James' Meal Planning

Hi Everyone! 

First time trying a pickle.  I guess I could add that to the list. 

A month ago if you asked me what James was having for lunch tomorrow I probably wouldn't have a clue and now most days I still don't, until I look at my fridge.  One day when I was prepping my grocery list it dawned on me why don't I just create a little calendar for James' meal likes I do (sometimes) for me.  And it's so nice to just look at the fridge and see what I have planned for him to eat since of trying to remember what I bought at the store last week or giving him the exact same food for lunch for the fourth time in a row.  

I even did a quick version of this when we went to Chicago to see my sister and the new baby and it worked out perfectly there.  Just pulled up the picture I took on my phone and knew 'okay, lunch is PB&J and string cheese' 

James is still a picky eater unless it comes to carbs, cheese and ice cream and he still isn't at the place where he is eating what I'm eating.  So trying to come up with a lot of different meals for him during the week is a little difficult.  I found that coming up with two different meals for each mealtime works best for me/us.  It allows James to have a little variety to his meals.  I've started to notice that if I give him the same food multiple times in a row he's starting to get a little least interested with it. So doing two different meals allows him a little variety and me not having to spend a ton of time and money on food for him. Given that it's about a 50/50 chance he'll eat it. 

Eating yogurt from a bowl by yourself for the first time

Another thing that I've noticed with this is that he's starting to eat a lot more whole food.  I saw a picture posted from a girl that I worked with in College and she wrote the caption 'this is what my 8 month old eats in a week' and I looked at it and said, does James eat that much.  But since during this calendar thing and making sure that I try to eat all the key food groups (or at least offer them) I believe that he does and more. I read a little article the other days and it was titles things your pediatrician wished you knew and one of them was don't worry about how much your kid eats as long as you offer them healthy food.  And thats what I try to do with James.  I try to offer him healthy food and just let him eat as much or as little as he wants and trust that we will expand our preferences soon. 

This is actually this weeks calendar. I was too lazy to type it out. 

I try not to repeat the exact same meals two weeks in a row but like I said before we don't have a huge selection to pick from so I do repeat a lot of the same foods just with other foods. One week we might string cheese with pears and goldfish crackers for lunch and then next week it's string cheese for dinner.  And I have found myself using the same breakdown for each meal time.  

Breakfast - carbs and fruit
Lunch - carbs, fruit, dairy (sometimes deli meat)
Dinner - carbs, fruit, protein, veggie

James doesn't really like any protein (meat) or veggies but I keep doing what everyone says, I keep offering just in chance he chances his mind one night. 

Last weeks quick calendar because of the short week.

How I usually start the menu/calendar is just on a piece of paper handwritten.  I move things around a lot, switching around the fruits and veggies as things pop into my mind.  So after I have made my final selections, I write down everything that I need for on my grocery list and hopefully within that day or the following day print out a copied version.  I just like how it looks on my fridge all typed out 
and neat.  

Calendar from two weeks ago. All typed and so so pretty.

For those who are wondering here are a list of some of the foods that I found that works well for our menu system.

Breakfast - Carbs - waffles, french toast, pancakes, cheerios
                   fruit - strawberries or banana
                   other - yogurt (big hit) 

Lunch - Carbs - Crackers, goldfish crackers, PB & J, Mac & cheese, waffles
                 fruit - pears, apples, banana, strawberries, applesauce, peaches, sliced oranges
                 dairy - string cheese, cheese, yogurt
                 protein - ham or turkey slices, hard boiled eggs 

Dinner - Carbs -  Mac & Cheese, crackers, peanut butter bread, plain pasta
               fruit - pears, apples, banana, strawberries, applesauce, peaches, sliced oranges
               protein - chicken, vienna sausages, meatballs, hamburgers, black beans
               veggies - peas, green beans, corn, potatoes, spinach, carrots

I think I covered everything but I'm sure that I probably forgot something. 


Were your kids good eater or picky eaters?
How did you remember what was for dinner everyday?

-Megan

New Baby Food Care Package

Hi Everyone,

For everyone who reads my blog but isn't related might not know but one of my sisters just had a baby.  He will be 3 weeks old tomorrow and he is super cute.  Well Done Guys! 

James meeting his new cousin.  I was blown away by the size difference. 

Prior to the birth, my mom and I had roughly planned to go up and visit and I know that I wanted to do something for them.  So what do all new parents need but seem to find it hard to make it work after the couple weeks with a newborn baby. Food! I tried to think back at what Wes and I found super helpful when James was just a little baby and those were food that you could grab and eat, especially with one hand.  I was never hungrier or thirstier than when I sat down to nurse James.  I will say sorry in advance for the lack of pictures.  I was kind of on warp speed when I was making these because I had to get them done for James woke up. 

I did a little research, watched what Allison liked or pinned and asked them some questions and I came up with my menu.

1. Chicken Enchiladas -  I gave the recipe for these awhile back and actually made them about a month or so before the due date and I just put them in the freezer.  I'm not a huge fan of freezer meals just do the fact that they seem to take so long too cook.  By the time that I realized that I was hungry, it would take 2 hours for it to cook.  And the first couple weeks of you being home, you don't get the hungry feeling until 9pm and waiting till 11 wasn't going to cut it.  I did put a note on the enchiladas that said to thaw first so the cook time would be shorter.  

One of the reasons why I did include these is because they are so easy to get one at a time and just reheat.  After I make these for my family, we usually have about 4 left. When I'm having these for leftovers, I just lift one out of the pan, microwave it for a minute or so and then enjoy.  Perfect for a last minute craving in the middle of the night.

2.  Zucchini Beach (Beachbody Recipe) - My sister was really into beachbody before she got pregnant and did a really good job staying with it while pregnant. So when she pinned this bread I knew that I had to make it for her and bring it. It made two loafs so I gave her one and left one for Wes.  I haven't asked her how it was but Wes said ours was a little dry.  I'm not sure if i baked it too long or just because it was pretty healthy, little sugar or no oil and only 6 egg whites, is the reason for a little dryness. 

3.  Fresh Fruit - I grabbed this one from a pinterest and I think most new moms can relate it to and it also goes into the easy to grab category but does take some time to do yourself.  I just very quickly and easily chopped up pineapple and strawberries.  A combo that I found that taste pretty awesome together. 

4. Oatmeal lactation cookies -  I found these cookies in the early weeks of baby James.  They are super to make and very delicious.  The only big difference or what makes them lactation vs. regular cookies is the flex seed and brewer's yeast that you need to the cookies.  Those two ingredients plus the oats make for a delicious way to bust your milk supply because no matter how confident you are, once you eat your first or second growth spurt you start to worry.  To add a little something extra to these cookies instead of just using chocolate chips, I add white chocolate chips, walnuts and dried cranberries.  OMG, they are soooooo good.  You don't even have to make lactation cookies.  I made some the other day (none lactation but with white chocolate chips, walnuts and cranberries) and they were great.  James and I enjoyed them.  I will post about these later in the week. 

5.  I did include some super cute clothes for the baby because I couldn't help myself. 

Those are the 5 things that I bought to my sister to help make her life a little easier.  

Dressing up A Dresser

My living room is slowly, ever so slowly coming together.  It still needs new windows, molding and a finished fireplace  but it does have new paint on the walls, goodbye pale yellowish color and gross carpet and hello bamboo floors and a white walls.  But it also has a new/old piece of furniture, the TV stand.  I originally bought this dresser a long time ago, like pre-baby, pre pregnant with baby and still had the tundra trunk long along.  And up until about a month ago, it set as it's pale yellow self serving it's purpose as a dresser/tv stand.  I bought it to use it as a changing table for our future baby for only $30.  I like being prepared.  For a long time it sat either living room being used as catch all.  We have a lot of those in this house.  It got moved around from room to room.  It wasn't until we painted the living room over a year ago that the TV got placed on it.  Before the TV was on a wooden TV stand that Wes had built, it's very well done but low.  The dresser gives the TV height, something we didn't no we were missing.

So one day, while on pinterest and saw a grey dresser with gold accents and thought 'hey, why not, finally redo that dresser.'  So I did.  It took about a week in all to redo it and I think it turned out pretty well.  It's not perfect but It's for me and me along so if I don't care then why should it matter.  (That is my thought process when I'm trying to do something and it's not coming out perfect.)

So here is the step by step process of who I redid the dresser.  I followed the blog Eric Spain on how to redo furniture for a beginner.  And used her recommendation for products.

This is how the dresser looked before.  It wasn't always yellow and the yellow was kind of chalky.  It showed stains and had some paint missing from the top. 

Project Supplies:

Paint - I had a gallon of paint left from James' Nursery and the kitchen island. I liked how it looked on the island so I knew how it would turn out.

Soap - I used Mrs. Meyers All-Purpose Soap because thats what I had on hand

Medium Grit Sandpaper

Fine Grit Sandpaper

Primer - KILZ Primer

Paintbrush

Foam Roller - I used two sizes - 2" and 4"

Topcoat - Minwax Satin Wipe-On Poly

Paint Remover 

Step 1: Prep

I've heard before that this part is really important and can make or break your project. So during nap time (the best time to get stuff done) I removed all the drawers and the handles.  

I also removed the weird inlay that was under the handles and hand to fill the holes with wood filler to give it a smoother look.

This is where I got my first glimpse at the color the dresser was originally and how bad it was painted the first time. I also noticed that they just painted over the handles with them attached.  

They were covered in pretty thick paint so I had to put them in paint remover to clean them up. 

Step 2: Sand

After removing the handles and inlay. I sanded down the drawers and dressers with a medium grit sandpaper.  Erin had mentioned that you don't have to remove the whole layer of paint, just get off the shine and make it rough.  After sanding I wiped down the whole thing with water removing the dust and let it air dry. 

Step 3: Primer

 

After letting the drawers and dresser air dry outside.  I painted on the primer.  This helps cover any color differences and just gives you a nice blank canvas to start from.  After the primer dried, I sanded it with fine grit sandpaper.  Wiped it to remover dust, let it dry and painted it with primer again.  And sanded it again.  You want to make sure that you do sand between each layer so you are giving the paint something grab to.

Step 4: Paint

After priming and sanding twice, the piece was ready to be painted.  I used a foam roller for this because I wanted to get good coverage without leaving paintbrush marks.  After finishing the first coat, I let it dry for a couple of hours then sanded it again with fine grit sandpaper and wiped it down. I did another coat of paint and sanded it once more to get it ready for the topcoat.  

Step 5: Seal/ top coat

I had to let the dresser air dry for over 24 hours to let the paint really dry and not get messed up.  I followed the instructions on the back of the Mixwax Wipe-on poly.  I applied a good amount of poly to my rag (I started out with cheesecloth then switched to microfiber clothes) and wiped it on to the dresser.  I let it dry for 2 -4 hours between coats.  I did two coats and then let it rest for about 48 hours before putting the TV on it.  

For the handles:

I did have to let the handles sit in the paint remover for a long time and did do a lot of elbow grease to get them all cleaned up.  After getting a coat of paint on the dresser, the handles did look right with the original color so I grabbed a can of gold spray paint and painted them.   

After letting it sit for a couples of days.  I didn't have any of those felt feet to put under the dresser to keep it from scratching the floor so I had to wait until I could run out and get them to put the dresser all together.  

Honestly It took me a couple of days to decide if I liked it or not.  But I find myself do this a lot. After I do a big project I have to live with it for a couple of days to decide if I really like it, see if I made a good decision. 

But now I really love it.  I think it looks really fresh and is moving the living room in the right direction.  Now I just need to get a new couch, a new rug, new curtains and finish the molding and fireplace.  We are slowly getting there. 

Cooke Recipe #4

My dad had one, actually two, requests for gifts for Father's Day, chocolate chip cookies and an apple pie.  Luckily for him, my sister Stephanie and I could easily make those gift possible.  So instead of making cookies with a recipe that I had tried before, I thought I would go with a new one and get another blog post out of it. 

 If you follow my Facebook you saw the picture of very large cookies that I posted a couple of weeks ago.  In for disclosure I didn't read through the whole recipe and did make the cookies a little too big but they turned out well anyway. 

I found this recipe from the blog 'The Girl Who Ate Everything' and from reading her post, she got it from Allrecipes.com.  The recipe was kind of similar to the basic chocolate chip recipe but I do remember it being a little sugar and sticky.  It included a little less flour, about the same total amount of sugar and only one whole egg and one egg yolk.  The interested thing about this recipe is that it calls for melted butter.  Normally recipes can't like you to use melted butter and that it leads to really flat cookies.  

After mixing all the ingredients together, you scoop half-cup dough and roll it into a ball.  (This is where I stopped reading the recipe and missed the part where you pull the dough apart into two balls leading to smaller cookies.)   

I thought this was just way too big for cookies so I got out my 1/3 scoop and used that.  The dough was too sticky for me so I couldn't roll it.  I let the dough rest a couple of minutes like the recipe said but maybe I should have let it rest longer but thats the thing about trying new recipes you never really know what you are looking for.  She does make note in her recipe to make sure that the dough ball is taller than wider.   I think that helps the cookies from getting super flat. 

I think I baked the cookies for about 12 minutes - again these turned out huge.  Like 6 per tray huge. 

Since these were for Father's Day I packed them up in a container that my mom had bought me filled with sugar cookies for James' Birthday Party.  I kept forgetting to bring it back to her and really there is no better way to return some tupperware than with tasty cookies inside. 


Here is the recipe:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions
1. Preheat over to 325 and line cookie sheets with parchment paper
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a bowl cream together the melted butter and sugars until well blended.  Beat in vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy.  Add the flour mixture until just blended and stir in chocolate chips.  If dough seams wet, let it cool for a couple of minutes.
4. Take 1/2 cup scoop, scoop out dough and roll into ball, twist and pull apart leaving the jagged edge up.  Make sure that the dough is taller than wider and bake until cookies are light golden brown on the edges and soft in the middle.  About 11 minutes.
5. Cool cookies on baking sheet for a little bit then remove. 

Cookie Review:
Taste: 5 -  These cookies were very tasted.  I did only have one and half because I did make them for my dad. 
Appearance: 4-  The cookies had two different looks and I think it had to do with how many chips that it had.  The ones that had a lot of chips didn't spread out as much so they looked better and fuller. The ones that didn't have as much chips, were a little flatter.
Dunk-ability: 5- If you broke the cookies in half or thirds I'm sure they would have held up for dunking.  
Removability:  5 - Because of the parchment paper they removed like a breeze. 
Affordability: 5 - These cookies wouldn't cost anymore than the normal recipe. 

So overall these cookies turned out pretty good, not exactly like the blog pictures but the taste is all that matters. 

Day In The Life

I've always loved reading these types of post on other blogs so I thought I would do one of my own.  I will be honest, this isn't my first attempt at doing one - usually I would forget half way through the day and be like 'oh crap, I didn't take any pictures today' or it would turn out to be a bad day, James or me in a bad mood and the last thing I wanted to do was capture the day.  But Monday went pretty well and I remembered to take pictures, for the most part.  It wasn't the most interesting day but it was a normal day for us.

6 am - James wakes up.  I had planned to wake up early to work on a couple of things because James got up but as soon as my alarm went off, I heard him through the monitor.

6:45 -  Breakfast - I forgot to make muffins on Sunday so James had waffles and banana and I had eggs with an english muffin.  

The english muffin tasted funny, I didn't put any butter or jelly on it so I didn't eat much of it.  I finished my breakfast sharing a yogurt.  

7:30ish - We head out for a our morning walk.  I try to get in about 2 miles in the morning.  It's a good length for me to where I feel like I actually burned something and for Truman it's about the farthest he will work without complaining.  

8:15 - We get back from our walk and I start to do some chores around the house. I clean up after breakfast and wipe everything down. Due to the dark floors and Truman needs to continually  shred I have to sweep/vacuum the floors a lot. 

9:15 - James goes down for this nap.  Sometimes with his naps I don't get much done.  I get sucked into a TV show and before I know it, it's an hour or so later and there is a noise coming from the monitor.  But this nap was different and James slept for a long time so I got a lot done. 

 I was able to my 30 Day Shred workout, grab a shower,  make and bake banana bread and blueberry muffins and was able to clean up the kitchen after this too, Mom win! 

Catch up on some Hiker Stuff and finishing up sweeping and mopping.

12:00 - After a 3 hour nap, James wakes up and we are both ready for lunch.  James doesn't always take a long nap in the morning but he only took one on Sunday and he was pretty tired so for the morning nap I just let him sleep as long as he feels like he needs to.  

12:30 - For lunch, I prepare him some string cheese, crackers and strawberries.  He just started liking strawberries about 2 weeks ago and loves them.  He can eat about 5 strawberries in a sitting.   I had some left over steak from dinner the night before and knowing that Wes didn't work until Wednesday that I needed to do something with it or lose it but I wasn't exactly sure what to do.  I thought about putting it on a salad but the idea of steak with ranch dressing didn't sound too good but then I thought of taco bell and their steak quesadillas.  I had never had them before but , My Oh My, they turned out amazing.  I think quesadillas get a bad wrap sometimes but if you make them with the right ingredients they aren't too bad.  I used about a 8 inch wheat tortillas, 3 oz of steak, about 1/3 of cheese and 2 tablespoons of sour cream.  I think it comes in around 450 calories with is a low on a normal lunch scale.  You could always switch out sour cream with greek yogurt or salsa and save even more.  This meal was so amazing that I have had it twice this week and will have it for lunch today too.  

1 - Play time -  If we have any errands to run this is when we usually do them but we didn't so we just stayed at home and just played.  Which right now involves James getting into a bunch of things and me trying to keep the house from looking like a tornado went through.  We did share a piece of banana bread later in the afternoon.  

 And I did let James watch a little bit of Baby Einstein.  He really does love that show and gets so excited when it pops up on the TV screen.  He squeals a little bit and shakes his hands and feet.  

4ish - James started to get a little sleepy, I tried to keep him up since he already took such a long nap in the morning and wake up late but it didn't work.   He ended up falling asleep on me, which never happens anymore, and we took a little afternoon nap.  He normally doesn't get the best sleep this way so I knew it wouldn't affect his bedtime too much. 

5:30 - Wes gets homes and it's kind of early so I was surprised but is greeted happily by both boys. 

6:00 -  I start prepping for dinner.  Since it's Monday and thats sandwich day, we are having BLT.  It's a nice quick meal that doesn't cost too much or takes too long.  Since when did bacon get so expensive. 

6:30 - We sit down to eat dinner.  James had Vienna Sausages, Mac n Cheese, Apples and Peanut Butter Bread.  I'm trying to get him to eat more meat/ protein so we are trying out the sausages.  They aren't a hit but I still have hope because of the strawberries. 

7:00 - We are done with dinner and Wes helps me clean up and we watched  Wheel of Fortune for a little bit, James loves Uncle Pat.  It was bath night so we took a quick bath and got ready for bed.  

7:30 - Wes was on the phone and I had to bring in some of the toys from outside because it was supposed to rain so James played for a little bit.  Not long after I bought the pool in did I see that James had climbed in the pool for a little fun. 

7:45 - James is done with his pool party and we start on our bedtime routine and lights are out by 8. 

8:00 -  Mommy time -  After James goes to sleep, this is my free time.  Since it's Monday night, it's Bachelorette Time.  I  don't always follow the bachelor/bachelorette series but this time I am.  I grab myself some wine and a little ice cream sundae made with a fiber one brownie and a little bit of ice cream.  I also put away James' toys so the living room is picked up and worked on the blog a little bit. 

10:30ish - Off to bed we go.  I read a little bit then it's lights out. 

So what does your normal day look like?

Are you always on the go or do you like to stay at home more?

Have you ever tired a new thing for lunch and was blown away by it?

-Megan

Father's Day

I hope everyone had a great weekend and a great Father's Day.  

Sunday, I would say, was Wes' first official Father's Day.  We did  celebrate last year but James was like two weeks old and we didn't do too much.  But this year we did a little more. 

Wes was able to take the weekend off from the shop to spend at home which meant that James got to see a lot of him.  On Saturday  James and I went up to Lafayette for a couple of hours to spend some time with my dad.  We had a nice picnic at Happy Hallow. 

James enjoy eating outside in his camping highchair

 My mom did a great job putting it all together and it was a lot of fun and a great way to be able to spend part of Father's Day weekend with both Wes and my dad. 

A custom made bag

On Sunday morning, I tried to pull together a last minute 'Happy Father's Day' sign but the printer and construction paper failed me so that didn't happen  but I do feel like I scored a big win in the gift department.  For those you don't know, Wes is very very very difficult to buy a gift for.  He isn't one of those types of people who say 'oh I wish I had that' or 'that would be nice to have'  and the times that he would say something similar to that it would be something that there would be no way I could afford it.  So for christmas, father's day and his birthday it's a constant struggle to find something that he would like/use.  There may or may not be a corner in the basement that is filled with Wes' yet to be used gifts.  I may or may not have said something about reusing them when I accidentally put his birthday twice on the calendar.  



But this year, this Father's Day, I did it.  I found a gift that he liked, he liked so much that he had it going within 30 minutes of opening it.  And what is this gift you might ask, it's called Tiles.  

It's a handy item that help you locate your keys, wallet and phone.  I had heard about it before but it wasn't until Wes couldn't find his wallet that I decided to get it for him for Father's Day.  I got a 4 pack because I was sure that we could use him.  The thing that really cool about them is that you can find your phone, even if it's on silent, just by pushing twice on the tile.  

So now we don't have to spend 5 minutes searching for his phone, wallet and keys.  Unless he misplaces all of them, then we will be in trouble.  Not too much because you can look them up online but it would slow us down a little bit. 

Along with the tiles, James and I made him a 'I'm hooked on daddy' picture.  This was quite the project and actually required my mom's help.  

It's difficult to hold, paint a baby's hand and place it on the piece of paper all by yourself. An extra pair of hands was needed.  I also included a recent picture of Wes and James at the Indians game.  Last year we had received a 'Daddy and Me' picture frame and that was part of Wes' gift last year but I thought it might need an update version. 

Along with a card, I included some jolly ranchers, Wes' favorite candy.  

After Church,   James took a nap for almost 3 hours and Wes and I worked on some stuff that's a whole lot easier to do sans James.  

A couple of hours after James woke up and had lunch, we went to the park for a quick  trip.  James loves to swing, he could probably swing for 20 minutes straight if I let him.  And anyone with a baby/toddler knows thats a long time.  It was getting kind of hot so we cut the park trip a little short and headed up.  

After the big trip to the park, James made sure he gave Wes a lot of Father's Day cuddles.  

For dinner, we had steak and corn.  I found this great recipe for a corn flavor topper in my recent Health magazine and it tasted just like the corn you get in your big shrimp and seafood bucket at Joe's Crab Shake.  

I made some apple crisp and we enjoyed it as a family and then it was PJ's and bedtime for James.  

I think all in all it was a great Father's Day and can't wait for the one years to come that James can be even more active in. 

How do you like to celebrate Father's Day?
Do you stay at home or go out?
Is the Father in your life easy or hard to buy gifts for?

-Megan

Cookies Recipe #3

So I know this might be a little humorous coming after my last post but I tried out another cookie recipe and Guys, I think I may have found the one by Averiecooks.  But I'm gonna try to not get to obsessed and keep trying out different recipes but this one may be tough to beat.  

A couple years ago I was introduced to the vanilla pudding chocolate chip cookie.  I know it sounds strange but man does it make a huge difference in the cookie batter.  So I was looking for a new recipe to try and wanted to do a pudding one so I came across this recipe.  The ingredients are pretty much the same as a regular recipe with a little different amounts because the pudding mix does add a little extra sugar and flavor.  The biggest difference I noticed in this recipe was what you did with the batter.  I am no stranger to cooling the dough but rolling it into balls before cooling it was new. 

 I wasn't paying too much attention to the recipe and actually didn't do this step the first time.  Then I read it again, pulled the dough out, rolled those little balls and cooled them again.  And man I am glad I did.  Not only did these cookies come out tall but they were chewy and so delicious.  I actually made a batch for my parents when I went and visited them the following weekend. 

Another thing that I really like about this recipe and it isn't actually just this recipe but it's the idea in general, the idea to preroll and freeze the cookie dough and just pop them out whenever.  I know this isn't a new idea but I have been thinking about it lately.  I love a cookie recipe that makes a good amount of cookies.  I don't want to spend the time in the kitchen, mixing, measuring, baking and cleaning for only 12 cookies.  But also, with James getting bigger, I don't want to have 60 cookies laying around just daring us to eat them all.  So the idea of making a lot of cookies, rolling and freezing them, and having them on hand ready for a rainy afternoon cookie break sounds perfect to me.  

Besides the pudding mix, the other thing that I did different with this recipe is that I used real butter.  In the previous recipe I used cheap margarine.  This stuff doesn't even melt well in the microwave so I think was part of my downfall with the last recipe.

The Best Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies by Averie Cooks

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened ( 1 1/2 sticks)
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
one 3.5 oz packet of instant vanilla pudding mix (not sugar-free and not cook & serve)
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt, to taste
one 12 oz bag (2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Mix butter, sugar, egg, vanilla extract together in a mixing bowl.  Add flour, pudding mix, baking soda and salt.  After combined add in chocolate chips.  

Using a large scoop.  She recommends using a scoop about the size of 1/4 cup and she gets 14 cookies.  I wanted more cookies so I used a slightly smaller scoop and got 25 cookies.  Roll the dough balls until smooth and place into tray.  I used a small baking dish because I didn't have room for a cookie tray.  You cover with plastic wrap and cool for 2 at least two hours.  

Preheat oven to 350 and place on cookie tray.  I did line my tray with parchment paper (i'm learning) and baked them for 10 minutes.  This time will vary with your oven and cookie trays.  They are not all created equally. 

I like to pull the cookies out when the bottoms hold together and are slightly brown.  I let them cool on the tray for a little bit before placing them on the island to cool.  

I did place the unused cookie dough back into fridge to keep them cool until it was time to bake them.  

Sorry I don't have to many pictures of the final product, they didn't last too long.  They are great with a glass of milk.


Cookie Review:

Taste - 5, between the add vanilla from the pudding to the amount of chips in each cookie, the taste is amazing.
Appearance - 5, They brown up nicely on the bottom and top leading to a very nice appearance. 
Dunk-ability - 5, these cookies should come with a glass of milk.  They don't fall apart and stay together nicely
Removability - 5, no issues but I do think it's because of the parchment paper
Affordability - 5,  this recipe isn't anymore expensive than the toll house, you do need to buy a pudding mix but you do use less ingredients. 

Overall - it's a 5 star recipe. 

I hope you all give this recipe a try because it pretty awesome of a cookie recipe.  And I think it will be hard to beat but I am up for the challenge. 

Have you ever tried a new thing in a recipe and it completely opened your mind to something new or new to you?
Do you ever freeze the cookie dough or do you bake them all that one time?

-Megan