Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

Care to make the delicious cookies pictured below? Read on to find out how! 

Ahh Pinterest. You never cease to inspire when it comes to my next baking venture. Recently, cookies of all kinds have been popping up on my feed and I couldn't resist the temptation any longer. The cookie of choice: Oatmeal Cranberry cookies. I'm not much of a fan of raisins and the cranberries add a nice twist to the traditional cookie. Caution: this recipe makes over 2 dozen cookies, so be sure to share (although that is easier said than done)! You can find the full recipe at the bottom. 

Here's what you'll need.

This is what the mixture should look like when all the ingredients are added.

This is just 1 tray of cookies, but the recipe makes at least 2 dozen.

The finished product!

Full Recipe

Ingredients:
     1/2 cup (1 stick) & 6 tbsp butter, softened
     3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
     1/2 cup sugar
     2 eggs
     1 tsp vanilla
     1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
     1 tsp baking soda
     1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
     3 cups old-fashioned oats
     1 cup dried cranberries (sweetened)

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, beat butter & sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until             creamy
2) Add eggs & vanilla; beat well
3) Add flour, baking soda, & cinnamon; mix well
4) Add oats & cranberries; mix well
5) Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets
6) Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown *tip: take out once the bottoms of cookies are a golden           brown; otherwise, they are likely to burn*
7) Enjoy!

Packing for a mini vacay

 

My family decided to take a short trip to Hilton Head, SC. We use to go all the time when I was younger and decided this was the year to go back. So we booked a place & headed out this morning. I am notorious for over-packing, but this time I was determined to avoid the unnecessary load. I packed something to wear for our shopping day, to the beach, dinner, an outfit for the ride back, and an extra top just in case. Hopefully my minimalist packing didn't cause me to forget anything!

Father's Day

 

I wanted to start this post with a sweet quote or poem about fathers, but couldn't find one good enough to summarize my dad. He is the greatest man I have ever known and there is no way I would be the woman I am today without him. His hard work, determination, and selflessness has made it possible for my family to have everything we need and then some. It was just a couple of years ago I found myself talking to a group of friends. It was just days before father's day and we were all commenting on our own fathers. Talking to them and listening to the negative experiences of their fathers made me realize just how truly blessed I am to have a dad like mine. Whenever I have felt down or discouraged, he has always pushed me to stand up and follow my dreams. I have no idea what the future has in store for me, but I am grateful for the dad I have to remind me that there is a future and it is as bright as ever.     

Graduation: Part Trois

Me + the graduate!

So I wasn't joking about the large number of 2013 graduates in my family. You've already seen my graduation from college (here) and 2 cousins' graduation from high school (here); and now we've made it to the half-way mark of so many commencements. The woman of the hour was my aunt who graduated with an Accounting degree; which is actually a common major in my family. In support, my mom, dad, sister, a few aunts, an uncle, several cousins, and myself all met up in Atlanta to attend this important event. The ceremony was held at a beautiful church (that I wish I had taken pictures of!) and included an excellent solo rendition of an inspirational song. Afterwards, the whole family went out to eat at a nearby restaurant where all the fun and celebrating continued. One positive thing I can definitely say about all these graduations is that do bring the whole family together and that's always a good time. :-)

For my outfit, I wanted to wear something bright and comfortable. The skirt I chose, a pink bodycon, was something I got last summer and never wore. I paired it with one of my favorite floral blouses . I added a skinny brown belt for a little detail and comfortable silver sandals.

Top: Forever 21
Skirt: Papaya
Belt: borrowed from my sister

Happy Birthday Mom!

Me + my mom :-)

May 30th, the day the most important woman in my life was born: my mom. To have such a short post about her birthday just doesn't seem right. In all honesty, I could have an entire blog about my mom and all the reasons why she's so great, but that would be a bit ridiculous. lol. She never asks for anything elaborate, or anything at all for that matter, so for her birthday, per her request, I did something simple. I decided against the usual birthday cake & instead surprised her with one of her favorite desserts: peach cobbler (see recipe here). Of course she was very pleasantly surprised. One thing she does like to do is for the whole family to go out to eat to celebrate her birthday. This year my mom chose P.F. Chang's. I was certainly glad about this decision because P.F. Chang's is actually one of my favorite restaurants too! My mom, dad, sister, 2 cousins, and I all met up to enjoy the delicious Chinese food P.F. Chang's has to offer. We had a lovely evening and my mom assured us that she had a great time.

"It's Arrested Development"

"Now the story of a family who's future was abruptly cancelled.......it's...... Arrested Development." This Memorial Day, my day did not consist of the usual barbecues and lake activities. Instead, I spent quite a bit of time watching season 4 of Arrested Development. To say that I am glad the show, which was certainly cancelled prematurely, has returned is an understatement. I was not able to watch it yesterday when it debuted on Netflix; so today I decided to use my free time to enjoy the binge watching that Netflix allows & encourages. I had watched 5 episodes before some family came over and I had to put the show on hold.

Of the episodes I watched, I noticed that season 4 takes a slightly different angle than the first 3 seasons. For example, each episode centers around 1 character and catches you up on what they have been doing since 2006's cancellation. In fact, some episodes only show a handful of the main charters in the episode. This season is also packed with "star power." Several prominent actors make cameos throughout the episodes. None the less, the episodes I've watched have been just as enjoyable as the first 3 seasons and I'm eager to continue watching. :-)

Best Peach Cobbler Ever

Ok, so the title may be a bit over-zealous, but this peach cobbler really is delicious! My dad asked me to make it a couple of days ago and I just simply forgot. So to surprise him, I had one made by the time he got home from work. You can find the full recipe at the bottom.

Here's what you'll need:

Now go ahead & preheat the oven to 350F. 

Next, mix up all the dry ingredients. 

And add the milk & corn syrup from the peaches to the dry ingredients. 

Now, add the butter & then peaches to the casserole dish. 

Next, pour the batter over the butter & peaches. Then, sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top. 

Place the dish in the oven for 45min to 1hr or until crust is golden brown. It should look a little like this:

Lastly, enjoy!

Yuuuummmm!

Full Recipe

Ingredients:
     1 stick butter
     1 cup sugar
     1 cup flour (I recommend self-rising, all purpose will work just fine)
     1.5 tsp baking powder
     3/4 cup milk
     1 can (29oz) sliced peaches in corn syrup
     1 tsp cinnamon sugar ( of course you can just manually mix cinnamon & sugar)

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350F & melt butter
2) Separate peaches from the corn syrup *Optional - cut peach slices into smaller pieces*
3) Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl
4) Stir in milk & corn syrup from the peaches to the dry ingredients
5) Put melted butter & peaches in casserole dish
6) Pour batter over the top of butter & peaches in the casserole dish
7) Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top of mixture
8) Bake in oven for 45min - 1hr or until crust is golden brown
9) Enjoy!