April's Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Each month I post one of our family's favorite recipes, and for April I am posting my chocolate chip cookies.  

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/4 C all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 Crisco Stick

3/4 C granulated sugar

3/4 C packed brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven at 375.  Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl.  Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract with mixer until creamy.  Add eggs.  Gradually beat in flour mixture.  Stir in morsels.  Wrap cookie mixture in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for about 30 minutes.  Then drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets.  Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; cool completely on wire racks.

Some of you might notice that this is a variation of the famous Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Two alterations that I made to the Tollhouse cookies are (a) using Crisco Sticks instead of butter, and (b) chilling the dough in the refrigerator before baking.  I find that both steps produce a more substantial cookie that holds together well during the baking process.  Also, if you choose, you can add 1-2 cups of walnuts to the cookies when you add the chocolate chips.  In my house, we have a never-ended nuts vs. no nuts debate when it comes to cookies.  

-Kara

Hiking the Smokies

Our family just returned from a wonderful few days away in the Great Smoky Mountains, where we enjoyed our kids' spring break and celebrated my 41st birthday.  Our activity of choice when we visit the Smokies is to hike, and this time we did something we've aspired to do for a long time: we hiked Chimney Tops!  Chimney Tops is the steepest hike in the Smokies and scales 1300 ft. in two miles.  I was grateful for good weather for the hike, and I was equally grateful for good Advil when I came back down the mountain.  Ha.

Yes, it is four days later...and yes, my calves still hurt.  :)

For those grandmother-types who are reading this post... don't worry.  We kept the kids safely off the rock summit at the top of the trail.  There was a nice shady spot under some trees where they rested and snacked while Tim and I explored the rocks.  And Tim was brave enough to make it higher up the rocks than I did!

Chimney Tops was undoubtedly the steepest trail we've ever done.  But the kids were amazing.  As much huffing and puffing as Tim and I did, the kids just walked and talked the whole way up.  And the kids didn't need any Advil after the hike. :D

Chimney Tops has been closed for 5 months for renovations.  Volunteers have been working with the National Park Service to build some steps in spots that are especially steep and prone to erosion.  The steps were really helpful, although one did feel like she was on a stair climber for the 2 hours it takes to climb to the top of the mountain.

Anna was extremely happy to find flowers along the trail.  Spring is wildflower season in the Smoky Mountains, and Anna LOVES pretty flowers!

http://www.protrails.com/trail/432/great-smoky-mountains-national-park-chimney-tops

Of course, Chimney Tops was not the only exploration we did in the Smoky Mountains this week.  There were all kinds of other fun adventures, as well....

"The mountains are calling and I must go." 

-John Muir

Happy Easter!

"He is not here!  For He has been resurrected, just as He said.  

Come and see the place where He lay." -Matthew 28:6 HCSB

Celebrating this most glorious of all holidays!  I took the kids' Easter pictures in the magnificent Elizabethan Gardens of Manteo, North Carolina.  

 John, age 10

Anna Jean, age 7

Christopher, age 12

Thank you, Lord, for dying on an old rugged cross to save me from my sins.

Thank you, Lord, that You did not stay dead, but that You rose again and conquered the grave!

Thank you, Lord, for the beauty of spring and the joy of Easter.

Thank you, Lord, for three children and a husband whom I love more than life itself.

And thank you, Lord, that I am filled with a renewed sense of hope

that you are working great and awesome plans for my family!

-Kara