Tuesday, November 10, 2009

new perspective

I've been doing a lot of hiking... not so much blogging.

They say life can pass you by if you're not careful. Luckily, I've been living a very full life these days, but my blogging and etsy online life has suffered. I haven't been very active in any of my etsy groups, and I'm finding that I'm getting stressed out about my flagging online participation. Isn't that odd? One would think, "Yay! I'm living a full life and I don't have time to read and comment on dozens of websites!" But the reality is that I feel terrible. Like I'm letting down the online community, even though I'm just this one tiny little shop, with one tiny little blog.

Maybe I feel burnt out because I just recently carved so many lino designs for my portfolio. I'm not quite sure. All I know is when I feel that something is expected of me, it takes all the joy and impromptu-ness out of it. My muse doesn't like to be forced. She likes to slip in quietly and surprise me. That's when I create.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm not in a place where I want to quit ennaneve, not at all, but I'm in a place where I'm feeling overwhelmed by expectations... most of them my own.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

pumpkin cookies

These cake-like cookies are a sweet Autumn treat!

My mom used to make these for us every Fall, and I absolutely loved them! She would shape them into little pumpkins and let us decorate them with frosting, M&Ms and chocolate chips to create our own personal Jack-O-Lanterns. I left off the frosting this year to cut back on excess sugar, but the cookies are just as delicious! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 cup oats

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup butter (or margarine)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips

2 cups canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease two cookie sheets.
  • Mix together the flour, oats, baking soda and cinnamon and set aside.
  • Next, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar with a mixer.
  • Add the egg and vanilla extract and continue to mix well.
  • Alternately add one cup of the flour mixture and one cup of the canned pumpkin until all ingredients are well incorporated.
  • Stir in chocolate chips.
  • Use 1/4 cup per cookie and shape into little pumpkins (optional).
  • Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until they no longer look wet.