Baking Cookies

Lately I have been wanting cookies. I am not sure why. Since the kidney infection the doctor recommended I try to stay away from caffeine. I was able to transition to decaf coffee and tea fairly easily. Well really you can only go without coffee for so long. I gave up my Diet Coke deciding I would rather have the coffee. What I really wanted was anything chocolate. Of course that was what I wanted. But chocolate has caffeine, the dark even more than the milk, so of course I was wanting brownies and chocolate chip cookies. The thought of the pain I went through with the kidney infection has kept me from them. Yesterday I got an e-mail from http://www.delish.com/. They have some really good recipes. There happened to be a link for some Soft Sugar Cookies. One thing I don't like about sugar cookies is the crunchiness they seem to aquire fairly quickly. Since these were soft I thought I would try them. Oh, my, goodness!! They were wonderful I think one of the reasons is that they call for nutmeg. The whole kitchen smelled fantastic and the cookies just melt in your mouth. I had to take some pictures, well, just because. The cookies turned out pretty. The only thing I changed was I baked them for 13 minutes. I thought that was a little weird since I have a brand new oven, the other meeting it's demise back in October. A fitting end for an oven that was over 33 years old. So I am including the recipe from the delish website. It was submitted by Brenda1980. She stated that is was like her grandmother used to make. I agree, they are like the ones mine made too. Enjoy!

Soft Sugar Cookies

1 cup shortening

2 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup sour milk (1 cup milk with 1tsp vinegar, let set 1 minute)

3 1/2 cups flour

In mixer cream shortening & sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, & nutmeg. In a separate bowl mix all dry ingredients with the flour. Add dry ingredients alternately with the milk to the creamed mixture. Drop by spoonfuls on a cookie sheet. Bake 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes (I did 13 min.) Makes 3 dozen.

More Houseshoes

I made Allison another pair of houseshoes. I have been in an experimental mode. The pattern for these came from an old pattern out of a Coats & Clark learning to knit book. The colors are Red Heart Soft in Fushia #9537 and Lion Brand Vanna in Charcoal Grey #151. A strand of each color is held together. I used size 10 1/2 needles. The fit turned out perfect.

Computer Issues

I have been having computer issues for the last week. Everything moved either very slowly or not at all. I am hopeful that things are cleared up and I can again blog, check my e-mail, get my knitting newsletters, and print off recipes, but I am keeping my fingers crossed and knocking on wood. You really do not realize how much you like, well love getting information fast until it is almost non-existant. Included here are a couple of pictures. Jo was excited to be able to sit on the second level at El Fenix and look over the balcony. Scout is now smiling all the time and at everyone. At a restaurant she smiles at everyone who goes by with her now toothy smile. It is nice to be able to feel connected again.

Knitting While Recovering

Time is one thing that you have on your hands when you are sitting on the couch and recovering from a kidney infection. I decided to make some more houseshoes and some hats. All the yarn came out of my stash. I also made hats for the grandboys who live in the frigid cold. I made Scout the mini-houseshoes and then decided there was just enough yarn to make her a hat too. Jo's "Elf Shoes" as she calls them are the multi blue, yellow, pink and white. All of these have been delivered and the grandboys have theirs in the mail. I have a second pair of Elf Shoes finished for Jo and am working on a hat to match her first pair. I guess one advantage to sitting on the couch and recovering is the time for plenty of knitting.

Another Pair Finished

I finished the Camo Socks last night. This was some leftover Regia 4 fadig #5214 Camo in the stash. I had used it when I made booties for Jo when she was born. I had one skein and then a leftover ball. I knew there would not be enough so I got some Regia 4 fadig #2143 Linen to match for the cuff, heel and toe. I knew the stripe pattern would not match because I had no idea how much I had used for the booties. But this is camo, it is not supposed to match. I did notice that they are almost opposite from top to bottom. I like them.

Brrrrrr!!!

The "cold front" or maybe it is the "cold blast" arrived last night. The news said we had a bit of drizzle in the middle of the night and we did as our cars were iced over this morning. I had to go to the grocery around the corner this morning to get more Powerade Zero, my choice of drink while battling this kidney infection. When I walked out I had forgotten my phone and went back to get it. When I looked up I saw these icicles hanging off the edge of a section of the house. It is 23 degees right now but the temperatures are supposed to start dropping and we may get to 15 degrees tonight. Brrrr.

Getting Better

Well, I am getting better. This is not something I want to go through again. My doctor said most women who suffer a kidney problem compare it to the pain of having a baby. I will say that at least when you have a baby the contractions fluctuate and you get a bundle of joy for all your pain. Hopefully next week I will be up and at it. Here are some pictures I liked. I was unable to go to The Ponderosa for New Year's so I missed out on the food, the fun, and the fireworks. I made Scout's Camo hat. It was just Bernat Camo yarn and the easy K2 P2 pattern. Aunt Jane Ellen made Jo's Glow Worm hat and scarf. She used Bernat Glow yarn. The purple has a small white yarn woven in to help it glow. The worm is made from white glow yarn. She got the idea after buying the white and thought it would be cute to have the hat glow in the dark. It does. Jo's second hat Aunt JE did out of homespun. You cannot see it in the picture but it has beads attached at the top. It is supposed to be very cold here for the next few days. Good thing we knit even though we live in Texas.