Food Friday's: Making Food a Family Matter

     Eating is so much fun. Let me tell you- I LOVE FOOD! I love to look at cook books, watch cooking shows, I love to watch people make food, I love to smell good food cooking, I love cooking and I love eating.  I really am grateful that there is ZUMBA because I sure do love food. But something I love even more than food is when I get to enjoy it with others. My sisters and I used to make cookies together we would throw flour at each other and then eat the cookie dough. When I made dinners I really didn't have to go anywhere far to find someone to test-taste my creations. 

      I have mentioned this before but I have a strong testimony that families can grow closer together through having family meals together. (and I dont mean that you each have your claimed spot in front of the TV with your own personalized TV try..... I'm talking about around the table) So to all the families that dont have weekly or even better nightly dinners as a family, I challenge you to first work on this. Then once you have introduced this, why dont you take it one step further and start making meals together.

     Making dinner as a family could be like a game and it's always more fun to be in the kitchen when you are with others..... especially people that you love. This is also a good opportunity to teach your children how to cook and kitchen safety.

     Who knows, maybe they will discover that they really love cooking and then they will start cooking for you :)

.... and then maybe they will set the table and serve you dinner......

     At every age, children respond best when working alongside parents or other children, but even when they work alone, they benefit from the experience. Canadian scholars who compared children who do 'self-care tasks' (making own beds, cleaning own messes) with children who participate in 'family-care tasks' (setting the table, washing family dishes, folding family laundry) found 'an overall pattern of results suggesting that beneficial effects of household work occur.... when that work involves assistance to others, when it requires on a routine or self-regulating basis, and when the outcome variable is concern for others revealed in the family context.' In other words, children learn to care for others by doing work that helps them think about others.
(Successful Marriages and Families: Proclamation Principles and Research Perspectives: Chapter 21)

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(: Weekly Recipe :)

 Chocolate Chip Cookies/Shortbread.... Say what!!!!?

I made these cookies with my boyfriend last Saturday and they were absolutely delicious !!!!! They are super soft (and they dont go hard the next day either!!!!) they dont have a ton of flavor but that just highlights the delectable flavor of the chocolate chips even more and they have this slight hint of a shortbread flavor...... can we say YUM!!!!!!!

 2/3 cup softened butter 
2/3 cup vegetable shortening 
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour*
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Start with creaming your butter, shortening and sugar..... You know when I did this recipe I was so busy singing Christmas songs and dancing and laughing at Michael that I totally forgot to even put the brown sugar in..... They really were quite good this way. So try it both ways and see what you think! Anyways you want to whip these ingredients till they are light, airy and fluffy.
2. Add your vanilla. Crack your eggs into a seperate bowl (they work best when they are at a room temperature, you can either let your eggs sit out on the counter till they are not cold no more or you could get a bowl fill it with hot tap water (not super hot, good enough to stick your fingers in.... you dont want to cook the eggs) and let the eggs sit in the bowl till they have warmed up a little. Whisk the eggs then slowly add to your creamy mixture. 
3. I always add my salt and baking soda before my flour, or you could in a separate bowl whisk your flour, slat and soda together till there are no clumps and it is sifted to a fine mixture then slowly add. 
4. Now when we made these cookies what made them so super good is we did 1 cup mint chocolate chips, 1 cup milk chocolate chips and 3/4 cup chopped walnuts..... YUM!!!!!! They were absolutely loaded but super delicious.

Preheat your oven to 400 but when you put the cookies in turn the heat down to 350. Bake for approximately 8-12 minutes. They really dont turn a golden brown color on top, so be sure to check the bottom. I put them in for 8 minutes then I take my spatula and try to lift up the cookie if you can pick it up with ease without it scrunching up or falling apart then they should be good, if they do start to scrunch up then they need a little more time. but really you will know when they are done. My trick is I always (very) slightly under cook them, and then when I pull them out of the oven I set the cookie sheet on the stove top and let them sit for another minute or two. There is a little bit of heat that is coming up from the oven, and then from the heat of the sheet pan it will continue to cook, but they will not overcook. Creates for soft and sometimes chewy cookies!!!!! YUM!!!!!!

Michael and I with our delicious cookies! See they really dont change color.... but they are fluffy, soft and..... YUMMMMMM!!!!!!