Chocolate Wafer Cookies

Here's another recipe that I make all the time. My husband loves these wafers (especially the variation made with cinnamon and cayenne – that's why you'll see those ingredients in the pictures below), and they're quick to make, so they're frequently what I make for his lunch.

This recipe showcases the cocoa powder that you use, so pick the best one you can afford!  I've used this recipe to demonstrate the differences between various brands (and types) of cocoa when I've hosted chocolate tastings, so I can say with authority that the cocoa you choose will greatly affect the taste of the cookie. The biggest difference is between natural and Dutch-process cocoa – within those two types the differences in brands are less noticeable. If you use Dutch-process cocoa you'll get something that tastes more like a certain famous sandwich cookie. Natural cocoa yields a cookie that's lighter in color and milder in flavor.  I highly recommend experimenting until you find your favorite.

For these cookies you make the dough, roll it into a log, and refrigerate it for an hour or so before slicing it into rounds and baking. You'll need about 15 minutes to make the dough, and about 20 minutes to do the baking, with at least an hour in between for chilling the dough.

Chocolate Wafers

(adapted from Bittersweet, by Alice Medrich)

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

½ cup plus 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)

¼ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

6 tbsp unsalted butter, slightly softened

½ cup packed brown sugar

½ cup plus 2 Tbsp granulated sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

3 Tbsp water or milk

Variations:

• Cinnamon chocolate wafers – add 1 T cinnamon to the dough
• Cinnamon spice wafers – add 1 T cinnamon and ¼-½ t cayenne pepper to the dough

Directions:

(Do not heat the oven! This dough needs to chill before baking!)

Assemble ingredients.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.  (Note:  I like to sift mine because my cocoa inevitably has huge lumps that don't come out with just whisking.  Whether you whisk or not is totally up to you!)

In a medium bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the sugars and vanilla. Beat on high speed for about 1 minute.

Beat in the water or milk. On low speed, beat in the flour mixture just until incorporated. 

  Once the dough sticks together

 Gather it together with your hands and form it into a neat, 9- to 10- inch log. 

Wrap it in wax paper or saran wrap, folding or twisting the ends of the paper without pinching or flattening the log. Chill for at least 1 hour, or until needed. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days, or double-wrapped and frozen for up to 3 months.)

When ready to bake:

Preheat the oven to 350º. Lightly grease two baking sheets.

Use a sharp knife to slice rounds of chilled dough about ¼ inch thick. 

Place them 1 inch apart on baking sheets. 

 Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, baking one sheet at a time.  If you like chewy cookies, slightly under-bake them (about 8 minutes). If you like crunchy, go for the full 12 minutes. Crunchy cookies are also easily crumbled up for a chocolate crumb crust.

The cookies will puff and crackle on top, then settle down slightly when done. Use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks, or freeze for up to 2 months.

Happy Baking!

Who You Are

I had a rough day yesterday (after MOPS, of course :) ) because of some chronic back/shoulder pain and an old wrist injury that flared up again, and since I was feeling discouraged myself I was having trouble figuring out what to blog about this week.  So last night I prayed, “God, please help me to think of a topic for this week that will be encouraging.” This morning I woke up after a mercifully good night’s rest, looked at Facebook on my phone, and a friend had posted the below video. God knew exactly what I needed to hear today, and I trust that He delivered this message especially for you as well. My words were not the ones you needed this week, and I’m thankful that God gave me a dose of humility along with His encouragement. :) Please watch this video, and remember who you are.

Knitting

The lovely Alicia Carter taught us all how to knit this morning. Nobody got very far (no thanks to the chopsticks) but I hope that we at least all had fun! Here were what Alicia's sample dish cloths looked like:

Maybe one day ours will look like this too! 

If you are interested in finishing up your dish cloth and are a visual learner (like me) here are some online tutorials that may be helpful to you: 

How to cast on

How to knit stitch

How to purl stitch

How to bind off

Macaroni and Cheese

The recipe I use for this classic casserole has been passed down from my husband's grandmother. It's totally comfort food – super yummy, but high in calories – so I don't make it for my own family very often. Over the years though, it's become my go-to meal when I need to bring a meal to someone. Kids and adults alike love it, and because it freezes well, I often make a double batch and keep one pan in the freezer for emergencies.

Plan ahead to make this, because the major secret is not to hurry! The cheese sauce works best cooked over medium heat, and it really doesn't like to be rushed. (Rush it, and it'll separate and you'll get super-greasy mac-n-cheese.)

You can keep the casserole in the fridge overnight (no more than 24 hours) before you cook it. As I mentioned, it also freezes well, so you can always make it when you have time and cook it when you need it. Just make sure you allow for thawing time or for extra cooking time.

As with everything homemade, better quality ingredients will result in a higher quality dish. The main ingredient here is cheese – and there are definite differences in the end product based on what you choose. Historically, I have grated my own (high quality) cheddar and Monterey jack. Recently, however, I had occasion to make a LOT of mac-n-cheese in a short period of time, and I decided to try using (lower-quality) pre-grated cheese. (I bought the huge, 5-lb bag from Costco, and froze it 1 lb packages.) It's a big time saver, and there's not too much of a taste difference, but it results in a much thicker sauce, because pre-grated cheese has additives (my main reason for not choosing it before) to prevent clumping, and these act in much the same way as the flour in the roux. If you decide to use pre-grated, keep in mind that you'll need to thin the sauce by adding a little more milk.

Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients

4 T (1/2 stick) butter
3 T flour
12-16 oz noodles (fewer noodles = cheesier mac-n-cheese)
1 pound grated cheese
2 1/2 c milk
salt

Directions

Assemble ingredients.

Prepare noodles according to package directions; drain and place in a large casserole dish. (When I make this dish for my family, I use a 9”x13” pan glass pan. When I'm making it to bring to someone who needs a meal, I use a disposable pan that's as close in size to 9”x13” as I can find.)

While the noodles are cooking, make the sauce:

In a large skillet, melt the butter over low to medium heat,

Add the flour, stirring thoroughly to make a roux (paste). Cook for approximately 1-2 minutes (this will help eliminate any “floury” taste from your sauce.).

Add the milk all at once in a slow, steady stream, stirring (whisking) constantly.  Note: I have a spiral whisk (shown) that I use for making sauces, but a regular whisk works well too!

Stir steadily until the sauce is simmering (bubbling) and beginning to thicken.  (Yes, you really want to stir a LOT - if you don't, you'll get a buildup of super-thick sauce on the bottom of the pan that will create lumps in your sauce!)

Add cheese, and stir until melted.

Add cheese sauce to noodles, and stir to make sure it's all evenly distributed. Salt to taste.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes, or until browned and bubbly. The crispy-cheese edges are fought over in my husband's family. Hands down that's the favorite part, so I cook my macaroni and cheese accordingly.

Enjoy and Happy Cooking!

Paper Towel Swap Out

Ok Ladies, we're going to start this fall's green living about as easy as it gets. We're putting our toes in the shallow end here and I promise the water's nice. It's so easy I didn't actually do anything to prepare for this post. I didn't even pull out my camera, so excuse the cell phone pictures. I promise this is something every single one of you can do without putting forth any effort. Have I won you over yet? Ok, good.

 

I don't use paper towels. Or napkins for that matter. We use these bad boys.

Yes, my big kick off blog post is a picture of wash cloths. But not just any wash cloths, these are like $0.50 a piece, utility wash cloths from a big box store. Nice, right? And you can see I also keep my dish washing cloths in there too so they're easy to grab. These guys hang out next to my sink and get used for pretty much everything. Here's a running list of what these get used for on a daily basis:

-Napkins (we don't even have paper napkins in our house)

-Hand and face wiping after meals

-Hand drying (because let's face it, kitchen towels get gross after 2 uses in my house)

-Kitchen counter wipe down

-Any mess you can imagine my son making (or his father)

Honestly pretty much anything and everything you would use a paper towel for.

 

I have cloth napkins that I love and we use for dinner, but for every day stuff we just use these. Just to give you an idea of how much they get used, I bought a package of 3 paper towel rolls the beginning of the year. We're talking 9+ months ago. I just started on my third roll people.

 

So to answer your first question, yes these are cheapy, 10 to a pack, utility washcloths. You can find them at any big box store. No need to get fancy unless you want to.

To answer your next question, because I get asked this all the time, what do you do when you're done with them? They get one use, toss in the basket when you're done, and then wash with the weekly towel load. My washer and dryer are in my kitchen in a closet nook area with louver doors. I have this handy basket from the dollar tree on top and after rags get used and rinsed out they are tossed on the edge of the basket so they dry completely and don't get stinky. Just like so...

 

You can always keep a basket under your kitchen sink, just make sure you hang them on the side to dry if they're wet.

Oh, and 90% of the time I roll them like you saw above, but sometimes I'm lazy at the end of laundry day and just half fold and stack like this. Whatever works for you is great, I just suggest keeping them on the counter so if you have messy hands you don't have to open a drawer to get to them.

There you have it! A nice, easy green living project to kick start the year. For a pretty simple post it got a little wordy, sorry about that. Guess I just missed blogging!

And in case you don't know me very well, here's my intro post from last year.

Happy Thursday!

 



What’s Up with All the Guilt?

Since this is my first blog post (ever), I suppose I should start by introducing myself. I’m Alicia Carter, wife to Justin and (soon-to-be) mother of Evelyn. We also have a little dog, a 7 lb Shih Tzu named Sookie who is about to be dethroned as the princess in the house. :) I went to Pepperdine University and spent a year substitute teaching and 3.5 years as a marketing professional for a small company before I “retired” in February of 2012 to become a full-time homemaker. I’m also a writer – on hiatus because I’m a huge chicken and afraid of putting myself out in the publishing world and being rejected (no, seriously, I’m not kidding). I love to knit, read, go on walks, and spend time with my family. I’m very blessed to be a member of Cordova, and have been since I was born. 

I’m excited (and nervous) to start contributing to the MOPS blog this year. My goal for my weekly posts is to share my “musings” – things that have been on my mind for the last week. I’m simply hoping to open up my heart to all you wonderful ladies and maybe offer some encouragement in the process. It’s been awhile since I’ve done any consistent writing, and I’ve never contributed to a blog before, so please bear with me as I find my voice again. :) Here we go!

Recently I’ve been struggling with something that I’m discovering is a pretty common problem among women, especially mothers: self-inflicted guilt. As a new mother – well, mother-to-be (6 more weeks till my due date, yikes!) – I’m sure that all of you have a lot more to teach me about dealing with this issue than the other way around, but I’d like to share my limited experience in hopes that even one of you might be encouraged, or at least know that you’re not alone.

I’m a pretty productive and motivated person in general. Granted I have my days of laziness and procrastination, but typically I don’t feel like I’ve had a good day unless I’ve accomplished something or crossed a few things off my never-ending to do list. (For example, today I wrote my MOPS blog post: check! Yay, me! :) ) While this trait can be a great thing that keeps our household running smoothly, it’s become much more of a challenge to keep up with my normal daily routine while pregnant, as I’m sure many of you have experienced. 

I’ve been blessed with a fairly easy pregnancy, but even still, growing another human being is hard work and it takes its toll. Between the exhaustion, weight gain, swelling appendages, aches & pains, heartburn, digestion issues, and the lovely raging hormones, sometimes it’s all I can do to get myself dressed in the morning and remember to pick up a loaf of bread because we ran out two days ago.  My sweet husband Justin has been nothing but understanding and supportive through my entire pregnancy: picking up all the slack around the house, insisting that I sit down when he thinks I’m doing too much, and refusing to let me lift or reach for anything once he’s home. Even with his never-ending willingness to help me, there are days when I’m plagued with self-inflicted guilt that I can’t keep up with my household tasks now that I’m almost 8 months pregnant. Evening conversations in my house often go like this:

“Justin, I’m sorry I didn’t get to the dishes today.”

“It’s ok, baby, I’ll take care of it.”

“But I should have done it! I had time, I was just so exhausted. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“You’re allowed to be exhausted – you’re growing a BABY!”

“But I’m still sorry – I should have –“

“Stop apologizing!”

As patient as Justin is, he absolutely hates it when I beat myself up and wallow in guilt for things like forgetting to put the laundry in the dryer and not making a gourmet meal every night. He would much rather have Kraft macaroni and cheese for dinner and know that his pregnant wife is relaxed and at ease, enjoying herself while she knits with her feet up. These impossible standards I think I need to live up to don’t come from him, so why do I make myself feel guilty so often for not meeting them? 

I’m not sure I really have an answer for that question, but I think part of it for me is that my role as a wife is to make our house a home. I want to make a comfortable place for my husband to come home to at the end of a long and busy day in the office; a place where he can relax and unwind. I also feel very strongly that he works hard as the sole breadwinner so that I can stay home and run the household, and that is what I should be doing. 

Maybe you feel guilty because you’re having trouble being patient with the phase your child is going through, your family is in a season of extreme busyness, or you just can’t seem to maintain that Zen-like attitude that other moms always seem to have in the midst of the chaos. We’re so hard on ourselves, especially in our technology-infused world where other women post on Pinterest all of the amazing projects they’ve done or share on Facebook about their idyllic lives. Don’t get me wrong, I love having access to all kinds of technology and I’m afraid I’m a bit of a Facebook addict, but with all the information I have access to, sometimes it’s hard not to feel like I’m the only one who just can’t keep up. 

Thankfully, Justin keeps reminding me that we’re a team and I need to stop being so stubborn and admit when I need help. He’s also been telling me over and over for the past several months that right now, my primary job is to take care of myself so that our daughter can grow healthy and strong inside of me. Perhaps the reason I have so much trouble accepting that is because I can’t check it off a daily list. I can’t determine how much I’ve accomplished at the end of the day, because that’s not exactly a measurable task. But Justin’s right, being the mother my daughter needs me to be is much more important than an empty dishwasher, an organized pantry, and a spotless toilet.  

I’m learning (the hard way, of course) that I can’t make our house a home and be the kind of wife and mother God created me to be if I constantly allow myself to be weighed down by guilt. I’m not perfect, so I can’t expect myself to perfectly accomplish every goal or task. There’s a limit to the number of hours in the day and the amount of energy I’m able to expend before I need a break (especially right now). I need to learn to be realistic and to give myself permission to be human, because someday I want my little girl to see that while it’s important to be responsible, life is about more than a daily to do list. I want her to grow up knowing that she is more important to me than having the house look perfect or dinner on the table at the exact same time every night. I’m not trying to change my personality, and I know that organization and productivity will always be a part of who I am. However, I will try to remind myself that an immaculate house, monthly meal plan, organized calendar, and perfectly coiffed wife are not the things that make our house a home. I’ll try to give myself a little more grace, and to remember the things that are most important – instead of piling on the guilt for a less-than-productive day. 

That said, I’ll probably have to learn this lesson again in a few weeks once I’m the mother of a newborn! :)

Date Night

We had a fun and laid back morning. It was so nice to have a fun conversation and get to know the ladies at my table a little bit more.

I also love that our table leaders decorated their tables. I am bummed that I forgot to take pictures of them but they were awesome!

I have been inspired to put a little bit more effort and thought into date nights as well. So many fun ideas, that won't break the bank. I love it!

Here are a couple recourses that I have found online that have some fun date night ideas:

The Dating Divas

One of my favorite ideas that I found was from dating divas. A lady got a babysitter for the kids before her husband got home to surprise him. She left a note and a nerf gun for him by the front door. The note said that she was hiding somewhere in the house with her own nerf gun and that "this is war". She also made a dinner for just the two of them. I thought that was a fun and creative date! Cheap and different, awesome!

Sacramento Magazine  (local date night ideas)

I would love to hear what some of your favorite date night ideas are, share in the comment section below!

Also, Just for fun, here are some pictures that people sent me for our dating slideshow. Enjoy, they are awesome!