We enjoyed a pretty restful day at home — restful except that I hadn’t made it to the store on Tuesday and had to go Wednesday morning. It was pretty busy (so at least I wasn’t the only one!) but the cashier said it had been really busy the day before. Then I spent the afternoon baking cookies.

Our church had a short service and a fellowship dinner. The church supplied fried chicken, beverages, and paper products and we were supposed to bring cookies, cakes, or pies for a contest plus a side dish. Last year we were to bring something red, white, and blue for dessert, so I borrowed and idea I had seen in Family Fun Magazine (but I can’t find it on their site now!) and dipped some strawberries in melted white chocolate and then again in blue sugar (leaving red showing at the top, then a line of white, with the blue at the bottom so you can see all three colors). So I was trying to think of another red, white, and blue dessert when this was announced and I had to switch gears mentally. I ended up making the cookies I usually make for most church or school functions, a chocolate chip recipe with vanilla pudding mixed in. And I won the adult cookie division! There were only 3 or 4 ladies who made cookies, so it wasn’t a terribly big deal. But it still felt nice. 🙂 My prize was a cookie sheet and a really cute kitchen towel with chocolate chip cookies on it.

Unfortunately the cookie sheet won’t fit into my small oven, so I might give it to the church kitchen or see if someone else can use it.

By the way, here’s a free tip and it’s not even works-for-me-Wednesday. 😀 When we first moved into this house, my tried-and-true favorite cookies were not turning out right, burning and sticking to the pan. I had never had that problem that I can remember. In trying to research and find out what was wrong,. I read that your cookie sheets have to have a proportionate amount of space around them in the oven for the hot air to circulate and for them to bake evenly. I got smaller cookie sheets, and, voila, everything turned out fine. I can only get a dozen cookies on the size sheets that fit, so it takes ages to make a triple batch for a church function with some left over for home.

The fellowship was fun, the food was great, and we got to visit with some good friends.

Often we go to a nearby colonial battlefield where they have a yearly fireworks display, but this time I was tired and overfull and just didn’t feel like dealing with the distance and traffic. Jeremy really had his heart set on seeing some fireworks, though, so he and Jesse and Jim drove around to see if they could find anyone shooting some off. They finally did see some pretty nice ones. Unfortunately we can’t have them in the city limits. We used to like to get some little ones (the interesting kind, not the kind that just makes noise. One of our favorites was a little tank that spewed fireworks out the back while it rolled).

I flipped back and forth between some of the special holiday programs on TV. Some times in the past they’ve been pretty good, but there wasn’t much interesting this year.

Then I curled up with the book I’m reading and enjoyed a few pages before I fell sleep. 🙂 I’m reading The Restorer by Sharon Hinck — great stuff!!

Here’s that recipe:

Pudding Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 pkg. (4 serving size) instant vanilla pudding
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 pkg (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine butter, sugars, pudding mix, and vanilla; beat until smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs. Mix flour with baking soda. and gradually add flour mixture. Stir in chips. Drop from teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes (mine usually take 10-12 minutes). I used to add chocolate chunks or miniature Hershey’s kisses just for something different, but I haven’t been able to find those lately.