{Delicious & Soft} PB Cookies

I was talking to somebody the other day and when I mentioned that we were really trying to eat healthy around here they said, "Oh man, that would be so hard! I like yummy food too much to eat healthy."

No, no, no! 

HEALTHY food = Delicious food. 

My body loves me a lot more because it isn't having to process random chemicals (ie: processed garbage). The food I put into my body, my body actually knows what to do with it. We've got a great thing going on together. Plus, I love cooking the healthy food. It's actually FUN. (That was a real shocking realization for myself...) I never thought cooking could be fun. But, alas, I like cooking. It's fun. And bonus: it actually tastes good. No, delicious! 

Because I don't have the talent of being able to conjure up my own recipes, I am constantly reading blogs/websites with 'clean eating' recipes. It's fun to try new things and see what I like in our creations and what I don't. My favorite 'clean' thing to cook with? 

Coconut oil. 

I love it. It has SO many health benefits, it smells yummy & in recipes, it's just plain yummy. 

Today, I made the world's greatest Peanut Butter cookies (with coconut oil). True Story. 

I thought my mom's recipe (which was my Grandma Young's recipe) was pretty darn-tootin' good but, these are hands down, the best PB cookies I have ever had. They don't have any white sugar and only one cup of white flour. Some people might say, "Hey, that's not clean eating and it still has sugar so, it's not healthy." ... I say: I think that one cookie is just the treat I needed today. (I may have eaten a few more then that though...)

Okay...cookie time: 

The recipe told me I needed to use my stand mixer, but since my stand mixer is sitting in Utah, I just used a hand mixer and they turned out just dandy. 

Combine peanut butter, coconut oil, egg sugar and beat of medium-high until light and fluffy. 

(Note: the coconut oil needs to be soft. Not solidified, and not completely melted. Somewhere in the middle.)

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the vanilla. Mix it in. 

Add 1 cup of flour, corn starch, baking soda, and (optional) salt. *I didn't add the salt to my cookies.*

Pretend this picture is totally focused and not all fuzzy. Whoops. 

Then, mix in the dry ingredients. Your dough needs to be a little loose and greasy. If it's sloppy and doesn't stick together when you pinch it, you need to add another 1/4 cup of flour. 

Should look like this:

Now, grab your cookie scoop (or a big tablespoon) ... I never knew how wonderful a cookie scoop could be until my Mother in Law got me one for my bridal shower. It's probably one of my top-5 favorite kitchen gadgets. Definitely a must have in every kitchen. 

Plop the dough on a parchment lined pan. And then stick 'em in the fridge to chill. Make sure they are shaped the way you want them to be though because if you try to shape them after they have cooled, they will just crumble. Let them chill for at least 2 hours; or up to 5 days. (who has that much time to wait for cookies!?) 

After they have chilled for a good 2+ hours, pull them out, preheat your oven to 350 and let the cookies sit out and warm up a little bit. 

Now bake these lovelies. 

Bake them for 7-9 minutes. My first batch was in for 7 minutes and my second batch was in for probably 10 minutes, because I forgot about them. They both turned out yummy. If it doesn't seem like they are "hard" enough, they will firm up as they cool. Then they will still be soft and a little gooey. {yummmmm}

Now ... ENJOY! 

Seriously. I just want to eat all of these cookies. The whole batch! It's bad. They make my tummy happy!

Alright. Recipe time. The original recipe I used, came from HERE. 

Hers is cute and can easily be printed. Go print it from her ... seriously. Mine is just going to be messy and confusing but, here it is anyway:

Soft PB Cookies

Ingredients

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup coconut oil, softened (not melted)

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 to 1-1/4 cup flour

2 teaspoons corn starch

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt (optional & to taste)

Directions

In your bowl, combine peanut butter, coconut oil, egg, sugar and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. 

Scrape down the sides of your bowl, add the vanilla and mix it all in. 

Add 1 cup of flour, corn starch, baking soda, and optional salt. Mix until it's combined. This where you want your dough to be loose and oily. If you pinch it, it should stick together and stick to itself, but not your hands. If it is too wet, add the additional 1/4 cup of flour. 

Using a cookie scoop, form mounds of dough. Place dough on pan/plate/whatever and shape or flatten them to how you will want them when they bake. Cover with plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and let chill for at least 2 hours. (but also up to 5 days)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a baking mat or parchment paper. Or spray with cooking spray. Place dough on cookie sheet and bake for 7 to 9 minutes, or until the tops have just set. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before pulling them off the pan. They will firm up as they cool. 

And enjoy. :) 

Never Fear ...

'Captain Underpants' is always near. 

Kason, having a little fun while putting away his laundry today.

I told him to smile like a super-hero.

He said, "Mom, this IS how Captain Underpants smiles!"

Okay, okay ... go save the world my little man.

xo

The Ber: Part 2

Next to the Parliament Building, there is this memorial. It is to show respect to all the political leaders that opposed Hitler. Um ... go them!

All around the city, there is a brick line to show where the Berlin wall used to stand. We walked a good length of it and it was crazy to think there used to be such a historical wall surrounding the city. 

I wish I knew why this memorial was designed this way but, this is the Jewish Memorial. A bunch of different size rectangles. Then, the ground was hilly. It went up and down, in between all the rectangles. That is a ridiculous description of this memorial but, that's basically what it was! 

It was pretty darn cold on the day we were there and thank heavens the Miners had a stroller because Kason "needed" a ride from time to time. Here he is snuggled up in the stroller while the other kids ran through the memorial. 

Across the street from the memorial we got some lunch. Brad loves doners. I think they're gross. But, apparently, a Turk brought them from Turkey to Berlin and introduced them to Germany. So, the "original" German doners are in Berlin. They are basically flat bread with meat, spicy sauces and veggies. Brad (and Mary Anne) both said this doner was the best they've ever had. Kason and I ate french fries ... they were pretty delicious, too. 

After lunch, we found a piece of the Berlin wall!!! Talk about some serious graffiti! 

It took these kids a few tries to get this shot ... they were shouting, "BERLIN!!"

(Sadie, Canon & Kason) 

Thank heavens for this stroller ... maybe we need to invest in one! 

In Berlin, they have one section left of the Berlin wall still standing. It has been preserved exactly how it was when it was knocked down in 1989. Seeing the Berlin wall, honestly, was a pretty moving experience. It's such a huge piece of history involving so many people worldwide. It was surreal to think of the people who were living in Germany during the time period that the Berlin Wall was still standing. I can't imagine the life they had to live and the difficulties they were faced with. During our walk to the wall, we passed a section of 'No Man's Land', which was also called 'Dead Zone'. Pretty much, if you ended up in that area as an escapee, you wouldn't be making it out alive. Just the thought of living that kind of reality was very humbling. 

Kinda cool to see names and year marks from the 80's. Plus, it makes it more of a reality. Makes me hope Rick survived and is still living on...

Under the wall was the Gestapo Headquarters. Part of the ruins are still there and it shows pictures of the torture they brought to the country. There is also a museum, the "Topography of Terror", that is right there by the Wall. It was pretty awesome. I love WWII stuff and the museum was all about the reign of Hitler and how the Nazis affected Germany, the victims of his reign, the leaders that stood by his side ... everything. So interesting to me. This spot was by far, my favorite part of the entire trip. I walked away a different person than when I arrived. 

Then we moved on to Checkpoint Charlie. Checkpoint Charlie was the gate of the Wall that the Americans were in charge of. They controlled who was allowed to pass through from West Germany to East Germany, and vice versa. And to think, this was all standing and functioning until 1989. Boggles my mind! 

After that, we all headed back to the apartment, loaded up, and headed out. The Miners headed home but, we wanted to hit up Hard Rock Cafe to get our traditional traveling meal. But, when we got there the wait was at least 90 minutes. We definitely didn't want to wait that long so, we just bought a couple glasses and found a delicious pizza place down the street. I won't complain about that dinner switch! 

I wouldn't say that Berlin was my favorite place we have been. Not even close. It has such a somber feel, much like the rest of Europe. But, I will say that getting to see the Berlin Wall was a huge highlight of my time, so far, in Europe. Such an awesome memory to have! 

The Ber (aka: Berlin, Germany)

Back in February, for the 4-day weekend, we headed up to Berlin with our amazing (wonderful, fun, awesome...) friends, Dusty and Mary Anne Miner. They're awesome. True Story. 

But, before we went all the way to Berlin, we made a pitstop at the Freiberg Temple. We watched their kids while they did a sessions and then we swapped! Pretty sweet trade. (Thanks again guys!) 

When we got to the temple Thursday night (Valentine's night. We had such a romantic drive through Germany ... just joking. That's a lie) the moon was perfectly situated in between the spire of Angel Moroni. 

Friday morning, Brad grabbed the Miner kiddos, and we hung out in our room, there at the temple. It's so nice to have temple housing - so convenient! It was good practice for when we have 4 kids ... or triplets. Whichever. 

I guess Kason thought jumping off the bunk beds was a smart idea ... who wouldn't think that, right!? 

After we finished our sessions, ate a quick lunch, and snapped some shots of the temple and all the snow, we headed to Berlin! Driving into Berlin was CRAZY!! Traffic was ridiculous. I think it took us about an hour to get from the outskirts of Berlin into the city center. Never, never want to live in a city like that!! We got settled in our apartment then, the Miners, kicked us out. Okay, well, not really. But, they did let us go on a quick little date, Berlin style! It was a fun little break and when we got back, they headed out for a little bit. 

I love the little flower shops all over Europe. They are so charming! 

We wandered around Berlin on our date, trying to find some food. Finally we settled on a doner shop. After some confusion with the orders, we ended up with dinner! I love hanging out with this guy - he's pretty fun! 

After dinner we found this really cool health food store 'Anatura' but, of course they're only in Berlin. We got our dessert there and then headed back to the apartment! 

*** 

Saturday morning we headed into downtown Berlin. It was sightseeing time! 

This is their TV Tower. Apparently you can go to the top but, it was so cloudy/foggy/freezing/yuck while we were there, that even if we went to the top, we wouldn't have seen much. 

Surprise, surprise! There's a church ... in Europe. Weird, right? I can't remember the name of this church but, I thought it was kinda cute. Therefore, it made the blog cut. 

In the same area was this statue of Poseidon. I loved (loved, loved) the sea turtle. If we hadn't just told the kids to not climb into the dry fountain, I would have done just that. Darn rules!

This Pinocchio guy was just chillin' on the street, so naturally we had to have the kids pose! Such a cute little "liar". 

These bears were EVERYWHERE in Berlin. A lot of store fronts had them. There was even a Statue of Liberty one at the US Embassy. I guess Berlin translates to BEARlin? Who would have thought! 

This is the Berlin Duomo. I didn't go in. Nor did the Miners. But, Brad never passes up an opportunity to check out the architecture inside buildings like this, so, he went in while we hung out in the park across the street. 

This memorial was for all the fallen Jews (I think?) ... I really should listen more when people read from the good old 'Rick Steves' book ... 

These guys ... they were so cute! And fun! They were so happy (which I feel is rare in these parts...) and full of spunk! I stood and listened to them for a minute, snapped a picture and then moved on. But, I felt really guilty for taking a picture of them and not giving them any money so, I turned back and gave them a Euro. They cheered for me and I knew my job was complete.

We knew we were getting close to the Brandenburg Gate because of the masses of people, the fake fighter pilots and Mario and Luigi. Yeah ... not to sure what they had to do with Berlin nor the Brandenburg Gate but, they were there, taking pictures with tourists. Weird. Sadly, we opted out of the photos with the Mario Brothers ... 

Just to the left (if you're looking at the gate) of the gate was the American Embassy. Something makes me so proud when I see that American flag flying high in a foreign country. Go 'Merica! 

After the famous gate we moved on to the Jewish Memorial, Berlin Wall & Checkpoint Charlie. Stay tuned, my friends! 

6th Birthday!

Kason turned 6 on February 11. He was SO excited about his birthday this year so, it made it a lot more fun. I still can't believe he is already 6 years old. It's cliche, but time really does fly by. Seems like just yesterday he was learning to walk! We've been through a lot together, me and that little guy. He's a strong boy. Has an amazing testimony. Is dang smart. And handsome. We are so blessed to have such a good kid in our family. I can't imagine my everyday life without him around. 

For his birthday, we had pancakes for breakfast before I sent him off to school. 

I took cupcakes into his class and they sang 'Happy Birthday' to him ... I'm not sure if he loved it or if he was embarrassed. Either way, it was fun to spend his birthday with him at school. 

That night, I'm pretty sure he chose pizza for dinner. So, we ate pizza at then had a little 'family party'. He wanted a Darth Vader cake and I knew there was no way I would be making a fancy one, so, he got the simplest version of Darth Vader that we could muster. 

He, of course, wanted Darth Vader! 

He got pretty spoiled on his birthday ... he was so happy with all of his gifts and had a blast getting to open them all! We have the greatest families for loving Kason so much. 

Talking to Grandpa Ray on his birthday ... 

(we were also able to talk to Grandma Juli and skype with Dan & Arielle and Grandpa Jeff! Busy Birthday!) 

Lastly, apparently in German tradition they hold the Birthday boy/girl on a chair and sing some song? I don't know if this is really true, but Kason said he learned it in his German class at school. Naturally he wanted us to do it with him so, up he went. It was pretty great fun. 

Happy Birthday, Kason!!! We love you!