Tutorial Tuesday: Oatmeal Lace Cookies

Last week I shared my Oreo Ball recipe, inspired by "Oreo Cookie Day."  Well, guess what, March 18 is "Lacy Oatmeal Cookie Day."  (They have a day for everything!)  So I figured, what better time to share the oatmeal lace cookie recipe I used for my Valentine's Day dinner?

I must admit, this was my first time making these cookies, & I had a small (or shall I say big?!) issue.......I'll explain a little later on.

Here's what you'll need:

1 3/4 cups shortening

1 1/3 cups sugar

1 2/3 cups packed brown sugar

1 3/4 cups cake flour

2 1/2 cups whole oats

1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 medium eggs

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350*.

2) Place each ingredient in a large mixing bowl in the order listed above & mix for at least 2 minutes.  (I had to add a very small amount of water to help me mix it.)

3) Okay, here is where I went wrong!  The recipe calls for using a #60 dipper to drop the mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Well, I didn't have a #60 dipper and didn't even know what it was.  When I looked it up on-line, I read that it was equivalent to 60 ml or 2 oz.  Being the novice that I am, I just assumed that I could measure 2 oz. in a measuring cup and then try out a couple spoons 'til I found one that would hold the 2oz.  Makes sense, right?

Well, let's just say that 2oz. in a measuring cup must be WAY more than what this dipper actually holds!  My first few cookies ended up more like OATMEAL LOAVES!  They were huge.....falling over the side of the cookie sheet & super thick!  Keep in mind that these cookies are supposed to be thin and crispy.  While they still tasted good, they didn't look like oatmeal lace!

We even tried dipping a glass in flour and using it to "smash" the cookie dough down before baking.  This helped a little, but as you can see in the above picture, the flour was still noticeable even after they were baked.

After a little trial & error, I found that only about 1/2 teaspoon of the mixture is needed per cookie.  But either way, big or small, they are delicious!

4) Place cookies at least 3-4 inches apart because they'll spread  (I only placed 4-6 cookies per sheet pan.)

5) Bake 12-14 minutes until golden brown, thin, and crispy.

Enjoy!

Tablescape Thursday: With All Of My Heart(s) - Celebrating 10 Valentine's Days Together!

Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."  Matthew 22:37

For the last couple weeks I'd planned to surprise Mr. Dishaholic (I'm sure he'll just love being called that) with a special Valentine's dinner.  After all, this was our 10th Valentine's Day together (3 while dating & 7 married).  I had come up with this elaborate plan to leave work early, pick up my needed supplies from the store, and go over to my parents' to prepare the meal so that he would not have any clue.  My idea was to tell him that I'd made reservations for us at a restaurant and that we could just meet there after work.  Only instead of me actually meeting him at the restaurant, I planned to call & tell him I was running a little late and to go ahead and go in to the restaurant and tell them we have reservations.  In reality, I was going to drop off a card about 15 minutes before and have the host/hostess give him the card, which would tell him to meet me at our house in an hour.   In the meantime, I would go to our house & get the table set up & finish the food prep.  Woo!  That makes me tired just thinking about it!  Those were my plans anyway, but instead, it went something like this...... 

The weekend before Valentine's Day we were both visited by an unwanted guest...a stomach virus!  Ugh!  I was feeling somewhat better by Sunday, but not only did it put me behind on my planning & gathering supplies for the table, but it also left me feeling very tired.  Knowing I was short on time and tired, Sunday evening I decided to forgo the surprise & let him know about the dinner.  I gave him a card that asked him to be my valentine & join me for a special "10th Valentine's Day" celebration on Monday evening.  I figured that would help reduce a little of the stress & give me more time to get things accomplished.  It seemed good in theory anyway.

So Monday, I left work around lunch time & headed to pick up my supplies.  What I thought was going to be a quick trip turned into a much longer trip as I ended up having to go to several stores to get everything I needed.  Not to mention that when I got home I realized I had the wrong kind of flour!  So back to the store I went! 

To make a long story short & get on to the good stuff, let's just say that things took much longer than planned, and after much frustration, and several hours later I wasn't even close to having dinner prepared.  In fact by 6 or 7pm, I only had the chocolate covered strawberries & oatmeal lace cookies finished (& that was with my poor hubby's help!).  On top of all that, he was still feeling extremely sick.  Oh & did I mention I was on call for work & got called out later in the evening & didn't get home 'til 4:30 am?!  While memorable, it was definitely not the Valentine's night I had envisioned!  So having said all that, we ended up having our Valentine's dinner tonight.  I guess better late than never!

However, the one thing I did manage to complete by Valentine's evening was the tablescape.....after all, as long as there's a good tablescape, does it really matter what, or if, you eat? :)

My inspiration for this tablescape came from 2 sources.  The first one was simply hearts..... I went around the house, looking through Christmas ornaments & other decorations, gathering all of the red hearts I could find (hence the name, "With All of My Heart(s)").  Of course, it was an excuse to purchase a few more, too!  My second source of inspiration was the fact that this was our 10th Valentine's Day together so I wanted to make it special.  Looking back through some old photos, I came across a few from our 2nd Valentine's Day, which just so happened to also be the first tablescape I ever put together!  So I decided to use some of the same things for this tablescape as I did for that one!

First I started with a basic white tablecloth.  On a recent trip to Target, I saw this red blanket with the hearts "punched out" on the ends & I knew it would be perfect for my table.  Plus, it was only $4.99.  You can't beat that!

At each place setting, I layered the heart plates on top of square red plates.  It's hard to tell in the pictures, but I actually have a black dinner plate layered between the red plate & the black rhinestone charger.

I decided to use a couple of my heart ornaments as napkin rings.

Then I used the same glasses we used for our 2nd Valentine's Day!  (They were painted by mother-in-law).  Conveniently, they also served as our place cards since our names are on them.

For the centerpiece, I gathered some glass jars from around the house.  I filled one with a bunch of red heart ornaments & topped it off with some ribbon.  Another I filled with the chocolate covered strawberries, and the last one I filled with the oatmeal lace cookies.  I added a couple ornaments to the tops as well.  

All was going well, & then it happened!  I was holding my very favorite heart ornament by the string, when the string suddenly broke & the heart fell to the floor, shattering into a hundred pieces!  It broke my heart (get it? :) ).  That was just one of the many mishaps on that memorable night! 

I also added a few pictures of us during our dating years.  Of course, it just wouldn't be complete without a picture of us sitting at the table that served as the inspiration for this one!

And you can't have a romantic dinner without candlelight!  (These candles just so happen to be the very same ones we used before, too).

Our menu for the evening consisted of:

 chicken tetrazzini (the same thing I cooked on our 2nd Valentine's Day)

garden salad

rolls

 oatmeal lace cookies

chocolate covered strawberries

And last, but not least, sweet tea for my sweetie

After all this talk about our 2nd Valentine's Day (& my first ever tablescape), of course I had to include a picture of it.  Do you see the similarities?

red/white heart plates - Kohls

red square plates - by Sonoma/Kohls (many years ago)

black plates- by Rosanna

rhinestone chargers - Michael's

silverware - Walmart (many years ago)

white napkins - Pier 1

(I can't remember where I got the red napkins from)

heart ornaments - Michael's & Hobby Lobby

glass jars - Hobby Lobby

red blanket "tablecloth" - Target

I'm joining with Susan from Between Naps on the Porch for

Tablescape Thursday.

Tutorial Tuesday: Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Welcome to "Tidbits, Tips, & Tutoral Tuesday!"   I know Valentine's Day is now over, but who says chocolate covered strawberries are just for Valentine's Day? 

Last night I decided to try my hand at chocolate covered strawberries for the first time. Seeing as how it was a definite learning experience for me, I thought I'd share a few tips I learned along the way.

First, I gathered the necessary supplies: strawberries, milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, some finely chopped pecans, and a few decorative sprinkles for that special touch.  I also grabbed a large piece of styrofoam (from a recent package I'd received) & some toothpicks.  Then I got to work.

Next, I washed & thoroughly dried the strawberries  (I had read that if they were wet at all the chocolate wouldn't stick) & stuck a toothpick in the stem end of each one.

The next step was to melt the chocolate, & I must admit it took some trial & error (& some frustration) to figure out the best way to achieve the desired result.  At first I tried melting a few chocolate chips in a bowl in the microwave, stopping and stirring them about every 30 seconds.  I quickly learned that if the bowl tends to get hot in the microwave, the chocolate will go from not melted to burned in a matter of seconds!  Error #1!

So then I decided I'd pull out the double broiler.  I turned my burner to medium &, stirring continually, started melting the white chocolate chips.  This seemed to be working for a short time, but by the time I had dipped 4 strawberries, the chocolate was beginning to get clumpy in the pan & wouldn't smoothly coat the strawberries.  Error #2!

By this time I was really getting frustrated and decided to go ask my smart & creative hubby what he thought.  (And yes, I was making the strawberries for him, but at this point, I was desperate!)  Not sure exactly what we needed to do, we decided to try one more time, this time with the burner on low.  And guess what?  It actually worked this time!  We had finally figured out the best method!

Now was the fun part!  I, or should I say, we took each strawberry, and holding it by the toothpick, dipped it in the chocolate, twirling it as we took it out to catch any drips.  Then we turned them upside down, sticking the toothpick in the styrofoam.  The reason for this was to keep them from having a "flat" side when they hardened.  (As a side note, you might want to try covering the styrofoam in foil or plastic wrap.  We found that on a small number of strawberries, the chocolate dripped down, & when we removed the strawberry, a little bit of styrofoam was stuck to the chocolate!  However, on the chocolate that we melted "correctly," the dripping wasn't an issue.)  Before the chocolate hardened, we added some nuts & decorative sprinkles to a few of the strawberries.  Then we simply put them in the refrigerator for a few minutes to harden the chocolate. 

Voila!  My (our) first chocolate covered strawberries!

  And I might add, they were delicious!