I was out and about today, doing my thing, when I met a nice man. He had ordered a coffee refill at my fave coffee house and only had plastic.  We sprung for the $1.50 because no one should be without good coffee, he thanked us and went on his way.  A few minutes later I was chatting with the owner and the gentleman walked up and asked the owner how he knew these four girls in the picture frame.  I was standing there when the owner said, “This is their mom”. I introduced myself to the man I had just bought (the best ever) coffee for and found out that he knows my kids from Daddy night at the mall.  Every tuesday he and his wife and kids have date night at the play area at the mall, and every tuesday my girls have Daddy Date night at the same mall.  Anyway, small world, we chatted about the kids and what it takes to raise them these days, and how nice it is to put missing pieces of the puzzle together.  I had heard the girls talking about him and his family, and then to meet him so randomly was a neat treat.  So, my point in this story is, you never know who you are going to meet.  It was neat to have a great story for the day and make a connection with a family that has positively influenced my kids.  Let’s love each other and treat each other with respect. This world is getting a little crazy and scary, but if we can continue to treat others with dignity and class, everything will be okay.  That is my soap box for today.  If you have any neat stories about things that happen to you, let me know.   I thought this was pretty neat, and I think he’ll be a regular at my fave coffee house. (You all know which one it is!) In fact we are going to be having a big event there on Sunday March 1, from 2-4.  Check out the “What’s New” section of the site to get all the info. 

Until next time!

Keepin’ it OriGinal!  Gina

They say variety is the spice of life. And in my case, they are right. Every week we get new recipes coming across our desk and they are as varied as they can be. Sometimes, we get one that really makes a mark on our lives. It’s just what we were looking for, just the right flavors, a great story attached, fun to make, all the ingredients for a great time in the kitchen. The fun really happens when we can involve the kids and that is just the case with my favorite recipe. It’s a little of this, and a little of that, all added in to make baking fun and educational. My Daughter Olivia, (5), absolutely LOVES to bake. I can’t pull out the mixer without her pulling up a chair. She drags her heavy wooden chair up to the counter and fights with her little sister about who can add this ingredient, and who gets to crack the eggs. There is no loss for jobs in the recipe, and no loss for a lesson either. The recipe is BLACK PEPPER COOKIES and they are the best things since sliced bread! They are packed full of spices, cloves, ginger, pepper, salt, and Olivia’s first and second favorite spices, vanilla and cinnamon. Teaching the girls the differences that spices make, how much to add, when to add and why you add, are very fun and important lessons that I love teaching them. One day, Olivia dragged her chair up to the counter and started opening all the spice lids. She systematically took off each lid, smelled it, stuck her little pinky in and tasted and then reacted about the differences. She loved nutmeg, was interested by oregano and thyme and did not like pepper all by itself. She loves learning and I love watching her explore the kitchen and what goes into making a recipe fabulous. So, please keep sending us your recipes, you are teaching the next generation that food doesn’t just come in a box and gets cooked in the microwave! We are bringing real food back to the kitchen. Until next time, I’ll be keepin’ it original!

Black Pepper Cookies

(Taste like a wonderfully chewy and soft ginger snap!)
Ingredients:

Mix Together Until Creamy:

2 cups sugar
1 ½ cups shortening (Crisco)

Add:

2 eggs
½ cup molasses (regular)

Sift Together:

4 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons cloves
2 teaspoons ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
4 teaspoons baking soda ADD AFTER ALL MIXED TOGETHER WELL
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Add flour mixture into wet ingredients and mix well. Add baking soda last!
Roll dough into golf ball size balls and roll in sugar.
Bake on greased cookie sheet (do not press down) at 350 for 8 minutes.
Cookies will rise and when they begin to crack on top, they’re ready to come out.
Do not overcook. To keep cookies moist and chewy, place in plastic container or zip lock bag while they are still warm. Recipe makes about 36 cookies.

Jan’s Cook Notes: We made a few batches before we got the timing down pat. We would take them out just a little too late and they would end up a bit too overcooked and crispy. The real beauty of these gems is that they’re chewy and soft! Anyone can buy a hard ginger snap, right? A lot depends on your oven and whether or not you use convection or conventional bake. The good news is, they’re tasty even when they’re a little bit overcooked. But they’re magnificent if you can get the timing just right—and take them out