Auntie Sharon's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are a staple in our house. The go to cookie recipe! We call it Auntie Sharon's, because it was my aunt who gave us this recipe, once upon a time, and it's always been called that in our house. I'm not even sure she realizes that this recipe is such a favourite.

(sorry to use the same photo twice, but I thought I had posted this recipe before)

Auntie Sharon's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup shortening (I substitute margarine usually)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 beaten egg
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 1/4 cups chocolate chips

Combine shortening, sugars until smooth. Add egg and water, mix well.
Add all dry ingredients, except oatmeal and chocolate chips. Mix well.

Add oatmeal, and mix.

Add chocolate chips and mix until evenly distributed.

Drop onto greased cookie sheet by the tablespoonful.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

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Enjoy with a cup of milk or hot cocoa, or alone. Watch out though.. it's hard to eat just one or two.

Hot Cocoa

It was a snowy day, in the middle of May, when I made this hot cocoa. I had just received my new Vitamix, and wanted to try a new recipe. Here is the recipe I used:

Hot Cocoa
3 ounces baking cocoa (approx. 3/4 cup)
1.5 cups water
1/3 cup sugar
4.5 cups milk

I put the ingredient in order in my Vitamix (you could just heat these ingredients in a pot on the stovetop, I just wanted to try the heating feature on my Vitamix). I turned it on, and let it go on high until it was steaming and hot.

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This cocoa was delicious!! Not too sweet (but sweet enough for the 3 year old), rich chocolate flavour, and nice and frothy! It could easily be adapted to different flavourings too!

Paired in the photo with some of Auntie Sharon's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

July Meal Plan

The chaos of June has passed and it's on to July.

This month is a little more low key, we should be able to start harvesting some food from the garden, and I am excited to try many new recipes.

1 - Away
2 - Pizza
3 - Hot Dogs, Sweet Potato Fries*
4 - Honey Garlic Sausage, Perogies, Salad
5 - Tortilla and Black Bean Pie*, Salad
6 - Meatloaf Muffins*, Potatoes, Veggies
7 - Beef Burgers, Salad
8 - Waffles, Fruit
9 - Chicken Teriyaki*, Rice, Veggies
10 - Mini Ham and Cheese Frittatas*, Veggies
11 - Coconut Curry*
12 - Breakfast Quesidillas
13 - Easy Piergi Casserole*, Salad
14 - Turkey Burgers, Zucchini Fries*
15 - Muffins, Fruit
16 - Broccoli Quinoa Casserole*, Salad
17 - Shepherd's Pie, Salad
18 - Chicken Enchilada Soup*, Buns
19 - Chicken Black Bean Quesidillas
20 - Honey Sesame Chicken*, Rice, Veggies
21 - Steak, Stuffed Potatos*, Veggies
22 - Frittata, fruit Salad
23 - Salsa Chicken*, Rice, Salad
24 - Tuna Macaroni, Veggies
25 - Dr Pepper Pulled Pork*, Potatoes, Salad
26 - Pork Wraps
27 - Homemade Pizza
28 - Cheesy Salsa Tuna Burgers*, Carrot Fries*
29 - Idaho Sunrise*
30 - Grilled Cheese, Soup
31 - Take out

* - new recipe... will try to blog them

For July:
Wed = Crockpot
Thurs = Quick Meals
Sat = BBQ nights

June...

Can you believe it's June already? That marks almost a full year since I've been good about keeping up this blog. Terrible!

I just did up my June meal plan. Goals this month... use meat from the freezer (I always buy when I find it marked down, and there still extra grocery money). I didn't venture into many new recipes this month. It's a busy month for us, and so I'm going to classics, or ones I've done once or twice at least. I have a million burgers in the freezer it would seem... so guess what Saturday nights are?

June:

1 - Breakfast (sausage, eggs, diced potatoes)
2 - Chicken Burgers, Corn & Potato Salad
3 - Muffins and fruit
4 - Chili
5 - Turkey stir fry
6 - Baked Butter Chicken, Rice, Salad
7 - Ham, Potatoes, Veggies, Salad
8 - Pizza, veggies
9 - Beef Burgers, Salad
10 - Breakfast (turkey bacon, eggs, diced potatoes, toast)
11 - Veggie Soup
12 - Tuna Melts, Raw Veggies
13 - Roast Beef, Potatoes, Veggies, Yorkshire Puddings, Salad
14 - Green Spaghetti, Salad
15 - Potluck at school (Beef Stroganoff)
16 - Salmon Burgers, Salad
17 - Muffins, Fruit
18 - Bean Burritos, Salad
19 - Pork Chops, Potatoes, Veggies, Salad
20 - Tuna Macaroni, Veggies
21 - Chicken Curry, Rice, Veggies
22 - Pizza
23 - Husband is in charge.... whatever he feels like cooking
24 - Waffles, Fruit
25 - Beans and Rice
26 - Stew, Buns
27 - Penne, Veggies, Salad
28 - Frittata
29 - Travelling
30 - Travelling

Prepping to meal plan

Getting ready to work on this week's meal plan.



Some of my favourite books on the shelf got pulled for this week:


We have company for the whole week! So I'm excited to actually cook... probably all new recipes too.. since I'll have extra hands with kids.

My meal planning is usually monthly, and my process is:

1. Decide if I'm working out of cookbooks or online (often I do a combo). I find I have all these books on the shelf though, and rarely use them... so I make an effort to use them almost every month.

2. Set everything on the table... and wait.... and wait... until all kids are sleeping, or otherwise busy (preschool, out with daddy, etc).

3. Start flipping through books until something catches my eye (or browsing recipes on pinterest, or my favourite food blogs).

4. I write a general list at first... just write down the recipes, where they were found, etc.

5. Start assigning recipes to days on the calendar (I generally use a full size calendar when doing it by month). As I assign, I know Tues/Thurs I have more time in the morning, so crockpot recipes I do those days, Saturday I know I never think about dinner til it's dinnertime... so something quick those nights, and so forth... (Also great to use a calendar, since you can see any other events you have those days, to accomodate what type of meal you'll want to do).

6. Also good to account for leftovers. I generally don't have leftover nights in my meal plan, since my husband takes them for lunches the next day. The exception is if we have a larger meal on a Thursday or Friday, I'll have left overs Saturday, since they won't be good for lunches the next week.

7. Hang it up! Blog it! :)

I never stress about my meal plan, I completely rearrange it as the month goes on.. sometimes things come up, and you need to postpone a meal for when you have more time... sometimes you get taken out for dinner, etc... rearrange, drop meals that the ingredients will keep with freezing. Meal planning is so stress free! I mean, we love looking at recipes, salivating over them anyway... this just gives you a 30-60 minute scheduled time to do so! :)

Off to tuck the little one in for nap, and send the bigger for quiet time. Will post tomorrow! :)

Happy Planning!

Meal Plan

Well it's meal plan time again.. but this month I'll be doing 1 week at a time. We have a busy month ahead, so not as much cooking planned.

This week it's just me and the kiddos... so it'll be super easy foods that they both love. Probably won't be many recipes attached to these, as they'll be pretty easy ones, and then I'll cook a "real" meal for Sunday for when the hubby returns.

Monday - quick bean burritos, salad
Tuesday - potato soup
Wednesday - hot dogs, salad
Thursday - stir fry, rice
Friday - green spaghetti
Saturday - homemade pizza
Sunday - ham, scalloped potatoes, veggies

It's an easy week for me :P Not very rewarding cooking for a toddler and a baby, so will just keep to simple ones they love.

The next week will be more fun, as we'll have out of town company! :)

Chicken Stuffing Bake

This recipe was a quick throw together meal we did in March (I'm really behind in blogging right now, lots of photos to work my way through and match recipes and reviews with).

Chicken Stuffing Bake



1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 cup skim milk
1 box stuffing (Stove Top)
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
2 cups fresh broccoli, cooked
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
1-1/2 cups shredded reduced-fat Swiss cheese, divided (used Mozzarella and parmesan)

In a large bowl, mix soup and milk until blended. Add stuffing mix with contents of seasoning packet, chicken, broccoli, celery, and 1 cup cheese. Move to a greased 9x13 baking dish.

Bake, uncovered, at 375 F for 20 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese; bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

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We all enjoyed this meal. I expected as much though, as we all love broccoli, chicken and pretty much every ingredient. I did swap the swiss out, since I don't like swiss cheese, and neither does the toddler.



I have slacked lately in the kitchen. I didn't complete all my recipes in March.. and it' already halfway through April and I haven't made a meal plan (I aim to do that today). We were away for a little bit of April, and March and early April there was lots of sickness passing through our house, so I just didn't feel like cooking. We had lots of our old favourites for meals, and many quick meal nights (pasta, soup, chicken with sides). I'm ready to get back in the kitchen... so it's time to get back in gear. Hopefully we are a healthy bunch for the next few months!