How to Freeze Cookie Dough

Omygod you guys, this is a game changer. Honestly, I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner. Remember when I made these awesome snickerdoodles and was complaining about how quickly they would disappear? 

I could have frozen some and saved them for later. I should have. 

Now I know.

The other day, I needed an M&M cookie. I used this recipe, which made 21 balls of cookie dough. I figured 6 would be a not unreasonable number of cookies for my family to eat in one day, so I popped the rest in the freezer.

The next day, my munchkin and I grabbed two frozen cookie dough balls out of the bag and threw them straight into the (preheated) oven. Just add about 3 minutes to the time suggested on the original recipe (at the same temperature). Do they look any different than the cookies I made from fresh cookie dough? They do not. Do they taste any different? They do not!

If you have frozen cookie dough ready to go, you can literally go from "I think I want a cookie" to eating a freshly baked cookie in 20 minutes flat. As I was saying, game changer.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to try this with every other cookie recipe ever, so I can have whatever variety of fresh, warm, delicious cookies whenever I want! What is your favorite kind of cookie that you want to try this with?

Every day is a new day.

Today was not my day. 

Leaving home is always a big deal because I have a toddler and also live an hour away from anywhere. Today, we needed to leave home to get new tires. As it happens, gorilla glue will only temporarily patch a hole in your tire (but it will do in a pinch). My toddler was playing in the car while I got our stuff together. He had the key when we went back inside to finish getting ready to go. 

And then he didn’t. 

And then I spent an hour and a half looking for the car key, because of course we bought it used and without a spare. I found a 6-12 month baby sock deep in the bowels of the couch (he’ll be 2 next week). I found some spare change. I almost cried and I almost yelled. I finally found the key. 

Of course that would be the one thing my toddler forgot where he put it. He usually remembers everything, including where I don’t remember that I’ve put stuff. 

We finally left to get the tires and run errands. I thought the day was turning around. We checked everything off of our shopping list. 

And then I left six bottles of wine at the grocery store. 

So now I’m in bed with a sleeping toddler and a Benadryl and so ready to have a better day tomorrow. 

Cheers!

Microwave Eggs

My toddler’s favorite new food is eggs. Lucky for me, I have a trick for how to cook a light and fluffy egg in 90 seconds flat. 

Spray a coffee mug with nonstick spray (makes for easier cleanup). Crack an egg into the mug. Give it a quick whisk. Season with salt and pepper as desired. 

Microwave for about a minute. My microwave is 1000 watts and 70 seconds is perfect. Adjust accordingly based on the power of your microwave. 

That’s it! 

As a bonus, your egg is now the perfect size and shape for a breakfast sandwich! English muffin or bagel (or toast if that’s all you’ve got), microwave egg, slice of cheese, slice of Canadian bacon. It’s so much tastier, healthier, and cheaper to make your own breakfast sandwich than to buy one from a fast food chain—plus, it’s faster than waiting in line at the drive through!

Snickerdoodles

I casually mentioned that I wanted a cookie. Hubby asked if I knew that snickerdoodles are his third favorite cookies. I said I do now. And that’s how I decided to make snickerdoodles. 

Didn’t they come out pretty?

I started with this recipe from Cookies & Cups and tweaked it based on a) not having cream of tartar and b) not wanting two dozen cookies. Having more cookies in our house somehow doesn’t make them last any longer, so I try to make smaller batches in an attempt to have fewer unhappy tummies. 

Cream together 6 tbsp warmed butter, 3/8 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar. Mix in 1 egg and a splash of vanilla. Then mix in 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp mild tasting vinegar (the original recipe used cream of tartar, but who has that? Seriously?), and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Mix in 1 3/8 cup flour. Roll dough into 12 balls; roll each ball in a cup of cinnamon sugar (1/8 cup sugar and 1/2 tbsp cinnamon). Place cinnamon sugary dough balls on parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake for 11 minutes at 325 degrees. Let cool (or don’t) and enjoy!

Better Than Overnight Oats

I want to love overnight oats. I just can’t. Every single time I’ve tried them, I’ve been disappointed. There’s just something off about them. If you’re like me and you just can’t get excited about overnight oats, do what I do instead. It’s easier and tastier. And toddler approved. 

When you get up in the morning, make coffee. While the coffee is brewing, put a single serving Greek yogurt of your favorite flavor (the 5.3 oz kind) in a bowl with 1/2 to 2/3 cup quick oats, depending on how hungry you are. Add an equal amount of milk as oats and stir it all up. Let it sit in the fridge while you get ready for your day: walk the dogs, take a shower (ha!), brush your hair (ha!), wash the dishes from dinner. Whatever you do in the morning that takes 20-30 minutes, do it. When you’re done, pull the easier than overnight oats out of the fridge and enjoy. 

My favorite flavors of yogurt for this are mixed berry and coffee. Which flavor of yogurt will you be adding to your next oatmeal?

Simply Delicious Ice Cream

I notice a lot of bloggers complaining about ice cream makers as being inconvenient because you have to plan ahead and put the bowl in the freezer the day before you want to make ice cream. But they’re wrong. The secret is keeping the bowl in the freezer. Take it out when you want to make ice cream, use it, wash it, put it back in the freezer. Freezers work better when they’re more full, anyway. It’s really the only logical place to keep the bowl of an ice cream maker. Besides, then you can make this whenever you want.



My basic ice cream recipe is 4:1 milk to sugar. So I usually do 2 cups of milk and 1/2 cup sugar.  Add in whatever flavoring you’re in the mood for. Once your ingredients are mixed, pour into ice cream maker (it’s important to turn on the ice cream maker before you pour in your mix) and wait 10-15 minutes. That’s it!

For my first ice cream of the season, I thought an orange creamsicle sounded good. I squeezed two blood oranges into my measuring cup (I should have added a third for more orange flavor, but I only had two) and added milk until I had two cups of liquid. Then I stirred in half a cup of sugar and poured it all in the ice cream maker.



After watching  half an episode of Sesame Street with my toddler, I checked on my ice cream.



Pretty and delicious!

No-bake Cheesecakes

I go through phases when it comes to food. In the spring, I went through a phase where I made muffins for breakfast pretty much every day. Then I was making edible cookie dough almost every night after dinner. 

For about the last month, all I want is a good cheesecake. I had a slice of mediocre (store bought) cheesecake at a friend’s birthday party, but it was hardly satisfying.

I tried Martha Stuart’s no-bake cheesecake, but it didn’t come together at all. It was just gloopy. Don’t get me wrong, we still ate the whole damn thing. But it didn’t satisfy my craving either. 

Here is my list of the 7 most drool-worthy no-bake cheesecakes that I’ve found on the internet. To be updated as I try them all. 

No-bake cannoli cheesecake. Very good, especially if you have leftover ricotta you don’t want to waste. Doubled the powdered sugar and halved the cinnamon and nutmeg. Will make again to take a picture (which I forgot to do because I was to busy stuffing my face with cheesecake). 

No-bake (classic) cheesecake. 

No-bake chocolate peanut butter cheesecake. 

No-bake cookie dough cheesecake.


No-bake Oreo cheesecake. 

No-bake Snickers cheesecake. Damn tasty. Still needed more sugar than the recipe called for. Did not need caramel drizzled over the top.

No-bake strawberry cheesecake. Good flavor, but too runny to be considered a cheesecake. If I had called it an icebox cake, Hubby probably would have liked it better.

Which one should I make next?

Edible Peanut Buter Cookie Dough

As a follow up to my recent chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream recipe, I’m sharing a version of edible cookie dough for non-chocolate lovers (they do exist). 

You’ll need:

2 tbsp your favorite peanut butter

5 tbsp flour

4 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tbsp milk

1 small splash vanilla 

I’d recommend microwaving your peanut butter for 20 seconds before adding the rest of your ingredients to soften up the peanut butter and make it easier to mix, but you don’t have to. You can throw all 5 ingredients in a bowl at the same time and mix them together with the same fork you then use to consume it immediately. It’s entirely up to you. 

You can add this cookie dough to my classic vanilla ice cream (same link as above). I was thinking of doing a vanilla ice cream base, tossing in scoops of this cookie dough and a handful of chocolate chips, and drizzling the whole thing with melted peanut butter. But that isn’t going to happen tonight because I’ve eaten most of it while typing this post for you. 

Homemade Cookie Dough Ice Cream

WARNING: This recipe is dangerous. Once you know how easy and how damn amazing it is, you'll want to make it over and over and over. Don't say I didn't tell you.

I make my cookie dough first and throw it in the fridge while I get the ice cream started. This recipe is awesome and makes the perfect amount for mixing in to the perfect amount of ice cream for my favorite ice cream maker. 

Now for the ice cream. Stir 1/2 cup sugar and a generous splash of vanilla into 2 cups whole milk until dissolved. Turn on the ice cream maker and pour in milk mixture. Once it starts to freeze but before it’s all the way frozen, pour in a handful of chocolate chips and spoonfuls of chilled cookie dough. Keep mixing another five minutes until it’s mostly frozen. You may need to stir your cookie dough around so it’s not all clumped together. Eat as much as you want and freeze the rest for later. Or eat it all. I won't judge you.

It’s always a good time for pumpkin muffins

I’ve been on a muffin kick lately. It’s been cold and wintery, (it’s actually snowing today, boo) and a nice warm muffin and a cup of hot coffee is just what I need to get the day started. Over the course of several trials, I have perfected these pumpkin muffins, and I’d like to share them with you. 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup quick oats

1 cup white or brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder 

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 cup pumpkin 

2 eggs

1/4 cup oil

Directions:

Combine dry ingredients. Whisk in wet ingredients. Spoon into greased (with cooking spray) muffin tins. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

Perfected from Cookie Madness https://www.cookiemadness.net/2009/12/jumbo-pumpkin-streusel-muffins/

Tidying is magical

Last month, I confessed something to my mom: part of me wouldn't be sad if our house burned down and all of my stuff was gone. She told me that she used to have the same secret. Then she moved and left behind 90% of her stuff, only that's not how she thought of it. She focused on the 10% of her stuff that she decided to take with her. I was sold. 

As soon as I got home, I ordered The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up on Amazon. Even with a one year old, I finished reading it in two days. It was the first book I've stayed up late to finish in years. It was exactly what I needed. 

The gist of it is that you go through everything you own, one category at a time, and only keep the things that make you happy. And don't keep anything just because you feel like you should, either because you haven't used it or because someone gave it to you. And then find a home for all the things you're keeping. 

So far, I've gone through all of my clothes, all of my books, all of my bedding, all of my holiday decorations, and most of my paperwork. I donated 5 bags of clothes to a women's shelter. I donated 5 boxes of books to the library. I donated 4 bags of bedding and 3 boxes of holiday decorations. 

I've also learned things. Like how good it feels to let things go that no longer make me happy. And how relaxing it is to not be surrounded by so much clutter. And that there are so many categories left to go! 

Happy tidying!