Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Happy late Thanksgiving!  As we fly into Christmas season, my hungry boyfriend and roommates start requesting more sugar filled baked goods. I was only too happy to come through for them last night with Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip cookies! Yummmm thank you Kraftrecipes.com for this awesome recipe!  I usually have trouble getting cookies to come out right from scratch but these were perfect!  A great treat for the holiday season and easy to make.

Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, & Chocolate Chip Cookies



My cookies actually turned out like the picture!



What You Need

1 cup flour

1 cup  old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats

1/2 tsp. baking Powder

1/2 tsp.  baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup  butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup  packed brown sugar

1/2 cup Creamy Peanut Butter

1   egg

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 bag Semi-Sweet Chocolate chips

 

Make It

HEAT oven to 375°F. (I used 350 and they were great. If you use 375 don't keep them in more than 10 minutes!)
MIX first 5 ingredients until well blended Beat butter, sugars and peanut butter in large bowl with mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing well after each addition. Stir in chocolate.
DROP heaping tablespoonfuls of dough, 2 inches apart, onto baking sheets.
BAKE 10 to 12 min. or until lightly browned. Cool 1 min. on baking sheet; remove to wire racks. Cool completely.

Kraftrecipies.com

While looking for a dish to take to my family Thanksgiving, I came across a fantastic site! 

Kraftrecipies.com has just about any recipe you could possibly be looking for, and hundreds a great themed and holiday ideas.  Every recipe has easy to follow instructions and beautiful pictures.

I thought this looked delicious and fairly easy to make, so I'm going to give it a try!  But I might leave out the coconut...

 

Maple Leaf Oatmeal Pie

If you like pecan pie, you'll love this rich maple and coconut pie. Top it with cinnamon-spiked whipped cream for a Thanksgiving spectacular.

Prep Time: 25 mins

Total Time: 1 hr

Servings: Makes 8 servings

Ingredients

• 2   eggs, slightly beaten
• 3/4 cup  pure maple syrup or maple-flavored syrup
• 1/2 cup  granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup  packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup  milk
• 1/2 cup  butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon  vanilla
• 1 cup  flaked coconut
• 3/4 cup  rolled oats
• 1/2 cup  chopped walnuts
•   Pastry for Single-Crust Pie*
•   Cinnamon Whipped Cream Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. For filling: In a large bowl, combine eggs, maple syrup, granulated sugar, brown sugar, milk, butter, and vanilla. Stir in coconut, rolled oats, and walnuts. Pour filling into unbaked pastry shell

2. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center of pie comes out clean.

3. Cool on a wire rack. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate within 2 hours. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days (do not freeze). If desired, serve with Cinnamon Whipped Cream.

Makes 8 servings

Cinnamon Whipped Cream (optional): In a chilled medium bowl, combine 1 cup whipping cream, 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and dash ground nutmeg. Beat with chilled beaters of an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form (tips curl).

*Note: Or, use a refrigerated piecrust, piecrust mix, or a deep-dish frozen pie shell.

Get Fit Tip: DRINK WATER!

So, I FINALLY got my license renewed this morning at the DMV.  After getting up at the crack of dawn and still waiting over an hour, I was ecstatic to actually get it done.  Something else that made me happy?  I could tell the lady to lower my weight and be honest about it!

I was very happy to note that I weigh less than I did five years ago, but sad to realize the number was more than six months ago!

So, I'm starting a weekly GET FIT! tip for myself.  More of a goal, but whatever.

Doesn't that look good?!

This week..... DRINK WATER!  In the past few months I have started drinking WAY more soda than I ever have before.  Late homework nights and 60 hour weeks will drive you to the caffeine.  While I used to carry a water bottle around with me, I now have a liter of Diet Mountain Dew.  A combo of less water, more junk, and a LOT more sugar made the scale go up.

So, for the next week I'm going to focus on drinking water.  A glass when I wake up, a glass before every meal, and certainly a glass before I touch the caffeine!  The cold is drying me out anyway, so hopefully this will be good for my health, skin, and voice!

DMV FAIL

RENEWING YOUR LICENSE SHOULD NOT BE SO DIFFICULT!

WOOT!

You know me, always looking for new shopping sites to troll. Today I found one! It's called WOOT! 

www.woot.com    WOOT: One Day, One Deal

This site is neat.  It has one featured daily deal like so many others, but it also has subsections like home, wine, kids, local areas... In addition, it has a "Daily Deals" section that even includes coupons!  Today I found one for $10 off $25 purchase at JCP.  That's awesome!

ALSO, just found 25 free prints from Walgreens! WOOT!

Enjoy your new bookmark, shopping addicts.

21st fun!

What a weekend!  My 21st birthday came and went, and I sure had some fun!


Although I had to work all day at the bridal shop, my roommates, boyfriend and I went out that night to the club.  What did I find?  The bar lines where we went were rididulously long and not worth the wait.

We had fun dancing and I enjoyed a few free drinks on other people, but it wasn't a "crazy night" which is just fine.  What I had been looking forward to the most about turning 21, and now have thoroughly been taking advantage of, is being able to have a glass of wine with dinner or a nice cocktail or beer (ever tried Pumpkin Beer? It's interesting.) after a long day... legally.
  

This did not happen, although it is very amusing.



Over the weekend we came up with a drink we now call The Green Hulk:

- Green coolaid
- mountain dew
- touch of sprite
- rum!

It was delicious.  I'm so looking forward to exploring new drinks and letting you know what I find!

Got any ideas for me? What's your favorite drink? Let me know!

For the Sale Obsessed

I admit it. I'm a sale-a-holic.  If it's 75% off, I'm interested.  Sometimes this means I score super low prices and fabulous boots... other times it gets me in trouble because I go over budget (in order to save money later!).

If you're a sale-a-holic like me, here are some sites you should be following.  Lots of them have their own apps too!

1. HauteLook - I love this site!  I recently purchased a pair of boots and a new straightener, and I use both almost every day!  New designer deals are posted daily at 10 am central time.  They feature shoes, clothes, beauty supplies, home decor, and even getaway deals.  I can't help myself, I'm on my tablet every morning at 10:05 just to see what's up.  And a fun thing, when you purchase something it comes delivered to your door wrapped up like a present inside!  How fun is that?

2. Groupon - Tried and true!  This site is huge and has lots of great deals.  They offer local discounts on all sorts of services.  Check in every day because you never know what might be up!  It could be food, clothes, or even maid service.

3. Living Social - I admit, I literally just purchased two deals from this site before posting this blog.  It's pretty similar to Groupon, except in my opinion is more food and activity oriented.

4. Daily Deals - I've heard a lot about this site but am not super familiar with it.  Have any of you made purchases from here?

5. WichitaPerks (only if you're from anywhere around the middle of Kansas) - This site is local based, but great. They'll send you a text with their daily deal so you don't even have to go looking for the info.

Do you have any other sites you check daily or that have great discounts?  I can always use more to feed my slight obsession. :)

Happy Thursday!