21. October 2013 · Comments Off on The Best Peanut Butter Cookies Ever! · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

PeanutButterCookies

 

This past weekend I made peanut butter cookies. In part because I had a jar of peanut butter that needed to be finished off ASAP. It was “natural” peanut butter that had separated during our move to Colorado and didn’t look so hot. I figured mixed into the cookie dough well enough it’d be fine.

The recipe I have for peanut butter cookies is adapted from a basic recipe I saw on the All Recipes website. It’s very basic. However, I added in some techniques that makes them almost melt-in-your-mouth! I was very pleased that this recipe worked at my home’s higher altitude also.

It’s science, my friends! See below in the instructions.

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Peanut Butter Cookies that Melt in Your Mouth

1 cup unsalted butter (you may use salted, but then you should halve the salt)

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy, it’s good either way)

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

Using the whisk attachment on a stand mixer, cream the butter, peanut butter, and both sugars. DO NOT SKIMP on this step. You want to beat this for 5-7 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Walk away for a few minutes, catch up on your mail…fold the laundry.

Stop the mixer every once in a while to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

You are incorporating air bubbles into the mixture which helps give the cookie dough a lighter texture when baking.

With the mixer still running, add the eggs, one at a time. Beat mixture until it lightens in color, another 1-2 minutes.

Stop using the mixer now! You will now want a large spoon or spatula to slowly mix the dry ingredients into the butter/sugar/egg mixture. Stir until all the dry ingredients are incorporated.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Roll the dough into 1 – 1 1/2″ balls and place at least 2″ apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Using a fork dusted in flour, make the ubiquitous waffle-like fork-tines pattern on the ball of cookie dough, flattening it just a little.

Bake in a 375F oven for 10 minutes. Do not overcook.

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As much as I love the texture of this cookie, I’m still trying to tweak the recipe to bring out more peanut butter flavor. This past weekend’s recipe had dark brown sugar and I think it subdued the peanutty flavor some. Also, this peanut butter was sort of old, dating from this past spring.

I would like to try this recipe with light brown sugar and fresh-made peanut butter. I might be doing that as soon as this weekend, Dave requested peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and I have a bag of Wilbur chocolate chips for him!

What’s your favorite peanut butter cookie recipe! Share it with us!

We awoke to our first snow accumulation this past Friday!

We awoke to our first snow accumulation this past Friday!

We were excited to wake up to snow on the ground this past Friday! The kids had no school, so they had the chance to play outside for a while.

We had about 2 1/2″ total by about 9am, but it was all melted by lunchtime. From what I understand, this is typical in Colorado Springs.

The view from our back deck!

The view from our back deck!

I’m glad I got the boys new parkas and snow pants, but I guess they could use some boots soon. Where do I begin to get some?

12. October 2013 · Comments Off on Colorado Discoveries 15: The Georgetown Loop Railroad · Categories: Uncategorized
The Georgetown Loop Railroad is a nice short rail excursion that's great for kids.

The Georgetown Loop Railroad is a nice short rail excursion that’s great for kids. Love the conductor sticking his head out the window on the right, although we were warned multiple times to NOT do that.

A couple weekends ago our family took a trip up towards Denver to visit the Georgetown Loop Railroad. It was a beautiful early autumn day. I was hoping we’d see brighter aspen, but we were a couple weeks early for that.

The Georgetown Loop Railroad is a remnant of the Georgetown, Breckenridge, and Leadville Railroad from the late 1880s. The railroad was very busy during Colorado’s gold and silver rushes in late 1800s. The line was all but abandoned by the late 1930s. It was reopened in the 1980s for tourist excursions and is still very popular today, thanks to it being less than an hour west of Denver on I-70.

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08. October 2013 · Comments Off on 5 Movies that Make Me Cry — Every Time! · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

RL_Crying-Girl-711313

I was flipping channels last night. Usually that’s Dave’s job, but he goes to bed pretty early ahead of his teaching days. He has to be at work with enough time to prepare for a 0730 class on teaching days.

There is a batch of movies that I will always stop on if it’s playing on a channel. Movies that include Julie and Julia, Eat, Pray, Love, and The Princess Bride. But those movies don’t make me cry. I even own The Princess Bride but I’ll still endure the commercials for the convenience of it being on.

But there are five movies that I will stop at every time and watch…and have my Kleenex ready!

Last night it was Steel Magnolias.

SPOILER ALERT! I will be describing the scenes that make me cry. If you don’t want to know what happens, please don’t read on! Here’s a picture of a movie poster to break things up for you.

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04. October 2013 · Comments Off on Happy Star Wars Reads Day — With Shakespeare? · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , ,
It's the Original Star Wars -- with a twist!

It’s the Original Star Wars — with a twist!

October 5th is “Star Wars Reads Day“. This initiative partners with several publishing companies and involves events throughout the country celebrating Star Wars and literacy. My fellow GeekMom colleague Kay Moore is getting to attend an event at the San Diego Central Library where Ian Doescher’s William Shakespeare’s Star Wars will be read along with a silent viewing of the original (what some of you may call “A New Hope”). That sounds super cool, although I have plans today already.

If you aren’t near one of the events, might I recommend stopping by your favorite bookstore and picking up a copy of William Shakespeare’s Star Wars to enjoy.

I’m not going to cover the plot of this story. If you’re a fan of my blog, you should know I’m a huge Star Wars fan, especially the originals. The latter three (Episodes I-III) don’t appeal to me quite so much.

So I will assume you know the plot of the original Star Wars movie. ‘Nuf said.

But what you probably have yet to realize is Doescher’s ability to convert the story into iambic pentameter and illustrate the book with dozens of woodcut-style scenes from the story. It’s magical how he combines old world and modern storytelling.

The book is set up like a Shakespeare play, complete with a list of characters, settings, and stage directions. The language pays excellent homage to The Bard’s style, with plenty of “hast”s, “doth”s, and “prithee”s.

I read much of Act I aloud to Jacob and Timmy (and our sponsor cadet). I’m afraid their eyes rolled to the back of their heads listening to my overdramatic style of reading, but I was able to introduce a discussion about Shakespeare and iambic pentameter with my boys. I warned them that Shakespeare is coming to an English class near them very very soon and it wouldn’t hurt to study his style with a familiar story.

While I don’t have permission to reproduce the text, you can read the first 20 pages through this excerpt at Boing Boing.

If you get the book, be sure to pay attention to the afterword which explains the special connection between Shakespeare and George Lucas. A fun history.

I had a good time reading William Shakespeare’s Star Wars. The book retails for $14.95 and will make a great gift this holiday season. It’s available at most bookstores and through online retailers such as Amazon.

Disclosure: A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher.

04. October 2013 · Comments Off on Colorado Discoveries 14: Farish Recreation Area near Woodland Park, CO · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,
That is the WEST side of Pike's Peak behind us. We have a view of the east face from our house.

That is the WEST side of Pike’s Peak behind us. We have a view of the east face from our house. Cadet Rob took this nice picture of us.

I don’t know about you guys, but fall is officially here!

Heck, let’s just call it winter! We awoke this morning to rain while the temperature continued to fall below freezing. The water droplets FROZE to the car…which made getting the kids to school this morning difficult.

(Yes, I drove the kids to school, since it was raining).

This is going to be a COLD weekend, and I’m looking forward to  doing INDOOR stuff. Sorry, it’s going to take a whle to shake the Florida thin blood out of my system. On Saturday the family is heading up to Loveland, Colorado for the Northern Colorado Mini Maker Faire (read more about it here). Sunday should be a day at home.

But last weekend was delightful! We spent Saturday hiking in the mountains, and Sunday up in Georgetown, Colorado visiting the tourist railroad there (which is for another post).
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28. September 2013 · Comments Off on Colorado Discoveries 13: Mount Evans · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , ,
I wish I had gotten a picture when I was further away, and this isn't even the peak. The peak is just to the right of this, and we were probably at about 12,900' here so you aren't looking all that high up.

I wish I had gotten a picture when I was further away, and this isn’t even the peak. The peak is just to the right of this, and we were probably at about 12,900′ here so you aren’t looking all that high up.

Click here for a picture from Flickr user Kevin Bauman, which is a lovely view from Denver.

Mount Evans is one of Colorado’s 50+ Fourteeners and is one of the ones nearest to Denver. Mount Bierstadt is also nearby, and we could easily see it as we were ascending the mountain.

Last weekend my old college roommate Megan came into town from New England for my birthday. I invited our friend Adam down from Denver to spend some time with us. I had originally planned to drive Megan up Pike’s Peak via the auto road, but Adam had talked us into Mount Evans. He said the drive is much more scenic, and is free of charge. The Pike’s Peak road is a toll road.

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27. September 2013 · Comments Off on Colorado Discoveries 12: The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , ,
The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum is in the old city hall. This museum reminded me of the Old Florida State Capitol.

The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum is in the old El Paso County Courthouse. This museum reminded me of the Old Florida State Capitol.

For a Cub Scout field trip, in mid-September our family visited the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum in the heart of downtown. The museum is free of charge (donations are always welcome), and has numerous artifacts from Colorado Springs’ past and current histories.

The interior of the museum is beautifully maintained, and most of the courthouse rooms have been repurposed into individual exhibit spaces. A couple of the rooms are still in tact as courtrooms and are used as multi-purpose auditoriums. During our visit we saw exhibits about the Waldo Canyon Fire of June 2012, the city’s Native American heritage, the history of the Colorado Springs area being used as a popular location for sanatoria, as well as a history of the city as told through photographs taken at the time.

The museum is located at 215 South Tejon St. in downtown Colorado Springs. Museum admission is free, but you have to pay to park either at the parking meters immediately surrounding the property, or else at the public parking garages nearby. Enjoy a few pictures from our visit.

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27. September 2013 · Comments Off on Walking to School · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

I’m about to embark on a topic and present an opinion that might make me very unpopular.

When the weather cooperates, I have my sons walk to and from school. It’s about 1/2 mile, gently uphill towards the school, gently downhill all the way home.

We are surrounded by houses with families who drive their kids to the same school every day. We walk past several houses where we see the kids loading up in the cars — to go to the same destination.

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26. September 2013 · Comments Off on A New Job! In the Local Area!!! · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,
I learned this in middle school.

I learned this in middle school. Didn’t you?

About two years ago I had written this soul-baring post about going back to school for a secondary math/science teacher certification. I’ve done no such thing. But last week I was hired to become a math instructor!

I had been in communication with the US Air Force Academy math department since about January. I took a plunge and “auditioned” for an IMA position (individual reserve augmentee, the type of position I currently have in Nebraska). I was given a Calculus 1 lesson to prepare and present to a panel of faculty members who pretended to be cadets of assorted skills. I had the underprepared cadet…and the over-prepared cadet who kept jumping ahead.

After the audition lesson, I was tickled to learn that day that I was hired!

Like my other reserve positions, this one is also part time. Unlike my other reserve positions, here I’m expected to pool together my duty days into one clump: summer session. I will be expected to teach either Calculus 1, Calculus 2, or basic statistics.

I’m thrilled to once again be working in the local area. That hasn’t happened since 2009. While the STRATCOM gig was fun and all, the travel resulted in 10-12 additional days away from my family, not to mention the added expense for airfare, lodging, gas, and rental cars.

I have one more trip to Nebraska to sign out of my old unit in mid-October, then I get to figure out taking my next physical fitness test here, at 7200 feet!!!

This week I’ll be getting back to writing about some of our adventures: the Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum, and my 40th birthday weekend!