The Daring Bakers: Mallows

So, I should have written this post a while ago and just post dated it, but I didn't so I'm going to have to do my best to remember my experience making these cookies. I did this challenge the day it was announced (which is pretty unusual for me since I'm such a procrastinator) because it was a Dessert Wednesday anyway and these cookies just looked so good!


The cookies consists of three parts: the cookie base, the marshmall ow filling, and the chocolate coating. The recipe says the cookie base is supposed to be cut with a 1- 1 1/2 inch cookie cutter, which I don't have, so I used the wide end of one of my piping tips, which I measured at 1 inch. This cut probably 200 cookies. Maybe I rolled the dough out too thin, I don't know, but it just made way too many, so we've still got a freezer bag full of naked cookie bases waiting to be used for something else.


This was my second attempt at some sort of homemade marshmallows and I think it went well. Make no mistake, it was a sticky mess, but it sure tasted good.

In the end I had almost 100 completely finished cookies, but they were small so it wasn't too bad. This was a great challenge, but I probably won't make these again. They were good, but I'm not sure they were good enough to be worth the hassle.
The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

Someone is Ticklish

Thank You Glidden!

Four weeks ago I saw a commercial that said Glidden was giving away free quarts of paint. Of course I went straight to the website and ordered my quart of Cool Cobalt and the Fedex man brought it to me today! I am so excited, but now I have to start the arduous task of deciding what to paint...

Lincoln's First Taste of Cereal

This post was a little slow in coming... Lincoln tried cereal for the first time last week. He's been eating some everyday since and he's getting a little bit better, but he wasn't to excited about at first.

Looking frightened....


It was sort of a sad day for me. Now he can get some food from a different source :(

Father and Son

The other day we had to take some pictures of Jonathan for school and (I don't know how this happened:) Lincoln ended up in a few of the pictures. They look so cute together!

Fourth of July Weekend

For the fourth of July weekend the three of us drove down to Richmond to see the Knightons. This was only Lincoln's second road trip (the first was from Spokane to Seattle), so it was something of a challenge, but overall he did a great job.

Friday Jonathan, Ava, Lincoln, and I went to see some of the sights while Aidan got a tooth pulled. I think we definitely got the better end of that deal. We went into Richmond's famous Monument Avenue to see the statues.


Monument Avenue is about five miles long, with several statues, mostly Civil War related, along the way. We parked and walked to see Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, and Robert E. Lee.


The walk from Stonewall Jackson to Robert E. Lee was about a mile. It was a little long for Ava, but she did a great job...


...Even though she had to take off her shoes and ride in Lincoln's stroller for a little bit.

On the 4th Jonathan and I took both Knighton kids and that Jones kid to Virginia Beach. Nikki warned us it would be crazy busy and we weren't disappointed. The beach (and parking lots) were packed.


We took Lincoln into the ocean for the first time. We're not really sure if he liked it or not since we couldn't keep him out there too long so he wouldn't get too much sun.


One thing is for sure, Jonathan and Aidan sure loved the water. They were both in the water the entire time we were there.


Ava preferred to play in the sand by me, but we still had fun, burying her and then Aidan in the sand.


It was too bad Aidan was still wet when we buried him...


It was such a fun day. All three kids slept almost all the way back to Richmond because they were so wiped out.


That evening we just hung out chez Knighton and had dinner. Lincoln thinks his Auntie Nikki is so funny! He was laughing ton at her, but his cousins didn't have as much luck making him laugh (not for lack of trying.) It was a pretty quick trip, but we had so much fun! I look forward to doing it again in October.

On the way back we just had to take a break... you know, for Lincoln.... so we stopped at a Potbelly (about 20 miles out of the way.) Mmmm... we miss Potbelly...