Kinda Sorta Nutella Cookies

This morning while I was trying to get myself psyched up to do my morning workout (I've been sick so I've been slacking off) I ended up browsing one of my new favorite websites, Pinterest.  Wouldn't you know it, I came across a cookie recipe for Nutella cookies and quickly realized, "Hey, I have all that stuff!"

So yes, instead of working out I made cookies. Not self defeating at all.  But I'll get over it.  To my dismay, I opened up the Nutella jar and saw that I didn't have enough for what the recipe called for. Boo!!  "What's the recipe?"  You might be asking yourself.  Here's the link: http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/desserts/nutella-cookies/

I only had about a 1/4 of a cup of Nutella but saw a full jar of Almond butter right next to it.  Hmmmmm, that might work.  So I changed the recipe a bit.  I used the last of the Nutella supplemented the rest of the cup with almond butter. My guess is peanut butter would be tasty too but I was running low on that and it's a lunchtime staple.  Heaven forbid I run out.  So here are the changes I made:

1/4 cup Nutella
3/4 cup almond butter
I used 2 eggs instead of one and added a dash of water because the batter seemed a bit dry.
I also added about a tablespoon or two of unsweetened cocoa powder to add some of the chocolate flavor that was missing from the lack of Nutella. (I didn't really measure it just poured it in.)  If you don't know, I'm not much of a baker. :-)

Everything else I kept the same.  I did end up baking them for about 9-10 minutes instead of the 7-8 that the recipe suggested.

I have to say, they came out pretty tasty.  The true test will be when the boys get home from school and The Man gets home from work.  If I get the thumbs up from them then all is good.  But so quick and so easy and so keeping me from working out!!  And can I say that I'm kicking myself for making chocolate-ish cookies without having any milk on hand to drink with them?!  Who does that??  Me.  I do that.  Apparently.

And with that, I will now go let Ms. Jillian torture me for a wee bit.  Cold and cookies be damned!!

She's Crafty!

It's been awhile since I've updated the ol' blog but that seems to be my modus operandi.  Since I last posted, much has changed.  The main thing being we've moved.  No longer out in the beautiful Columbia Gorge, we've moved closer to Portland and into Oregon.  We've been busy packing, unpacking, getting used to our new school and area and making our new house a home.  Which brings me to today's post.

A few months back, a friend of mine posted a link to this fun craft on the Facebook page for her blog, http://make-happy.blogspot.com/.  It was for a banner made of out of paint chips that was originally posted here: http://rebekahgough.blogspot.com/2011/06/make-something-monday-4th-of-july-paint.html

The boys decided to share a room again.  I love that they still like eachother enough to share a bedroom.  Once we got all the furninture in, I decided to take down the curtains that were in there mainly because they were long and dark and were hard to open and close since the boys beds were placed right in front of them.  I've been searching for new options but haven't found any yet.  In the meantime, I've done this.

We've been making lots of trips to Home Depot (we're also building a deck in the backyard) so on one of these trips I had the boys pick out some colors that they liked and I just ran with it.  I had some twine left over from some jewerly I'd made and it was perfect.  I finished them up this morning so the boys will see them when they get home from school.

I hope they like them.

Now that both of the boys are in school full time, I've got some time on my hands so I'm hoping to make some more crafty projects in my free time.  A housewifes day just can't be all laundry and cleaning, right? 

Chipper is Fat.

That's right, I said it. He's turned into a chunk. So, in an attempt to rectify this situation he's been put on a diet of tasty weight control dog food. We've really slacked off on our morning walks what with all the snow, rain and cold weather. But Spring has begun to sprung and with this comes better weather.

This morning we walked and walked .... and walked some more. And it was COLD!! But at least it was dry. Since we had blue skies this morning, I shoved my little point & shoot in my pocket in hopes of getting a photo or two of Mt. Hood.

Half way into our little calorie busting jaunt we were met up by a rogue pup named Kaya. She took a liking to Chipper and so she decided to join us. Thing is, Miss Kaya didn't know how to stay out of the road and she was really making me nervous. I checked her collar and called the number. Her owner was apparently up the road driving around in his truck looking for her. So we walked until he met up with us. By this time, our quick pace and time had been blown so I decided to take a little detour and walk out to the bluffs overlooking the Gorge to take some photos. Great views! I'll have to go back there with my good camera. I think it'd be a great place to stop next time we have one of those beautiful orange and pink skied sunsets. I took a few photos and we turned around and made the trek back to the car.

4.70 miles and 90 minutes in total (thank you Livestrong.com for your "My Loops" map tracking) Chipper hesitated when jumping into the back of the FJ. Yup, he's definitely fat. Not the spry nimble pup he used to be. But we're gonna change that. Aren't we Chipper? Yes we are!