Nutella White Chip Cookies

Thanks to a friend for posting on FB how Nutella is her new go to comfort food, I immediately started craving it.  Forget putting it on toast, eating it by the spoonful is just so much better!  So, while Jacob and I were out and about for the afternoon, I swung into the little grocer/deli shop in town and picked up some Nutella.

After eating some from the spoon, I wanted to bake something with Nutella in it.  I haven't baked in forever, and luckily I had the neighbor girl over entertaining Jacob, which gave me time to experiment with out someone trying to pull himself up on my pant legs.   By the way, best $8 I have ever spent for 2 hours of time!!

First, I went to Pinterest, knowing I had pinned some Nutella recipes for that day I would bake again.  And I didnt find quite what I was looking for.  I had brownies and mug cake, but I wanted cookies.  So then I tried the internet, and I could find cookies, but a lot had the description of "crunchy" in their info.  I don't like crunchy cookies, I love soft, chewy cookies.  Finally, I found a recipe that sounded chewy, but still wasn't quite what I had in mind. 

So, I took part of that recipe, and modified it to fit what I wanted.

OMG, these cookies are decadently rich!!  And sinfully good.  They are amazing.   I even took a fancy picture like the other food bloggers do.  see....

Anyways, here is the recipe, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!!  (adapted from here)

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Nutella
1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
2. In a bowl, cream the butter, the sugar and the brown sugar. Add the eggs and the vanilla until combined.
3. Gradually add the flour, salt, soda, and cocoa until the mixture is combined.
4. Mix in the nutella until it is combined with the dough.  Then add in the chocolate chips.
5. Make small balls, and flatten slightly on the pan.  (I made mine too big, these cookies are rich and small are the way to go!)

Bake for approximately 8 - 10 minutes.

8 month Update

I can't believe how big Jacob has gotten in the past 8 monts.  Started at 7'6, and now we are at 20'2...

Here are 8 facts about the past month:

1.He crawls and is getting pretty quick at it.  Favorite things to crawl after include our legs, Selby, Little Bit, and the green frog ball.  He "looks" for us if one of us leaves the room.  He gets rocking back and forth (which he does before he crawls), launches himself into the crawling position, and heads out to find us will complaining and whining. 

2.  He has a tooth!! still not quite able to get a pic of it, since it/s just tiny and on the top

3.  Meal time may now beat bath time for fav time of day.  He also "rocks" in the highchair, and loves to eat.  THe best part is when he gets puffs.  We have to only do one at a time, otherwise he grabs as many as possible to shove in his mouth.  He also launches out of chair when you unbuckle him, so you have to be ready for him. 

4.  He's also had watermelon chunks.  I LOVED watermelon when i was preggers with him, so that's really no surprise

5.  New faces.  He scrunches up his face, mainly nose and eyes and GRINS just huge.  He loves to make this face, and i laugh every time.


6.  We have battled MANY illnesses this past month.  Hand foot mouth, two ear infections, and a double ear infection.  He had the case of HFM where he had blisters in the mouth.  It was 3 days of pure hell...

7.  Must have toys:  the fisher price rings that stack on the cone, nesting cups, the ride on dune buggy (a xmas present from Uncle DJ and Bailey), and the activity table given from Colby.  Frog ball.

8.  Has gone camping twice now.  It was much easier over Memorial wkend when he wasn't crawling than it was this past wkend in Two Harbors. 

Slow Cooker Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches

As a working girl who's been picking up more hours, I have realized a few things:

1. I may love my crockpot more than I like some people
2. If I dont have a freezer meal or crockpot meal, dinner will not be done until Jacob is in bed
3. Even though something smells REALLY good, doesn't mean it will taste that way (some of the previous freezer meals where a little lacking in seasoning)
4. Jacob gets his crabbiness if he is not fed NOW when he wants to be, from me.  If i'm hungry, and there is a wait or delay, watch out.  My baby takes after me on that one...

Happy fed baby!

Also, i can't get cooking done with Jacob up.  He "helps" by sitting under foot, yelling at me, and grabbing me as I walk by.  Or crawling to me and demanding attention.

Yep, he's cute, but no help at dinner

This morning I threw another new recipe into the crockpot, slow cooker philly sandwiches.  I'm so excited to try them when I get home.  Jacob is home playing with Gramma Posey while i get some work done, and she said the house is smelling good, so hopefully it's a success tonight!

• 1 1/2 lbs beef round steak
• 1 green pepper, sliced thin
• 1 medium onion, sliced thin
• 1 (14 oz) can beef broth
• 1 envelope Italian dressing mix
• 1 large loaf French bread, siced into sandwich lengths (or 4-6 hoagie buns)
• Provolone cheese slices

Directions:

• Cut meat into strips, place in slow cooker.  (I did not do this, figured the meat will fall apart anyways, why add more work than needed?)
• Add green pepper, onion, broth, and dressing mix.
• Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours, or high 3-4 hours.
• Spoon meat mixture onto bread, top with a slice(s) of cheese.
• Another option is to toast bread in a 375 degree oven for 5-10 minutes, add meat, cover with cheese, then bake an additional 5 minutes to melt the cheese.

Figure with some fresh veggies and chips, you can't go wrong on a hot day!  And gives me more playtime wiht my baby!

Another Ear Infection

Well, it's official, Jacob has ANOTHER ear infection.  It makes me want to scream.  Loudly.  And kick my feet and fling my arms, and throw myself on the floor all at once.  Basically, I want to give a 2 year old a run for their money in a tantrum throwing contest. 

I've averaged about 4-5 hours of sleep on a GOOD night since Memorial wkend.  When we got back from camping, he had a double ear infection, that was diagnosed on Tuesday.  On Wednesday he was exposed to Hand Foot Mouth, had HFM on Saturday.  I brought him in the beginning of June to make sure the ear infection had cleared, and it had.  Then I realized (or actually was told by daycare) that he had cut a tooth.

First TOOTH!!  His upper left front one.  Yep, my boy doesnt cut teeth in the normal rotation (which would be bottom first).  So it was an unholy trifecta of horribleness for poor Jacob's little head that week.  All that cleared up, and still his sleep has been bad.  Then last week, it got even worse.  He's up about every 60-90 minutes ALL NIGHT, sometimes fully awake, sitting up, sometimes sleep crawling, and others just crying in his sleep (which is heart wrenching).

I can see the other top tooth, so figured it was teething.  He attacks cold teethers with a fieceness that is hilarious.  We did orajel, ibruprofen and tylenol. Nothing made a difference.  He still cried in his sleep.  I brought him in this morning and yep, imagine that another ear infection. 

At least I know the cause, but that doesn't make me less tired or crabby.  I still want to throw a tantrum of epic proportions. 

Camping, Swimming, Crawling, and Illness

It's been a very busy past few weeks, with many firsts, some of which had me pulling my hair out

FIRST:
CAMPING TRIP....Success


Saturday afternoon

 I was surprised at how well it went.  Granted, we weren't dealing with a baby on the move, but packing was an issue.  i felt like i packed half of his wardrobe since one day was in the 60's and the other was supposed to be 90.  Plus, if you factor in poopsplosions, drool, dirt, and acts of God, that's a lot of clothes. 



Showing off my cool glasses and dinosaur hat

 AT THE RIVER to "swim"..... Fail



Lots of tears and frantically turning into dad to pick him back up!

I don't know if it was the cold water or the sand on the feet, but Jacob was NOT a fan of the river.  We filled up the kiddie pool, and he loved that, so it's not water in general.  Will have to work on this one...

HAND FOOT MOUTH disease with a double ear infection....Shoot me now, that was pure you-know-what, and for half the week Mike was gone in Kansas City for work. Single parents, you are AMAZING!  Between no sleep and a screaming baby, I wanted to run away, fast, and find a quiet dark room and hide.  Poor baby had blisters and ulcers in his mouth, so it hurt to eat or drink.  He would slap his pudgy lil hand at us when we came at him.  You would have thought we were torturing someone when we gave him medicine.  B/w giving him pain meds every 6 hours and amox twice a day, it was traumatic for all of us involved.  Sleep was a nightmare. 

Do you know how hard it is to shove medicine down the throat of a baby??  He would clench his jaw shut and whip his head back and forth.  Plus his hands and feet are just shoving and kicking.  It's a good form of torture for parents.  You already feel horrible that they are miserable, and now you are just pissing them off even more and fighting them to try and make them feel better.  It was a week i never want to repeat.

CRAWLING....SCARY!!!
He's mobile.  When he wants to be.  As in every time we try to get him to crawl to us, he sits there. and if he starts to crawl and I try to tape him, he instantly stops.  But he tries like mad to pull himself up and climb on everything in sight.  I went around plugging all outlets last night, now we need to invest in some baby gates.

Needless to say, not a lot of cooking was done in the past week, so used some of the freezer meals and otherwise ate junk.... real healthy...