Organic Chocolate Chip Recipe

Today I want to share with ya'll the chocolate chip cookie recipe I have been using (which I have gotten raving reviews on lol). I lovvveeee trying out different chocolate chip cookie recipes and combining the techniques or ingredients from the ones I really enjoyed! :)

Perfectly Soft, yet Chewy!!!

Organic Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: 4 dozen cookies

• 11 1/2 ounces Organic Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1 cup organic or raw butter, softened
• 3/4 cups raw organic cane sugar
• 3/4 cups raw organic brown sugar, packed
• 2 large organic brown eggs
• 2 teaspoons organic vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups unsifted organic flour
• 1 teaspoon organic baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon organic salt

Directions

Heat oven to 350ºF.

Stir flour with baking soda and salt; set aside. In large mixing bowl, beat butter with sugar and brown sugar at medium speed until creamy and lightened in color. Add eggs and vanilla, one at a time. Mix on low speed until incorporated. Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoon onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

Adventures with Stinkerbelle!

SWHEAT GRACE

So Monday would be one of my normal "Gracie Post" days, but since Sunday we have been having an unusually tough round of constipation. Since they had the Similac recall, we have switched Grace to Enfamil Prosobee... This switch has led to some ridiculously bad constipation. Grace tends to constipate easily so we are very particular in what we feed her. Which sadly means a low banana, apple, rice cereal, etc. diet. And we ALWAYS keep apple juice in the house haha. This diet has really been working for us, we haven't had any constipation problems for over a month (YAY!!!!). But with the formula switch it has given her the worst round we have dealt with yet. I have tried apple juice, prune juice, leg exercises, warm baths, high fiber foods, suppositories (was a failed attempt), etc. Yesterday and today my mom and I had to help Grace get "it" out (we wore gloves and used Q-Tips for those that are extremely grossed out right now lol). After hours of screaming pain from Grace I took her to Cook's Children's Urgent Care. There they administered a different suppository and prescribed a laxative. We are still using Enfamil since they have not restocked the shelves yet with new "beetle-free" Similac lol. Right now Gracie-Baby is playing happily on the floor and chatting it up, and I am just waiting for the flood gates to open... Like they say, "Poop is better Out than In" and I must agree; I can't wait to get past this "stinky" round of constipation. However, one funny/random thing that came out of this is a new nickname for Gracie lol! I now call her from time to time my little "sTinkerbelle," especially when I am dealing with her excrement LOL! :) Sorry this post is a tad gross, and I hope I did not scar too many of you. :) And I am sorry I didn't get a chance to post earlier, but duty called. :) Lots of love and I hope ya'll enjoyed the picture above of my little Stinkerbelle! :)

Pulling Up & Chatter!

SWHEAT GRACE

For just two days since my last Gracie post, Grace has started doing so much more! Just recently she started pulling up to her knees, and as of Tuesday she started pulling all the way up to a Standing Postition! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!! :) You should have seen me dancing around the room cheering with her when she did it for the first time (probably would have made a great youtube video lol). For the last three days she has been saying Dadadada, so I am pretty sure she was missing her daddy! She was beyond thrilled when he got home yesterday! :) That little girl loves her Daddy! :) And he gets a couple of days off to hang out with us! :) Yayyyyyyy!!!! We are overdue for some good quality family time! :) I can't wait to to post some videos of my little sweet pea showing off her new skillzzz (still waiting on my new camera boo)! :) I hope everybody is having a great Wednesday!!!


Hugs!!! 

13 Months! :)

SWHEAT GRACE

Well... What can I say... These past couple of weeks have been all over the place for our little princess. Over the summer we gradually began having more and more feeding problems with Gracie; which led to a second opinion, which led to a compassionate & insightful doctor, which in turn led to him becoming her new pediatrician. What we have it narrowed down to the reflux; it is still bothering her, she has texture aversion, and is INCREDIBLY strong willed haha. I am still trying to get her to start taking her baby food again... Having her go cold turkey with the bottle was Heart-Wrenching! I just can't do it without Jonathan, I feel like I am torturing my sweetie... So I am trying to just continually present her baby food in hopes that she will take to it.

On a different note, she has become quite the little chatterbox! :) Especially in the early evening, that seems to be when she has the most to say! I love mimicking her sounds, she finds it entertaining, so it has become a game we play (until I crack up laughing)!

One of the new-er-ish and exciting things she has started doing is pulling herself up, she loves it! She thinks I am her personal climbing gym lol! And if she gets stuck and can't get up all the way by herself, she expects you to come and help her the rest of the way! haha!

I just want to thank all of you for your continuos prayer support with Grace's feeding problems, and if you could pray specifically for her to take to her baby food that would be such a blessing!

We love ya'll and wish you were here to spend the day with us!

Splish Splash!

Ok, so I want to apologize for my lack of posts lately and I can probably say it's safe to say that until Sept. 4th my posts will be few in numbers. I am up to my eyeballs with prepping decorations and itineraries for the BIG day! :) Now I know it sounds like a lot of work, but I truly love all the fun prepping that goes into the party! Gracie has being so wonderful with all the crafting going on at the house, she has really been enjoying all the new textures and colors! :)

On a completely different note, Grace had me laughing so hard during her bath time last night! Not only was she splashing the water like crazy but she began eating the bubbles too! Oh how I just love my little bubble eater! She is TOO precious! Last night was also the first time she pulled herself up! What a night for little Gracie-Bug!

Today we have been blessed by a safe return home by Jonathan! We are so thankful! It is so good to see him! Gracie is cutting more teeth, this time its been a little bit on the rough side, so we invested in some baby oragel! Hopefully this will help! :)

All in all, we are pretty busy, but it's the good kind! :) So no complaints here! :)

Hope everybody is having a great start to their week!

*love*

Grace is Growing!

Oh My Goodness!!!! It has been over a week since our last post! I am so sorry! Grace and I were sooooo busy over vacation and with Jonathan's arrival back home on Sunday (so happy about that by the way *smiles*) it has just been a whirlwind! Well the BIG news is that our sweet precious daughter is no longer considered an infant but a TODDLER!!! Ahhhh!!!! Where has the time gone?! We were so blessed to be able to share one spectacular year with her and look forward to many MANY great memories and birthdays ahead with our "little" blessing! With her birthday party right around the corner I am constantly thinking up more ways to savor the celebration, feel free to leave a comment (or shoot an email for those who don't have a blog) on a favorite birthday memory or tradition! I hope everybody is having a phenomenal weekend!

Friends & Family Fun!

What a FAST weekend! It seems that as soon as Jonathan got home time has been flying by! We have enjoyed visits from sweet friends like Allison Reed, Libby Atkinson, Gregg Kite, and Holland Greig! What a blessing it has been for us to spend quality time with each of them. Not only did we enjoy the company of such wonderful friends, but we were able to spend some quality time with some of Jonathan's family also! Gracie really loved the extra attention and the change of scenery! If ya'll wouldn't mind lifting up Jonathan's Dad (Paul) up in prayer that would be awesome. He has a detached retina, so if you could pray for healing and speeding recovery that would be great! A big thank you to Jonathan's parents for letting us come visit and spending some time with our little sweet pea! :) All in all it has been a great week; we have gotten a lot done and have made some good memories! :)