White Chip Chocolate Cookies

   No lie, you can make these cookies with a baby on your hip.

{See Jim, this is why I need a stand mixer, then I would be able to make you more desserts!}

   They are that easy! Usually, super easy recipes don't really taste all that great. And recipes off the back of product packages aren't that great either...but I'm telling you these are the exception!!!
   It's like eating a brownie cookie with little morsels of ooey goodness!!!!
   I'm headed to the Annual Troxler Cookie Swap in just a few hours and I'm taking a few dozen of these little treats.
   If you try them, you won't be able to stop at just one. Take that from a girl that is surprisingly not a big fan of cookies...I just have a husband who is!
All you need is this:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Baking Cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Premier White Morsels

   Preheat oven to 350. Set out your 2 sticks of butter and 2 large eggs and bring to room temperature. {use butter, not margarine, for cookies. The oil in the margarine can make the cookies too soggy.}

In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

{I like to sift my dry ingredients together. My husband doesn't see why I would need a sifter, so I use my small metal strainer.}

By sifting it, it should turn out looking a little like this when you are done.

Cream together butter and granulated sugar.

Add in your brown sugar.

Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Blend in eggs, one at a time.

Then gradually pour in your dry mixture.

The batter will be thick.

Use a sturdy spoon to stir in the White Chocolate Chip Morsels! 

{White Chocolate chips make anything better!}

Now, if you don't have these next two items, a small ice cream scoop and a silicon baking pad, you should seriously ask Santa for one this year! They are a baker's best friend! 

This scoop, that I found second-hand, makes the perfect sized scoops for cookies. 

Place scoops of cookie dough about an inch and half apart on baking pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 9-11 minutes.

This recipe yields about 60 cookies! I've got plenty for the cookie swap and a few left over for some hungry little boys and a very hungry daddy!

Cool on pan for 2 minutes then move to wire racks to cool completely! 

I even think a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate syrup would take this "cookie" to a whole new level!!!

Biggest bang for your buck and your Community!

   Two owners of local retail shops in the Tupelo area recently told Jim that their family owned and operated businesses will not make a profit this year.

   Our Sunday School prayer list has a family who had to close their family business this past week.
   A close friend told me her husband's business, which his parents own and employs many of their family members, is really struggling. She now must put her little boy in childcare and return to work.
   Maybe one little family spending a few of their hard earned dollars at a few family owned and operated retail shops won't make much of a difference during this holiday season, but a few families could make a little bit bigger impression.
   It could mean a Christmas bonus, Insurance premiums for one more year, or even your neighbor's salary.
   Sure, the ornament I bought from the local gift shop down the road cost about three more dollars than it would have at my beloved Hobby Lobby, but this business won't turn a profit this year, and maybe, just maybe, if I shop there, maybe my friends will too, and then their friends too! Get the picture...hint, hint!
   My point being, when and where you can, support your local merchants and put the money back into the pockets in your community.
   It's really easy to do. Need some ideas...here ya go...
1.  If you are out at the mall, check out those locals who rent booth space down through the middle of the corridors. Sometimes there's a church or civic group selling fresh baked goods.
2.  Get out! Get away from the popular shopping malls and centers and head to the boutiques. I recently needed some boots. My first thought was to head to Charlotte Russe in the mall and grab some cute ones that a million of other girls would have, with the help of a distracted teenager who would rather be anywhere but there. But instead, in my agenda to shop local, I headed downtown to Voe's Boutique, who just happened to have all her shoes on sale 25% off, I got great customer service from a person who actually enjoyed her job, and found the cutest pair of boots and a sweater on sale too!

3.  Get Online! Ask your friends about online boutiques! My friend Stephanie is a stay-at-home mom of 2 with one on the way this week!  She sews matching mother/daughter aprons, bibs, burp clothes, dipee/wipee bags and soooo much more and sells them at Ruffled Charm, her online boutique!

4.   Give a gift card to a locally owned restaurant versus a national restaurant chain.

5.   Gena Nolan makes these incredibly detailed and personal  charmed necklaces, bracelets and other jewels. She gives half the cost you pay to St. Jude Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. Give her a call or email, tell her I sent you that way!

6.  Neatest idea ever...Buy gifts that have a meaning and where your money actually goes to help a cause you are passionate about. Here's three of my favorites...

   -The Scopel family is selling this really cool t-shirt to help raise money to adopt possibly, 2, children from Uganda. 

Visit Amy's blog here and read her story, and see for yourself.

   -I've been following the Weimer family for some time now.
The love  for God and her children Heidi Weimer, the mom, has is very encouraging and inspiring as a mom. When I feel like I have a hard day with just my 3 little ones, I think of Heidi and think of the struggles she is going through. Check out her blog and their fight to "find" their Ethiopian daughter, Eden.

They have these cool "One Family" t-shirts! 

Shop local!!!!

They will love this Meatloaf, I promise

   The Crown Restaurant in Indianola, Mississippi, put a new spin on meatloaf. They plopped the big ole glob of meat down into a pastry and baked it in a cocoon.  When I tried the new style about a year ago, little did I know the hit it would be in my house!
   When Taylor, the eldest son who says he doesn't like meat, saw me place the meatloaf into a pie crust and put it in the oven. He asked if it was cake...Why, yes son, it is...It is meatloaf cake!
   Tell any child that anything is cake, if they don't know much of a difference, they'll eat that stuff like it's nobody's business! Sorry, no money back guarantees.
   To make this scrumptious concoction, all you need is a meatloaf mix,  2 lbs. of  your meat of choice (mine is ground turkey), and a pie crust.
   To mimic the Crown's and Taste of Gourmet recipe, I swap out the bread crumbs for Whole Grain Oats!!! Try it, I dare you. You will comment with many thanks!
(If you want to order the Taste of Gourmet mix for yourself, here's a link to my friend Laurie, who can help you out with that! Click here)

If I have one on hand, I use one of those rolled pie crusts. I just roll it out thinner. Place it in your loaf pan, leaving the extra hanging over the edges.

Place your meat mixture inside the pie crust.

Wrap remaining pie crust over the top, sealing any open areas.

Bake according to the directions on your meatloaf recipe.

And be prepared to be amazed! 

Without a doubt, this meatloaf delivers a yummy, delicious, scrumptious...all of the above...dish! I usually pair it with a veggie topped with shredded cheese.

So now, when I tell my chillins' that we are having meatloaf cake for supper, they actually cheer. Even though, Taylor still asks for his meatloaf cake, without the meat! 

Bon Apetit!

  

Be one of those who learn from others' mistakes...

    It was supposed to be an uneventful lunch playdate with Taylor's best bud Tyler. But it soon, became anything but that!
   As the boys bounced out of the car, I realized Andrew didn't have any shoes. I sat my diaper bag down on the curb beside me and I placed the shoeless child in the driver's seat while I looked for any sign of them in the back seat. "Don't touch anything!"
   There they were, on the other side. I ordered Taylor and Tyler to play in the flower bed while I resolved the issue. Each time, 3 to be exact, that I made it to the other side of the car to get the shoes, Andrew had locked the doors. The third, and final time, I dug my keys out of the diaper bag and marched over there and unlocked the door myself. He's 2, it is to be expected.
   I placed the keys on the seat while I adorned Andrew with his sporty silver and red tennies. We counted to three and he hopped out onto the ground. I closed the door and grabbed the door to retrieve the third child. Locked. hmm...that little...
   I dug around for my keys in my diaper bag that was still sitting on the curb. Still keeping an eye on two 4 year olds and a 2 year old playing in the Chik-fil-A flower bed, I see that the keys are still laying on the seat where I had placed them while socking and shoe-ing Andrew.
   lovely!
   It's okay, Carrie Ann's only a little fussy. What in the world do I do? Jim didn't have the spare key and was headed into a meeting. Tyler's mom, Deanna,  had locked her keys in her car before and told me to call the police.
  She was right! The Tupelo police directed my call to the Fire Station and before I finished my conversation I could hear the sirens blaring from the new fire station just down the road. "Good grief ma'am, are they sending a fire truck?" To which she kindly and swiftly replied, "Yes ma'am, they will be right there!"  I was mortified. Deanna was mortified. The boys, all three of them, were excited...What's that sound?
  Visions of what was about to take place ran through my head. I leaned my head against my car and shook it. They are going to use the jaws of life to get this little angel out of my car. Who, by the way, had no idea she was in there all by her lonesome. I should have taken her sweater off of her, it's probably hot in there.
   They arrived alright, bright and loud. Lights and sirens. The boys loved it!
   I was so embarrassed. My car was a mess. I felt like the worst mother ever. Standing there, blaming it all on my middle child!
   Naturally, I'm a drama queen, but I was oddly calm. I kept wondering when the "freaking out" moment would come. When the tears would pour. Or maybe, I'm just getting good at catastrophes by now!
   While these guys shimmied and pryed their way into my passenger side door...{of course I took pictures!}

This guy entertained the little guys...It didn't take much, all he had to say was, this is my truck! 

Taylor even entertained him a little...

And this little princess had no idea what all the fuss was about! 

She even slept through the alarm going off! 

Safe at last! 

Moral of the story...learn from others' mistakes and if by chance you don't, have OnStar installed in your car or call the fire department, they'll be there in a jiffy!

Trash to Treasure

   I have this place in my bathroom underneath my counter that needed a new purpose.

   For the last two years it has been home to one of the many bouncy seats in our house. Admittedly it makes the best place to place a napping or playful baby while a busy mommy gets a much needed shower. I just pull it out and I can see baby and he/she can see me.

   I've been begging Jim for something else to go there. When I was pregnant with Carrie Ann, I decided a little vanity stool would look great there, plus give me a place to sit while I am drying my hair or putting on my make-up. 

   A little over a week ago, I was down at my dad's house. I was looking through some of his closets and look what I found on the top shelf of the bathroom closet!!!

I know, exactly what I was thinking... It's perfect!!!

    This was my mama's little seat that she always used in front of her dresser. It reminds me of her and her perfume that she always wore. With my dad's permission, I swiped this great find and lugged it all the way back up here to Tupelo, right to my bathroom! 

   It's exactly what this little space needed! I cleaned it up and washed the cushion, which I am sure hadn't been washed in more than 20 years. So, bye-bye bouncy seat for now. Carrie Ann really didn't like you all that much anyway. I hope that this little stool brings as many sweet memories to my children as it did for me!

It's Pizza Night!

  Over the last week, I have been on a mission to clean out my fridge, freezer and pantry. Jim's family will be here for Thanksgiving and I have to make room for all the goodies that we'll be making.
   Last weekend I cleaned out our fridge, ridding it of leftovers and everything that I had successfully grown. I checked expiration dates and scurried to put some things in the freezer. My pantry was full of tied off bags of ends of loaves bread pieces and about 3 boxes of lasagna noodles. Who needs 3 boxes of lasagna noodles?
   I like to keep odds and ends when it comes to food. If I am in the mood for oatmeal cookies, cornbread, or pecan crusted chicken, it feels good to be able to go to my pantry and pull out those ingredients.
   My supplier on the other hand, i.e. Jim, doesn't agree. He likes to see the bare shelves. Clean, clutter free pantry and find things on a moment's notice. NOT ME! {I think if he was really honest with himself, he'd be really glad I had two different types of flour and 2 extra bags of chocolate morsels when he got a sweet tooth and was itching for a dessert!}
   I find a sense of security and peace from knowing I have plenty of food. I'm pretty sure this has counseling session stamped all over it. But I'm serious. I'm trying to overcome it and I think this week I have come a long way! Our security only comes from one place and it shouldn't be food!
   When I went grocery shopping this week, I got the necessities and perishables...milk, bananas, lettuce, cereal, yogurt and butter. I figured I could make do for a week with all I had stock piled!
   So over the last week I've treated my family to tuna and goldfish, goulash, spaghetti O's and apples, oatmeal with whatever frozen fruit I could find in the freezer, a fresh bag of dried cranberries, muffins and some funky seasoned potato wedges that no one liked. Today for lunch there was mini-corndogs, mixed veggies with cheese and yogurt.
   Yesterday, I managed to scrounge up some chicken stuffed with spinach, feta and pine nuts (yes, I just had those things lying around), Decaf sweet tea, Sister Schubert's whole wheat rolls, whole cranberry sauce and stir-fry vegetables that I steamed. Sounded so good we invited the neighbor over who brought some Kraft Homestyle Macaroni!
   So now, the day before grocery shopping day, and my fridge is brighter than ever, the shelves are bare. The light shines all they way down to the apples in the bottom drawer! My pantry is looking better... I'm down to just 2 cans of corn, a box of Uncle Ben's wild rice, a few cans of vegetables and tomato sauce and still wondering how I can use all of those lasagna noodles before Thanksgiving.
   I am so glad it is Sunday and pizza night!

Growing like Weeds!

When I called my good friend Amanda of Reflections by Amanda Smith to schedule our yearly family pictures, the scenario in the above photo is exactly what I had in mind. 

I wanted to post it right over there to the right, just to show you what everyday life really does look like in the Brown household. 

I'm usually holding Carrie Ann, Taylor is always tugging me in a different direction and Andrew, he's usually being drug along, with his 'I hear you, but I'm not listening' attitude!

This little girl, who turned 9 months old yesterday, is still wearing 3-6 month old clothes and on this particular day, was all smiles and full of character!

This train track runs right through downtown Summit, Mississippi, where Amanda's studio is located. These two handsome guys could NOT wait to play on it. 

All I could do was cringe at how dirty those baby blue pants of Taylor's were getting.

If you look closely, you can see how they looked by the final pictured...UGH!!!!

BUT...

Taylor's Bebbi had this stuff...

And after a few washes and one treatment with Grandma's Secret Spot Remover...those pants don't have a trace of the railroad track anywhere on them! (You can get this at Hobby Lobby or Hancock Fabrics)

Her daddy makes her smile so big! 

This little stud muffin turned 2 this past July, and wouldn't crack a smile the entire morning. We had talked about it for weeks, he is used to having his picture taken by me all the time. He was just bound and determined to not let us get a single peep at those pearly whites. 

You always wonder what went into a photo session to get some pretty amazing results. This not only epitomizes this day, but pretty much everyday.

Amanda was dying to use some new props for her time with Carrie Ann. My typed words wouldn't do these next few photographs justice...

Amanda, thanks for all your hard work. You definitely have an eye for the perfect shot and never cease to amaze me with your skill and talent! Keep up the great job!

It's all he knows

   I met a young man named Willie today. At least I thought he was young, I can't tell anymore, they seem to be younger and younger these days.
  He was pushing a broom around, dusting the floor. He was going back and forth. He had a raspy voice that was hard to understand. The stripes on his pants were the same mint green color that is on my bedroom walls.
  I've never met anyone like him before. I am naive. And seemingly, uneducated, at least for the day anyway. He comes from a world I have never known.
  He was about 6 feet tall. He was a trustee - "doing his time."  Willie also delivers packages between the government buildings downtown. All I could think of was a big manilla interdepartmental envelope.
   He was bussed in this morning from a minimum security facility. He has 2 months left, well, as soon as the county jail reports the time he served detained there. Otherwise, Willie would be there until February.
   Naturally, I asked him what he did to get arrested. Proudly, he said he made checks. You make checks, say what? "Not like regular checks, business ones, like from Geico."
  Country girl here might have been around the world a few times, but it had been a long, long stressful day. Part of me wanted to laugh at the absurdity of his joy in breaking the law and the other half was praying, Oh Lord, you want me to say, what? The boy needed to hear the Truth! Total Moses moment. I wanted to make like Jonah and head to Tarshish.
  So, Willie, have you learned your lesson? Will you ever do it again. Through a grin, he assured me, if he had to, he would. Sad.
  Well, what are you going to do when you get out of here? Get a job that actually gives you a check and you don't have to make them yourself anymore? Of course not! It sounds so judgmental for me to say that, but I don't lie, he told me this himself. I did think it odd that he and the bail bondsman sitting next to me were on a first name basis, even knew that Willie was from Philadelphia and his mama goes by Miss Maddie.
  He was relaying a message to the bondsman to give to Miss Maddie. He's going on house arrest soon and needs her to send money.
   When he stepped out of earshot, I shook my head, asking, he's seems so proud to be a criminal, to break the law.
   In a sigh, the bondsman told me, "that's all he knows."
   The tones of the thoughts going crazy in my head changed.
   As Willie made his way back in our direction, the floor perfectly shining by now, he propped his broom against the snack machine and told me he had been doing it since he was 15 years old. I thought, cleaning government buildings? I think he understood my puzzled look. I was numb. My brain couldn't wrap itself around such things.
   "Naw, I went to college to learn about computers. Then, a guy there taught me how to use computers!" He said nodding and grinning with a smirk on his face. I couldn't help but giggle. It was 2 in the afternoon and I was having this conversation with only a banana in my stomach since 5:30 a.m.
   He was good at it too. He only got caught this time because he had a young, inexperienced guy working for him and he went to the wrong teller at the bank. He had a girl at the counter that would usually cash the checks for him. GASP!
   I asked him what he thought God thought about this. Was he not concerned about how this would look when he stands before the Lord one day?  He assured me he was forgiven and He won't hold it against him. Even sadder. That's the Truth, but not the whole Truth.
   The subject was changed quickly to all the material possessions he had gained by ripping off banks and businesses. Cars, shoes, jackets, stereos, the list went on.  He got to keep all of it, even after he was incarcerated. It's there at Miss Maddie's waiting on him. The authorities couldn't touch it. He had put it in his mama's name.
   I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs, this is wrong!!! You should be shameful, embarrassed, somewhat remorseful, at least. But he was happy, almost gleeful. He was really good at making it look as if he was making the best of his bad situation.
   At least I knew now. Me and my big mouth. My nosey self. I just had to ask.
   I never expected his openness or willingness to share his story with me.
   I had seen Willie several times throughout the morning as I had traversed back and forth the government square. People walk by him all day, nodding to say hello, as we do here in the South. I wondered if they think the same things I think in those moments...wonder what he's in for? Oooh, did he kill somebody? Of course not, they wouldn't be a trustee if they killed somebody, would they?
   It doesn't really matter what I think, or his mama thinks, it matters what God thinks. God cares. He cares what Willie is going to do when his time is served. He knows Willie will most likely go back to the very same environment from which he came. He'll be faced with the same decisions again and again and again. But He loves him just as much as He loves my innocent toddlers. He cares about his soul.
   How can I show him grace and love if I don't open my mouth? People won't know I'm a daughter of the King if I just smile politely, open the door for them and try not to stare.
   Our conversation ended very soon thereafter when my business was complete.
   As I walked out of the building, Willie held the door, still clutching his broom.  I thanked him and pointed my finger at him and told him to stay out of trouble. Just like a mama.
   I thought about Willie on the long drive home. I prayed for my friends who are a part of the jail ministry here in Tupelo and north Mississippi.
   It was a lemon of a day, but for this moment, it wasn't as bitter. I'll be back in that same place next week. Maybe Willie and I will meet again. I wasn't finished with our talk.

Coming Clean

     Where in the world have I been? Because I sure haven't been camped out at my Lemonade Stand in quite some time!
     Mostly I've been playing on the floor with my 3 precious children! We celebrated Andrew's 2nd birthday in July and this month we have already celebrated Carrie Ann turning a half a year old and soon, haha, very soon, Taylor will be turning the big 4!!! Oh my word, I can't believe it! My babies are growing up and I feel like this time is so fleeting.
     When I look back at this time, 12 years from now, when Taylor is getting his driver's license, Andrew is growing hair in weird places and Carrie Ann begins rolling her eyes at me, I'm going to miss all the "controlled" chaos.
     It's days like today, when a simple trip to Lowe's leaves me wondering if my child would be okay after drinking the water from water falls in the garden center, that I want to remember the day as fun, easy. I don't want to miss a thing. I won't regret not turning my computer on for an entire month, spending every summer night letting my boys stay up late watching movies, or sitting on the couch with my husband til midnight watching detective shows.
    We've changed our routine, mixed things up a bit. The old one wasn't working out too well for me. The kids and I joined a gym. GASP! Yes, I actually exercised everyday this week! I might've broken a sweat once or twice, too!
     I've spent a lot of time in a little nook in my bedroom, in a place the boys have yet to look for me! Pouring out my thoughts, anxious ones at that, desires, prayers, cries and joys into a prayer journal. It's all muddled up in my head right now. Getting it down on paper makes things a little more clear. It's where I can come clean with my Lord, open His Word and saturate it with my tears-sad ones because I'm a mess, and grateful ones-because His promises are forever. He is merciful. I don't have to carry this heavy load. He sees each tear that falls and He is my strength.
   Needless to say, I've had a rough run of it these last few months. But I've remained on my knees. Stayed focused on the task I've been given. Tried to fight a good fight, even if Barney is singing in the background while I'm doing it! My house is clean, 3 burritos are wrapped snuggly in their beds, an unfinished craft needs finishing, the DVR is paused and 3 loads of laundry await my precise hand!
   I'll be back. Until then, enjoy these two songs I've been listening to lately by JJ Heller.

My ending isn't the same...

     Somebody stole my journal and totally re-wrote this song! However, the ending isn't the same as my story!