of all shapes and sizes loved him. He tried to pass that gift along to me, but I'm not too sure it transferred. It's been 10 years last month since he passed away from cancer and I've been missing him alot lately. It just seems that "playing in the dirt" brings back so many great memories with him that I was inspired this year to subdue our backyard and add some colorful flowers.
So far, I have lantana, begonias, petunias, marigolds, straw flowers, and tomato plants in the ground and wave petunias (my favorite), spoon flowers, impatiens, gerber daisies and a couple of other things in pots. It's been a fun project, and eventhough I know that the results are not amazing or anything, I hope Grandad would be proud! Also, (since I'm just learning) if anyone has suggestions as far as flowers they love (that preferably do not require massive amounts of attention), please pass them along. Here are a couple of pics of my attempts:

Ethan Language

Now that Ethan is starting to "talk" more, we've had fun hearing his own little version of different words. Here are some that make us laugh right now (I'll try to write them phonetically):
-"wa-du" is water or any type of liquid.
-"fla-du" is a flower, which Ethan loves to blow on (we can't figure out why he blows on flowers rather than smells them?!).
-"spi-du" is a spider or anything that resembles a bug (including a piece of black lint on the floor in our bedroom!).
-"Me-mo" is Nemo, of Finding Nemo. If he can't think of anything else to say, he pulls this one out.
-"Lu-ey" is my parents' dog, Lucy. It's funny, because now even Mom calls her Louie.
-"Go" is a car.
-"Pa-pu" is my Dad, who was originally "Papper" (like Pastor), but Ethan changed his name to Papu, and I don't think Dad is too keen on it!
-"Fa-fel" is a waffle, part of his favorite meal--breakfast!
-"Man-na" is a banana, the other part of his favorite meal.
-"Dar-der" is his cousin Carter-his favorite play buddy.
-"Beat" is his pacifier, which we call a binky. When he wakes up at night and drops his binky out of his crib, we hear him wailing, "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh beat!" It's pretty funny (and way too dramatic). Speaking of, if anyone has any ideas of getting rid of a pacifier, pleast let me know. I tried the whole cutting off part of it until it was gone, but then it started ripping and I had to throw it away so he wouldn't swallow part of it. Any other ideas would be much appreciated!

Ethan's Birthday - A Visit to the Georgia Aquarium

Make a Smilebox postcard

Snow Day 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow