Chocolate Mint Tree Cookies brought by MA

Chocolate Mint Tree Cookies 2 cup all purpose flour 1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder 2 tsp baking powder 3/4 tsp salt 2 tsp vanilla extract 4 eggs 2 tsp instant coffee granules 1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened 1 1/2 cups brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 16 ounces semisweet chocolate- melted and cooled 10 ounce bag Hershey's Mint Truffle Kisses, unwrapped Mint Drizzle: 2 cups powdered sugar 2 Tbsp milk 2 Tbsp cream cheese 1/2 tsp mint extract Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, vanilla, and coffee granules In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars. Beat in the egg mixture until incorporated. Beat in the melted chocolate. Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly and the flour until fully combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit until a scoop-able, fudge-like consistency *about 30 min. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto parchment lined baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes. Centers should be soft and puffy. The cookie may look undercooked between the cracks. Let cool for 5 minutes before placing one Hershey Kiss in the center of each cookie. Cool 15 minutes more. While cookies cool, make the mint drizzle by beating together the sugar, milk, cream cheese, and mint. Drizzle over cookies.

Bacon Oatmeal Cookies brought by AM

Bacon Oatmeal Cookies Original recipe makes 1 1/2 dozen 1/2 pound bacon 1/2 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1 egg 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats 7/8 cup confectioners' sugar 1 1/2 tablespoons water, or as needed 1 1/2 tablespoons real maple syrup Directions Place the bacon in a large, deep skillet, and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain the bacon slices on a paper towel-lined plate. When cool, chop the bacon, and set aside. Beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar together in a large mixing bowl until fluffy with an electric mixer on medium speed, then mix in egg, and vanilla extract until thoroughly combined. Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together in a bowl, and stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Gradually stir in the oats and bacon, about 1/3 cup of oats at a time, and cover the dough. Refrigerate at least 1 hour. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Thoroughly grease baking sheets. Scoop about 1/3 cup of dough per cookie, roll into balls, and place the balls at least 3 inches apart on the greased baking sheets. Use a fork dipped in water to flatten the balls slightly. Bake in the preheated oven until the cookies are golden brown with slightly browner edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Allow to cool on baking sheets 3 to 5 minutes before removing to finish cooling on racks. To make glaze, whisk confectioners' sugar, water, and maple syrup together in a bowl until smooth. Let the glaze stand about 5 minutes to slightly thicken; drizzle onto the tops of the cookies. Allow glazed cookies to stand about 20 minutes to set up before storing

Quinoa Chocolate Chip Cookies brought by KP

Quinoa Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients --1/2 cup of Quinoa 
--1 3/4 cups flour 
--2 1/4 Teaspoons of baking soda 
 --1 1/2 teaspoons of salt 
 --8 oz butter 
--1 cup plus 2 Tbsp of sugar 
 --1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 
 --2 large eggs 
 --1 1/2 cups chocolate chips Directions 
 1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees 2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside. 3. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy then add eggs beat well. 4. Gradually add in flour and quinoa* to mixture then stir in chocolate chips. 5. Drop by rounded teaspoon or tablespoon depending on how big you want the cookies onto ungreased baking sheet. 6. Bake 7-10 minutes until golden brown 

*How to cook the quinoa: Soak the quinoa for 15 min - 1/2 hour in it's cooking pot (soaking helps quinoa to cook evenly, and loosens up the outer coating of saponin, which can give a bitter taste if not removed). If you don't have time for a longer soaking, use hot water and soak for five minutes. 

Stir the quinoa with your hand, and carefully pour off the rinsing water, using a fine mesh strainer. Drain quinoa well in the strainer, transfer to the cooking pot, add water in a ratio of 1.5:1 & salt if desired.

 Bring to a boil, cover with a tight fitting lid, and turn the heat down to simmer. Cook for 15 minutes.

 Remove quinoa from heat and allow to sit five minutes with the lid on. Fluff quinoa gently with a fork and serve.

Stir-fried Kimchi Chicken

I find it difficult to cook for just two people. It is still much easier than cooking for one but my husband doesn't like to eat leftovers. I experimented with some things and found it to be very good. It's not difficult and super easy. 2 boneless chicken breasts 1 tablespoons of sesame oil 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil 1 onion chopped sliced (I think green onion would taste better but didn't have it) 1 teaspoon of red chili flakes 1.5 cup of chopped kimchi with juice 1 tablespoon of soy sauce .5 teaspoon of minced garlic .5 cup of mushrooms Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Mix everything into ziplock bag and marinate for at least 30 minutes. I marinated it in the morning and cooked it in the evening. Pour the chicken and mixture into a wox and stir-fry until the chicken is cooked through. Serve with white rice. Yum.

November in Okinawa

It doesn't feel like November. The weather here is averaging in the low 70's. It's just weird because it's dark by 6pm. I expect it to be colder. MJ has been spending his time at the wood shop trying to create shelves and tables. It's keeping him busy and I had no idea he was talented. It's going to the point where I am going to start taking orders for MJ's Custom Furniture. I have been getting ready for my Christmas Cookie Exchange Party. This is the first cookie exchange that I have ever hosted so I hope it works out. I have actually only been to one and it was so long ago that I forgot how it works. I have found some great resources at The #1 Cookie Exchange Website. The author of the website has even published a book since her site is so popular. I am a little nervous about it all but I have some great friends here. My friends have invited MJ and me to their house for Thanksgiving. It will pot-luck style. I will be making Puerto Rican Pernil, Lechon, and Arroz con Gandules. Yum!

Okinawa life

It has been an insane first few months. We got here and hit the ground running with trying to find a house. We found a perfect house, paid a holding fee, and then the fee was returned to us after 3 days due to someone else getting the house. We are not quite sure how that worked, but we have had bad luck with housing in Korea too. We ended up going through six different realty companies and finally found a place! We moved in the end of August and then we had to wait an entire month to get internet. I keep telling myself that we are not in Korea anymore. The balli-balli culture is not how the Okinawans roll. I have promised myself I will start writing once a week. On Friday nights - I love my class full of crazy kids. They are so different from my Korea-kiddos but I still love them just the same. Here is a picture of our new house. It still feels really empty inside but we are working on making it a home.

Flying with Raja

I love my dog. He's a small mix terrier about 6 years old. I have had him for 5 years. I have never flown with him because I have always found someone to take him for the summer or to watch my house. I knew I was going to take Raja with me but I was really worried about taking him in the cabin with me. He is small enough, but a pain who makes horrible noises when I put him into a kennel. Bringing a pet to Japan is a pain. The first thing I had to do was start the FAVN test - the FAVN is a rabies antibody test. I started the process back in March because I didn't know where I was going, but I was going somewhere and Japan was the most likely place I would be sent to since hubby didn't want to go to a boring school/base in Germany. Most the bases are in the middle of nowhere in Germany. With my time in service, I would not likely get Spain, Italy, or Belgium. He will be done with the 180 quarantine by September so we are good to go. To get Raja ready for the 10 hour flight I started with buying an airline approved carrier. I went with the Sherpa from Amazon. I would put him in the carrier for just 10 minutes then gradually move up to two hours. I know two hours isn't ten hours but I felt that it was good enough. I would always praise him and give him treats before, during, and after captivity. I decided it would be a good idea to take him on a trip in the car. It was a horrible experience. Raja had been fine in the carrier at home but he started wailing as soon as I picked it up. He hated moving with the carrier. My flight to leave Korea was in less than a week and I had never taken him on a trip on the carrier. All the preparation and for nothing, at least that is what I thought. I went to the vet and asked for some medication to help with his anxiety. I was given some pills to help him through the plane ride. We decided to try the pills out on our mini-trip to Ulsan. It worked but took an hour to start working as he cried for the first 30 minutes. How is this going to work in the plane? On the train Raja actually did very well. He hated it the whole time and I felt so guilty. I am sure he feels like he will be in that carrier forever. The pills work from 5-10 hours for Raja. I think it's very strange how it can be such a huge difference for such a tiny dog. One try he was normal after 5 hours but on the way back at 10 hours he was still woozy and walking around like he was drunk. I hoped that when I took him on the plane it would be the 10 hour range. After our weekend in hubby's home time it was time for me to leave to the US. I think hubby wanted to stay longer, not to hang out with his family but to avoid this trip with Raja. :-) I wasn't going to give Raja the pill in the cab on the way to the airport because I wanted it to last. He didn't cry or anything. I was really proud of him. 70,000W later we arrived at the airport and went to the animal quarantine/export office. It was easy and cost us 10,000W for them to review our paperwork to have Raja ready for the plane ride. It ended up being an easy trip from Spokane to San Francisco. Most people didn't even realize I had a dog with me. It wasn't until about half-way through when I let Raja poke his head out to drink some water that the neighbor knew that I had him with me. San Francisco has a great pet relief area outside. The only bad part is that United didn't give me a receipt for my dog so when I tried to go through security they didn't believe me that I had paid for Raja's flight even though I showed him all the export paperwork from Korea. I had to go to a United counter to get a copy of the pet receipt. There was a huge line so having elite status was worth it because I was able to get into the first class/elite status line. After 17 hours we finally made it our final destination. It was success. I am glad I had prepared ahead of time because it would have been horrible if I had just assumed that he would do well. Next up - Okinawa, Japan trip