Home for the Holidays Two-a-day

12/19/12

“There’s no place like home for the holidays.”

So I decided while I was home to limit my time behind the lens and just soak everything up.  Family.  Friends.  The Christmas spirit.  All that stuff.

Of course I still love blogging and I treat this space like a journal of sorts, so I don’t want to completely disappear because I love looking back on old posts to remember what was going on during that time of my life.

So I decided to challenge myself to post just two photos a day.

Feel free to join me if you’re visiting your loved ones.  We can consider it a blogging community challenge!

Yesterday Kyle and I woke up super early to drive up the I-5.  We made excellent timing and arrived in the Bay Area just after 1 pm.

I was immediately put to work on cooking and baking things for my mom’s parents’ holiday party.  Not really a chore since I like being in the kitchen.  These cookies were one of several things I made.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies [yields ~3 dozen cookies]

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 6 tbsp butter (Earth Balance), melted
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup powdered confectioners sugar (for coating)

Directions:

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt, mix and then set aside.

In a separate smaller bowl combine melted butter and cocoa.  Stir until there are no lumps and then add in the eggs and vanilla.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir.  [It’s a pretty decent arm workout due to how thick the dough is, but don’t worry that you did something wrong]

After dough is ready fold in chocolate chips.  Then refrigerate for 10-15 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line baking sheets (I needed 3) with parchment paper or non-stick spray.

Pour confectioners powdered sugar into a small bowl.  Scoop dough (I used about a tablespoon sized melon ball scooper) and roll into a ball in your palm, then roll in the powdered sugar until coated and place on baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees F for ~12 minutes.  Let them cool on the cookie sheet completely before using a spatula to remove.

*Notes: To make dairy free use Earth Balance and vegan chocolate chips (or dark chocolate chips with >70% cacao).  Sunspire and Enjoy Life both make allergy friendly options.

For dinner we went to OCC – we were a fivesome with me, Kyle, my sister, and my parents.  Missed you Laura!

My dad is on the board and has made huge progress in promoting allergy and dietary awareness in the kitchen and among the staff, so there was a vegan option available despite what the menu shows.  It was a tofu dish that was surprisingly awesome.  I never expect much at places that cater to masses, but I have to give it to the chef, this was something I’d go back for and order again.  Hopefully plant based diets will continue to infiltrate the menu at OCC because as you can see from the photo above, every entree features some kind of meat/fish (granted this night was one with a set menu, so there’s usually a larger selection, but still).

We shut the place down and got home so late that I didn’t end up going to bed until 11ish, which is a record for this pregnant lady!  I set another record over night by not waking up ONCE.  Not a single time.  It’s a Christmas miracle!