Baking at a Distance

I haven’t written on this blog of mine in a long time. Because life. I have spent the last few years constantly going. Long days became a normal thing, to the point I would leave my house saying, “just another 13-hour day!” But during these couple years, my crazy and hectic life has been deeply rooted in education.

I’m a grad student. Education. I’m a school counseling intern. Education. I’m a substitute teacher. Education. I’m a high school speech coach. Education.

So, when education got cancelled due to covid-19, everything in my life (except for the few days a month I work in childcare), got cancelled. And there was a lot of sadness with that.

Sad that I wasn’t sure I would get a real termination with some of the students and groups I’ve been working with all year. Sad about the student I told “how about we chat more Monday morning?” Sad that my commencement ceremony got cancelled. Sad that I have allergies right now so all I seem to do in my spare time is touch my face and itch my eyes. Sad that the speech kids worked so hard all season to have conference and sections get “postponed indefinitely”.

I gave myself permission to be sad. I gave myself permission to grieve. And yet, I continued to get dressed everyday. Because I know myself well enough to know that I thrive on structure and routine. So if I control things like making a schedule for my day and getting dressed, I will do better during this distancing and quarantine time.

I’ve also seen a lot of things floating around about “introverts, check on your extrovert friends”. I am a person that doesn’t intensely lean towards either. When I’ve taken the Myer Briggs, I always get NFJ, but sometimes it’s ENFJ and sometimes it’s INFJ. I like to say Extroverted Introvert or an introvert with extrovert hobbies. I like my alone time and days just at home, but I enjoy activities involving social interaction.

Knowing that I have to lean more into my introvert side right now, I’ve started to make some peace with slowing down. I’m doing things that have been on my to-do list for over a year. I’ve went for actual runs to get some fresh air (I’m now a person who runs for fun apparently). I’ve caught up on TV shows and watched quite a bit on Netflix. I’ve played with Milo a lot (poor guy is so tired, but I like to think he is loving this quality time). I’ve cleaned out totes that haven’t been gone through since they were packed. I’ve been in the kitchen a lot- cooking and baking. I’ve started pretending to learn piano. I’ve read books for fun. I’ve found my way back to writing. I’ve sang all the parts of entire Broadway cast recordings.

The things that were making me sad were the things that I had no control over. But there are still plenty of things that I can control. No point in worrying about the things out of my control. While I’m not all about finding positive things quite yet, I can be comfortable in the unknown. Especially after watching 3 year old’s put their whole heart into performing the Frozen song “Into the Unknown” during those days in child care.

The bad news is a lot can change in 30 days. The good news is a lot can change in 30 days. Staying home is not the worst sacrifice a person has to make. Especially to keep those around us healthy. Being forced to slow down isn’t the worst thing we could have been asked to do. Two months ago, I was feeling stress like I never had before. It’s been awhile since I’ve been still with myself, and I’m starting to think it’s what I needed.

No Baking Required- S’more Bars

Right now, I really wish it was summer and we weren’t in a blizzard warning. You know what reminds me of summer? S’mores. On top of that, no baking required recipes are sometimes the best recipes. Whenever I need to make a quick treat, my default is something that doesn’t require a lot of effort or thought. I obviously love baking and decorating baked goods (otherwise this blog wouldn’t exist), but I’m also all for a no bake.

S’MORE BARS

I feel like everyone and their mom has a recipe for these bad boys. I first found this recipe in a Taste of Home book. I’ve also seen it on the side of cereal boxes. I have made it enough, that I tweaked it a little bit over time.

This recipe is super simple. It’s basically like making rice krispie bars. Fact: I used to be so afraid of making rice krispies because I thought I would burn the marshmallows (and that, you know, they’d burst into flames). But once I concurred that fear, the world opened up. In place of the rice krispies, these use Golden Graham cereal. And you throw in a chocolate chips. There really is nothing better.

These bars are so sweet, sticky, and gooey. What more could a person want?

S’more Bars

3 tbls butter

1 16 oz bag marshmallows (regular or mini)

1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

12 oz box Golden Grahams cereal (or the store brand works too)

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1- Heat butter in a large sauce pan until melted. Stir in marshmallows (big or small, whatever you have on hand). Stir until smooth and combined.

2- Take off the heat. Stir in vanilla, if using. Add cereal. Mix until coated and combined.

3- After cereal is all mix in, stir in chocolate chips. The chocolate chips will became all melty. That’s what you want- keep stirring.

4- Pour mixture into a greased 9×13 pan. Let cool before cutting.

Notes:

*You can use up to 5 tablespoons of butter. I just don’t like too much of a butter flavor coming through.

*Vanilla isn’t required for them to be tasty. Kind of related to what I said above about not liking much butter flavor. I like what the vanilla adds.

*If melty chocolate isn’t your thing, you can also sprinkle the chocolate chips on top after putting the bars into the pan.

You can bet we are eating these today while watching the Vikings game. SKOL.

 

Trust Issues- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I’m basically a grandma. I try to eat dinner around the same time every night, my hobbies include reading and baking, and I like to be in bed before 9:30. Day in and day out. And, I will never turn down an oatmeal raisin cookie. Oatmeal raisin cookies have always been gas stations cookies for me. I have never once made them- until now.

I always thought they were a “healthy” cookie. And maybe they are healthier than a double chocolate cookie, but there is still quite a bit of not great stuff in there (I’m looking at you sugar and shortening). Mixing in all those oats though, that’s the good stuff.

I love these scoops. I have one this size, and two in the perfect cupcake scoop size. It makes everything look a little more uniform.

The cookies came out a little crisp. I read the directions as 10-15 minutes. So, I baked them for about 14 minutes. It wasn’t until I was typing this that I realized the directions say 10-12 minutes. This is what happens when I try to read fast. And, in general, I’m not super confident in knowing when a cookie is done. I was thankful these looked like oatmeal raisin cookies though. Nothing is worse than thinking it’s a chocolate chip cookie, when it’s actually a oatmeal raisin cooking. That my friend is how trust issues start.

All in all though, they made me very happy. Next time, I might sub out some of the shortening for butter. I just don’t find shortening as appealing as butter, that’s all. At first, I was worried it wouldn’t be enough raisins, but it turned out just right. I ended up getting 53 cookies with this recipe. Cookies for days! And the grandma inside me has never been happier.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies– from Taste of Home Baking book

1 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups old fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup golden raisins

**I omitted the walnuts and increased the amount of raisins. I used regular raisins, not golden raisins.

1- In a large bowl, cream together shortening and sugars until light and fluffy. Add in eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. In a separate bowl, combine the oats, flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add into the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in walnuts (if using) and raisins.

2- Drop by tablespoons 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets (I used parchment paper and it worked well). Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

Milo is a little bit camera shy. :D