National White Chocolate Day

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dried Cranberries
2/3 cup white chocolate chunks or chips

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter or margarine and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. Combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition. Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

Makes approximately 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

These were pretty good but a little dry.  Right out of the oven they were amazing!  I'd probably add more white chocolate because I like it:).

Crisscross Apple Crowns

Tuesday mornings mean breakfast for youth group!  I made this recipe to go with the eggs and stuff Fig is making.  They seemed "fallish" with the apples and cinnamon.  Fig had two and then asked if I could make them every day. . . good thing I tripled the batch!  Here's the recipe from the Taste of Home magazine (which is amazing).

Crisscross Apple Crowns

30 minutes to make 20 minutes to bake 5 minutes to cool in tins

Ingredients

1-1/3 cups chopped peeled tart apples
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup raisins
1/2 cup sugar, divided
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
Dash salt
1 package (16.3 ounces) large refrigerated flaky biscuits
2 teaspoons butter, melted

Directions

In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine the apples, walnuts, raisins, 3 tablespoons sugar, flour, 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon and salt. Microwave on high for 2-3 minutes or until almost tender.
Flatten each biscuit into a 5-in. circle. Combine remaining sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle a rounded teaspoonful of sugar mixture over each. Top each with 1/4 cup apple mixture. Bring up edges to enclose mixture; pinch edges to seal.
Place seam side down in ungreased muffin cups. Brush tops with butter; sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture. With a sharp knife, cut an “X” in the top of each.
Bake at 350° for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Yield: 8 servings.

Monster Cookies with the Cookie Monster

So, it's the first day of school I mean youth group for me.  New youth group, new students, new ministries, new challenges. . . nervous? Me?  Yep!  Every year I get excited and nervous for what God is going to do and what is going to happen relationships built, lives changed, prayers answered, walks challenged. . .it's going to be great I know it is but it's tough to be here instead of Lake City where we spent the last 5 years and already knew the kids and ministries.  I'm looking forward to this year though.  Some of the students we've started to get to know are awesome, funny, talented and selfless. 

I'm making Monster Cookies with Lydia (my Cookie Monster) to take to youth group tonight.  No better way to win a teenager than by great snacks! 

Monster Cookies (by Paula Deen)
Takes about 10 minutes to mix up and yields about 3 dozen

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 12-ounce jar creamy peanut butter
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1/2 cup multi-colored chocolate candies
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup raisins, optional
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 4 1/2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal (not instant)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats.

In a very large mixing bowl, combine the eggs and sugars. Mix well. Add the salt, vanilla, peanut butter, and butter. Mix well. Stir in the chocolate candies, chocolate chips, raisins, if using, baking soda, and oatmeal. Drop by tablespoons 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Do not overbake. Let stand for about 3 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool. When cool, store in large resealable plastic bags.

She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

The Proverbs 31 woman. . . enough to strike feelings of insecurity in all women.  She's got it together.  The phrase that struck me this morning was "She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness."  Part of my job as a wife and mother is to keep my family fed.  To do this I sometimes use short cuts. I'll bake or cook twice as much and then freeze it so on a busy day I can pull something out that is cheaper and more nutritious than you may get at restaurant.  The other benefit is you dirty the dishes once not twice:).  By planning ahead and being prepared (not being idle) I can save our family money and time.

Part of my calling is to also provide for those that have physical needs.  Volunteering to provide meals to people is also one of the ways that I can use my gifts and share the love of Christ.  My freezer is a tool I can use to make that job a little easier if it has been a busy week!  The following recipe makes 2 loaves so it is perfect, you can enjoy one now and put one in the freezer!

Zucchini Bread (thanks to Paula Deen)

Cook 1 hour takes about 10 minutes to make and makes 2 loaves.
Ingredients

• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes.

Blow, Wind, Blow

Blow, wind, blow!
And go, mill, go!
That the miller may grind his corn;
That the baker may take it
And into bread make it
And bring us a loaf in the morn.

This was a poem in Lydia's Highlights High Five magazine!

I'm not using corn today, just flour. I'm making Chocolate Chip Cookies and Cream Cookies. Here's the recipe I got off a blog!

2 sticks softened butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 egg
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
22 broken pieces Oreo Cookies
2 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter, and sugars until well combined. Add egg and vanilla until mixed well.
2. Place flour, baking soda and salt into a large bowl, stir to combine. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients then stir in Oreos and chocolate chips until just combined.
3. With a medium cookie scoop, scoop onto baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until cooked, but still soft. Let cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

The Miller

In many cultures the miller was an important person.  Someone well connected socially (he met everyone) and essential (everyone needed bread), he was a vital part of the community.  He was also a social step above the farmers as his skill kept people fed but he wasn't a common laborer.  The mill was comprised of a large fixed stone and another smaller stone set on top of it that was powered by machinery of some kind.  This was powered by animals or water or wind (like the above painting from the Dutchman Mondrian) .  The miller would then grind the grain coming to him from the farmers/peasants and give them the now usable substance.  You can't make bread with a hunk of wheat it has to be ground into flour!

Made another loaf of bread yesterday to take to friends who have a new baby! I'm loving this I need to buy more flour though I'm all out! After two loaves of zucchini bread and two loaves of white bread I'm starting to just get warmed up.  I also have a bunch of bananas in the freezer that need to be made into bread too!  Food is my love language.

Signs of the Times

I'm a visual learner.  I think in pictures.  This I've found is especially true in my relationship with God.  I didn't realize this until I started dating my future husband.  It was amazing to have someone who was in love with me and wanted to be with me no matter what bad mood or life craziness was happening.  The picture of God wooing his people and desiring to be with them took on a deeper meaning.  Then we were married and the pictures of Jesus as a groom coming to take his bride the church home with him was awe inspiring.   As a sister I could picture Christ as a brother and even found ways to learn from our "slave" experience.  You won't believe how many references there are to slaves, slavery or freedom in the Bible until you feel like you're a slave!  Now as a parent I see God as my Father in my parenting role.  I try to relate this time of my life to my relationship with God, as I try to do in the other relationships around me. It's not that each stage ends it's that it deepens and becomes more layered.

As a parent you learn to read signs.  When Joanna starts rubbing her eye with one fist and fingering her blanket's fringe with her other hand you know you've got to get that one into bed or a meltdown is coming.  If you see a scrunched up face with concentration you know a "muddy" diaper (thank you Sally Fields- Steel Magnolias anyone?) is going to be your next project.  With Lydia boredom leads to destruction and with Joanna if she's tired you have to isolate her or she'll get stimulated by a noise or sister and take longer getting calmed down.  If Lydia hears another child within a mile radius you know she's going to run to the backdoor and yell, "My friends are here!" no matter whether she can go outside or not (i.e. no clothes on, meal time, about to head out the door etc.).  Once you learn to read the signs you can help the situation.

I wonder if God sees some of my signs and starts the intervention process.  He knows that when I watch that movie I'm heading down the path of disrespect toward my husband or if I look at those home decorating magazines my green eyed goblin is going to start hinting that bigger and more expensive is better.  He knows that the temptation to stay up late watching movies or reading is going to lead to a tired mama llama whose tendency is to be less than patient the next morning or that hanging out with certain friends will lead toward gossip. 

I've learned with the girls how to divert and distract when signs of an impending thunderstorm start to brew.  I wonder in what way God distracts me. . .but then I remember certain verses that come alive during quiet time or a friend's word of wisdom or a book/sermon/song that quickens my conscience and I return to the straight and narrow.

Run of the Mill

I'm late in the game of blogging I'll admit.  However, I liked the idea of a more in depth place than Facebook to share. . . share what I'm not sure to be honest because I can't imagine that many interested in the VanderMolen household. 

I like my blog name.  By way of explanation the expression "run of the mill" means ordinary and that's who we are an ordinary midwestern family (with a side of southern sass-that's from me).  We're trying to figure out how to love and live like Jesus would.  Our last name "VanderMolen" also means "from the mill" in Dutch.  As the "domestic engineer" I run this family from the mill!  I even made bread this afternoon from scratch and it turned out awesome!
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2010/08/16/q-whats-our-most-popular-recipe-a-you-wont-believe-it/#comments
I also like my child.  Tonight I was sitting and talking with Lydia who was a bit on the difficult side today. . . she was slow to listen and quick to tears.  As I was readying her for bed I told her that in the morning I wanted her to listen with her ears (I touched them) and to obey with a happy heart (I traced a heart shape on her chest).  Then two minutes later she wasn't listening and so I said her name and then touched my ears and she said "and with a happy heart mom!" Hopefully that lesson will stick in the morning!

Off to read my book of O. Henry Short Stories.  I like them.  They are often set in urban places with interesting people and there is always a twist at the end!  The best part is they are a few pages long so I feel great reading just a few and then falling off to sleep!  Good night world!