I think it's time to invest in a white sheet (tablecloth?) so that when I take a picture I can pretend that my counters are clean and that my table is clear and that, indeed, I live a life of sterile white sheetliness.
At least I don't take pictures on my kitchen floor.
Question: How many times did I (or Kip) sweep the kitchen floor today?
Answer: 4, possibly 5; it's easy to lose count.
Question: Is my kitchen floor at present clean?
Answer: If I were you, I would not bet my life (or perhaps any significant amount of money, or perhaps even an insignificant amount of money) on it.
But I digress.
Today I had cookies ready for the kids when they came home from school. I did this because I have to lure them to the kitchen table to do their homework. I have to do this because otherwise they go to the couch, empty out their backpacks and throw enough paper to keep Office Supply in business on the couch and floor. And then they whine about how they can't find such and such a terribly important paper. And then they cry. And then Kip comes in, sees the floor, and leaves again (he tries to pretend he's being helpful: "Um, I'm just going to go pick up something really really important from the store..." but we all know he's just escaping). And then inevitably the baby poops in her diaper, because we all know that that's what babies do when things are stressful and/or messy. With any luck she will get poop on the terribly important paper that went missing no less than 2 minutes ago when the children came home and spewed papers on the couch as though it was birthday confetti.
So, yes, the kitchen table. It seemed more orderly to me. At least the papers would fall under the table and I could pretend that they didn't exist as I do with so many things that fall under the kitchen table (oh look, a bread crust that's become fossilized with a prehistoric insect inside). And no one would get poop on them. Well, probably.
The only problem was that my kids didn't want to go to the table. The table was hard. The couch was soft. I guess I could understand their logic.
So I promised them after school snacks. I've never been a very dutiful mother in this department. I usually make them fuss around and get their own snack. For the first day of table homework, I promised them I'd have a really good snack. Mark wanted chocolate chip cookies.
And yet, I couldn't bring myself to make just a regular old chocolate chip cookie 2 hours before dinner. I mean, a person has to have some standards when bribing her spawn. So I filled it with whole grain. I didn't do much else to healthify it, although I docked the butter by a couple of tablespoons and I really believe I could have gotten away with 1/2 C less sugar.
The result: They were a HUGE hit. My kids did their homework, didn't lose anything (that I know of at this moment) and then even ate their dinner (you know, as much as they ever do).
100% Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes about 15
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Cost: $1.10
(butter: .25, sugars: .50, egg: .10, oat flour: .05, whole wheat: .20)
6 Tbsp butter, softened
1 C white sugar (I bet you could get away with 1/2 C and I'm going to do that next time)
1 C brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C oat flour
1 C whole wheat flour (I used white, but brown works too)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (unless you used salted butter)
1 C chocolate chips
Combine butter and sugars. Add egg and vanilla and stir until smooth and well-incorporated. Add dry ingredients (I just plop them on top of the wet ingredients and sort of stir the baking soda in and then mix it all into the wet ingredients). Add chocolate chips.
Bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes
PRINTABLE RECIPE
They look yummy! When you say you used white did you mean white whole wheat? I've never heard of it before. Was it pastry flour? I also wondered if you took oatmeal and grind it into flour?
ReplyDeleteWhite whole wheat is just a whiter type of wheat. When the wheat grows they have white kernels or red kernels or whatever. Then when they grind it, you get brown or white (ish) whole wheat. It just recently started showing up in the Walmart I go to. It's not necessarily ground as fine as the pastry flour. If you can't find it, the regular old whole wheat will work just fine. And, yes,I do grind my own oatmeal to make the flour. I just throw it in the blender and blend away.
ReplyDeleteAt Burkhardt Walmart? I haven't seen it at Newburgh. I might even do something pleasing for my family like make a bread-like substance if I can find it.
ReplyDeleteOh - and I think my kids want to hang out at your house after school.
Yes, the Burkhardt Walmart. And although your kids are more than welcome to hang out at my house after school, I'm not sure they want to. There is a fair amount of whining, grumpiness, and the occasional tear (we won't specify who does what, but some days it's all there). Thus, the cookies and the kitchen table sort-of-solution.
ReplyDelete