Try It Tuesday

Peanut Butter Nutella Cookies!

I don't even know how long it's been since I've done a Try It Tuesday post...one, because I haven't had time, and two, because I haven't really "tried" anything from Pinterest lately.  But Sunday night I was trying to find something to make to eat during the Oscars; I came across this recipe and had all the ingredients, so I thought I'd give it a try :}

Ingredients

Sous Chef (not necessary, but kinda fun to have around)

Wet ingredients

 

After adding dry ingredients

 

 After "swirling" in the Nutella

 

Pre-baking (complete with standard peanut butter cookie crosshatches)

 Post-baking (Yum!)

They were pretty delicious!  A little on the crunchy/crispy side, so if you like moist, chewy cookies, you might want to find a different recipe.  They turned out pretty big...the recipe says to scoop out using 1/4 cup, but I only used a little over half of the 1/4 cup.  Would I make them smaller next time? Oh, no! When it comes to peanut butter and Nutella, go big, right?!

I got the recipe from this blog if you'd like to check it out, but here it is:

 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 unsalted butter, softened (I used salted)
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 & 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup Nutella

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer add both sugars, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and egg and mix until smooth and creamy. In a separate small bowl whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined. Add the Nutella and using a knife swirl it into the batter. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

While it's in the refrigerator, preheat your oven to 350 and spray 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray. When the dough is done chilling, scoop about a 1/4 cup of dough out and roll it into a ball and place on cookie sheet (no more than 12 on a cookie sheet). With a fork, press down gently on each cookie to flatten it a bit and to give it the cookies a nice pattern on top. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

P.S.  The batter is thicker than I expected it to be to "swirl" in the Nutella.  I did use a knife, but I just kind of stirred it around a little.  "Fold in without mixing completely" might be a better phrase.  Enjoy!

Hanging in There

Yep, I'm still alive and kicking, in case you were wondering.  I feel like I've been out of touch for a while.  Between doctor visits, hospital appointments, sickness, and just general upkeep, I've just been trying to make it through each day without someone throwing me in a padded cell.  I haven't really been able to communicate with the hubster in over a week I guess, and it's probably been the hardest week since he's been gone.  Sure there have been a couple of bad days here and there, but this has been the longest string of consecutive "hard days" yet.  And, of course, it has been the longest we've gone without talking.  Luckily, we got to Skype for a little while this morning, which was so nice, even though the quality was terrible.  So, just to update him and all of you, here's a summary of the last couple of weeks.

We'll start with a couple of fun ones.  First, I ordered some diapers from Cow Patties.  She hand makes cloth diapers and offers tons of different prints.  I got Star Wars and Hungry Caterpillar :}  Here's the Star Wars one:

 

 

Last weekend my mom and I went to a local winery, Three Sisters Vineyards, for a wine and chocolate tasting.  It was delish :}  Here's the plate of chocolates and souvenir wine glass we got:

 

Good times

 

That was on Saturday...Cameron got sick on Monday and is still sick :{  He caught the awful stomach bug that has been going around.  It hasn't been pretty, to say the least.  But worse than the "symptoms," shall we say, is that he just feels so bad.  He carries Wolfie around and sometimes he'll just lay down on the floor on top of him...it's so pitiful.  I admit that I have enjoyed him being so cuddly and STILL!  I never get to just sit with him and watch a tv show because he never sits!  But I do hate that he feels so bad and wish there was something I could do :{  Unfortunately, a stomach virus has to just run its course.  We missed another whole week of day care this week (two weeks ago we missed a week because he had strep throat, but even then, he didn't feel this bad).  On Tuesday he decided to borrow little brother's Nap Nanny (which used to be his, actually) and relax a while:

Like I said, pitiful :{

 

On Wednesday we had an appointment for Jude at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.  We have a history of a blood disorder called Hemophilia on my side of the family, and there is a possibility that I passed on the gene to him.  Hemophilia is caused by a deficiency of a certain factor in the blood, in my family's case, Factor 9.  The blood does not clot properly if a factor is missing, which makes bleeding hard to get under control...even a small bruise can be dangerous, so we definitely want to find out if he has it or not.  We met with a hematologist at the hospital for an evaluation.  Unfortunately, Jude's level of Factor 9 was low enough to be a concern, but not low enough to get a definite diagnosis.  Apparently, all babies are born with low a Factor 9 level...it doesn't peak until 6 months to a year old.  So, they want us to come back when he's at least 6 months to get his blood tested again.  While we were there we saw a room that was sponsored by the Ryan Seacrest Foundation.  Famous people periodically come to the hospital to meet patients and do a radio interview.  On that particular day Max Irons and Jake Able were the guests.  They are starring in The Host, which is based on a novel by Stephanie Meyer of Twilight fame.  Max has been in Red Riding Hood and Dorian Gray (and more importantly, he was a Burberry model :} ), and Jake has been in Percy Jackson: The Lightening Thief and I Am Number Four.  The Host comes out March 29th.  Here they are:  

 

And here's my sweet baby, who started smiling on February 17th :}

 

 

So, that about covers it.  I also did A LOT of lanudry for reasons I won't discuss here :/   

My Day in Review

What. A. Day.

It has been an I-don't-know-whether-to-laugh-or-cry type days.  And let me just say that it began at 5:00am when both boys woke up.  Yes, both.  They seem to tag team me.  When one is asleep the other is awake.  When I change one diaper, the other needs a change almost immediately.  How do they synchronize it like that?  Is it some kind of secret sibling mind trick?  I'm guessing it will be like this for the rest of our lives...although hopefully fewer diaper changes will be involved eventually.

Anyway, it started out innocently enough. Just the usual. But I had to go upstairs to put our dinner together in the crockpot. So both boys came with me, because I obviously can't leave them alone downstairs.  Well, Jude started crying and was inconsolable until I went and got the moby wrap. I prepared half of dinner while "wearing" him. He eventually fell asleep. Ok, good. I set him down and tried to finish up the crockpot meal (I was an hour late getting it ready...don't tell my mom) when I looked over and saw this:

 

That's a bag of flour. I thought, "Whew!  That could have been a disaster!  I've seen the pictures of kids covered in flour on Facebook! Poor moms...Haha!"  I was pretty proud of myself for catching him before I had to clean up a huge mess...smug even.  (What's that John Lennon song...Instant Karma's Gonna Get You...)  I then walked into the living room to turn on some cartoons for Cam to watch while I cleaned up the kitchen and saw this:

 

 

 

 

It took me forever to figure out what this was...yes, I tasted it.  It had no taste.  I finally figured out that it was Wondra, a thickening powder used for gravy and such.  There was an open container of it...wait for it...in the pantry!  He had taken it into the living room, shaken it out, and put it back!  Whaaat?!  Ok, so I got that swept up.  Now back into the kitchen to clean up.  Oh. My. Sweet. Goodness. Now this:

 

 

 

 

Jealous yet?  No?  Well, here's a little taste of what this afternoon was like:

 

 

 

Yeah, I had to call for backup.  Well, actually backup called me.  My grandma called to ask me a question, and she could hear in my voice that something was up...she said, "Need me to come get Cam?"  *sigh of relief*...Yes. Please.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm SO lucky to be here with my family!  I don't take them for granted for a second.  So, he's over at her house now...that's the only way I would be able to be blogging right now!  And meanwhile, there's this:

 

Sweet little guy :}  At least for now...

 

So, just another day in the life.  But there's no way I can stay too upset with my other sweet little guy!  Just look at him!*

 

 

 

*This picture is from yesterday ;}