Stawberry Jamming - 2014

 

My littles are creatures of habit, especially my boy. Every morning he wakes up before the sun, shuffles in to our bedroom, and asks the same question, “Can I have some yogurt?” I usually buy a big container of Stonyfield organic banilla yogurt (banana-vanilla flavor) and put some in little snack size Rubbermaid containers because it's much more economical than buying individual cups of yogurt. But there have been a few nights where I've gone to the fridge to get Beebo's yogurt cup ready for the morning and we're out and I have to make a dash to the grocery store to pickup more because ya know if he wakes up and there's no yogurt in the house the entire neighborhood is going to be waking up too! His desire for routine comes naturally to him, since I'm the same way. I enjoy the same thing for breakfast pretty much every morning – there's just something comforting about knowing what comes next.

Yogurt isn't my little man's only vice. He really loves a good PB & J, made with, what he refers to as “Mama's Famous Strawberry Jam”. So you can imagine what happened when this mama ran out of her “famous strawberry jam” this past year. I tried not to tell him at first. I went to get a jar of jam from my reserves, and the cupboard was bare. So I reached for a jar of apricot jam instead. But when he took a bite of his sandwich he saw right through my feeble attempt at a swap, scrunched up his nose and said with indignation, “Hey! Dis is not Mama's Famous Strawberry Jam!” No sir, it was not. I had to fess up and tell him we were out of strawberry, and I couldn't make any more because strawberries were not in season yet. On my next trip to the grocery store I tried to put a jar of strawberry jam in my cart, but I just couldn't do it. All those funky ingredients that I couldn't name gave me the creeps! I promised that as soon as I could get my hands on some fresh Michigan strawberries I would refill our stock of strawberry jam.

 

 

Well, I'm happy to say that time has come! This weekend we took a little break from home renovations (OYE! - a tale for another time), and ventured to a local strawberry patch. My children LOVE to pick fruit and veggies. Have you taken your kids to pick anything? Try it, I bet they will love it just as much as mine do! So many berries end up in bellies, and that's okay because it's all part of the fun. My babes put on aprons and sun hats and bring their little buckets along and help pick the berries that are destined to become the jam they'll enjoy for at least the next year. I just love when I hear them ask, “Mama, is this from the strawberries we got to pick?!” And I get to say YES! YOU helped make this awesome stuff!

 

 

Every year I run in to the same problem: How many jars of jam do I make? And then I curse myself for not keeping better track. And I search the internet for how many pounds are in a quart of strawberries, and how many quarts are needed for a batch of jam, and how many pints of jam does a batch make, and why do all these recipes make half-pint sized jars?! It's frustrating to say the least. So I decided to write all that down this year so my future self won't have to look for it again. You're welcome, future self. I figured we'd go through about 1.5 pint sized jars of jam per month, so we'd need at least 18 pints of jam to put away for the year. The recipe I found makes 8, 8 ounce jars of jam per batch. Since I'm using 16 ounce jars, that means a batch will get me 4 jars. I would need to make 5 batches of jam to fulfill my family's yearly jam needs. Now that I had an idea of how much jam I needed to make, here's what other information I gathered...

• Strawberry Measurements
• 10 cups of whole strawberries = 6 cups smashed = 2 quarts = Approx. 3 pounds = 4 pints of jam
• How many pounds of berries will I need?
• 5 batches x 3 pounds per batch = 15 pounds of berries
• How many quarts does this equal?
• 5 batches x 2 quarts per batch = 10 quarts of berries
• How much will the berries cost (based on 2014 u-pick prices)?
• $1.65 per pound x 15 pounds = $24.75

This information helped tremendously when we went out to pick. It was nice knowing how many pounds of berries I needed to leave with, since the strawberry patch was 45 minutes from our house. I certainly didn't want to make a return trip if I didn't get enough berries the first time. Which didn't end up being a problem because my little family picked almost 24 pounds of berries! The next challenge was getting all of these berries made in to jam while they were still good. Commence Jam Marathon 2014!

I basically processed berries and made jam for the next 12 hours. And what I ended up with was 22 ½ jars of ruby deliciousness.

 

 

I don't think my original pound figures were quite right because I used up all of the berries and only ended up with 22 ½ pints of jam. I'll have to remember that for next year. I'm so happy to have so many jars to put away for the year, and hopefully we won't run out again this year. In case you were wondering, here's the price breakdown for my strawberry jam-a-thon this year:

Strawberries (local, u-pick): $39.35

Sugar: $2.50 per bag x 2 bags = $5.00

Pectin (Mrs. Wages Low Sugar Powdered Pectin): $1.99 per box x 5 = $9.95

Total Cost: $54.30 or $2.41 per jar

I think the cost and time is totally worth it! I love having jars of yummy red goodness in my cupboards made with fruit that my family picked, that was locally grown, and that I canned! So cool! Do you want to make your own jam too? Why not?! I found my recipe on the PickYourOwn website, and it can be found HERE. Take a look around this website while you're there. It has become an invaluable resource to me. Whenever I'm looking for information on what's in season in my area, or where I can go to pick, I go to PickYourOwn.org. And they have many great recipes to help you figure out what to do with all that fresh, locally grown produce. Plus each recipe that I've encountered on this site usually comes with a breakdown on cost as well, so you can know a rough figure on how much a batch of each particular recipe will cost you to make.

I hope you'll take advantage of the beautiful red strawberries that are in season right now, and make your family a batch of delicious strawberry jam! Happy jamming!

 

 

 

Transformation Thursday - #4

Welcome to the 4^th installment of Transformation Thursday!

 

This week has been a whirlwind! My 5-year old daughter had her last soccer game of the season, a kindergarten end-of-year program, and her last day of school this week. We've been busy! But I haven't let that keep me from adhering to my goals. I can honestly say this is the first time in a while that I tracked all of my food choices with 100% honesty for the entire week, and I stayed within my calorie goals. Yippee! Tracking has been tremendously helpful for me. Knowing what I'm putting in my body, as well as how many calories I'm burning, has really helped me stay on track. I've mentioned it before, but I use My Fitness Pal to keep track of my health goals. It's a free, online tracking program and there's a mobile app too. I use both, and the mobile app has been a lifesaver when we're out to a restaurant and I don't have immediate access to their nutrition information. The nutrition database is loaded with just about every food choice imaginable so you'll always be able to track your nutrition. Find me on My Fitness Pal (username: CLivingston722), and we can encourage each other to stay on track!

 

I realized last week that I was getting on the scale too much. I was weighing myself every morning, and sometimes getting discouraged when I would see the scale move up from the day before. Especially if I had burned major calories and stayed within my nutritional calorie goals. So I decided last week that I would put the scale away and only weigh myself once a week. I had to hide the scale, folks. I had to put that baby someplace totally inconvenient to me so I wouldn't be tempted to step on it. And I'm happy to say, it worked!! I haven't stepped on the scale at all this week until this morning. That's been huge for me! It's been so nice not to worry about what the numbers are going to say. I know I'm eating well and exercising, and this week that's all that has mattered to me.

 

As for exercising, that's been going great too! I've been trying to fit in some form of physical activity at least 5 days a week. Even if it's just going for a walk or doing an exercise video. Anything is better than sitting on my butt! I managed to get in a few killer bike rides. Last Thursday I covered 21.5 miles with my Jake and biked a total of 1 hour and 44 minutes. Yes! Some nights I was just short on time, so I shortened my rides and focused on speed instead of distance. I was able to get my average speed up to 15.8 mph – that's the fastest I've EVER averaged! That's some major non-scale victory for me! With this week being so busy, there were a few days that posed a challenge for me to fit in some exercise. On those days, I tried to break out the hand weights and work on my arms or get out my mat for a few minutes and do some ab work. I may not have gotten any cardio in, but strength training is just as important. Need muscle to burn that fat! And for the first time I'm starting to desire to see some muscle definition on my body. I long to be strong!

 

All in all, it was a pretty fantastic week! My non-scale challenges were all met: I stayed on track with my nutrition goals, I exceeded the number of minutes I set for myself as an exercise goal, I tracked my nutrition and exercise for the whole week on MFP, AND I managed to stay off the scale! So now that I've stayed away from the scale all week, I want to know what all this hard work has earned me in the digits department, don't you?! Here goes, my numbers for the week...

 

Calories Burned: 3,897 (goal of 1,520 per week)

Exercise Minutes: 356 minutes (goal of 250 minutes per week)

Pounds Lost This Week: 3.6

New Weight: 166.6

Total Pounds Lost: 25.4

You may notice that my goals keep changing. I'm trying to find the goals that are right for me – a challenge for my body, but not so challenging that it's unattainable. Please bear with me while I fine tune my goals.

 

Scale Victory!!! Oh my goodness! I am SO HAPPY with those numbers! I have not see a weight lower than 167 in a very, very long time. Yay! And now I'm 3.1 pounds away from being half-way to my goal weight. It's not about the numbers, but it sure feels good when the scale agrees with all the hard work I've put in throughout the week. Thanks for all the reads and support and encouragement from the friends who keep the kind words and thoughts flowing! Until next week folks!

Transformation Thursday - #3

3 weeks in a row! I'm on a roll!  And boy do I have a whole lotta bunch of non-scale victories to share with you!

This week went pretty well. I manage to keep my eating under control and not overindulge too much. We did have a graduation party to attend, and of course there was cake, and of course I ate some. But I knew I had eaten really well leading up to that point in the day so I didn't feel too guilty about it. And we did eat out once this weekend....and I may have had a delicious cheeseburger and some fries. *sigh* I'm not gonna lie, I'm a cheeseburger gal. And I married a cheeseburger guy. That meal, I felt horribly guilty about. I knew that in just one sitting I probably consumed well over my daily allowed calories. That's a bit depressing. But I didn't let it keep me down for too long. I'm starting to recognize that weekends are my weakest points. We're on the go a lot, and I'm not always prepared to eat healthy while we're out. And my brain and tummy seem to think we're on some wild vacation so we can party it up! I just need to remember that while it's okay to have a treat once in a while, it needs to be done in moderation and with my end goal in mind. The weeks are flying by, and I don't want one day to ruin my scale moment at the end of the week. It's just not worth it.

In addition to making healthier eating choices most of the time this week, I also got in some pretty spectacular workouts! On Saturday, my mama and I completed an 18-mile charity bike ride. That's the farthest we've ridden so far in our biking journeys together, and It. Was. AWESOME! There was an option to ride the loop once or twice more, and we both thought that once more (on another day) would be totally doable. We're ready for a challenge, and Michigan has some amazing bike routes to help us accomplish that. So the bike ride went great. We finished in good time, 1 hour and 33 minutes for 18 miles of riding – not too bad! And then we picked up our ride packets and prepared to head home. Did I mention this was a “Cupcake Cruise”? Yeah. The lady that put this ride together had mini cupcakes donated from the local cupcake shop, and we receive a box with six pretty little cupcakes inside. I truly had no intention of eating them, I was going to let my kiddos and hubby have at them when I got home. So mama and I put our cupcake boxes in plastic bags and got ready to leave. Then it happened. The thing I've been dreading since I first started riding. The thing that freaked me out more than anything else about cycling. I fell off my bike.

My Jake (bike) and I are just starting our relationship together, and I'm still a little wobbly on those skinnier tires. But I also have these funky shoes that some cyclist wear called clips. They sort of look like a cleat on the bottom. And my pedals are designed to clip inside the bottom of my shoe. I set my foot on the pedal, and my shoe snaps on so I'm attached to my bike. Cool right?

 

 

Now when I got these shoes and pedals with my bike a few weeks ago I practiced clipping in and clipping out over and over again on a trainer in the bike shop so I'd get comfortable with the process. But I forgot to ask what happens if I lose my balance and start to fall. Will my shoes just disengage? Is there an emergency eject button somewhere? I should have asked. Well, let me tell you what happened in this scenario. I had a bag of cupcakes on my handle bars, and one foot clipped in to my pedal. I raised myself up on the seat and pushed off to get going. My handle bars twisted, I could feel the fall coming, I tried to move my foot to catch myself but I wasn't even thinking about clipping out, and before I could even think, I fell. And I landed on my cupcakes. And then laid on the ground laughing and making sure I didn't break anything while my mom rushed over to make sure I was okay. Thankfully, no broken bones. Just some smashed cupcakes and a few bruises. Not my most graceful moment, but I'm thankful we were sort of away from the starting line at that point and it wasn't witnessed by a bunch of biker folks or my pride would been bruised along with my legs. I told my mom at the time that I could feel the fall coming and knew there was nothing I could do to stop it, so in those milliseconds leading up to the fall, you just have to embrace it. Embrace the fall, say Oh Crap!, and hope and pray you don't break anything!

I fit in a few more fall-less rides throughout the week as well as some ab workouts with Jillian Michaels. Jillian is kicking my butt guys. I'm huffing and puffing through those workouts, but my muscles don't seem to feel it until the next day. I've woke up sore every morning for the past three days. And I love it! I know I'm getting stronger and healthier and my muscles are waking up. I'm really starting to enjoy fitness, which is something I never thought I'd say.

Alright, so that's how my diet and exercise went this week. Better than last week. Always improving! Now for the digits. Here's my numbers from this week:

 

Calories Burned: 6,472 (goal of 1,520 per week)

Exercise Minutes: 597 minutes (goal of 240 minutes per week)

Pounds Lost This Week: 2

New Weight: 170.2
Total Pounds Lost: 21.8

Victory!!!  I'm learning that I just need to trust in the process and quit weighing myself every day.  The scale is going in to hiding for a week!  And I am killin' it with the exercise!  I LOVE it!  Smashing my calorie burn and exercise minute goals.  Even if the scale doesn't like me some weeks, I am not gonna stop because this exercise high is enough to carry me through 'til Christmas!  With that said, I have to encourage you, if you are reading this and you want to start exercising but you don't know where to start, just get out there and get moving.  Take a walk.  My fav, go for a bike ride!  Get some sunshine on your shoulders, and try to move your body.  It's hard at first, but once you get a few days behind you you're going to start to feel your energy perk.  And then pretty soon you're going to start to crave those endorphins, and you might just surprise yourself like me and enjoy exercising!  There you have it.  Challenge issued.  Get moving!

See ya next week peeps!

Transformation Thursday - #2

I'm back! As promised, here I am at week number 2 and ready to share with you my ups and downs in my fitness journey this week.

 

 

This week was HARD! I chaperoned a kindergarten field trip with my husband, we had some major home repairs, and a long holiday weekend all crammed in to this week. And my diet definitely suffered for it, I'm sad to say. I succumbed to the busyness of life and fell off the diet wagon a few times. As a result, I don't think I did as well as I would have hoped on the scale, but more on that later. All in all, I stayed pretty positive though. One thing I use to hate about dieting and exercise was that I'd fall down in my journey and never bother to get back up because it just seemed too hard. Now I recognize how far I've come and I don't want to lose all that progress! It's never starting over – I'm not in the 190's anymore and I never will be! The only thing I can do is let the mistakes stay behind me and keep moving forward. A little reboot, but at least I have a head start to the finish line!

 

 

So that was the down – my diet oopsies. But I had some really awesome no-scale victories that I want to share with you too! Last year I joined an amazing bunch of ladies from my hometown for what I like to call “Bleacher Bootcamp”. Basically, we'd climb the local high school's 50-step bleachers a bunch of times and incorporate track walking/jogging/running as well as some other strength exercises. The group hasn't started back up yet, but I love the feeling I get from completing one these grueling workouts so much that I decided to attempt one on my own. I'm proud to say that I did it twice this past week! Not only that, but I ran the track! Now, I'm not a runner. At all. I almost need a rabid dog to chase me to light a fire under my butt and get me to run. But this time, I just tried it. I walked a lap, and then I started to run and set a goal for myself to make it all the way around the track – about a quarter mile. And after a few tries, I did it! I ran a lap and a half non-stop! Oh man, I was so excited that night! What a HUGE victory for me! I have a goal to run a 5k, so that equates to about 13 track laps. Eeek! But I'm going to keep trying to add a little more distance each time I go out.

 

I've also been enjoying some morning strolls with my mom and little man, as well as a few long bike rides. One day this week I managed to get in a 3.5 mile walk in the morning and a 13 mile bike ride in the evening! Both were at record paces for me, and I burned a whopping 1,128 calories with exercise that day! Woo-hoo!

 

So even though my numbers on the scale might not be showing it, I know I'm still making a transformation towards a healthier body. I know I'm building my endurance so I can walk, run, and bike further and faster than before. And I know that my body is starting to realize that, hey, we're making changes here! No sitting on the tushy! We're moving! And my mental attitude towards this process is changing too. Yeah, it would be nice to drop 5 pounds in a week, see the scale decrease my digits, and have confetti fall from the bathroom ceiling. But I'm not going to stop this journey just because that doesn't happen one week. I'm going to keep going. Because I know that by continuing, I'm that much closer to my goal of being a healthier me.

 

Without further ado, here are my facts and figures from this past week!

 

Calories Burned: 2,374 (goal of 1,520 per week)

Exercise Minutes: 255 minutes (goal of 240 minutes per week)

Pounds Lost: 0.6 lbs.

New Weight: 172.6

 

So I killed it with exercise this week, but really bottomed out with my eating. As a result, I only lost 0.6 pounds. I know, it's still a loss. But it isn't the loss I worked for. Knowing that I gave a lot of time and energy to exercise this week and wasted it on unhealthy eating choices makes me mad. And that's just what I need to propel me in to next week. I'm determined to do better this week and make healthier eating choices. This week's transformation is a mental one, not a physical one. Next week, that scale better be ready to show me some better numbers!!

 

 

Transformation Thursday - #1

I've been neglecting this space and wondering in my mind what I should put here. I bake something and think “Ooh! Maybe I'll blog about that!”, but then I remember that I just saw a blog post about apple pie or chocolate cake, and who's gonna want to read that? I thought about putting my crafty stuff out there; and I may still do that, but for now I want to share with you a story about how my life has changed over the past year and my commitment to keeping it going.

 

A year ago I was sitting in a cubicle for 8 hours a day. Typing away, answering calls, scheduling stuff – trucking logistics, essentially was my job. My job was stressful, in part because I allowed it to stress me out, but also because everyone that called wanted something done right away and I felt the need to provide excellent customer service and make it happen for them. Happy customers, stressed out me. I spent most of those hours sitting in a chair, not moving much except to answer the phone, type something in, or get up to get another cup of coffee. All the while my dear husband was at home caring for our children. We made the decision early on that we wanted one of us to be home with our children while they are young – we didn't want to put them in daycare. It just happened to work out (God's plan!) that my husband would stay home with our little ones for the first 5 years. But we prayed, a lot, for a change so that I could stay home and my husband could find a job that would support our little family.

 

Then, it happened! Out of the blue, our prayers were answered! The timing, the logistics, everything about the situation can be chalked up to nothing but the will of God and His perfect timing. I gave notice, and two weeks my hubby started his new job and I was spending the summer with our babes. This is where the transformation begins!

 

In my new role, I was NOT sitting on my hiney all day. My kiddos were 4 and 2 at the time – you can imagine, there wasn't much sitting happening! We were taking walks and going to the library and the park and practicing soccer and we were on the move! This was a huge change for me. Not just the movement, but the career. Before this time I felt part of my identity was wrapped up in my job. And now I didn't have that. Oddly enough, I didn't feel whole. So in an effort to find some peace and maybe get a little exercise in I decided to start biking. I remember the first night I got on my bike. I thought I'd give it 30 minutes and come back home. 10 minutes from home and I couldn't believe how far away I seemed and how great I felt! So I kept going. That night I ended up biking for an hour and it felt great! So good, that I did it again the next night, and the night after that. I casually told my husband, “I'm pretty sure I'm biking like 3 or 4 miles a night.” He then said, “No, it's gotta be more than that.” Gee – I was pretty happy with 3 or 4, but I thought just for giggles I'd look up my route and see. I was shocked – 10 MILES! Me. Sedentary, overweight, non-active me was biking 10 miles a night! Talk about a confidence boost!

 

Well, from then on I was hooked. I kept going. And all the sudden I knew what those runners were talking about when they'd say “if I don't get a run in I don't feel right”. If I missed a night on my bike, I felt off kilter and couldn't wait to get back on it. Biking was my escape – not that I had anything to run away from. But it just ended up being a quiet time for me to think, or not think. To listen to music that I enjoyed instead of cartoons. To have a chat with God. To enjoy nature. And as it turns out, biking became my means of losing weight.

 

A heavier me on a zoo outing with my little guy

 

As I said, I was sedentary and overweight – in fact, according to my BMI, I was obese. Yikes. 26 years old, and I'm obese. I didn't start biking with the intention of dropping pounds. I had sort of set that aside for a while. But as I started tracking my rides I realized that I was burning major calories! I burned twice as many calories biking as I would walking the same distance. And the best part was, I enjoyed it! In addition to biking, I started keeping track of my nutrition on MyFitnessPal. I logged my meals – everything I put in my mouth went in to my log. And I started to see results. Slowly, but steadily, the weight began to come off. And as I started to see the change and feel more confident in my ability to keep going, I began to set goals for myself. By the end of the summer, I had lost 25 pounds!

 

A smaller me - ready for a ride and feeling great!

 

Then fall and winter came along, and sort of stole my thunder. I didn't gain at all through the end of the year – I was so proud! I maintained my loss, but I also didn't exercise, like, at all. And I probably indulged in a few too many sweets and baked goods. And so, at the beginning of this year, some of the weight started to sneak back on. And again, I found myself feeling lousy and hoping the weather would warm up so I could escape with my bike and start losing again.

 

And so here I am. Thankful for warmer temps and a fantastic new bike. I want to share some numbers with you, for the sake of accountability. It's hard talking about this, because I know I weigh more than I should. But my hope is that by sharing this with you, I'll be inspired to keep going. And who knows, maybe I can inspire someone else to take a ride. All right, here goes...

 

At the beginning of my weight loss journey, at the end of June 2013, I weighed 192 pounds. By the end of December 2013, I had lost 25 pounds bringing my end weight to 167 pounds. Dang, I was proud of myself! I have not seen that number since before kids, and I was fitting in to jean sizes I hadn't seen in years! Then, I hibernated (HA!) and gained 10 pounds. *gasp!* I vowed I would NOT see the 180's again, and so I started trying to eat better and when the weather allowed it, I went outside – walking or riding my bike, when I could. I'm now back down to 174 pounds. Still not my lowest yet, but not my highest either. My ultimate goal is to reach 140 to 135 pounds, but really, I just want to be healthy and feel good in my clothes.

My purdy new ride

 

So there you have it, my digits. The real talk. From the beginning of my journey, I had 52 to 57 pounds to lose, and I've already killed 18 pounds of it! Yes! Now, I need to get back on track. I mentioned above that I got a new bike – she's fab. It's a Kona Jake cyclocross bike. I feel like I joined a club when I got this thing – the first ride out I got the fellow biker wave of acknowledgment and beamed all the way home. I know, I'm a nerd. I've been riding almost every day and trying to incorporate walking and other exercise in as well. I think the warmer weather is finally here to stay in Michigan, so there's no better time for me to start! I'm hoping I can wipe out the rest of these pounds by the end of the year. I don't want to set my bar too high, but I want to challenge myself too.

 

Here's my commitment: I'm going to stay active. I'm going to track my nutrition and exercise (follow me on MyFitnessPal – username Clivingston722). And I'm going to come back here every Thursday and share with you how I did this week. I'll weigh in every Thursday morning and share my digits with you, and hopefully share my victory with you too! I believe I can do this. I KNOW I can. And I'm committing to seeing this through to the end!

Double Chocolate Cherry Chip Cookies

I'm telling you now, these cookies will not last long in your cookie tin.  They are moist, fudgy, and loaded with yummy chocolate flavor.  Perfect for the choco-holic in your life.

While out grocery shopping with the little guy the other day I came across these baking chips.

Now, of course, the Hersey's Special Dark chips I was familiar with, but I had never seen cherry baking chips before.  I immediately thought of chocolate covered cherries and went in search for the dark chocolate chips.  My vision was to make an extremely chocolatey cookie and marry these two flavors together - think cherry cordial.  Yum!

When I got home I searched out the perfect chocolate cookie recipe.  I like using AllRecipes.com because the recipes on this site seem to have the most reviews and the most helpful suggestions on how to improve the recipe if it needs it.  I found the Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies recipe, which apparently is a Nestle Tollhouse original.  Who knew?  In place of the chocolate chunks, I used the cherry and dark chocolate chips.  Oh, I'm so glad I did!

These cookies are amazing and everything I dreamed they would be!  Fudgy and moist in the center, and that cherry flavor really goes will with the dark chocolate.  They truly do taste just like a cherry covered cherry in cookie form.

One of the best parts is that these cookies stayed moist even after a night in the cookie tin.  Delish!  If you can track down these cherry baking chips (I found them at WalMart), you really should give these cookies a try.  And share them....I know it's hard, but you'll make lots of friends!

 

 

Double Chocolate Cherry Chip Cookies

Adapted from AllRecipes.com via Nestle Tollhouse

 

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup baking cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 cup cherry baking chips

1 cup dark chocolate baking chips
 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars.  Add eggs, one at a time, until incorporated.  Mix in vanilla.

3. Gradually beat in flour mixture.  Stir in baking chips.

4. Scoop with a medium cookie disher and roll in to balls.  These cookies did not spread very much for me so I flattened the balls a little with the palm of my hands before placing them on the cookie sheet. Drop on to ungreased cookie sheets.

5. Bake in preheated oven for 8-11 minutes, or until cookies are puffed and centers are set but still soft.  Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

 

Printable Recipe

Color Sorting Cups

While perusing Pinterest, as I so often do during naptime, I came across this neat idea for color sorting cups.  My little guy turned 2 in October, and we've been working on colors lately.  I thought this might give him a good hands on way to learn more about his colors.  So to Wally-World we did go!  In addition to my Revlon Red nail polish, we also threw in to the cart the following items:
 

Take&Toss Plastic Cups w/Lids, Colorful Buttons, X-Acto Knife

Beebo (yeah, that's his nickname - I'll tell ya all about it sometime, promise) was pretty excited to get his colorful buttons home and make a big giant mess!  But he was not too happy when he learned that mama was going to cut holes in his cups.  No worries little guy, it's all part of the plan.  Using the largest sized buttons as a guide, I cut slits in the lids so the buttons could drop in to the cups.

I wanted the hole in to the lid large enough so the big button could slip through, but the smaller buttons would stay in the cups when the bowl was tipped over.  Because, let's face it, as soon as this cup is full of buttons it will turn in to a maraca.  I finished the yellow cup and moved on to the next color.  Using the yellow lid as a guide, I marked the next lid with a Sharpie marker so I knew where to cut.

 

It was about this time that I realized the cups did not all have matching lids.  In fact, the only matching set was yellow.  The rest of the cups were all blue and green, and the lids were orange and red.  What the what?!  Okay, no need to panic.  Just needed to rethink my plan of action.

I determined that I would let the Beebs play with the yellow, blue, and green button cups with lids off.  That way he could drop buttons right in to the cups. Things could get messy, but hey, that's life!

 

He had a pretty good time with that, but we did run in to one little hang-up.  The buttons that we bought came with two shades of blue, which he found sort of confusing.  So I took one set of blue out and left the others.
 

 

After that, he quickly got the hang of which buttons went in which cups.
 

 

When he had those three colors down pretty well, I put those away and introduced the red and orange button cups.  I was able to leave the lids on those cups and just explain to him to drop the orange buttons in the cup with the orange lid, red goes with red, etc.

 

 

This was a fun and quick project, and the best part is they store really easily.  Once we're done with our buttons they go in the matching cups with the lids on and get stacked up in the craft cupboard.  Of course, buttons are still pretty small and little folks like to put small things in their mouths, so this project should be used with adult supervision only.  I'll be on the lookout for cups with matching lids, but for the time being this is working out pretty well and helping my little guy learn his colors fast!