Deceptively Delicious Cookie Recipe!

I found this book while I was pregnant: www.deceptivelydelicious.com
I tried the spaghetti recipe, but Mike wasn't too impressed, so I've yet to try anything else (mainly because I had forgotten about the book!)
Well, we are having an increasingly hard time getting our little Mason to eat vegetables. He wants nothing to do with them, which stresses me out on a daily basis. So, I dug out the book and tried this recipe today. Absolutely yummy!! I think I'll try it with raisins next time.
Chocolate Chip Cookies (with chickpeas... also known as garbonzo, which took me 15 minutes in the bean aisle to figure out)
Nonstick cooking spray
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup softened butter
2 large egg whites
2 tsp vanilla
1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 cups (12 oz) chocolate chips ( I used gluten free, not too shabby!)
2 cups all purpose flour (again, I used gluten free, and they turned out nummy!)
1/2 cup old fashioned oats (this is getting old, but I used Bob's Red Mill gluten free oats: www.bobsredmill.com
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

• Preheat oven to 350

• Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray

• In large mixing bowl (Kitchenaid mixer works awesome), beat sugar and butter on medium until smooth
• Beat in the egg whites and vanilla. Then add chickpeas.
• Add flour, oats, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed until a thick dough forms. Add chocolate chips, or raisins, whichever you'd like
• Drop tablespoon of dough onto baking sheet, and flatten with a fork. Bake until cookies are golden brown and just set, about 11-13 minutes. Transfer to rack for cooling!

Mason gobbled them up! And, there is somewhat of a healthy aspect to them.
The only beef that I have with this book is that she apparently blatantly stole this idea from another author, but due to her connections (being married to Jerry Seinfeld), she was able to publish and market it at a whole different level. I didn't learn this until after I'd purchased it. I guess it pays to be married to Jerry!

Ode to Peaches......

We had to make an awful, difficult decision this morning to let our sweet kitty go..... She was truly Mike's cat, but she was willing to give me some love, too :) Emilee (my sister) originally adopted this shy cat who hid under the bed for the longest time. In 2004 I took her in, and she and Sumi bonded..... granted, Sumi drove her crazy a good portion of the time, but they truly did love each other. Peaches was such a mysterious little cat, for months back in 2008 she wouldn't come inside (due to our new addition, Maisy), and Mike would feed her over the fence (pictured above). We finally caught her and moved her with us into our new home, where she stayed indoors for a full year. But, Peaches was a true hunter by nature, and soon found herself outdoors again. She brought us so much happiness, and a bird one time. We love you Peaches, and will miss you so terribly much.
Much love,
your humans

The Bite of Oregon....mmmmm!

Mike and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on the 5th of August. 3 years! Has gone by so incredibly fast. Since our anniversary fell on a Wednesday, and we both had to work the next day, we decided to save the celebrating for tonight. We usually go out and have a nice dinner, at a restaurant we've been wanting to try, but this year we are doing something different. We have only been to The Bite one other time, and that was after we did the Portland Bridge Pedal..... we were pretty much over the crowds by the time we got there. I am so excited to enjoy it fully this year. Mike's sister Katie and family are watching our little munchkin, so it is an official date!
Eat, drink, and we will be quite merry tonight!

Mason update!

Just some fun things that Mason is doing right now, at 16 months:

• Throwing items into the garbage when asked
• Signing bird, dog, all done, and sometimes he'll even throw in a ball sign
  
• Kissing, kissing, kissing when asked (my personal favorite!)
• Points to ear when asked
  
• Gives hugs when Mommy gives him the "snuggle" sign
• Always trying to match up lids with their container, and can unscrew most lids
• Absolutely loves anything to do with water. Dumping water, splashing, even putting his face into the water!
  
• Waves good bye (the best is at the grocery store, waves bye bye to the checker!)
• Gives an item to you when asked
• Obeys (most of the time!) when we say "Not for Mason"~ some things are just too good to give up!
• Brings a book to you and sits down, waiting for a story (granted, he doesn't always make it through the whole book!)
• He is obsessed with airplanes, and signs "bird" whenever he hears one overhead!
  

We are having such a blast with our little munchkin this summer. I adore the look of determination that he gets while trying to figure out why one of the tupperware lids simply won't fit. I love that we are able to communicate and somewhat understand each other. What a sweet little punkin we've got!

HOT, HOT, HOT!

I figured I may as well jump on the "complain about this heat" bandwagon, as I find it insanely miserable! We do have a portable A/C unit that we are using in our living room (which is where we've been sleeping for the past 2 nights!), which is the only thing making our house somewhat comfortable. Mason has been a little trooper, being cooped inside to enjoy said a/c. We did venture out today to the MAC to enjoy their industrial a/c and some pool time. Mason got his whole head dunked for the 1st time today! He did great, although he wasn't sure what had just occurred!

So..... go away heat!

Ewwwwww!

Today, as we were leaving the house for a picnic with the Boyd clan, I looked down to see what Mason was putting into his mouth.
It was the dog's kong! Filled with frozen peanut butter, an attempt to keep our darling Maisy out of trouble while we're out......... apparently Mason had other plans for it.

I guess there are worse things that he could put into his mouth??

Cousins!

My brother Jamie, his wife Felicia and their chunky monkey son, Andrew stopped by for a visit a little over a week ago. One would think we'd see each other more often considering we only live an hour apart. Unfortunately, with work schedules, etc., we don't :( But, we sure do have fun when we do! Andrew is just over 4 months old, and is the cutest, pudgiest baby! We are trying to teach Mason the concept of "soft" and "gentle" right now, and it definitely applied while Andrew was visiting. I believe he tried to even gnaw on him a bit during the visit. Oy.

On another note, our garden has gone WILD with this influx of hot weather! Our strawberries peaked, and I think Mason ate every.single.one. We will be adding more for next year, as I think Michael felt a little put out for having to share so many. The raspberries are yummy, and I think that next year we should have enough to make jam, especially after we add the marionberry shoots that my Grandma is giving us this fall. I've never made jam, so it shall be interesting. For that matter, I've never wanted to make jam, but suddenly I do! Anyhow, the cilantro went crazy, so I made enough salsa to feed a small village! We have had quite a few quesadillas lately......
Anyhow, I have never gardened in my life, so I am happy that Michael has opened my eyes to it!