A really, really, really good cookie recipe

First off -- this is a recipe for gingerSNAPS, not gingerbread. But in my vast food photo archive, this was as close as I could get. So, there's that.

I hope I don't get into any family trouble sharing this -- but these are hands-down the best gingersnap cookies in the history of the world. I've made them for many people, all of whom agree that they are heavenly, scrumptious, and absolutely perfect. This carbolicious delight comes from my Grandmother Stevens. She did lots of great things for her family, but two of my favorites are her birthday presents (when we were kids she'd send us a book along with a cassette tape of her reading the story) and her gingersnaps. She also used to bring us really sweet apples from Utah. And let us do paper mache stuff. But now I'm getting off track.

Gingersnaps, in my opinion, are an exemplary Christmas cookie because of their gingery aroma. So, if you are feeling a bit Grinch-ish, these should fix you right up. {Note: Typically, I double the recipe and stick some in the freezer.}

Grandmother Stevens' Gingersnaps

3/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 cups flour
1 tsp ginger
2 tsp soda
1 tsp cinammon
1/2 tsp salt

I should tell you to mix the wet and dry ingredients separately and then slowly sift the dry ingredients into the wet. But there have been many times when I've just thrown the whole lot into my Kitchen Aid and been on my way. So you choose. Once you've made the dough, refrigerate for about an hour, then shape into 1 - 1.5 inch balls and roll in sugar. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350. {Note #2: Sometimes (most of the time) I don't have an hour to refrigerate the dough, so I put them in the freezer for 20 minutes.}

Guys, this is an awesome Christmas gift I'm giving just to you. Don't squander it. Begin baking immediately. 

A few good gems

Things are getting holiday real around here. The kids' last day of the school year is today and their summer holiday break officially starts tomorrow. We are packing up this weekend to head north (wayyy north) for a colder, whiter Christmas with family. You can probably imagine the giddiness at our house right now!

photo via Style Me Pretty

But first I want to share some of the internet's finest offerings this week. I kind of went overboard but isn't a little bit of excess expected (or at least excused) this time of year?

I loved this New Yorker tribute to Nelson Mandela. So many good Mandela quotes have been cited in the last day or two but I especially love this one: "It always seems impossible until it's done." Rest in peace and godspeed, Mr. Mandela. 

This crispy hash browns cake from the gals at A Beautiful Mess looks like the perfect breakfast/brunch for tomorrow morning (at our house that breakfast/brunch timing tends to depend on whether you're a parent or teenager):

photo via A Beautiful Mess

I can totally relate to this BrainChild post about a family's three generations of women and their membership in the unofficial Society of Late Night Readers.  I'm a proud member of that club. When I can stay awake for it, that is. 

Art makes you smart. Amen.

I have a confession to make: we haven't actually had our holiday card photos taken yet, let alone ordered the cards. (I KNOW. I'm such a card hypocrite, after I was all cardy way back in October.) I was really inspired by this fun photo, though, and if I get my act together we might just make our Christmas deadline. (Or Valentines Day might be good, too.)

Via Babble. Photo credit LaViePhoto

Anne Lamott said her original title for this article on self acceptance was actually "My Four Worst Secrets That I Bet Are Yours, Too."  Either way, I love her wisdom and realness and vulnerability. Preach it, Anne!

The internet is a both magical and stinky place. I'm sure you've noticed. And you may also have already seen this but I must include Emily Graslie's response to icky comments on her video blog "The Brain Scoop."  She nailed it. (And hooray for fantastic sciencey role models like Emily!)

I was recently reminded of this lovely, moving essay on the unique gift and challenge of parenting a terminally ill child, "Notes from a Dragon Mom."  She writes "We are dragon parents: fierce and loyal and loving as hell. Our experiences have taught us how to parent for the here and now, for the sake of parenting, for the humanity implicit in the act itself, though this runs counter to traditional wisdom and advice." 

This cool (admittedly outdated) infographic depicting 4000 years of human history makes me want to print it out, put it on my wall, and take a good long look at it with my kids.

It's eery and moving to listen to this 50-year-old recording of the moment the audience at a Boston Symphony Orchestra afternoon concert hears of the assassination of President Kennedy. The impromptu change to the program is stirring, too.

Finally, can someone really make a keyboard doorbell, pretty please? I'd be first in line (via Apartment Therapy, idea by Li Jianye).

photo via

Have a fantastic weekend! Go show it who's boss!

---

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Here it is Internet . . . Thanksgiving

Let me just put this out there -- I'm having a really good attitude about Thanksgiving this year. I've never been a big Thanksgiving fan (although I do think gratitude is important). I mean, a whole day for eating? Well, let's be real, three whole days for cooking and 25 minutes IF YOU ARE LUCKY for eating. And then, naturally, VERY MANY DAYS for cleaning up.

But now, I'm choosing to see the whole shebang -- the planning, the shopping, the cooking, the table decorating, as one BIG PARTY. And no, I'm not being sarcastic. 

I do find that I sometimes have a hard time getting people to take my heartfelt sentiments seriously.

One reason for my positive Thanksgiving outlook is Sterling's excitement over preparing the meal. Yep. He WANTS to cook. And I'm all . . . "right this way, sir." Last week, he purchased all the equipment necessary to fry a turkey and oversaw a trial run right by the pool in the backyard. WHO WANTS TO GO SWIMMING? Maybe we'll serve hor d'oeuvres in the spa. Really, my mind is opening up on a whole bucketful of possibilities.

And, of course, I've been consulting with my BFF the Internet over all of it. Here's what I'm considering so far:

Napkins! I do love a cloth napkin, but my tastes tend to run to the expensive. Who charges $10 per napkin anyway? Martha proposes a fairly cool (and cheap) alternative. All I need to do is track down some iDye. I'm penciling in Monday as traipse-all-over-Houston-procuring-napkin-supplies day. 

via MarthaStewart.com

I'm also still very interested in this chalkboard table runner. Basically, if it's made of chalkboard, I'm in. Why the cultural obsession with chalkboard stuff? Talk amongst yourselves.

via lizmarieblog

We will be having a kids' table . . . and the possibilities for kid table paper crafting are pretty darn exciting. I'm totally in on the paper bag turkey. Also, as if she doesn't have enough to do already, Martha totally made a VIDEO on how to construct the paper bag turkey. Do you see why the Internet is my BFF? It just keeps on giving.

via marthastewart.com

And tiny paper pies -- the sure-fire way to my heart.

via fiskars.com

As for food, I'm still percolating on that. I'm going to start things out with this Puff Pastry Wrapped Cranberry Brie.

via sugarysweets.com

I'm also interested in PW's newly-posted Wild Rice Broccoli Casserole. 

via thePioneerWoman.com

And GiveMeSomeOven's pecan pie. 

via GiveMeSomeOven.com

I do like a schedule, so I'll try to draw up something similar to this or, naturally, I'll do up a schedule like my very good pretend friend, Pioneer Woman. (Dear PW, Please, please, please invite me to your lodge. I won't eat much. Love, Sarah)

In closing, I want to share with you a super cool Thanksgiving book that my SIL, Josie, gave me several years ago. It's the story of Sarah Hale, a forward-thinking woman who lobbied to have Thanksgiving made a national holiday. It's sort of a kids book, but with sufficient text and facts to really interest bigger kids. And you can Prime it to yourself for $5.05. Man, this is a great country!

So . . . Happy Thanksgiving planning! 

P.S. One time, a million years ago, I made a paper bag turkey filled with popcorn for Jordan to take to preschool. (Excuse me while I run sobbing into the next room). The End.

Make this meal

Sorry to get so bossy with the title but sometimes you just have to say what's in your heart. And my heart loves this meal. It's a tried and true one that I've made many times, one that you can easily whip up to please your people. Maybe you have guests coming to stay for Thanksgiving so you have to think of a few more meals besides the big feast. Maybe you're having some people over this weekend but are short on time or ideas. Or maybe you, like me, open the fridge on a daily basis and look blankly at its contents at a loss for what to feed these people in your family that keep showing up around the table and expecting meals.

So here are three of my favorite recipes, each exceedingly delicious and just as easy (or as they say here in Australia "easy as." Or, for example, if someone's smart they say "he's smart as." Smart as what? Easy as what? I want to ask. But then I wouldn't be cool as. Is that a thing in the States, too? I'm losing track.) Anyway, this combo has saved my bacon on more than one occasion. (This is also one of those meals where doubling it really doesn't require much more work than just a single batch so it's great for a crowd.)

- The Best Flank Steak Marinade, Guaranteed (that's its name, I didn't make it up)
- Crash Hot Potatoes
- Lemon Bars From Heaven

photo via Tired & Inspired

The original Flank Steak Marinade recipe, shared by Tired & Inspired, makes a huge batch (5 liters of marinade!) so here's the recipe for 1 liter, which still goes far:

1/2 c. rice vinegar
1/2 c. oyster sauce
1 + 2/3 c. soy sauce
3/4 c. mirin
3 T garlic puree (or very finely chopped)
4 T ginger puree (I also use it from a spice jar if needed but reduce the amount)
2 T honey

Marinate flank steak for (ideally) 24 hours [sometimes we only do 2-4 hours, though the longer the better]. Grill steak 4-5 minutes per side on medium high heat. Remove from heat and let rest about 5 minutes before cutting into thin slices across the grain.

. . .

photo via PW

Crash hot potatoes, according to our much revered, imaginary BFF The Pioneer Woman, are an Australian recipe so I feel like I bring it full circle, from Australia to Pioneer Woman and back to Australia again in my kitchen. They're really simple to make (you basically boil small red potatoes until soft, put them on a baking sheet, smash them down & drizzle them with goodness and bake them a while. So basically, your job is to pour potatoes in boiling water and then put them in the oven. I can handle that.) I don't change up this recipe at all so I'll just wait while you click on over and visit PW's neighborhood. Tell her I said G'day.

p.s. I lied. There's another item missing from this meal. I usually make a green salad or some other veg but that doesn't mean you have to do more work! Just ask one of your kids to do a salad while you're tending to the other deliciousness.

. . .

Okay, you might think you've had lemon bars before. You may even think you've had some really good ones. But this one? The one I'm about to give you? This is IT. Ellie at Less Cake More Frosting has found the holy grail of lemon bars. These have a lovely, crusty top and a gooey lemony filling. The buttery crust at the bottom is perfect. I was going to her site so often to make them that I finally just printed it out for my cupboard. Go. Make these.

photo via Less Cake More Frosting

I don't know the specific alchemy that takes such mundane ingredients (lemon, flour, sugar, butter...maybe it's not such a mystery) and produces such perfection, all I know is they complete me. 

Bon appétit! 

. . .
p.s.  Speaking of go-to recipes, for my birthday Sarah sent me the cookbook she raved about here last month, Whitney Ingram's The Family Flavor. I'm in love with it. You should see my copy--it has about 54 neon green post-it notes sticking out from all the marking of recipes I've tried or want to try. Pretty much every single page. If you're looking for more go-to recipes, this one is gold. 

A few good gems

I think there should be a law against having school the day after Halloween. Or, at the very least, it should be a late start day. 10 AM would work for me. Let's start a petition! Have a sit in! Cry in the principal's office! Who's with me? 

In the glass half full part of my brain, I'm extremely grateful today is Friday. Let's all try to take it easy this weekend, shall we? And here, are a few good gems to read while lying a-bed: 

via Sally's Baking Addiction

My SIL Debbie tried these Favorite Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies by Sally's Baking Addiction and reports the recipe is a keeper. In this era of fabulous, gooey cookie pictures, a personally baked and tested recipe is pure gold. (Don't even ask about the pumpkin spice cake crunch bars I tried this week. I shudder in memory!)

One thing I LOVE about blogging is the platform to put a beautiful cookie pic and recipe right smack next to an article by bell hooks. Do you guys know bell hooks? She's a prominent scholar and activist who writes about gender, class, and racial inequality. [Note: she doesn't capitalize her name (which is a nom de plume) because she wants focus directed at her work and not her person.] This article is bell hooks' commentary on Sheryl Sandburg's claim to feminism in her book, Lean In. Essentially, hooks emphasizes that Sandberg's message is about a small, privileged group of white women working within current oppressive and damaging ideologies -- that it's a falsity that all women really need to succeed is a little focus, a little leaning in. Just recently I've been rereading hooks and what she has to say about the role of home in providing safe places of political resistance. She is GOOD. [If you are interested in further reading this book is good. And this one.]
 
Have you guys seen Scoutmob? Normally I'm not much of a shopper, but the nonshopper in me gets a particular thrill from ordering up Christmas online, in my pajamas, with bedhead.  Scoutmob is billed as "inspired goods by independent makers," and it's just a huge treasure trove of great design and clever products.

I'll take a moustache print, please. 

I love this print of Houston -- lots of cities available. 

And how many of you can identify this quote? 50 points for a correct answer. 

Check out Indiebound.org both to support local, independent booksellers and for great book recommendations on their Indie Next List. I'm prone to only linking to Amazon (Look! I did it in my bell hooks link!) but I'm going to sign up at Indiebound and work on linking to my local peops. Nothing I like better than the Shop Around the Corner. Reference anyone?

We have a cold front blowing through in a day or two (yippee!) and I'm going to stir up a pot of this. Wish you could join me! 

That's it folks! Have a fab weekend! And many thanks to Debbie for brainstorming links with me on Halloween night (while watching old episodes of The X Files.)

I know it's Halloween. But let's talk Thanksgiving.

As I was mentally reviewing my preparations for the Halloween festivities today . . . making sure I had all the parts and pieces and ingredients . . . I paused for a moment on the subject of Thanksgiving. For the last 6 (maybe more) years we've gone away for a few days. This includes some good ole' family time and a fancy Thanksgiving buffet at a hotel or restaurant. But for a whole bunch of different reasons, we are actually considering staying home this year -- cooking in.  It's both appealing (homey, warm, relaxed) and not (lots of work, maybe it will be boring?). But my figurative ears have been perking up around the web, looking for fun and festive Thanksgiving ideas.

I'm definitely going to participate in Cathy Zielske's 30 Days of Thankful. She provides digital templates (in her characteristic clean, modern style), and my task is to take a picture of one thing I'm grateful for each day of November. I'm using the 6 x 6 template, which I'm going to have printed at Artifact Uprising . . . that way I don't have to secure an album and then find time to print and assemble the finished product. Cuz we all know that's just not going to happen.

I'm thinking these placecards at each plate. Too Christmas-y? Or just simple and rustic? (I'd love to give credit to the placecard artist, but they are unlinked on Pinterest.) 

These stamped napkin holders look cool (and do-able).  

Queen Martha has a beautiful Thanksgiving site. I choose the Three-Tier Candied-Pecan Cake with Brown-Butter Pears and the Family Trivia Books. Because I like cake and books. And my family. 

via marthastewart.com

If we do cook, I'm dead set on Pioneer Woman's green bean casserole. Have your tried it? It's a fresh, foodie version of the old cream-of-mushroom-soup classic. It's really, really, really tasty. We'll probably just have green bean casserole and the Three-Tiered Candied-Pecan Cake with Brown-Butter Pears. Who really needs more than that?

To be completely honest, Thanksgiving would be super-duper special if I could redo my dining room. (I like to go big or go home.) Check out Design Sponge's before/after dining rooms here. I'm really drawn to the ones with dark walls. They match my soul.

I was going to close this Thanksgiving post by linking to Edward Payson Roe's short story, "Three Thanksgiving Kisses" as an idyllic image to get you all revved for the season. But then I reread it and found that while it is a cozy and bright recreation of a nineteenth-century, New England Thanksgiving, it's also full of brazen stereotypes, and the grand idea that a flighty young girl can only settle down under the weight of hardship or at the hand of a steady gentleman. Ahem. So, fair warning there. But then I remembered O. Henry's story, "Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen," which is really quite funny (full of one-liners) and unfailingly provides the old O. Henry one-two punch at the end. Read it out loud to your big kids. Keep on going when they roll their eyes. The ending is totally worth it.

Halloween

Parker as a cereal killer. Get it?

Even though Halloween is my very favorite holiday (of all time), I've been super lame about celebrating this year. I have watched both new episodes of The Walking Dead, and I tried to imbue those moments with every last spark of Halloween fervor I could muster.  But that's pretty much the extent of it.

Both of my kids seem close to opting out of trick-or-treating this year (despite the fact I dropped some decent change on a black morph suit for Parker). His current plan is to  "scare kids around the neighborhood and trick-or-treat just when he gets hungry." 

That's a plan.

Becca is still undecided. 

Just as a side note: When Sterling and I were MARRIED and students at BYU we dressed up one Halloween, and my Aunt Mary drove us around Provo trick-or-treating. I dressed up as a missionary -- suit, slicked-back hair (yes, I dressed as a boy), and my HUSBAND'S missionary name tag. I put 'married' and 'husband' in all caps to let you know that I KNOW how ridiculous this sounds. I can't even begin to offer an explanation. It was a different time and a different place. Or something.

And that's all I can say about that. 

Now that I'm older and more mature, ahem, I've done away with trick-or-treating, and, instead, developed a traditional Halloween meal. We invite over friends and family and we eat chili, drink hot chocolate (unless it's 80 degrees), and ooh and ahh over the tiny ballerinas and vampires that ring our bell. The best thing about this chili is making it in the crockpot early in the day -- that way your Halloween evening is free for last minute costume drama. And this chili, my dearies, is the recipe I leave with you today. Serve it with Fritos and cheese if you are feeling very daring.

Chris's Chili

Half an onion
Half a green pepper (except I usually throw the whole thing in because I don't know what to do with the other half)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 lbs ground beef
2 cans diced tomatoes (I like the petite diced)
2 cans chili beans
1 can red beans (or whatever random beans I happen to have in my pantry)
1 tsp chili powder
1 packet chili seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Dice onion and green pepper. Throw onion, green pepper, garlic, and beef into a skillet and brown. Drain.  

In a crockpot, combine beef mixture with ALL the rest of the ingredients. Give it a good stir and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours. (If you have five hours I'm not sure what to tell you).  

You can double this. A double recipe just fits in my crock pot. Happy Haunting!