Kate's Monster Cookies

Some foods take on a legendary status in families.  For my family those foods include Dad's chili, chicken paprikas, Mom's cheesecakes, and most importantly Monster Cookies. 

Monster Cookies entered our lives sometime around 1990 through a recipe my Grandma Emily discovered.  The recipe was actually called "Kate's Monster Cookies", so I knew they were meant for me.  We never looked back.  If my friends knew two things, it was that they were always welcome at my parents' house, and that there would always be Monster Cookies.

When I moved away for college, the recipe for Monster Cookies came with me.  I made a slight variation to our original recipe - less white sugar.  The variation was made by mistake, but as the taste and consistency of the cookies was actually improved, the variation became the law.  My college roommates couldn't get enough of these beloved "Monsters".  Later, my co-workers demanded that I make them again and again and begged for the recipe.  I'm really not over-selling these cookies to you.  They are, quite simply, the best cookie ever.  These cookies have oatmeal, peanut butter, chocolate chips, and M&Ms.  There are chewy and crunchy.  They are alpha and omega.  They are ying and yang. 

Hope you love them as much as I do.

KATE'S MONSTER COOKIES

makes 7 DOZEN (And don't even think about halving this recipe.  You will want them all.  Plus, they freeze really well.)

1 C (two sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 C creamy peanut butter
2 1/4 C brown sugar
2 Tbsp sugar
6 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp light corn syrup
1/2 C flour
1 Tbsp baking soda
9 C Quick Quaker Oats
2 C M&Ms
2 C chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, cream butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and sugar. Mix in eggs, one at a time.  Add vanilla and corn syrup and mix until blended.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour and baking soda together.

Add the flour mixture to the batter.

Add the quick oats, one cup at a time.  Mix at the lowest speed.  The mixture will start to really fill up your mixing bowl.  The more you can do with the electric mixer though, the better, because the dough is very thick and difficult to stir by hand.

Add M&Ms and mix at low speed.  Add chocolate chips and mix.  Mix in by hand if you have to/want to.

Refrigerate dough for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Roll dough into 1.5 inch balls.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet, one inch apart. Bake for 11-12 minutes at 350 degrees.  They are done when you just start seeing a little golden brown on the tops of the cookies.  Let cookies sit for a minute on the pan, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool.


TIPS
1. Refrigerate the dough between batches. 

2. If the dough is too sticky for your liking while you are rolling them into balls, add a little flour.  But don't go overboard adding extra flour or the taste will be adversely effected.  My hands are absolutely covered with sticky dough when I am rolling the dough into balls, so don't be surprised by that.

3. Take the rings off your hands before shaping the dough into balls.  Like I said, it gets messy.

4. Use RED and GREEN seasonal M&Ms and voila!  You have the perfect Christmas Cookies.

5. You can make the dough one day ahead of time and refrigerate the dough overnight in a covered bowl if you want. It takes kind of a long time to make these since the recipe makes so many cookies, so I often make half of the Monsters one day, and finish them up the next day.

6. These cookies do not break easily, so they are the best kind of cookie to make and ship to friends.  If you know anyone in college, they are a wonderful study food - you get the sugar rush plus all the protein from the peanut butter. 

7. Do not over bake.  They should be a bit chewy inside.

The Night the Baby was Conceived...

I was at a charming baby shower over the weekend for a darling young woman.  She's one of those pregnant ladies with a PERFECT pregancy shape.  No bloating, no cankles, just a round little baby bump that looks like she has a honeydew melon under her shirt or something.  (Unlike me, who looked like a beached whale from seven months on.  But I digress.) 

At the shower they had a fun little activity that made everyone giggle.  I thought I would pass it on because it was just hysterical.  And it only takes a few minutes to do.

BABY SHOWER ACTIVITY - PILLOW TALK

One host or guest secretly writes down all the things the mom-to-be says while she is opening her presents.  After the presents are opened, the host explains to everyone that the comments were what the mom-to-be said the night the baby was conceived.   All the comments should be read out loud to the group.  The innuendos can be hilarious! 

Obviously don't introduce this activity to a group who would be offended by the joke, but at the shower I attended, there were a bunch of the mom-to-be's friends, as well as a few older relatives, and everybody thought it was great. 

Here's the list from that party, just so you can get an idea: 

Easy Fruit Pizza - Delightful!

Looking for the perfect summer pot luck dish or bridal shower snack?  Fruit pizza is a hit with the very old, very young, and everyone in between.  As a guest, I always a appreciate when there is something sweet on the appetizer table.  I really cannot wait all the way until dessert is served to get a sugar fix, you know?  And fruit pizza is just appetizer-y enough that it fits right in with the apps.  Of course, if you have the willpower to wait, it makes a light and refreshing dessert. 

I first made Fruit Pizza at Camp Libbey Girl Scout camp during the summer of my 12th birthday.  (Man, sometimes I wish I could go back to carefree summers like that one.) Fruit Pizza just a really fun thing to cook, and if you have kids, they will like to help you in the kitchen for this one.

You can choose the fruit based on what is in season and what your family likes, BUT make sure the fruit is not too watery.  After you wash the fruit and cut it to a good size, let the fruit sit on a paper towel for a few minutes so the fruit has a chance to dry.  If you use bananas or apples, make sure you serve the dish right away before things turn brown.  I put the fruit I chose into the recipe below, but substitute whatever!

RECIPE (revised from the Kraft web site)

1 pkg.  (16.5 oz.) refrigerated sugar cookie dough

1 pkg.  (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened (can soften for 10 seconds in the microwave)

3 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 tsp.  vanilla

1 pint strawberries cut in half

1 pint blueberries

24 raspberries

2 kiwi fruits, sliced

HEAT oven to 375°F or baking temperature directed on the refrigerated sugar cookie dough.
LINE 12-inch pizza pan with foil; spray with cooking spray. Press cookie dough into prepared pan to form pizza crust. Bake 14 min.; cool. Invert onto plate; carefully remove foil. Turn crust over.
Meanwhile... MIX cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until well blended. Spread over crust after crust cools.
CUT the crust.  (Yes, cut it BEFORE adding fruit and the finished product will look better.)
TOP with fruit. (You can serve it right away, or keep it in the fridge until you are ready to serve.)

Number of servings depends on how big you cut the pieces.  I got about 16 pieces. 

Olympics Party Ideas

So, it's party time again.  This time, it's a London Olympics themed birthday party for yours truly.  My birthday is during the Olympics!!!!!  That's too fun to miss.  But you can have a London Olympics party at your house, whether it's your birthday or not.  Here are some ideas.

1.  English food - I'm thinking Cornish pasties (made ahead of time and frozen for easy party prep), Welsh rarebit (look it up - it's not rabbit, it's basically cheese fondue), and Pan Haggerty (potatoes, cheese, and onions - the perfect side dish!).  You could always serve some English cheese with chutney and table water crackers as an extra appetizer.  Add some scones or shortbread if you need something sweet!  English beer (Boddington's, Newcastle) would be a nice addition.  Or maybe go with an "around the world" approach to beer and get a six pack from imports of several different countries.

2.  The GAMES - Have your own mini Olympics.  Here are some event ideas to get you started:

Beerathalon – Contestants will drink a 12 oz beer and then run approximately 1/10 mile to the finish line.  First person to cross the finish line gets the gold.

Pistol – Competitors will use Super Soaker water guns to try to knock a ball off of a traffic cone from a distance.  To add a challenge, the competitors will simultaneously be shot with water guns from spectators as they try to hit their target.  First one to knock the ball off the cone wins.  May require several elimination rounds to determine the gold medalist.  (Competitors may want to bring an extra shirt to the party.)

Greco-Roman Arm Wrestling – Men and Women will have separate competitions.  Opponents will face off across a table at the ancient sport of arm-wrestling.  All competitors may be given a toga to wear during competition. May require several elimination rounds to determine the gold medalist.

Rhythmic gymnastics – Athletes will be given a ribbon on a stick and must make up and perform a short rhythmic gymnastics routine to music that may be chosen ahead of time by the competitor (or will be chosen by the host on the day of the party).  Routines may contain various gymnastic moves and ribbon tricks.  Points for creativity, form, choreography, and use of the ribbon. Points will be deducted for dropping the ribbon, cursing, and stepping out of bounds.  Highest score wins.  

3. Judges/Refs - Some people at the party need to be judges and referees.  Recruit people if they won't volunteer. 

4. The Awards - So, the winners have to get something, right?  Make gold medals or give out some other gold prize to the winners (Gold Tequila?)  You might choose a "national anthem" for each contestant and play it if they win.  My personal anthem would be "Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News.  (Don't you dare judge me.)

5.  The Actual Olympics - You've gotta have the Games playing on a couple TVs.  NBC promises great coverage this year.  Maybe even get a projector to have them play on the side of your garage for some fabulous outdoor viewing. Leave out some rules for Olympic drinking games.  (Examples: every time they play the Olympic theme song you drink, every time a commentator makes a really obvious observation you drink, every time you pick the winner all the other people in the room have to drink.)

6. Decorations - Clearly, you've gotta have Olympics rings on everything.  Also, flags of other countries would be great decor.  I like DIY water bottle labels to bring your theme to the people.  And be sure to label the bar the "Official Bar of the 2012 Olympic Games"  and the bathroom "The Official Bathroom of the 2012 Olympic Games." 

Party like an Olympian!!

Inexpensive (but Thoughtful!) Wedding Favors

Favors are a great way to let guests know that you appreciate their love and support on your wedding day.  And let’s be honest about the other reason brides like to provide favors – they can make your tables look really cute!  But there is no need to spend a fortune on wedding favors.  I mean, you are already providing entertainment, feeding these people, and probably offering alcohol. 

The point of this post is to give the brides-to-be some suggestions for sweet favors that won't break the budget.  I have to preface this list by saying that FOOD is probably the most guest-preferred wedding favor.  You would think that people would get enough food at the reception, but no.  I work at weddings almost every weekend and everyone always consumes their edible favors practically the moment they sit down.  (And if for some reason they don’t eat their favors and leave them on the table, the catering staff pockets them after everyone leaves.)

Here's one of 200 cookies I made for a friend's wedding, featuring the couples' initials.  

They weren't "JK" about their love.  Photo by Sandy Chang

CHEAP, THOUGHTFUL, and CUTE WEDDING FAVORS

1. A small pack of recipe cards containing family recipes from the bride’s side and the groom’s side of the family. You only need to make one packet per family, instead of one per person.  Use your wedding colors in your paper choices, and maybe the same font you used for your invitations and/or place cards.

2. Homemade cookie or chocolate covered pretzel in a glassine bag, tied with a ribbon.  Label it if you want to: “How Sweet of you to come to our wedding.”  Note that personalized, individually iced cookies take A LOT more time and effort than making a batch of bar or ball cookies.  And iced cookies don’t freeze as well, so you probably need to make them no more than a few days before the wedding.  So, factor that into your decision about what type to make.  

3. A pack of seeds, and label it with a fitting verse and your wedding date.  I like this quotation: "All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today." - Chinese Proverb.  How appropriate for a wedding, right?

4. A Christmas ornament (if a late fall/December wedding).  If you have a long engagement, buy the ornaments right after Christmas for the best deals.

5. Make a donation in honor of your guests to a charity that is close to your heart.  Don’t pick a controversial charity, such as to a specific political party. 

6. A baggie of candy in your wedding colors, tied with a neat bow.

7. A glass votive holder with a candle.  You can get the votives and holders in bulk online inexpensively.  For personalization, get a pack of sticker labels from the office supply store.  Type a short note of thanks, along with your names and wedding date in a pretty font and print it on all the labels. Cut a length of ribbon in your wedding color and wrap it around the candle holder.  Hold the ribbon in place with one of the personalized sticker labels. 

8. Small potted plants – one for each couple/family.  BONUS – they double as the centerpiece.  You might include a tag that explains the meaning of the flower you chose. 

9. A gorgeous apple with a paper flag that says "You are the apple of my eye" attached to the stem.

10. Lip balm personalized to say "Always kiss me goodnight" or even just "XOXOXO"

Free/Cheap Halloween Decorations

Halloween Parties are alot of WORK. A LOT OF WORK. (Yes, I use "a lot" instead of "much" - grammer police, come get me!) But they don't have to cost a fortune. Most of the decorations you can come up with for Halloween can be homemade. You will have to weigh the value of you own time, of course, but in this economy, it doesn't make sense to pay a ton for things you will only use one weekend a year. And the thing about Halloween parties is that if you have another party next year, you don't want to bore your guests with all the same decorations two years in a row. There's nothing scary about seeing the same old ghoul year after year!
This year I made our bathroom into a BATroom. (Hahaha, chortle at the cleverness!) Superfluous number of guano jokes aside, it turned out great. The cost of decor for the entire room was $1.15. We were lucky enough to borrow the bat-shaped lights to place around the mirror, but any old Christmas lights would have been sufficient to set the scene. The idea was that bright, overhead lights wouldn't looked very bat-cave-like. If you have a strobe light, it looks cool flashing behind the shower curtain. Unplug before showering.
In the picture above you can see various black bats. I purchased one piece of black poster board for $1.15. Found a template on the interwebs for a creepy bat (try a Google Image search for "bat template" or "bat clip art".) Traced and cut out fifteen bats from the poster board. (Your hand will hurt if you cut those all out by yourself. Take frequent beer breaks or get a significant other to help you. You may actually have to bribe the significant other with beer to get them to help. Please note that the quality of cut out bats will decrease after three beers, so moderation is the key.) Hang up the bats around the room. Tape some, hang some from string for a more "flappy" look.
I also thought, if I were a bat, what would I have in my cave? The answer was a framed picture of my best friend - in a bat's case, the Count from Sesame Street - and a picture of the coolest car ever - the batmobile. Again Google Image search for the pictures, then printed them to the size I needed. I already had the frames, just replaced the pictures (Sorry, picure of Grandma, you can return after Halloween.)
So, put your mind to it and you can come up with creative Halloween decorations without the scary pricetag.

Here's a link to another of my posts with a DIY Halloween project. 

Scary Blood-Spatter Halloween Decoration

Looking for a NEW cheap and terrifying Decorating Idea for your Halloween Party? 

I am a huge fan of decorating for Halloween.  I am also a huge fan of NOT spending a ton of money.  This idea combines those two goals into one easy and fun DIY project.  Enjoy!

BLOODY TARPS

Someone (Dexter?  Freddy?) committed a horrible bloody murder in your basement, hallway, or garage!!! Basically these are red paint splattered lightweight plastic sheets.  This decorating idea has BIG impact. The tarps can instantly transform your charming country living room into a scary warehouse murder scene. Sweet! The other awesome thing is that you can hang the tarps in front of stuff to hide it.  For example, if you want to keep people out of one side of your basement (maybe so they don’t see all the junk you store down there), a tarp can be hung across the middle of the room, blocking your dirty secrets (and Christmas decorations) from sight.                         

Total cost: about $11.

Materials needed:

1 Quart of Blood Red Paint – go to your local hardware store and have them mix up the bloodiest red you can find.

3 large clear plastic painters’ tarps.  Also available in the paint aisle.  Get the cheapest quality you can find.  You don’t want these things to be heavy, or they will be difficult to hang. 

Paintbrush

A rubber glove – I just used an old one we had under the sink. Bonus!

Duct tape

How To

Hang up one tarp outside, or in your garage, or any appropriate painting area - well-ventilated with a lot of space.  (I held up my plastic tarp by tucking the top edge under heavy stuff on a high shelf, but you could also use duct tape.).  You want the tarp to be hung up while painted, and not flat on the ground, because you really want those awesome bloody drips to form.  Place one of the other tarps flat on the ground underneath the hung tarp.  You don’t want the ground to be covered in paint. 

Dip the paint brush in the red paint and flick red paint onto the hung tarp, creating a blood splatter effect.  Start in the middle of the tarp.  (If you get too close to the edge, the paint might spatter off the sides, getting your yard or garage paint-splattered.)  Randomly spatter paint and brush paint in a slashing motion all over the tarp.  You can also write “Help” or “Beware” or “Die” in messy brushstrokes. 

When it looks sufficiently bloodied, put on the rubber glove and dip your hand into the paint.  Make a few bloody handprints.  I liked the effect of dragging my hand across the tarp.  Like the victim was trying to escape or something.  (I like to think I am theatrical and not a sick, sick person.) 

After the paint drips down the tarp to your liking, lay it flat to dry.  Takes a few hours to dry.

Repeat the process for the other two tarps.  (One tarp could be enough, depending on your party needs, but a quart is enough paint to do three tarps, and since the tarps cost about $0.79 apiece, why not do more?  Go big or go home.)

Now it’s time to decorate your party space!  The plastic tarps I used were so light that I could hang them by duct tape, or in places, by tucking the tarp under something heavy on a high shelf, or by poking a preexisting nail through the plastic. 

When the party is over, fold the tarp gently, paint-side-in.  Note that a bit of the paint may chip off in places, so when you open it next year, maybe open it outside first so you don’t get red paint chips in the house.

Caution - bloody tarps may cause guests to pretend to stab each other.

 Check my post at this link for another cheap Halloween Decorating idea.

Check my post at this link for an invitation to go with the whole "Blood Spatter" theme.

Check my post at this link for a "how-to" on creating Halloween Party Atmosphere.