A Treat for Dad

This cookie has oatmeal in it. It's a regular health food.

Well, maybe not. It also has sweetened condensed milk. That ingredient may be the elixir of the kitchen, but don't look at the calorie count. When you add in some chocolate chips, toffee bits and coconut, you get a dynamite bar cookie. But it's no health food, despite a little oatmeal.

I saw the recipe on the blog, Mom on Timeout. Randy loves coconut. So does my Dad. I figured they were the perfect Father's Day treat for both of them.

I love the ease of bar cookies, but while I had the kitchen heated up, I figured I might as well get a stockpile of cookies in the freezer for wheat harvest. 

 

I made my go-to  drop cookie recipe, divided the dough and made four variations. I tripled my basic recipe (find the recipe and add-in ideas by clicking the link), then I divided the dough into four parts before I added any "extras" to the dough. This time, I made:

• White Chocolate Macadamia Nut (white chocolate chips and coarsely chopped nuts)
• Almond Joy (Almond Joy pieces and flaked coconut)
• Chocolate Chocolate Chip (About 1/4 of a cup of cocoa powder and semi-sweet chocolate chips)
• Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip (I used cinnamon chips for the first time. They are in the baking aisle by the chocolate chips. I didn't think they tasted that good separately, but they were good mixed in the cookie dough with about 1 cup of oatmeal.

I didn't really measure the add-ins. I just add until I think it's about right (which I know is not very helpful for less experienced cooks.)  If you're adding dry ingredients - like oatmeal or cocoa powder - to an already-prepared dough you can always add a tablespoon or two of milk to get the dough back to the right consistency, if needed. Yesterday, though, I only had to add the milk to the oatmeal cookies. The dough is a science, but there's some latitude to the "extras."

Noah's Ark animals aren't the only two-by-two matches. I packaged the cookies and bars two-by-two and have them in the freezer, ready to pull out packages for harvest suppers.

But, some of the cookies will be doing double-duty as a Father's Day gift for the special Dads in my life. Happy Father's Day to my Dad ...

Me and my Dad in 1957

and to Randy!

Randy, Jill and Brent - 1988

Coconut Toffee Chocolate Chip

Cookie Bars

From the blog, Mom on Timeout

Crust:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup oatmeal
2 cups flaked coconut
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 egg, lightly beaten
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Filling:
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup light corn syrup
8 oz. toffee bits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 13- by 9-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Crust: Combine butter and brown sugar in large bowl of electric mixer. Combine well. Add egg; mix well. Add flour, oats and coconut, and combine until it makes a crumbly dough. Stir in chocolate chips.

Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the dough for topping. Press remaining dough into bottom of the prepared 13- by 9-inch pan. Bake 10 minutes.

Filling: Combine sweetened condensed milk and corn syrup and mix until combined. Pour evenly over hot crust. Sprinkle evenly with toffee bits. Top evenly with reserve crust mixture. (There will be places that aren't covered. Just do your best.)

Bake 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Cool on wire rack. I cut them into bars while they were still slightly warm, making it easier to cut through all the layers.

I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane

"I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane" was the theme song dancing in this small-town girl's head as Lisa, Abby and I went through the short security line at Manhattan's "international" airport.

OK. Maybe it more "puddle jumper" than big jet plane. But we were leaving the plains of Kansas for the big city of Chicago to visit my sister, Darci, for the weekend.

Yes, I was the person clicking the camera as we flew. (Lisa and Abby gave me a good-natured ribbing about my tourist-y photo taking. Since they were sitting in a different row, I told them they could pretend they didn't know me.) It was too pretty to ignore. And it's not like I get this camera angle very often. For you rule-followers like me, I was using my regular camera - not the cell phone camera.

Anyway, we arrived in Chicago, where we traded our prairie skyscrapers for the real ones.

One of our first stops was Glazed and Infused Doughnuts. (In our defense, we had an early morning, and we took two days to eat them.) I loved the name and the logo. We chose a maple bacon, old-fashioned, blueberry lemon and a toffee-topped doughnut. We saw several other doughnut shops, most of them with lines. Is a doughnut trend replacing the cupcake fascination? You heard it here first.

While in Chicago, we ate lots of yummy food. (And I promise I didn't take a photo every time. Really.)

In photo above, starting at the upper right: Brunch at The Paris Club was Norwegian Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon for me. I didn't care for the oysters at GT Fish and Oyster Bar, but everyone else loved them. Our meals there were biscuits and lobster gravy, smoked whitefish quiche and shrimp and grits. The other photos are from Glazed and Infused.

Our waiter at GT Fish & Oyster Bar doubled as our photographer.

Left to right: Me, Darci, Lisa and Abby

Saturday afternoon, we went to two street art fairs. Along the way, several homes were open for garden tours. It appears I was more entranced by the gardens than the artwork. However, artists tend to prefer you not take random photos of their art.  There's that rule-following thing again.

On Sunday, we saw "The Book of Mormon" at the Bank of America Theatre. Let's just say that I prefer old-fashioned musicals like "The Sound of Music" and "West Side Story." The theater was gorgeous, and it's always fun to watch the quick costume and set changes. The content was a little racy for my blood. (I was unintentionally a rule breaker at the theater. At Century II, you can take photos before the show starts. But the usher yelled at me, "No photos," as I took a photo of the stage before the musical started.)

I lucked out and was on the correct side of the plane as we flew into Manhattan on Monday.

It was a whirlwind weekend of walking, eating, talking, shopping, laughing and irritating Abby with our Sunday-night deck time when all three of us "old people" knew every word to "Hair," The Carpenters' "For All We Know" and several others songs from the '70s.

As Lisa says, "Let's make some memories." And we did.

Commuters: Of Men and Mosquitoes

The telephoto view from Darci's deck - including the Sears Tower, now called the Willis Tower

I spent the weekend in Chicago, visiting my sister, Darci. My other sister, Lisa, was my unofficial travel agent, booking the tickets and making the arrangements for me and her youngest daughter, Abby. (More snapshots from our trip to come tomorrow.)

On Monday morning, Darci flew out of O'Hare at 7:10 for work. A little while later, we three Kansans walked several blocks away to the Blue Line, dragging our suitcases behind us. As we tried to figure out how to purchase train tickets to O'Hare, we heard the transit workers warning: "The trains are very crowded today. Expect crowded platforms and long waits."

When we got to the top of the stairs, there was a sea of people stretched on the other side of the platform. Thankfully, they were all going toward the city, and we were going the opposite direction toward O'Hare.

We watched as a train pulled to a stop. Through the windows, as the train slowed, we could see people squished together. Standing and sitting, shoulder to shoulder, we wondered how anyone else could squeeze in.

As the first train departed and our airport-bound train arrived, we saw that most of the people on the other side were still waiting.

 

Then, as our Blue Line train zoomed its way down the elevated tracks toward O'Hare, we saw highways that seemed more like parking lots than expressways as they, too, were clogged with commuter traffic. I said a prayer, thankful for my little spot on Planet Earth where there aren't a couple million people.

But you know what? There are a couple million mosquitoes. And I think they're all in my neighborhood. Yesterday morning, I went outside a little after 6 o'clock to celebrate being home and to watch the sunrise in solitude.  I took three photos before I leaped back into the car so I wouldn't get eaten alive by mosquitoes. None of the photos will win any awards. The sky was pretty enough, I suppose, but I was too busy slapping mosquitoes to really see it.

And Monday night, there was a broken baler when Randy was ready to bale more hay than we've had in several years.(It's since been fixed, and he's back on the tractor this morning.)

We all have our challenges, whether our skyscrapers are like this ...

... or on the plains of Kansas.

And we can find beauty whether it's planted in narrow townhouse gardens ...

... or in fields of hundreds of acres.

There are challenges and joys no matter your zip code.

Herding Cats by Kinley Marie

Herding Cats

By Kinley Marie

Meet my friend, Smoky. He is one of my Grandpa's kitties. I suppose he's my Grandma's kitty, too, but let's face it: Grandpa is the one who thinks Smoky is the cat's meow.

And speaking of meows, I got lots of practice with my meows when I visited the farm last weekend. I'll have you know that I was already advanced in animal sounds. I had my Mommy call Grandma a couple of weeks ago to tell her that I was the very first one in my daycare class to know what a cow says. Well, of course! I saw the cows and baby calves at Grandma's and Grandpa's the last time I was there. The cows must not have realized I was coming back to visit. They had gone on their summer vacation to the pasture. I know they wouldn't have wanted to miss me.

Anyway, Grandma says I'm a regular Dr. Doolittle and can talk to the animals. I don't know who this Doctor Doolittle is, but Grandma says it's an old movie where a guy talks to the animals. All I know is that I impressed my friends with my life-like meows when I went back to daycare this week.

It did take me just a little bit to warm up to the kitties. I wasn't so sure I liked them crawling on me, so I had to have Mommy protect me.

I helped Grandpa feed them every morning.

 Smoky was so silly when he got in the dish with the food.

Just before we left to go back home, I got a great idea. I decided the mama cat needed a beautiful necklace.

My Daddy was packing the car, and I found this old toy from my baby days. It looked like the perfect summer accessory to spruce up a mama cat's day. I don't know why the kitties hid. But, let's face it, sometimes I wanted to hide from them, too.

Grandma says following a toddler is kind of like herding cats. That must mean it's a whole lot of fun.

Until next time,
Kinley

Grandma tried to do a video of me with the kitties. You'll have to turn your head sideways to watch it. I guess she needs more practice. I know all about that.




dscn5166 from Kim Fritzemeier on Vimeo.

Snippets and Snapshots

It’s funny what happens when you become a grandparent. You start to act all goofy and do things you never thought you’d do. It’s terrific.

 ~ Mike Krzyzewski

Who would have ever thought I'd use a photo with my mouth gaping wide open as my Facebook profile? Not me. But when I was looking through the 193 photos I took when Kinley visited with her parents this past weekend, I decided it was the perfect shot. As my friend, Carrie, succinctly put it: "JOY!"

Yep. That's it all right.

Randy and I were both anxiously awaiting their arrival Friday night. Randy wanted to introduce our new crop of kittens to a girl with an outstanding repertoire of animal sounds, including a fine "Meow!"

Grandchildren are the dots that connect the lines from generation to generation.

 ~Lois Wyse

During this trip, Kinley discovered her own personal race track. A two-doored bathroom makes for a perfect looping path through the bathroom, kitchen, dining room and living room.

She dashed around it on foot ...

... being pushed in Mommy's and Uncle Brent's old Little Tykes car (by four different "motors," I might add) ...

... and she used the same path for her grocery cart.

Kinley loved the swing in the backyard, whether it was flying solo or hitching a ride with Grandma, Grandpa or Mommy.

I was surprised she knew just what to do with a phone that is nothing like the phones her parents have.

But she did. (Yes, we still have that kind of phone - for real - here at our old farmhouse.)

I loved watching my little girl as a Mommy.

And it was fun to bring out bigger toys from Jill's past for Kinley to explore.

I didn't take time to find a photo of Jill playing with her kitchen. But I found one from the wedding slide show of Eric playing in his kitchen, once upon a time.

A grandchild fills a space in your heart that you never knew was empty.

Anonymous

At church, we discovered several of our friends were also entertaining grandchildren for the weekend. All our own children started coming to Stafford United Methodist Church when they were itty-bitty. And here were their kids ... our grandkids.

Steve & Tami Brensing had Reagan and Rylee; Boyd & Kim Volker had Bryson and Liam.

As you can see, it wasn't the easiest thing to get a photo. I don't think we were all looking in the same direction in any one frame, though Randy and Steve get the prize for being the most consistent. But it didn't matter a bit.

Children are born.

Traditions are passed.

The love continues.

Sharon Bibby

The Great Debate

Is rhubarb a fruit or a vegetable? That was among the thought-provoking discussions we had around the breakfast table this past weekend. Jill, Eric and Kinley were visiting, so I made Rhubarb Muffins with Cardamom Crunch Topping.

Kinley wisely chose to stay out of the debate. 

For the record, rhubarb is a perennial plant that is now classified as a vegetable, though it's used most often as a "fruit" in recipes. Technically, it's more herb than vegetable or fruit from what I could learn from an internet search. Until the 1940s, it was considered a vegetable in the U.S. It was reclassified as a fruit when U.S. customs officials, baffled by the food, decided it should be classified according to the way it was eaten.

Jill doesn't ever remember me using rhubarb in a recipe before. I'm a little surprised by that, but I may be guilty as charged. I don't know why, since I have good memories of my Grandma Neelly's rhubarb pie and Randy's Grandma Ava's Rhubarb Crisp.

After my guests left, I pulled my tried-and-true 4-H recipe box from the cupboard and dug through the handwritten recipes.

Not the actual recipe, but it shows my lovely recipe box!

There was one that I'd labeled Ava's Rhubarb Crisp and another was Rhubarb-Pineapple Crisp. Both have a buttery, oatmeal and brown sugar topping. And, I must admit, it's been years since I made either one of those recipes. I think both Grandmas had rhubarb in their gardens, so using it for springtime desserts was a practical - and tasty - choice.

I don't know why it was that I clicked on A Farmgirl's Dabbles' recipe for Rhubarb Muffins. Maybe it was those Grandma memories when I had my own granddaughter coming to visit. Then I saw that Smith's Market in Hutchinson had "homegrown rhubarb" advertised on a giant sign in their window. So I bought some.

It was a tasty return to rhubarb, I do believe. Enjoy!

I cut the rhubarb finer than this for the muffins. This was just for illustration purposes.

Rhubarb Muffins

with Cardamom Crunch Topping

From A Farmgirl's Dabbles blog

1 large egg
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2 c. chopped fresh rhubarb

Cardamom crunch topping:
1/3 c. raw sugar
1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. cardamom
1/8 tsp. salt
2 T. butter, at room temperature (not melted)

Preheat oven to 400°. Spray muffin tins with nonstick spray or use muffin liners. 

Muffins: Mix egg, milk, and oil in small bowl. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir. Do not overmix. (I did overmix, even though the recipe told me not to. The muffins still tasted fine. They just weren't of a suitable quality for fair judging. And I hid the holes under a layer of butter in the photo. True confessions time!) 

Fold in rhubarb. Spoon into muffin tins and let rest a few minutes while you prepare the topping. 

Topping: In a small bowl, mix all topping ingredients, using a pastry blender to combine. Sprinkle mixture evenly over muffin batter. 

Place pan in oven and bake until golden, about 18 to 20 minutes. Let rest in pan for 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature. The muffins are best the day they are baked, as that is when the topping is the crunchiest (but we liked the leftovers just fine)!

Notes: 
**  I did buy raw sugar to use in this recipe. However, I think you could easily substitute brown sugar. It just might not be as crunchy.  As I said, we liked the leftovers fine. It had good flavor, even though the texture was different the second day.
**  I doubled the recipe and put part in the freezer to use for harvest, knowing that the topping wouldn't be as crunchy. (See above.)
**  Since it's currently available, I chopped up leftover rhubarb and put in it in the freezer for more baking adventures. Maybe I'll have to make Grandma Ava's Rhubarb Crisp the next time Jill comes to call. 

***

Today, I'm linked to Ashley's What's In Your Kitchen Wednesday. Click on the link to check out what's cooking in other food bloggers' kitchens.

Ode to Sesame Street

Remember that song from Sesame Street where they ask, "One of these things is not like the other?"

I'd say these two are quite a bit alike.

The photo at the top is Jill. Unfortunately, her mother was not known for labeling photos with dates. But Jill is probably about 3 in the photo.

The photo below is of Kinley this past weekend. She is 17 months old. Do you see the family resemblance? Yeah, we do, too.

Here's Jill with a baby doll ...

Kinley had fun with a baby doll this weekend, too. (The shopping cart was the same; the dolly was not.)

 

Just to give a bit of equal time, I found a photo of Kinley's Daddy that we used in the wedding slide show.

What do you think? Do you see a little of him in Kinley, too?

Grandma may have taken 193 photos this weekend. So there just might be another photo and story (or two or three or four) to come. What a fun weekend!