Breakfast Cookies For My Valentine

12 Feb By 20 Comments

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The beau does not like change. I have come to see that this is very lucky for me, because he would rather deal with me (being the work-in-progress that I am), than trade me in for a newer, younger, less troublesome girlfriend. Given his druthers, he prefers his routines and a set way of doing most things. Especially in the morning. Every day he has half a bagel (marble or sesame) and orange juice (Tropicana, some pulp, not lots of pulp), does his sit-ups, texts me to say ’good morning,’ and then has his tea (Black Mango from Trader joe’s) with a breakfast cookie. Yes, a breakfast cookie!  I think he invented the concept of “breakfast cookie” just so he could have a treat in the morning.

Since we do not get to have breakfast together very often, I thought I would make him a Valentine’s gift which would send him off each day with a reminder that I am one of his biggest fans. Breakfast cookies with a secret message!

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The recipe for these yummy Lemon Heart Breakfast Cookies is at the end of this post. They were easy to bake, but I overcook everything and also forgot to sprinkle them with sugar, but they still came out plenty perfect and taste great! At least I am consistently erratic.

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While they were still warm, I poked a hole in them with a skewer…

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…and laced an 8 inch piece of ribbon through the hole once they were cooled.

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Using my favorite hand-made papers and the cookie cutter for a pattern, I cut out hearts. On each heart, I wrote a series of silly love notes – like, “I love you more than the wind loves the night” and “I love you more than trees love their leaves” and “I love you more than the waves love the sand.”  Yes, very silly.

When my kids were little, I used to send notes like this in their lunch boxes. They still laugh about my funny notes! Well, there is the possibility that they are mocking me, but I will take any attention I can get from my teens.

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We are going out to celebrate Valentines Day at dinner tonight since we will be busy with our kids on Thursday, which means I am not spoiling the surprise by posting his gift today and you still have time to make this for your Valentine if you want to!SONY DSC

It looked so pretty packaged up in a white box with a gingham bow! I am happy knowing that, even if I can’t be there for breakfast, he will get a little love to start his day!

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Do you have a good gift idea for your Valentine?

Here is the recipe:

Lemon Heart Breakfast Cookies

Adapted from Sunset “Cookies”

by Annie Kip for www.plentyperfect.com

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

3 teaspoons grated lemon peel

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup ground almonds (I used Almond Meal from Trader Joe’s)

Sugar to sprinkle on top

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy, beat in egg yolk and lemon peel. Gradually add flour, blending thoroughly. Mix in ground almonds.

Gather dough into a ball and roll out on a floured surface until ¼ inch thick. Cut out hearts and transfer to greased cookie sheet. Place about 1 inch apart. Sprinkle cookies lightly with sugar.

Bake at 325 degrees for 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

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Christmas Pig

3 Dec By 8 Comments

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You might think that I am  jubilantly dancing a happy dance over how well I have brainwashed my children. But I am not.

I have kids who don’t really whine about wanting “things.” They do not covet designer labels and high priced luxury goods. They feel bad asking for stuff. They have more than most kids and are pretty happy with what they already have. They really don’t need anything.

So, how am I supposed to create a good Christmas Morning Experience this year? Getting socks and underwear for Christmas is all well and good, as long as there are other presents to open. I mean, really.

My problem is that I don’t want to spend money just to spend money. We really do not need more things cluttering up our space and we have limited resources. I try to be selective about how much extra stuff we have and how we spend time. This makes gift-giving a little difficult.  My kids might think that going on trips and doing activities as a family is fun tolerable, but these things would not feel like a good present to them (because going on a trip is usually something I want to do!). Since they are used to getting what they need, things like new shoes or clothes do not feel like special presents.

And buying a heifer for someone in a third-world country is all well and good, and maybe we will actually do that this year, but it is really not very fun on Christmas morning. For us, at least. I know it is completely selfish and ridiculous that this is a big problem for me, but I know my kids will be sad if there are not at least a few things to open on Christmas morning.

My kids are not spoiled or over-indulged and I don’t want them to become that way. The problem is that they are kids who still love the magic of Christmas and I don’t want that feeling to dissolve into adult reality any sooner than it has to.

Don’t berate me, please, I already feel lousy. I know this is a screwed up problem to be worried about. I know that being stressed about creating a happy Christmas Morning Experience for my kids is gross when so many people have so little. I feel like a Christmas pig. Do you have the same issues? I would welcome any and all thoughts about how you deal with this.

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Favorite Things Friday: The Right Containers

30 Nov By 4 Comments

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I hate to admit it, but these stupid, plastic containers give me a LOT of joy. I love knowing that everything fits in them. I love their compactness. I love having a system I follow every year.

I don’t like that I had to buy them. It seems like we should be able to get along just fine with the system my parents used – wrapping ornaments in toilet tissue and piling them into an old cardboard box. I did that for years, but then one year indulged in “real” containers for my various Christmas accoutrements and I will never go back. Turns out that there really is better living through plastic. I have never been happier unpacking or packing up my Christmas stuff.

Looking for post-Christmas sales on these ornament boxes, wreath boxes, and light spools is a good idea. They really do make the whole holiday decorating effort much easier.

This year, as I am unpacking my Christmas gear, I am paying closer attention to the things that make me happy and the things that I am keeping out of a sense of obligation or plain old ambivalence. I want to pare down and have only the things that make me and my kids really happy. I have already made one trip to the donation center and this group of things went there today.

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Fake fruit (very realistic, but still unnecessary), a parasol (why have I kept this?), extra office supplies, plastic champagne flutes, sheets for a bed size I don’t own, fabric and trim bought impulsively, and a faded Easter wreath. The hardest things to give up were the clay Christmas tree hand-made by my daughter (which weighs about 30 lbs.) and the shower curtain which is pretty but doesn’t work in my bathroom anymore. All of these things have sat around my house for a long time and it is time to move them out into the world for someone else to enjoy.

I hope you are enjoying the holiday season and finding ways to make it easier and more joyful.

Are you doing anything differently this year?

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Thankful For The Darndest Things

21 Nov By 5 Comments

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I find myself thankful for the darndest things these days.

I am thankful for a beau who does not think or see like anyone else. Because if he saw the world as I do, I would not be able to bask in his complete, unconditional acceptance and I would never have to stretch to understand and clarify what I think and feel and learn what it means to give complete, unconditional acceptance.

I am thankful for my youngest son’s uninhibited enjoyment of moving and living and for his ability to keep us laughing (whether he means to or not) with responses such as, “no, mom, I didn’t jump on him to wake him up. I only tickled him and pleasured him.”

I am thankful for my middle son’s deep enjoyment of his own thoughts and amusement with anything complicated and absurd, such as his daily insistence that he is an iguana. He regularly emphasizes this assertion with a big “woof” and explains that our dog is clearly also an iguana because she says “woof” as well.

I am grateful for the example set by my daughter’s slightly aggravating lack of the female ”pleaser” gene, admirable unwavering commitment to and enjoyment of her passions, and practical expectation that others will make themselves happy as well.

I am thankful for a blog that has made me write regularly for an entire year (yes, an entire year! yay!) and has made me share things about myself that I normally wouldn’t. I am grateful for the free-falling experience of showing the unattractive parts of myself and landing softly in the connections created from the shared humanity and good humor of my friends who are readers and readers who have become friends.

Thank you.

I am also thankful for curious for philosophical dilemmas such as: is there anything wrong with wearing two different shoes, if one of each feels better than two of one pair?

What are you thankful for?

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Anyone want a “do-over” right about now?

23 Dec By Leave a Comment

Just about this time every year, I start thinking about what I want to do differently next year.  Christmas is great and all, but geeeez it can get nuts quickly.  Sometimes, I just need to take a break, step back and reflect on what life would be like if I did only what I really want to do.  A girl can dream, can’t she?  I actually have a notebook with tabs for each month of the year and I have been keeping notes for many years.  It is functional fantasizing.  Sort of like when you are “trying” to have a baby – its fun and all, but it would be more fun if you didn’t have to think about it.  I wish I could just naturally do everything at the right time and everything would work out, but I need a little help getting there.

just the basics – nothin’ fancy
I write down thoughts as they come to me – really basic notes – for instance, ideas for family traditions, or when I notice that I completely missed raspberry-picking season, or when the New Year’s Eve rolls around and I realize I have nothing to wear to a party, or every mid-December when I am ready to send out Christmas cards and I can’t get a decent family picture.  Or, when I realize I have missed my yearly opportunity to “Talk Like A Pirate” all day – that really bums me out.  
 
The notebook can only do so much to keep me on track (because, of course, you have to look at the notebook to remember what to do), but it is helpful and sort of fun to look at the notes and know that I don’t have to actually do it all.  I get to freely choose which items are worth doing, knowing there is always next year.  The notebook never makes me feel guilty.  It is my friend.  Also, when things are written down, I don’t have to wonder whether I have early-onset Alzheimers.
 

September To Do

 

December To Do
 Some months have more notes than others, but I like having a place to keep information which will otherwise seep out of my feeble brain.  The actual notebook is not fancy, the notes are not tidy, some ideas never get done (like “play hooky on first snow day” – what, am I crazy???), I forget things all the time, but my notebook saves my brain a lot of trouble and I think the whole thing is plenty perfect.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

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