Truckin'

I'm finding that blogging, like college and skinny jeans, is hard to slip back into after you've been gone awhile. I feel a little like a stranger in my own house.

The kids are in school, the sewing machine is humming, the oven is on, and I'm sitting here in front of the computer with a cup of coffee, cd's strewn about, and a towel on my head. I guess this doesn't feel so strange after all.

All the baking and sewing going on here is secondary to the real task at hand. I'm waiting on a truck. It's a good day to be waiting, because it's pouring rain, but a crummy day to unload a truck. A few friends and I started a little food-buying coop a while back and we order from Frankferd Farms every other month or so. I get to be the official truck waiter-oner because I have the biggest turn-around spot and am home most mornings (okay, that's what I tell my friends, but its really because I'm a control-freak).

I cleaned out the kitchen cabinets to make room for everything, and found all kinds of odds and ends. To use them up, I'm baking these: Clean the Cupboard Cookies

1 3/4 to 2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1/4 to 1/2 t.salt
1 c.packed brown sugar
1 c.(2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1/2 c. sugar
2 large eggs
2 T. milk
2 t. vanilla extract
Additions: Whatever you have available!**

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix flour, soda and salt together in a small bowl.
Cream together butter and sugars. Beat in eggs, vanilla and milk. Add flour mixture. Stir in additions.
Drop by tablespoon fulls onto cookie sheet and bake for 9 to 13 minutes.

**I used a little more than 2c. oatmeal, 1 c. choc. chips, almost a cup of coconut and two handfuls of peanuts left over from a big can of mixed nuts.
Note: If you are using oatmeal, use less flour and if you are using salted nuts, cut the salt back or eliminate it entirely.
I just found some dates leftover from Christmas, so I think I'll make some with oatmeal, dried apricots, coconut and dates. Yum! Now if I could just figure out what to do with these hard marshmallows!

In addition to tons of fall baking staples, I bought the kids some snacks for school and some other items I have become quite addicted to. Oh, and I ordered a giant bottle of the Tea Tree Oil soap. Little Scarlet told everyone in her class last year that she had lice, even though she did not (I'm guessing that she either A) had no idea that lice was a bad thing, or B) considered any publicity good publicity in her first year at school). I figure our good luck will run out eventually, and I want to be ready. I'm going to start washing her hair with it just as a deterrent.