Hauntie, that is a very funny story. Sure wish I lived closer. Those cookies sound good. I used to make cookies for Christmas, toll house and my grandmother's butter cookie recipe, but the last few years things were so hectic, I didn't get around to it. Just bought the toll house cookie dough and made them from that. Maybe this year.



I had a similar experience in rads, about six tattoos. They are very small, but I would say more black than brown, but maybe that's because my skin is so pale. I didn't get the lymphadema from rads (although that is a risk), I got it just before rads started. The BS did a level 2 ALND, but I had cording even before surgery. I do think the simulation where I held my arms over my head for about 40 minutes was the final straw that brought it on. My hand was so clenched on the machine when it was over, the tech had to pry my fingers open.

Laurie - so glad you went to the doctor and got some good drugs!!! Hope you feel better soon. I agree with Seaside - yogurt would probably accomplish the same thing as the probiotics.  Get some rest!!!

I missed the last page and post before i posted and ooops dont know why it is in bold letters

Today was my 3rd day on an antibiotic for a horribly sore throat.  I'm pretty sure it was strept because I've had it before.  As luck would have it, I already had an apptment with my PCP on Tues, so it worked out well to see her and get a prescription.  Today I felt well enough to play 18 holes of golf.

Laurie, I hope you recover quickly.  Your soup sounds good.  As soon as our weather gets colder, we'll be enjoying some soups and chilis.

We were supposed to go out tonight to a function that included food, but DH came home from golf really pooped so we didn't go.  I didn't mind.  I got a package of home-made spaghetti sauce out of the freezer, thawed it, and cooked some Dreamfield linguine.  Made a green salad.  It was a good dinner.  The sauce is made with Italian sausage and we had fresh-grated parm.

a lovely story Hauntie.. who'd a thunk parchment paper would be problematic.

I never made mac and cheese because we were out of butter.  i did make pasta with olive oil, garlic and parmesan.. it was an ok substitute for the girl child who loves pasta any which way.. She is 12 now and her appetite and range of foods is expanding.. that's good.  She's always been so darn picky.

Apple - 12 minute soup sounds like a winner!  It will be interesting to see how "done" those leeks get in such a short time.  I'm not a fan of raw or undercooked onion, not sure how I would feel about less than mushy leeks.

Debbie - woohoo!!!  I think we all knew you were worried, and we were worried along with you.  So glad to hear that it's "just" osteopenia.  Get that calcium, vit d3 and Boniva going!  I think that keeping the bones nice and dense helps ward off bone mets. 

Laurie - hope you are feeling better this morning!  I always find it fascinating that your boys will eat pretty much anything.  My grandkids would take one look at that soup and wouldn't even want to taste it!  They don't even like mashed potatoes!

Carole - glad you are feeling well enough to play golf.  Isn't it funny that if you get a sore throat, you almost hope for strep because then you know that antibiotics will make it all better in a couple of days.  It's those nasty viruses that hang on for more than a week that really get us down.

And thanks, everyone for DH's birthday wishes. He had a good day yesterday and will have a great weekend of birthday celebration.  I made his favorite breakfast yesterday (baked apple pancake with Burger Smokehouse bacon) and we went for prime rib last night. Tonight we are going out for Mexican food (he really wants this as I've not been able to eat it during treatment) and tomorrow the family is coming for dinner. We'll be having beef bourgignon and pineapple upside down cake. I'll be busy! Monday night we are having a football watch party - the KC Chiefs are playing the NE Patriots and everyone is coming for that. That will be a bit of a "tailgate party" theme.

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend. Oh, the weather here is fantabulous - heading to the 60's both days!  If only this could last until April!!!

Funny story about picky eaters.  We never had kids so I knew nothing about them, as kids we weren't allowed to be picky.  I had just met a woman who became one of my dearest friends at my DH's office party.  She had mentioned her love of Chinese food so when I invited the family for dinner I made Chinese.  Never thought to ask about the kids preferences.  They were 4 and 5 years old at the time.  It wasn't until we were finishing the final prep that she told me they wouldn't eat eggs and detested Chinese food.  I just said then we won't tell them.  The kids loved the flower soup" and my "hot salad". 

Debbie- I'm so happy about your good news!!!

I just finished frosting 6 dozen italian cookies. As promised, here's the recipe.

Auntie Tina/Auntie Lynda Cookies

For the cookies

1/2 c margarine

1/4  c shortening

3/4 c sugar

4 eggs

3-4 cups flour

5 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 teaspoons anise or vanilla extract

Pre heat oven to 375

Melt the margarine and shortening together and let cool. Sift 3 cups of the flour with the baking powder and salt. 

Beat the sugar, a little at a time, into the melted margarine/shortening. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat after each addition. Add the extract and beat. Add and beat the 3 cups of flour mixed with baking powder about 1/3 at a time.Check the consistency of the dough, before you add more flour. You're looking for a very, thick, slightly sticky dough. It should almost stick to your hands, when you try to roll it into a ball. The dough will kind of start to pull away from the bowl, too. You may need to use most or all of that last cup of flour.Sift it in about 1/3 at a time.

The easiest way to shape these is to use a cookie scoop. I use either a 1 or 1 1/2 inch one. Scoop the dough, like ice cream, onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Once you have scooped a sheet full, roll each one into a little ball. If your not using a cookie scoop, pinch off enough dough to roll into a walnut sized ball. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes. The cookies should NOT brown on top. They should almost be like little cakes. Stick a toothpick in. If it comes out clean, they are done. They will also be lightly browned on the bottom. Let cool on the sheet for a few minutes and move them to a cooling rack.

The Frosting

2 cups confectioners sugar

3/4 tsp anise or vanilla extract

milk

colored sprinkles

Mix the sugar and extract, add milk a couple of tablespoons at a time until you get a frosting that's just a little too thin to spread. This is not an exact science. If you add too much milk, just add more sugar. I divide the frosting into little bowls and add a drop of a different food color to each or you can just leave it white.

Frosting is a wet hand/dry hand job. Spread out wax paper and put your cooling racks on top of it. Dip the tops of cookies into the frosting, then put on the rack, the frosting will slide down the sides of the cookie and the excess will drip onto the waxed paper. Sprinkle with colored sprinkles. Tradition calls for the little round sprinkles, but you can use whatever kind/shape you want. I usually dip 6-8 cookies and then shake on the sprinkles. If the frosting starts to dry, the sprinkles will just bounce off the cookies.

NOTES: I've also used a butter/shortening mixture to make these. The original recipe calls for magarine, though and I think it does make a slight difference in the texture. 

I usually flavor the cookies with anise extract and flavor the frosting with vanilla. For true anise fans, use anise in both. If you don't like anise, use all vanilla.

I think they would be really good flavored with lemon extract and lemon frosting, but I've never tried it. It would be sacrilegious to make them like that to bring to a family function.

Enjoy

Now. I have another old family recipe, typed up and ready to store in google docs for future generations.

Hauntie, I wonder what fats were originally used in your cookies.  If the recipe is really a very old one I would have been curious what fats or oils were indigenous to the region of your family.  Margarine and shortening are relatively recent inventions.  I don't know what type of butter, if any, was available to my family but I do know they used mostly pork or fish for food and hence would have had lard.  Just for fun I've tried lard in several old recipes with good success. 

Debbie, wonderful news! I have been thinking of you, but didn't want to add to your anxiety by hounding you about it. I am very happy for you.



Laurie, glad to hear you're on the road to being better. I know those probiotics are expensive, I had to get them for my son last year. I don't think it's all yogurt that has the probiotics in them (or not the same amount any way). I think it's activa that claims it has the probiotics. Maybe the Greek yogurt too? I am not sure.



Michelle, hope you and DH enjoy the b-day weekend celebration. Sounds like a lot of fun.



Hauntie, thanks for the secret family recipe. If I bake some cookies this year, I will try them. I hope my son will come home for Christmas. He likes to bake, he would do it with me.



Apple, good job on making your kids eat everything. I wish I would have done hat, I think it is too late for me. Yesterday we had vegetarian chile, DD made herself some chicken rice. At least now, she is in charge of getting herself something if she doesn't want what I cook. No more cooking two meals for me!

GREAT NEWS, Debbie!!!



Waiting for those results is so stressful and it really does build with each day that passes! So glad that the Doc didn't keep you hanging over the weekend!



It sure is a strange world we have been thrust into where we are happy to hear we have osteoarthritis but, here we all are... lol!



Hope you celebrated like crazy last night!!

Seaside-I did celebrate last night, LOL!   and Thank-you :-)))

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