I found this little guy on my walk in to the office this morning. Before I moved here, I always thought it would be fun to live in a place where little lizards were always roaming about. Now, I realize that wish isn’t all its cracked up to be, but my heart still does a little happy beat every time I see one. I had a big day at work, so I think he came out to wish me good luck!
I decided last week that I have been eating too much ice cream. I wasn’t really sad about it, but it still is kinda bathing suit season around here, so I can’t quite let myself go just yet.
I decided to experiment with some gluten free treats. I think they are pretty paleo too, for you cavemen. These are almond butter coconut cookies. They just came out of the oven, and 4 of them are already gone. I think its safe to say they make a more than adequate dessert. I wrote out the recipe below!
Almond Butter Coconut Cookies
Preheat to 350. Mix almond butter and coconut. Add egg, vanilla, soda, and honey. Scoop to make cookies and place on baking sheet lined with parchment. Don’t forget to flatten a little with the fork! Just like peanut butter cookies. Mine went in the oven for 10 minutes and came out very tender. You could probably bake a minute or two longer for a crunchier cookie. Eat 2 as soon as they are cool, and don’t feel at all guilty about it.
One of the biggest perks of having a house is also having a yard. We love us some yardwork. We finally bought a shovel this weekend, so we added a couple of shrubs and some new raised garden beds to our family!
If you have ever tried to dig in Austin dirt in the hot season, you will understand why I now have blisters all over my hands. My goodness, it was like digging a hole in cement.
Like farm to table, except it started as a pin… get it??
Here are some of my recipe pins that I am excited to try soon. Quinoa and blueberries for breakfast. Sweet and salty bagels. Shrimp and grits. Gluten-free almond coconut cookies. Let me know what you are cooking up this weekend!
PS: I just hit 2,000 pins this morning! How exciting for me!
Double PS: Isn’t it the worst when you see something, and it leads to nowhere? I assure you that all pins that I can remember have been tried and tested.
This week we went to Blue Star Cafeteria. We drank our coffee, and I was jealous of his cheese grits. (But he’s the best so he shared with me.)
As in a quilt made of free tshirts. College is all about the free tshirts.
I have carried this huge collection of shirts to every place I have lived in Austin for the past like 6 years, with the goal of making them into a quilt. I finally looked at it and thought: well, I have some time now, if you’re available…
So I got out my scissors and did some cutting, and wondered why I didn’t do this years ago. Do you ever have those projects where you keep the supplies around, and mean to get around to it, but just never do, so the supplies are just sitting there taking up space? Well, this is mine, and I just did the first step. Can’t stop me now.
Remember these? We are getting ready for the arrival of a new table for our work room, and I’ve been doing a lot of cleaning out and organizing. I happened to remember cereal box holders. Now we have a couple homeless bags of cereal, but two brand new ribbon and interfacing holders. I covered them with brown paper, and then added some tape accents. They almost look like two really tall books. Like for giants to read.
So while the rest of the people seem to be enjoying fall (?), it still seems pretty much like summer down here. But football season has started, and it did rain a little yesterday, so I have some hope that fall might start in the next 3 months.
Until then, we will embrace the ice cream weather. My latest batch was coffee ice cream, and I mixed tiny chocolate chips into it. Then I happened to make these very thin chocolate chip cookies. Stick the two together, and you have the perfect ice cream delivery system.
These cookies are correctly engineered for ice cream sandwiches. They are thin and soft enough to bite into, but still strong enough to withstand the ice cream. They also seem extra porous, so they kinda soak up the ice cream without getting soggy.
I am getting pretty good at the homemade ice cream thing. The addition of mini chocolate chips is highly recommended.
Perfect (end of) summer treat.
Guess what? These cookies don’t have any sugar! (Which is a mild lie since they have molasses in them, but you don’t put in any extra sugar.) So they are healthy! (Depending on what you are comparing them to.)
Make them for yourself!
Heat 1 cup molasses to boiling point. Remove from heat.
Stir in 1/2 cup butter and 1 tsp baking soda. Then stir in 2 1/4 cups flour, 1 3/4 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, and 1 1/2 tsp ginger.
Chill the dough. Roll out very thin (1/16″) Cut into shapes. Bake on parchment in 350 oven for 5-7 minutes or until set.
I probably underbaked these a tiny bit, so they were still a little soft. I think they are meant to be a little crispier, but I bet they are a treat either way.
Speaking of baby-sized squashes- zucchini muffins are delicious. Whoever thought of putting vegetables into muffins and spreading the rumor that it makes them healthy is a genius. (Fun fact: According to the internet, the zucchini, like many of its garden friends, is actually a fruit.) These ones taste more like maple and walnuts than zucchini, which is probably why they taste so good.
Next time, I might try this recipe for chocolate chip zucchini muffins (no butter or sugar!).
guy and his girl 