Lacy Oatmeal Cookies

Tonight we are going over to our friends for dinner and I made the yummiest cookies.  I've had this cookbook forever and it has the best cookie recipes in it.  The Lacy Oatmeal are one of my favorites! They are buttery and crispy, great on there own with coffee or tea but I like them best with ice cream! Tonight I will be serving them over Mango Sorbet.  Courtney is making Yellow Curry and I thought it would be a nice finish.  Here's the recipe below....

Ingredients:


1 cup quick oats
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla


Preheat oven to 325'.  Cover baking sheets with foil and coat with cooking spray.  In a medium bowl, combine the oats, flour, salt and baking powder: mix well and set aside.  In large both, combine sugar and butter with an electric mixer on medium until you have a grainy paste.  Add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.  Add flour mixture and mix till just combined.  Drop the dough by teaspoonful 2 1/2 inches apart onto cookie sheet.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown.  Let cool, then peel the cookies from foil with your fingers.  Be sure to respray cookie sheets between batches.

I find you have to watch them in the last few minutes depending on how you like them, either soft in the middle or crispy.  Perfect for Holiday cookie parties or just because, hope you enjoy!!

Votivo

Just ordered 3 of these, can't wait till I get them!! Hands down the most delicious Holiday smell ever!

Roger's Gardens

 The last couple of years on Black friday Mom and I have gone to Roger's Gardens to look at all their beautiful Christmas decorations.  I love walking around the gardens at dusk and seeing all their beautiful Christmas trees and lights.  Cant wait to start decorating! Here's a few pictures from our day.

Love their beautiful trees

I want this chair, actually I'll take the whole room

Christmas wonderland

The beautiful sunset as we left

Turkey Day!

 This has been an incredible year for us, not only for the good but also the bad! I feel so blessed to have an amazing husband to stand by my side through everything, an adorable doggy that makes me laugh everyday, a loving family that is so supportive, my health, food on our table and a roof over our heads (actually we have an old Persian lady over our heads, but over her head then).  We spent Thanksgiving with my family in Dana Point and had a fun filling day!

Dad carving up his masterpiece

Mom's Tablescape

Wine of course

Setting the table

After dinner we all relaxed on the couch in front of the fire and watched Christmas movies.

My desserts, Pecan pie and Apple dumplings

And one of the best part of Thanksgiving, the leftovers!

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving this year, hope you all did too! Now I can't wait for Christmas!

Ina Garten Book Signing

A couple weeks back I took my Mom for her birthday to Ina Garten's book signing at Williams & Sonoma.  We had such a fun time waiting in line for hours with the masses!  Williams & Sonoma treated us to samples as we waited and we loved looking at all the new yummy things Ina has in her new book!

Waiting for Ina

                                                                    

Finally made it into the store, almost there!

                                              

There were so many people there they wouldn't let you take a picture with her, but they did take pictures of the back of your heads while Ina signed your book.  We had such a fun day and I cant wait to start cooking some new recipes!                                                  

How I love my dog!

We were going through pictures from the year the other night for our Christmas card and ran across this picture of me and Penny Lane.  We took it up in Julian on our annual pumpkin and apple picking trip and it just melts my heart.  How I love her so!

BBQ Meatloaf

A few years ago my Mom turned me on to the most  delicious meatloaf recipe ever from The Lady & Sons cookbook! I was never a huge meatloaf fan until this recipe.  My husband loves it and it is so yummy on a cozy cold night when you are looking for some good comfort food!  I made it a few nights ago and meant to take a picture to share but we devoured it before I got one!  Here is the recipe..

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 onion, diced
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 (8-ounce) cans tomato sauce
3 tablespoons vinegar
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup water, to thin sauce if necessary

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix together the beef, bread crumbs, onion, egg, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce. Form this mixture into a loaf and place it in a shallow pan. Stir together the remaining tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar, mustard, Worcestershire and the water (if too thick). Pour this sauce over the meatloaf. Bake for 1 hour, basting every 15 minutes with the pan juices.

I always double the sauce mixture cause I like things saucy, I also find that it needs to cook for a little bit longer than recommended (like an additional 10 minutes).  Hope you enjoy!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

So I have to admit I have never been a huge Harry Potter fan, for no reason except I never really got into it.  My husband a few weeks ago said we should watch the Harry Potter collection cause it was holidayish, so every night for the last 2 weeks we have watched them all and I am totally hooked!!! We finished last night with The Half Blood Prince and I just can't wait to see the new one!!

To the best Mom ever!

Happy birthday to my beautiful Mom!  We had a weekend full of fun to celebrate my Mom's birthday.  Ina Garten's new book signing and lunch on Friday, and a picnic lunch on the island on Sunday with the whole family. it was such a beautiful day! Here's a few pictures from our picnic.

Yummy Cupcakes

The Island

Dad and the view

Tutor and Spunky"s

Me and Penny


I love you Mom and I hope you had a wonderful birthday weekend!

Compromise

And it was delicious!!

Happy Sunday!

There is nothing that I love more than quiet sunday morning with a cup of coffee and a my thoughts.  I wish you all a wonderful sunday! We are off today to have a picnic at the beach for my Mom's birthday, gotta love these cold California winters!

Let the blogging adventure begin!

After years of looking at others blogs I've decided to embark on my own blogging adventure.  Today I found you will be my place to share all the things in life I love! Photos, recipes, thoughts, and of course my adventures with my husband and our dog! Thanks for stopping by!