My Favorite things

These are some things that I just really LOVE and I want to share them with you in hopes that you will LOVE them as much as I do.

Favorite Books


Dealing With Dragons
by Patricia C. Wrede
This is a lighthearted series of four books. The story is about a princess who is pretty much fed up with being a princess and all the pomp and circumstance that comes with it, so she decides to run away from home. She has all sorts of wonderful adventures and makes some very unusual friends. This book keeps me laughing the whole way through ever time I read it (and I've read it many many times). The other books in the series are:
*Searching for Dragons
*Calling on Dragons
*Talking to Dragons.
Every book is just as wonderful as the first.

Magic Kingdom For Sale, SOLD
by Terry Brooks
I know many people love Terry Brooks for his Sword of Shanara books, but I wouldn't know, I haven't read them myself. I tend to like more lighthearted stories. The Magic Kingdom for Sale fits my requirements perfectly. It is a story about a disaffected lawyer who decides to buy a "magical kingdom" out of a Christmas catalog on a whim. What he gets is hardly what he expects. He makes new and very interesting friends as he learns what it is like to live again. There are five other books in the series:
* The Black Unicorn
* Wizard At Large
* The Tangle Box
* Witches' Brew
* A Princess of Landover
I like some of them better than others, but the series as a whole is very enjoyable. While they are fantasy sort of books, they are written with today's world included in the story.

Favorite Food

My Mom's Homemade Sugar Cookies!

These are the tastiest things in the entire world! I am not even joking. I can eat an entire recipes worth all by myself, which is kind of embarrassing considering it makes something like 72+ cookies (it takes me a few days to eat them all). The way we have always done frosting, and the way I still do it now is to just buy a tub of plain vanilla frosting at the store. I like to add food coloring to mine to make them bright and cheery. Sprinkles and candies can be fun to decorate with sometimes too. I know the fact that the recipe has sour cream in it may seem off putting, but you can't even tell it's in there once the cookies are baked. It helps make them extra tender and soft.

6 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup soft butter
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3 tsp vanilla
1 cup sour cream

1. Mix the butter, eggs, sugar, and vanilla together until mixture is kind of fluffy.

2. Then add the salt and baking soda along with half the flour and sour cream. Once you have that well incorporated add the remaining sour cream and flour. (sometimes it takes a little more or less flour depending on the weather, so add or take away ad needed). The dough should be slightly sticky.

3. Cover the dough tightly with plastic wrap or place in a zip top bag, and place in the refrigerator for 2 or more hours (this makes the dough easier to work with, but your cookies will taste fine even if you skip this step).

4. Place dough on clean floured surface (i work with half the dough at a time) and roll the dough out to approximately 1/4 inch. Use cookie cutters or a glass to cut out shapes.

5. Place shapes onto ungreasesd cookie sheet, or I HIGHLY RECOMMEND lining your sheets with parchment paper (your cookies will slide right off without breaking). Be sure to leave space between cookies as they expand when they bake. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 8-12 minutes (smaller shapes cook faster, larger ones take longer) until the edges barely begin to be golden colored. Let cool for a few minutes before removing from cookie sheets. When they cool frost and decorate.

6. Then the best part, eat and enjoy :)

Pumpkin Cookies

The real reason I love these is because they are the easiest thing in the whole wide world to make. Seriously the recipe only has three ingredients. Are you ready for this insanely easy recipe?

1 box spice cake mix (use your favorite brand)
1 29oz can pumpkin (not the pie filling, just plain pumpkin)
1/2 bag chocolate chips, or however many you want (I like to use semi sweet kind)

Mix everything together in a bowl and then put heaping spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets, or parchment paper lined cookie sheets (I like to use a small ice-cream scooper for this, it makes things less messy as well as neat and uniform). Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for around 10-12 minutes. Let them cool on the cookie sheets for a few minutes before you remove them or they will probably fall apart. These cookies are extra moist, so don't stack them directly on top of each other unless you want a weird cookie sculpture thingy.

Now enjoy your super easy tasty cookie treats :) An added benefit to this recipe is also that it contains no eggs for those with allergies or special dietary requirements.

German Pancakes

These are buttery fluffy smooth wonderful clouds of joy! I like to eat mine with powdered sugar and maple syrup. They are a super quick and easy meal for any meal. This recipe is easy to cut in half (that's what I do when it's just Jacob and me), just put it in an 8x8 square pan or a smaller round casserole.

8 eggs
2 cups milk
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. butter

1. Place butter in a 9x13 baking pan and place in the oven while it preheats to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Mix together eggs, milk, flour, and salt.

3. Pour mixture into your pan that's been preheating with the butter.

4. Bake for about 15 minutes or until fluffy and golden brown.

5. Cut into slices and enjoy with powdered sugar, syrup, fruit, or whatever sounds good to you.