Balancing Motherhood

I watched a great segment today on “Good Morning America” about the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts of America and how they have changed. I wasn’t a scout, but always wondered what they did besides sell cookies. Today’s Girl Scouts are focusing on teaching young girls to be confident and to help them realize their potential.

Only 3 percent of America’s CEO’s are women, Katie Couric mentions in the piece. This saddens me. We need female leaders in high places for women and girls to look up to. The higher I get in organizations, the lonelier I feel because they are dominated by men. I can hold my own, but not everyone can. And, it’s hard to hold your own to a peer group that doesn’t match your own. We need to reach out to girls to instill confidence at young ages so they have the ability to be whatever they want when they grow up.

There are statistics now that young girls are losing confidence as early as the middle school years. The Girl Scouts are trying to change that. They have a new program called STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. I didn’t even know what engineering was when I was a young girl. I’m so excited that the Girl Scouts are teaching these skills to girls who can take these life lessons and apply them to whatever role they take on as an adult.

Watch the clip from GMA — they interview Girl Scouts who get emotional when trying to describe their feelings about what they are learning. It’s obvious they appreciate being valued and appreciated at young ages. This is something we need to instill in all girls, Girls Scouts or not.

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These are amazing cookies. Simple recipe, organic ingredients and my new go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe.

There are only six ingredients in this recipe: egg, almond butter, Sucanat (whole cane sugar), baking soda, sea salt and chocolate. Just put them in the bowl (minus the chips, save those for the end) and mix them up. No flour is needed for these cookies. It’s truly amazing how they stay together without the flour. After you mix, stir in the chocolate chips.

Then, wait for the little ones to run over, hands extended, wanting to try one of these cookies. My little girl couldn’t wait for me to finish taking these photos before she got a cookie.

BIG, important tip: after removing the cookies from the oven, let them rest on the cookie sheet for a few minutes. Then, transfer them on a cooling rack for at least 10 minutes to cool completely. This will help them keep their shape.

Once I had the first recipe mastered (after several dozen cookies, and multiple friend requests) I stumbled upon Dark Chocolate Almond spread. Whoa!

The recipe varies slightly, using the dark chocolate almond butter instead of the regular almond butter. I’m not sure which version I like better.

This recipe comes from “The Best of Clean Eating,” 200 of the best recipes from “Clean Eating” magazine. All of the recipes in this cook book are super easy to make. I want to post about some of the other recipes I’ve made from this cookbook one day, but these cookies are my favorite. You have to try them. Easy, delicious — you can’t go wrong. Be sure to save a few for your friends … they’ll love you forever. But don’t hand any of these cookies out unless you are willing to share the recipe or make more batches — requests for more cookies are sure to come your way.

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

5.0 from 1 reviews

Print

Recipe type: Dessert

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 12 mins

Total time: 22 mins

Serves: makes 22-24 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted almond butter
• 3/4 cup Sucanat
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 3 oz dark chocolate chips (70% cocoa or greater)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together first 5 ingredients until blended. Mix in chocolate chips.
3. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. (These cookies won’t brown much so watch the cookies carefully as they near the 10 minute mark.)
4. Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes.
5. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool for 15 more minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 350°F.
7. let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes.
8. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool for 15 more minutes.

Notes

The cooling time is critical. Don’t skip this part.

Variation: Use Chocolate Almond Butter instead of the regular almond butter to make chocolate almond butter chocolate chip cookies.

Adapted from “The Best of Clean Eating.”

2.2.1

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Before the holidays I saw a clip on “Good Morning America,” about a mother who spent a year figuring out what foods are cheaper to make at home. Intrigued, I received a copy of her book and began to read it through.

Author Jennifer Reese is an accomplished journalist who decided, after being laid off, to figure out what food makes the most sense (not just cents) to make at home. Like so many American’s she lost her job and didn’t know what to do. Here’s how she describes the time after she got let go:

“Then I lost my job. Instantly, I was stabbed with the predictable financial anxiety, which I attended to by taking an overdue video back to the video store and calling my husband to make sure that he still had his job. It was 2008 and a lot of people were losing their jobs. I made myself a cup of tea and walked out the back door of our house … A few end-of-the-season red apples weighted down the branches of our tree. I thought, I should really pick those … I can make applesauce. I can make apple butter. I can make chutney. Who needs a job when you have an apple tree?”

Sometimes I think that when we work, we miss opportunities to make things that are right in front of our faces. We say “time is money,” and pay extra for those frozen PB&Js. But the reality is, those extra cents we spend on convenience foods add up. They hit right into our wallet, yet we wonder where all our money went.

So it begs the questions for busy moms, what is worth it to make and what is worth the extra money to buy. Reese answers the questions on over 120 recipes. Is it worth it to drive to the store to buy hot dog buns, or should you just whip up a batch at home? Reese had the same questions that we do, but now she tells us the answers, from her year of experimentation.

She breaks down food items we are likely to purchase and walks us through how to make them at home. She breaks down each recipe into three simple summary points:

• Make it or buy it?
• Hassle (this may just say “easy,” or “a 4-year-old could do it”)
• Cost comparison

Then, if it’s better to make it, she includes a recipe. Can’t get better than that.

The experiments get more difficult at the book goes along. At first, it’s all about simple things like making a loaf of bread or making hummus in a blender. Later she mentions that her “bee-keeping experiment was an expensive catastrophe.” She writes about buying a couple of turkeys and her son Owen making a connection with the animals and not wanting to see them killed. “Buy it,” is Reeese’s summation of the turkeys.

A few of the items that I would never think of making are English muffins (“a lot more hassle than going to the store”), bacon (“try it”), vermouth (“are you nuts? If so, make it.”), beef jerky (“make it”), and lard (“acquiring the pork fat is the hardest part.”)

One that got my attention, due to my love of baking, is making your own vanilla. I blow through vanilla like some people blow through Diet Coke. It can be $7.00 a bottle and it kills me each time I go to buy it. Reese makes different versions with variations of alcohol. I’m going to have to try one.

A while back I did my own buy or make experiment with pickles. I involved my kids and we made sweet pickles: they were delicious and we were so excited to have something that we made with our own hands. The cost break down didn’t warrant me to make pickles from scratch all the time, but it taught me a valuable lesson that you should try things you think might not be worth the effort. The experience in making something together — and the flavors you can get from making things from scratch might be worth the extra effort.

I don’t think I’ll try making my own bacon, Reese has inspired me to make my pickles again and to try, every now and then, something new that I never thought of before.

Watch the GMA clip below to see a great interview with Reese.

• Here’s another review of the book. I love how this author sums it up, “So, if you didn’t already guess it, my verdict when it comes to Make the Bread, Buy the Butter is … BUY IT!”
• Jennifer Reese blogs at thetipsybaker.com

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I’m not the biggest fan of New Year’s except the fact that it’s considered a holiday and gives people time off work to be with our families. It’s a time of reflection and hope for the future.

It’s also a time when we should consider planning our future instead of just accepting what comes our way. Of course, there are things we can’t control, but there’s a lot we can control and could be taking steps to make our lives better. That’s what I think the new year is for — a reminder that we can start fresh and accomplish our most precious desires.

Today I’m taking it easy, as I have been for a few days now. I got out my 18-year-old Kitchen Aid mixer this morning her her first workout of the year; mixing a wonderful cheesecake that I will later top with blackberries. It’s going to be delicious.

It’s back to work in a couple of days, but until then I hope to continue relaxing and reflecting on what this new year could be for me and my family. I hope that you have time to do the same.

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