Great Food

Last night Ryan & I went out to eat at Applebees courtesy of Harlan & Susan. They sent us some Applebees gift cards for Valentines Day that we were more then happy to accept. We hadn't been there in forever either. So we had to go all out with a delicious spinach dip appetizer, oriental salad, chicken penne pasta, and for desert a chocolate chip cookie hot fudge sundae. Needless to say, you had to roll us out of the restaurant. I need to work out doubly hard this weekend but... I haven't started yet! I will tomorrow. :)

THANK YOU HARLAN & SUSAN!!! You made our tummies very happy.

We were holding up our gift cards. It was a casual night for us in our hoodies. I love staying in comfys and grabbing a bit to eat.

This is Ryan being really excited about desert. I meant to take a picture of it before hand so you could see how pretty it was, but we devoured it before I remembered to do it.


And now for Ryan's favorite cookie recipe. They are called Monster Cookies and I had never heard of them until last year. You all probably have and I am just behind the times. I had them at a bible study and just about fell out of my seat when I took a bit. SCRUMPTIOUS! So I hunted down the recipe and came across Paula Dean's. I tried it out on Ryan and now I can never bake anything unless I bake Monster Cookies along with it. It is his absolute favorite cookie. (I sort of regret trying them on him because now all I hear about is "When are you going to make more Monster Cookies??") So if you are ready for your family to constantly ask for them then try this out.

Monster Cookies

Ingredients
1/4 cup raisins, optional (I don't use them, I just add more chocolates)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup multi-colored chocolate candies
1 stick butter, softened
1 12-ounce jar creamy peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoon baking soda
4 1/2 cup quick-cooking oatmeal (not instant)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats.

In a very large mixing bowl, combine the eggs and sugars. Mix well. Add the salt, vanilla, peanut butter, and butter. Mix well. Stir in the chocolate candies, chocolate chips, raisins, if using, baking soda, and oatmeal. Drop by tablespoons 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake. Let stand for about 3 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool. When cool, store in large resealable plastic bags.

Hope you enjoy them as much as we do! The pictures above are the Valentine themed version.