Sunday, April 10, 2011

Day #11 - "Healthy" Chocolate Chip Cookies and My Husband

Sometimes life doesn't exactly go as planned.  Tom and I started off the week knowing that we were going to go to Southern California for his great Aunt Fray's funeral (she was 102 years old!) and we thought we would take a couple of extra days and visit my uncle Ozzie in Manhatten Beach.  I would have been happy if that's what happened, instead Tom called me on Wednesday saying he was going to the hospital because he was having chest pains!  I dropped everything I was doing and rushed over to the hospital, he was a little pale when I got there, but they had done and EKG and they thought everything was ok, but they wanted to keep him overnight because of his family's history of cardiovascular disease.  They drew some more blood at 2am and his cardio enzymes were slightly elevated.  When I got to the hospital in the morning the cardiologist was there and he said that Tom had a "small" heart attack and they were going to do an angiogram later in the day.  The angiogram revealed that he had a 95% blockage in one artery and 80% blockage in another, but there was no damage to his heart (thank God).  The doctor put in two stents to clear the arteries.  Tom had to spend another night in the hospital and let me tell you, he was none too happy about that!  Tom got to come home the day after his "procedure", just in time to see Sarah off on her East Coast trip with school. I am so happy to have him home, resting and taking care of himself.  Now "we" are on our way to having a heart healthy diet and plenty of exercise! 
Isn't he cute! 

A few weeks ago, I was at my sister's house and she had made these Chocolate Chunk and Walnut Oatmeal Cookies, I thought they were pretty tasty, so I decided that I would make these for Tom, so he could still feel like he was eating some yummy treats.

Chocolate Chunk and Walnut Oatmeal Cookies
Preheat oven to 350.  Melt 6 tablespoons unsalted butter in a small saucepan over low heat.  Remove from heat, and add 3/4 light brown sugar, stir until smooth.  Combine 2/3 cup whole wheat flour, 3/4 tsp baking soda, 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats and 1/2 tsp salt in a medium bowl.  Combine butter mixture with the dry ingredients and add 1 egg, lightly beaten, and 1 tsp vanilla extract.  Fold in 1/2 cup chopped walnuts and 3 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped.  Mix well, and spoon by tablespoonfuls onto lightly greased baking sheets.  Bake for 12 minutes or until tops are dry to the touch.

Ingredients
Melt butter, add brown sugar
Mix dry ingredients
Add the butter/sugar mixutre, egg, vanilla, walnuts
Bake for about 12 minutes

The cookies came out really good.  I know my sister will be mad at me because I used chocolate chips, but I really didn't feel like going to the grocery store, sorry Katie, next time I will use the dark chocolate, I promise.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Softball and Flowers

Today is in honor of spring, planting flowers and getting ready for the garden.  I apologize, I didn't have any time to cook this weekend.  Sarah had a softball game yesterday afternoon, they won 8-3 and Sarah hit a triple, her dad and I couldn't have been more proud of her.  After the game we went over to the Millet's for some celebrating!  It was great company, I love the softball families, great kids and parents, it was a blast.  The kids were playing Just Dance and we even got Tom and Marty to play, let's just say, watching the two of them dancing still brings tears to my eyes, of course we captured it on video so we can enjoy it for a long, long time.

Isn't she cute.....

My sister and I have been pretty faithful to our Sunday morning workout's at the track and it was a perfect morning to do that today. After I got home, Tom and I started working in the front yard, pulled the weeds, cut the grass, got rid of old flowers.  I love this time of the year, the newness of everything.  I decided that I should put some flowers in some of the pots in the front, bring some color to the front yard.  I know my grandma always had beautiful flowers in her yard, I can't wait to finish planting the rest of the flowers in the front and get started on the back yard.



The garden will be planted in a couple of weeks and that means fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans and jalapeno's.  As I mentioned before, there will also be fresh basil, thyme, sage, mint and maybe some rosemary.  My mouth is watering as I write this!  Nothing is better than a fresh picked tomato, right off the vine, with a little salt and pepper.........as my husband would say "forget about it".


Picking tomatoes from the "crop"
From what I remember my dad telling me, my grandma used to pick cherries every year, this was one of their trips, my grandma is the one with the bucket tipped towards the camera.