Chocolate Chip Cookies & Thoughts on Normalcy

Sometimes life gets so busy that it gets the best of me. I forget that it's not normal that dishes are left undone, and meals are hastily prepared, and the bathroom is left dusty. Bill's been filling in as I run from work to school to yoga. It's the kind of life I tried to avoid ever since I graduated from college.

It took a batch of chocolate chip cookies to remind me what is normal. Normal is freshly baked breads and family dinners and board game nights and drinks with friends. And time to breathe. It's time to work on getting life back to normal.

This is just Hersey's chocolate chip cookie recipe with walnuts. The recipe makes 5 dozen, and we had enough for the weekend my mother-in-law visited, a BBQ dinner with church friend, and camping with my sister-in-law.

My mom is visiting soon. I hope she will enjoy the chocolate chip cookies!

I also made white chocolate macadamia nut cookies with some leftover ingredients.

If you have a busy life, slow down and enjoy a cookie. You deserve it!

Blueberry Strawberry Pie

It's been a while since I've made a pie. What better time than the Fourth of July?

Surprisingly, the Internet has very few recipes with just strawberry and blueberry to offer. So I adapted this three berry pie recipe from one of the most dependable recipe blogs: JoyOfBaking, with 2 cups of blueberries and 3 cups of halved strawberries.

The lemon/sugar mixture is a dry mixture.

The pie crust is from SmittenKitchen. At first I was very skeptical because the dough was not as crumbly as I'm used to, but it bakes really well!

Once the pie crust is rolled out, pour in the berry mixture.

Then I cut out stripes with a pastry cutter. Very evenly as always.

Of course I could have studied up on the craft of making a lattice pie crust, but I decided to improvise...because a summer cabin and a day of fishing was about to begin! So this is how I started, alternating over and under strips.

The filling bubbled up. The crust was puffy and flaky. The pie was delicious without being overly tart.

Cut a piece and enjoy your Independence Day!