Recipe of the week: Oatmeal cookies :)

I think it goes without saying that I'm not 100% at peace with cookies. I see Larry pop them into his mouth -- 1, 2, 3 -- without thought, while I break mine into small pieces, taking slow sips of milk in between each bite. I think about the sugar, the fat, how I could have had a Luna bar or something "healthy" instead. But, BUT, I still eat the cookies. This is good.

For Christmas, we went out to visit Larry's mom, step dad, and brother in Palm Desert. We stopped by to visit his grandpa on our way home. My grandpas both died when I was really young so I have no memory of them. That's always made me a little sad, so it's nice to have Larry's grandpa in our lives. Anyway, we headed home after that, having had our fill of family time. The only plan for the rest of the day: Bake cookies, make a lasagna, watch a movie, hang with the kitties. It felt sort of perfect for our first Christmas as married people.

I made chocolate chip cookies with a somewhat unoriginal, standard recipe. They're delicious (and quickly disappearing), but I'm most proud of the oatmeal cookies. I love, love, love oatmeal cookies. I had a can of pumpkin in the cabinet (purchased during one random shopping trip when I thought, "Bloggers say pumpkin is good...maybe I should try it." Turns out, I think pumpkin is rather bland, but I still kept a can on hand). I thought I'd try to make oatmeal pumpkin cookies...and throw in some raisins and dried cranberries for good measure. They came out so good -- kind of a moist, cake-like.

What you need:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/3 cups quick oats

1 tsp baking soda

1-2 tsp cinnamon (I love cinnamon, so I was sort of liberal with this)

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter or margarine, softened (I used butter...still not sure what the difference is between butter and margarine... I feel like this makes me a bad anorexic...haha)

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup dried cranberries

What you do:

Set the oven for 350.

Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.

Beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in a separate, large bowl.

Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract; mix everything.

Add flour mixture and mix.

Stir in raisins and cranberries.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto greased baking sheets. I made 24 cookies. They came out big.

Bake about 15 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for a couple minutes, then move to wire racks.

Enjoy :)

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

***

Today's gratitude:

1. Had a good therapy session today. It's still kind of in that getting-to-know-you phase since he hasn't worked with just me before. I think it's going to be a good fit though.

2. My family is throwing my grandma her 80th birthday party tomorrow. It'll be a good chance to see everyone. I'm told an Elvis impersonator will be showing up.

3. I continue to do a good job at being lazy.

4. We leave for Vegas on Tuesday! We both feel a tiny bit under the weather. I'm hoping it passes.

5. Womanhood. Every 28 days. Like clockwork. It continues to baffle me how forgiving the body is.