Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yummo! I have the most delicious recipe for you today! Oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies. I love oatmeal raisin cookies, but I had a half bag of chocolate chips just sitting around so I thought to throw them in. Bake them less than the recommended time and they are so worth it! You might want to try adding some honey as well, that is what I am thinking this batch is missing.



-1/2 cup of butter plus 6 tbsp, softened.(I personally like to melt the butter, it seems to make cookies a little softer)
-3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
-1/2 cup granulated sugar
-2 eggs
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
-1 teaspoon baking soda and ground cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-3 cups of quick cooking oatmeal, I use Quaker
- 1 cup raisins
I sometimes use oatmeal raisin cookies to throw everything in. I usually throw in walnuts or pecans and cranberries, but didn't have either, just had the chocolate chips-and who doesn't want those to go to waste? :P

1. Heat oven to 350F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. I just throw them into my KitchenMaid and let that do all the work for my wet ingredients.
2. Add eggs and vanilla, beat well.
3. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix well. For fluffier cookies, add a little at a time letting all ingredients incorporate before adding more dry mix in.
4. Add oats, raisins and whatever else, a little at a time.
5. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Every recipe tells me that, but the truth is if you don't want to have to fight with you cookie or fight to clean your cookie sheets, use some Pam for baking.
6. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack to cool completely.
(Makes about 4 dozen cookies if you are making small cookies. I think I wound up with about 2-3 dozen, but that is still plenty for us!)
Enjoy!

The one where I become an adult

My work had open enrollment for health insurance recently. Now normally I pay no attention to this, even though every year I qualify for at least half benefits, however this year, most likely because of the health care reform, I qualified for every
benefit. So this year I signed up for a PPO, Dental, Vision and a Vision Eyewear plan.

I have not had insurance of any kind since the day I graduated from APU 4 years ago. Since then whenever I needed to get an eye check up and new contacts, which is one a year, I go and fork over an obscene amount of money, usually half of my tax refund, and purchase a year's worth of contacts. (If you know me at all you would be surprised how well I take care of my eyes. Considering I leave the rest of my health up to God, I am a fanatic about taking extraordinary great care of my eyes.)

My mother agreed to cover more of the expenses of the animals we have at home if it would mean that I would cover my health insurance. I will have to pay about $110 for all of the services. Now it feels like a lot of money for me, mostly because that is about a week's pay a month that is going straight into insurance. However my mother made a valid point, you already don't miss the money you are putting into your 401k every month, %15 before taxes(!!!!!), so you wont miss the money from the health insurance.

The great news is, I get to keep my fabulous and much loved eye doctor!!!! An interesting piece of news is the dentist right down the street from me is covered under my dental plan. So while I know I have at least one or two cavities, I wont have to go far once I am under sedation. :)

While I will wind up paying a lot more in the end of the year than I normally fork out for an eye appointment, contacts, and glasses, there is a peace of mind that comes from paying for insurance. For instance I usually get a VERY bad chest cold about twice a year. It would be nice to be able to go to a doctor, get a prescription and not worry that in a month I will have to give the promise of my first child to pay them back. It would also be nice to go to the dentist. I haven't been to the dentist since I was engaged. That ended almost 5 years ago, but I'm pretty sure its been closer to 7 years since I was at a dentist. *Scary thought, however my mother made me do all those damn anti-cavity swisher things as a kid and I religiously brush my teeth three times a day.*

So while I have made other adult decisions in the past, my 401k, it is nice to know that I no longer have to worry if I suddenly get hurt in a car crash. I have great insurance coverage when it comes to my car, why not for my person as well? The things we do to become more like real adults...

Acceptance

I must remember to accept the things I cannot change, and thank God every day for the things that he HAS given me.

I have been trying this prayer out...