{"id":35870,"date":"2012-12-26T08:02:20","date_gmt":"2012-12-26T16:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=35870"},"modified":"2012-12-26T09:00:44","modified_gmt":"2012-12-26T17:00:44","slug":"new-traditions-and-cookies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=35870","title":{"rendered":"New Traditions and Cookies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the cool things about being an adult is being able to make your own traditions. For a long time, my favorite traditions were with friends and family, often including an off-color Christmas movie (Die Hard, The Ref, Scrooged, Bridget Jones&#8217;s Diary) and lots of eating. Being in a relationship means melding together traditions. This year Michael and I both had Christmas Eve off from work. His office was closed, I took a vacation day. We kind of went about our mornings doing whatever we wanted (I went to physical therapy and then swimming) and he finished shopping. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>Then we went to lunch together, courtesy of his great aunt, and to a movie. We saw &#8220;Jack Reacher.&#8221; I was skeptical going in because I LOVE the books. Jack Reacher has been one of my absolute favorite book characters for about 15 years now. When I heard that Tom Cruise was going to play him, I was so disappointed. I mean, really? Reacher is like 6&#8217;6 in the movies, menacing and dark and mysterious. Those words do not describe Tom Cruise. But I went into the movie trying to think of it as just another action flick. Thankfully, I was not disappointed! While I couldn&#8217;t get it out of my head that I was watching Tom Cruise, I liked the movie a lot. It stayed pretty close to the books and characters, the writing and plot were excellent and there weren&#8217;t any cheesy action movie scenes that make you roll your eyes. There was also a pretty kick-ass car chase scene (I need a Camaro). Michael loved the movie, and has never read the books. So in the end&#8230;.I do recommend it, even though it&#8217;s Tom Cruise. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<p>After the movie we still had the whole afternoon free so I baked some Christmas cookies to give to his family as gifts, and to take into work to share after the holiday. Michael kept me company as I baked. I don&#8217;t bake as often as I used to for one simple reason: I don&#8217;t want the treats in my house. But this gave me an excuse to bake something because I was giving them away!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?attachment_id=35878\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-35878\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-35878\" alt=\"IMG_3334\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_3334-259x300.jpg\" width=\"259\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_3334-259x300.jpg 259w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_3334-884x1024.jpg 884w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 259px) 100vw, 259px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The recipe turned out really well. I definitely recommend it for a fall or holiday party\/occasion.<\/p>\n<div class=\"easyrecipe\">\t<link itemprop=\"image\" href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_3334-259x300.jpg\" \/> <span class=\"item ERName\">Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"ERClear\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"ERHead\">Serves: <span class=\"yield\">24-30<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"ERIngredients\">\n<div class=\"ERIngredientsHeader\">Ingredients<\/div>\n<ul class=\"ingredients\">\n<li class=\"ingredient\">1 cup canned pumpkin<\/li>\n<li class=\"ingredient\">1 cup white sugar<\/li>\n<li class=\"ingredient\">1\/2 cup vegetable oil<\/li>\n<li class=\"ingredient\">1 egg<\/li>\n<li class=\"ingredient\">2 cups all-purpose flour<\/li>\n<li class=\"ingredient\">2 teaspoons baking powder<\/li>\n<li class=\"ingredient\">2 teaspoons ground cinnamon<\/li>\n<li class=\"ingredient\">1\/2 teaspoon salt<\/li>\n<li class=\"ingredient\">1 teaspoon baking soda<\/li>\n<li class=\"ingredient\">1 teaspoon milk<\/li>\n<li class=\"ingredient\">1 tablespoon vanilla extract<\/li>\n<li class=\"ingredient\">2 cups semisweet chocolate chips<\/li>\n<li class=\"ingredient\">1\/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ERInstructions\">\n<div class=\"ERInstructionsHeader\">Instructions<\/div>\n<div class=\"instructions\">\n<ol>\n<li class=\"instruction\">Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil and egg.<\/li>\n<li class=\"instruction\">In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.<\/li>\n<li class=\"instruction\">Dissolve baking soda in the milk, then add flour mixture and milk mixture into the pumpkin mixture and blend well.<\/li>\n<li class=\"instruction\">Add vanilla and chocolate chips. Mix well.<\/li>\n<li class=\"instruction\">Drop onto cooking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned and firm.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ERNutrition\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"endeasyrecipe\" style=\"display: none;\">3.1.09<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>A few things to note: This recipe most definitely does NOT make 12. It makes about double that. So the calorie count is way off if you go by 12 servings. I don&#8217;t know about you, but I don&#8217;t make giant cookies. Mine are somewhere between small and normal sized!!! I got 30 cookies out of this recipe (because I thought there were 12 servings in it, so I doubled the recipe&#8230;oooops). Because I got more cookies out of the recipe, I calculate it at around 170 calories per cookie instead of 425. Much better.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?attachment_id=35879\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-35879\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-35879\" alt=\"IMG_3338\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_3338-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_3338-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_3338-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Also, I used a mixture of Splenda Blend and regular sugar, and I also added some nutmeg.\u00a0The kitchen smelled wonderful! It smelled like pumpkin pie was baking in the oven. How were the cookies? They were great! They were soft and almost cake-like instead of dense like a chocolate chip cookie. Perfect blend of pumpkin and chocolate.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?attachment_id=35881\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-35881\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-35881\" alt=\"IMG_3343\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_3343-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_3343-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_3343-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?attachment_id=35880\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-35880\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-35880\" alt=\"IMG_3341\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_3341-200x300.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_3341-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_3341-682x1024.jpg 682w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I let the cookies cool down and then wrapped them in festive tissue paper to\u00a0<em>get out of my house!!<\/em> No temptations! Since I accidentally doubled the recipe, I needed to get rid of more cookies. So Michael and I played Santa and dropped some off at our neighbor&#8217;s house.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?attachment_id=35883\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-35883\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-35883\" alt=\"IMG_3349\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_3349-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_3349-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_3349-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Michael built a fire in the fireplace and we watched National Lampoon&#8217;s Christmas Vacation (a classic!). Then we opened the cards we got each other. When we first started dating, I told him I liked exchanging cards on Christmas, birthdays and anniversaries. And I expected more than just his name in the card. LOL I trained him well. Now I can expect a lovely heartfelt note from him 3 times a year. I love it!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?attachment_id=35888\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-35888\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-35888\" alt=\"IMG_3353\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_3353-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_3353-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_3353-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Christmas Eve dinner was leftover Barilla farfalle pasta with homemade turkey meatballs, some pickled green beans on the side and a nice glass of red wine. Sounds a bit weird, but it all tasted great. Later that evening some neighborhood kids came caroling! I love making our own traditions aka doing whatever we want!<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>QUESTION: What are some of your holiday traditions?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the cool things about being an adult is being able to make your own traditions. For a long time, my favorite traditions were with friends and family, often including an off-color Christmas movie (Die Hard, The Ref, Scrooged, Bridget Jones&#8217;s Diary) and lots of eating. Being in a relationship means melding together traditions. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[311,55,1880,1964,1970,2177,72,2124,315,104,1960,1683,173,212],"tags":[376,2088,8824,8828,2169,2170,8830,6707,8611,5100,6708,1318,6709,937],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35870"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35870"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35907,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35870\/revisions\/35907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}