Happy National Cookie Day. I baked cookies. If I wasn't so lazy I'd go take a picture of them for you. Transferring a photo from my phone to the computer... I'm not exactly sure how to do that. Anyway, I modified a recipe for Hermit cookies to make them fortified with extra protein and other healthy stuff. Want the recipe? Here it is!
Fortified Hermit Cookies
Ingredients:
·
½ cup butter, room temperature
·
¼ - ½ cup brown sugar, packed
·
¼ cup un-sulfured molasses
·
2 large eggs
·
1 tsp. vanilla extract (or more, to taste)
·
1 cup all-purpose flour*
·
2 cups uncooked rolled oats (old
fashioned)
·
½ - 1 cup non-fat dry milk powder
·
1 tsp. baking soda
·
½ tsp. salt
·
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
·
1 tsp. allspice
·
1 tsp. nutmeg
·
1 cup raisins (golden raisins, sultanas)
·
1 cup chopped dates
·
1 cup chopped pecans (or nut of your
choice)
·
1 Tablespoon flour
Directions: Preheat
oven to 350°F
With electric mixer at medium speed, cream together
butter, brown sugar, and molasses. Add eggs and beat until thoroughly mixed.
Beat in vanilla extract.
In separate bowl combine dry ingredients: flour, oats,
milk powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. At low speed, gradually mix dry
ingredients into wet mixture until they are thoroughly mixed. In a small bowl
combine the fruit and nuts, stirring in 1 Tablespoon flour to coat. Then stir the nuts and dried fruits into the dough.
Drop cookies by tablespoonful onto a lightly greased
or parchment-lined baking sheet, about two inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes
until edges are set but centers appear moist. Cool on baking sheet two minutes,
then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Store in an airtight container.
*If using self-rising flour, omit the baking soda.
This might work pretty well. I've made some adjustments on the amounts of powdered milk, flour, sugar, and oats. Quick cooking oats (but not instant) will work fine, I think. Leaving out the powdered milk entirely will also probably work. I keep powdered milk in the house all the time, as I like to drink it. No one else around here does, and I suspect many people don't have it on hand. But it does add nutritional value to these cookies. Also, probably any dried fruit will do.
But that's not really what I came to talk about. Today is Diva's 19th birthday. I haven't communicated with her at all today, or for the last several months. I'm not entirely sure where she is. Last I heard she lived in Greenville, about 50 miles or so north of our town. But I don't know where in Greenville she lives, or even for sure if she lives there. I think she's still in South Carolina.
Here's the thing: she's crazy. I gave her the nickname "Diva" for the blog many years ago, and she has continued to exhibit these dramatic qualities, more so every year it seems. Our relationship is toxic. Or was, since we don't seem to have a relationship now. She's not good for me, and as much as I wish things were different, I'm not really good for her either. So here we are.
We adopted her because we wanted another child. We wanted her. She was only 14 months old when she came to live with us. As she grew, and especially into adolescence, she was more and more difficult. Not normal "difficult adolescent" difficult, but crazy difficult. Violent, uncontrollable. Perhaps we could have handled things differently, but we did the best we could with the knowledge and abilities we had. Things didn't go well. The older she got the worse it got. She lied all the time, stole from us... there are a lot of details in the archives of this blog. I don't want to think about the details because it stresses and depresses me.
And here it is, her 19th birthday. I want for her to be a pleasant person and for us to have a loving relationship. I'd love to call her up and have a lovely chat and wish her a happy birthday. The reality is that if I contact her at all, I'll be caught up in the Diva Drama Tornado. Superman is over it. Sooo over it! I've contemplated this for a few weeks and decided that the best course of action at this time is inaction. So I haven't looked for her on Facebork (she unfriended me years ago) or posted anything there about her. She doesn't know where this blog is, I think.
I mourn for the loss of the ideal. And I wish her well. I hope she's doing well, hope she is successful, staying out of trouble, learning good lessons about the world.
Happy Birthday, Angel.
4 comments:
ultimately they make their own decisions and no matter how hard you must now look after yourself. She will always have a place in your heart even if it's a little dented which you show by calling her Angel. Enjoy your place of peace now with the knowledge you did your very best xx
It is great to hear from you. I should try the cookie recipe. I am trying to overcome my slightly irrational fear of baking.
You have a good approach under the circumstances.
Having kids isn't for wimps. My daughter (actually my step daughter but I've been in her life since she was six and she's 41, so....) owes us a bunch of money, and after years of borrowing we made her sign a promissory note to show her to be responsible. Yeah, she's 14 months past the time she was to have paid us off and still making excuses. And it's odd how the last three money orders she's sent us have been lost...never to be seen again. The moral of this long sordid story is that I DESPISE being lied to. And she's doing it, and I really can't stand to look at her because she's a liar. I imagine you're the same with Diva. We can love 'em to the depths of our soul, but sometimes just liking them can be impossible. By the way, I LOVE powdered milk! It's all my grandma ever had, and I don't drink the cold stuff. But has it always been so damned expensive?
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