Chewy Chocolate Cookies

Despite my strong love of chocolate, I'm typically not a fan of desserts that have a heavy chocolate base. I prefer my cakes to be white (or marbled) with chocolate frosting, and am not a huge fan of chocolate ice cream (but give me fudge swirls and chocolate cookie pieces any day of the week). However, I can't resist the occasional cocoa-rich recipe, and this cookie is definitely one of those exceptions. It's a great, basic recipe for any time of the year, but to spruce it up for the holidays I substituted mint chips for the Reese's Peanut Butter chips called for in the recipe. Mmm... Mint and chocolate. Another winning combination.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies
(from the back of a bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Chips)

2 cups flour
3/4 cups cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 2/3 cup (10 oz) Reese's Peanut Butter Chips (or any kind of chip)

Preheat oven 350*. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating well to combine. Stir in peanut butter chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto un-greased cookie sheet. Bake eight to nine minutes and cool slightly. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack; cool completely.

As you can see from the picture, these cookies will flatten a little as they cool (even though they puff up while cooking). So be careful not to over-bake them.

Adjustments

Something that will take some getting used to: Randomly running into my sister and her fiance in Sioux Falls.

You see, they used to live about two hours north in a tiny little small town. So seeing them had to be an intentional act. But then he got a job in Sioux Falls and has been living in town for about a month now. And although my sister has to finish out the school year before she can officially move down, she's in town quite frequently on the weekends (wedding planning is busy work, you know). Now, before they began the process of moving to town, any time they were back for the weekend was cause for a family get together (or two or three)--because that's just the way my family rolls. But since the novelty of them being in town is wearing off, pre-organized family plans are much less frequent (yay!). However, Sioux Falls is only so big. And apparently we like to frequent the same places.

Friday night Darrell and I were enjoying a bona fide date night--dinner reservations at one of our favorite restaurants (Bros Brasserie) and then plans to go dancing (ballroom-style, not bump-and-grind college-style). As we're walking downtown from dinner to the dancing, who should we run into but Amanda and Nick. We shared a laugh, then went on our separate ways.

Saturday afternoon Darrell and I actually had some free time so we headed out to run some errands (the baby's room isn't going to get ready on its own). We head into Target, and there are Amanda and Nick--again (we also later ran into one of my cousins--talk about a family reunion). This time, bumping into them was a little bit more fortuitous--we had just purchased a recliner at a furniture store, but were having them hold it until Sunday when we could get my brother's truck to pick it up. Well, turns out Amanda and Nick were out running errands in Nick's truck, and they were just about to wrap their errands up (as were we), so we made plans to meet up with them to pick up the recliner. And then since it was getting late, we decided to have dinner together since none of us had plans. Nothing like a little spontaneity, right?

It was certainly a fun--and convenient for us--chance encounter, and one that is certainly likely to happen again. But I suppose that's okay--after all, they are family, and we do like them... Most of the time, at least  :-)

Nursery Teaser

So after a few productive weekends (mostly on Darrell's end), we're actually getting pretty close to have a workable nursery for BOB. Of course, the hospital still won't let us actually bring the baby home to said nursery because we don't have a car seat, but whatevs. We've still got time to take care of that. As well as finalize some of the "pretty" details in the nursery. But since I'm getting impatient to start sharing what baby's room is going to look like, meet our crib and changing table!

They're Westwood Designs, Copa Collection, and we love them. They ended up costing us a little bit more than we were anticipating, but after purchasing a crib online and being horribly disappointed with the color, we decided to head to the local baby furniture store (Kids Stuff Superstore--tons of selection and pretty awesome service) and pick up a crib that we could actually see in person before buying. As an added bonus the pieces were quite easy to put together (at least Darrell made it seem like they were), and they are incredibly solid and sturdy, so we should be able to get quite a few years out of them. 

I'm still getting used to the fact that there is actually a crib in our house--and that in a few short months there will actually be a baby to put into that crib--but I'll get there. Eventually. Because baby is coming, ready or not. 

Peanut Butter Blossoms

So I had every intention of posting a series of delicious Christmas treats in the weeks leading up to Christmas.... And then never got around to it. I considered just holding on to all these recipes until the next holiday season, but decided that some things are just too good not to share. Besides, none of these recipes are really limited to just the Christmas holiday, and it's never too early to start thinking about some treats for your sweet on Valentine's Day.

Of course, Peanut Butter Blossoms are definitely something I always associate with Christmas, but they're so good I need to remember to make them at other times of the year as well. And as I've seen my sister-in-law do, you can always roll the dough in some colored sugar to make them a little bit more festive for any holiday or special event.

Peanut Butter Blossoms
(Yields 3-4 dozen cookies)

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Hershey Kisses (or other chocolate pieces)

Preheat oven to 375*. Beat butter and peanut butter in a large bowl until well blended. Add sugars; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla and beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually beat flour mixture into peanut butter mixture. Shape dough into one-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar and place on an un-greased cookie sheet. Bake eight to ten minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate piece into the center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely (or at least partially--my favorite time to eat these is when the chocolate is still a little melted from the heat of the cookie. Soooo good).

Wedding Wednesday: Selecting a DJ

So I realized during my two weeks off from blogging that I had shared some advice on how to select a photographer, but never continued with advice for selecting any of the other wedding vendors. And since sifting through the websites, online reviews, and personal recommendations can get overwhelming, I want to make sure to share a few considerations to make when selecting each of the wedding vendors. Starting today with the DJ.

One of the first things you'll want to decide before selecting a DJ is the "mood" you have in mind for your reception/dance. Do you envision a laid-back evening with casual dancing? Or do you want a wild and crazy dance party? Some DJ services specialize in the latter--lots of options for fun, rave-like lighting, lots of speciality sound-system features, and the DJ often assumes the role of "entertainer", interacting heavily with the guests and spending a fair amount of time on the mic. Perfect for some people, but probably not for everyone.

It's also a plus if your DJ is familiar with your reception site. They'll already know what they are and aren't allowed to do, where to set up, where the outlets and such are for them to use, etc. It's also likely that they would know the site manager, especially if they've done multiple events at the venue, which means they might take care of some of the necessary communication and not need you to facilitate everything.

Also, don't overlook the importance of meeting with your DJ a few times. It may seem tempting to dismiss meeting with the DJ to save yourself some time--after all, you can just email your DJ the list of songs you do and don't want him to play--but it's important for him to get a feel for you and your fiance. I was at a wedding where as the bride and groom were leaving the DJ decided to play "Let's Get it On"--perhaps cute and funny for some couples, but totally inappropriate for this particular couple.

Oh, and as I alluded to, make sure you give your DJ a list of songs that he is NOT allowed to play, as well as songs that you really want him to play. This is not only another way for him to get a feel for who you are as a couple, but also helps make his job easier, because he knows you'll be satisfied with the songs he plays. Most DJs will probably have a list of popular wedding dance songs for you to "yay" or "nay", but don't hesitate to add your own songs to the list (our DJ thought it was strange that I wanted Lonestar's "Amazed" on our do-not-play list, but trust me, I had my reasons).

Lastly, don't be afraid to be overly-thorough with what you expect from your DJ. This is true not only in terms of the general mood of the reception, but also in any "special" songs/dances you want your DJ to do. Be specific what song you want played for the garter/bouquet toss (or that you don't want either of those "traditions"), lay down guidelines for how many songs can be played during the dollar dance (and make sure he announces "last song" so people get rushed through the lines more quickly if there is a lot of them left), and make sure he knows whether or not he is allowed to let any of the guests use the mic (easiest way to avoid drunk Uncle Frank making an awkward comment? Make sure the DJ never gives him the mic). An example of something that ran afoul from personal experience: Darrell and I opted to do an Anniversary Dance at our wedding (basically inviting all married couples to the floor then slowly sending people off to find out which couple there had been married the longest), and afterwards wanted the couple to have a chance to share some marriage advice with us. Well, we weren't very clear about our vision for this, because after getting marriage advice from the longest-married couple, our DJ then went around the circle that formed and had each couple share a piece of marriage advice. And let me tell you, we had a lot of married couples at our wedding. But once he started going around the circle, it's not like we could really stop him.

The right DJ can really help create the perfect mood for your wedding reception, so don't be afraid to be picky and ask lots of questions. But also remember that most DJs are trained professionals, so don't be afraid to give them a little bit of leeway in allowing them to do what they see fit.

Belly Pics: Weeks 21-26

It's been awhile since I've had a bump picture on here. And it certainly hasn't been from lack of growth. Let's take a look, shall we?

Last time I posted (November 27th), I was at 20 weeks. This is what the belly looked like:

I'm not even sure I feel justified in calling that a "belly" anymore--it looks so tiny!

I'm now at 26 weeks--and there's just a little bit of a difference.

Oof. Do I really have 14 more weeks to go? Things might start to get a little rough for BOB--I'm already bumping him into door frames and tables because I have terrible depth perception and am so not used to protruding out so far. Thankfully, most of that "belly" is just protective layering around a (for the time being) fairly small baby, so BOB probably can't feel most of my collisions. And I don't have any terrible aches and pains in my joints or back or anything yet, so I suppose I can't complain too much.

Just for fun, let's take a look at the progression from the totally reasonable bump to the super crazy bump. As people have said, I unmistakably "popped" during this time frame--enough so that I've even had a few strangers ask me when I am due!

21 Weeks

22 Weeks

23 Weeks

24 Weeks

25 Weeks

26 Weeks

(Belated) Christmas 2012

Well, I didn't really mean to take two weeks off of blogging over the holidays, but I guess it happened anyway. And I suppose I could blame busy schedules and lots of family time and a trip to the East Coast, but really, it felt nice just to get away for a little bit and not worry about constant updates. Which, of course, means I've got quite a bit of stuff to get caught up on now (and not just on the blog--I kind of pushed all things off during the holidays), but I suppose there are worse things that could happen.

And in the interest of not boring you with my updates (especially since Christmas was two weeks ago), I'll keep this one short. And in a bulleted list--because I like lists.

--Christmas morning Darrell and I actually got to celebrate at our house together for the first time since we moved in (I can finally cross another item off our "101 in 1001" list!). And it'll be the last Christmas morning just the two of us--scary thought!

--We spent the rest of Christmas Day with my family: lots of food, lots of games, lots of fun. I was definitely ready for bed by the end of the day though--and definitely glad that I got to sleep in on Wednesday.

--Thursday night Darrell and I left for Omaha so we could catch our (super early) Friday morning flight to Charlotte. And it was a busy five days out visiting Darrell's family: we had a wedding, a baby shower, and Christmas (it was a little reminiscent of the crazy celebration on my dad's side of the family last year, just spread out into a few more days).

Family Photo after the Wedding

Family Photo out-take--too funny not to share :)

Thankfully, Darrell's family is a little more laid-back than my family, so the busyness of the weekend never really felt that overwhelming and we were able to enjoy quite a bit of relaxation. At least as much as our nephews would allow us--but who could say no to these faces?

Darrell and I both went back to work last Thursday, but it's been slow work trying to get back into a "normal" routine. Especially since "normal" now includes regular conversations about preparing for baby--and then actually putting those conversations into action (turns out car seats don't buy themselves and cribs don't magically assemble overnight). After all, it's now 2013--the year we are going to have a baby. Shit just got real, folks.