Recipe > The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie

The title really says it all. I found this recipe on a blog a few months ago and decided I should try it out.

I have always been horrible at making chocolate chip cookies. The last time I made them they so bad Zack wouldn't eat them. They were so flat, greasy, and an ugly brown color. Zack didn't eat one of them he was too scared over what they looked like. When I saw how these cookies turned out I thought that I wouldn't be able to do it, but all that changed and I made the best chocolate chip cookie ever.

Don't they just look divine? I have never had my cookies look this good and I am so glad that I found this recipe. The secret is to make sure that the cookie is taller than it is wide. Here is what I did

I made sure that that the bottom of the cookie was flat so that it wouldn't topple over or anything. The picture from above is the way the cookie turned out so I promise this recipe is really good. 

Ingredients:

2 and 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, spoon and leveled

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup light brown sugar, loosely packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg +1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 bag chocolate chip cookies

Directions:

1. Combine flour, baking soda, cornstarch and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, combine butter (make sure it is melted! I put mine in the microwave for about 30 seconds to make sure it was melted), brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg & egg yolk, and vanilla with a whisk. 

3. Combine wet and dry ingredients together in the large bowl. I used a hand mixer to make sure the ingredients were all mixed in together really well but you can easily mix it together with a large spoon. Make sure the ingredients are blended well. 

4. Cover the cookie dough and chill for 1.5 to 2 hours. Chilling is a must. 

5. Take the dough out of the fridge and let is sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes.

6. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or grease the sheets. 

7. Roll the dough into balls, as seen above, making sure that they are taller then they are wide. Mine ended up looking like an egg which turned out fine. Just make sure and flatten the bottom so that they don't topple over. Put about 8 cookies on each baking sheet. You may need more than two baking sheets. 

8. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes. DO NOT GO OVER 12 MINUTES. The cookies will look mushy and not baked at all, however if you go over they will become too crisp. Pull the sheet out and let the cookies cool for about 10 minutes. The cookies continue baking on the sheet even out of the oven. 

9. After they have cooled, make sure and grab a glass of milk and enjoy some one on one time with the best chocolate chip cookie ever. 

Merry & Bright > Christmas with the Holladay's

This year was so much fun. It all starts Christmas eve for Zack & I, and I feel like it will continue on into the new year. The partying and family time just keeps getting better.

My mom has claimed Christmas Eve will always be a celebration at my parents house. We went over there around 4:00 Christmas Eve and had a great time chatting with my parents and my 3 sisters. I have one sister who is in El Salvador this year (who we got to talk to-- more on that later) so it was just us four girls and my husband. The evening started out with some potatoes, peas, and white sauce (we have this meal EVERY Christmas eve, since I was little and it is so special because my mom only makes it once a year). We also had rolls, and party punch (a drink my family made up with cranberry sauce and sprite, really good). After dinner we moved onto the next event which was the talent show. Jenna and Rachel (my two youngest sisters) played a piano duet, then Cassidy showed off her self timer skills with the iphone camera for her talent My husband represented our family and juggled some apples he found in the kitchen. Cassidy took this picture of everyone during her "talent"

Next we put on the Natvitiy, there are a lot of boy roles in the Nativity story from the New Testament so we had to improvise:

Jenna played Mary. 

Rachel played the angels.

Cassidy played Joseph

I played the shepard and the sheep

Zack played the wise man

After the nativity my sisters unwrapped their Christmas pajamas and my dad read us the Polar Express (also a tradition we have done every Christmas Eve). 

Zack and I went home around 9:00 pm and opened our own Christmas pajamas up, then we went to bed. 

Christmas day we spent a few hours unwrapping gifts and enjoying our presents. I found this little beauty in my stocking:

It's a Green Amethyst stone accented with diamonds! I feel in love with it. My husband said he had a connection with Santa and knew that I would love it. He was right. 

After presents we went to my in-laws house for Omelets and to spend Christmas morning with them. 

John, Rose and Zack doing the "Sasquatch pose"... I have no idea what brought this on. 

My lovely husband, making me laugh right before the photo is taken. He always knows how to put a smile on my face. 

After breakfast with my in-laws we went to my aunts house to spend Christmas day with my family. 

My Grandma decided she wanted to have a dance party so they showed us all up with their amazing dancing skills. It was so cute to watch, my Grandpa was really a pretty good dancer. 

We played some white elephant bingo! My cousin Blake is wearing her present on her head. 

We talked to Tori on Skype. She is the one in El Salvador on her mission. It was so great, she looked even more beautiful then the day she left and she was so happy. She was just beaming from ear to ear and she couldn't remember how to say some words in English. It was fun to watch and see how much Spanish she knew after only living there for 4 months. 

Overall it was such a fun Christmas day and we were so blessed by everyone who gave us wonderful gifts. 

We are going to St. George tomorrow for a little family vacation with my in-laws, it should be a lot of fun. 

I am excited to get some warm weather and hopefully sunshine as well. Utah December's are not very good, not a lot of sun so the trip will be welcoming. 

Well I hope everyone's Christmas was wonderful. 

XO

Caitlin

Caitlin, Currently

I haven't been up to a whole lot lately except lots of Christmas parties, wrapping of presents, and getting ready for Dec 25. I am loving life right now because I have the entire week off (paid time off even) which means I get to be home when Zack gets home from work. This never happens. I have a whole weeks worth of meals planned and ready to be prepared. I got all my Christmas shopping done today (I know I am a big procrastinator, luckily all the stores still had what I needed) and I got my daily workout in.

Lately though I have been loving the view out our kitchen window:

Mostly I just love the snow on the twiggy branches. Its so magical. 

We went out to my work Christmas party:

(sorry its a little blurry)

It was so much fun introducing my husband to everyone that I work with. It was a little weird watching the guys get completely drunk but kind of funny when we played some innocent pranks on them. They were too drunk to figure out what was happening, maybe in the future we will tell them what happened? Ha ha I doubt it, pretty funny. 

The food was so good, I ordered Salmon:

Zack got steak so he was pretty happy about that. Everything was portioned just right so you didn't feel like you were eating a lot of food, which is good. I loved the Salmon it was so delicious. If you need a really fancy place for date night make sure and eat at Christopher's in Salt Lake City, its good food and a fun environment but really pricey. 

I love our little Christmas tree. Its so beautiful and fits just perfect in our living room. Although the ornaments are a little scattered (I am not a perfectionist when it comes to decorating the tree) it looks great and as a bit of a Holladay touch that you can only get with our family. I love seeing all the presents wrapped up under the tree as well, although our Christmas is small this year its fun giving gifts to others so most of our presents are for other people. 

And our beautiful stockings all hung up. They match which makes it even better. My mom made our Christmas countdown and I love it. I think I need to change it to two days though... Also don't mind the laundry basket in the kitchen. It's all folded I just need to put it away, which is what I will be doing today. 

I just love this time of year and I am so grateful for this time to hang out with my family. I am especially grateful for the true meaning of Christmas. This time of year I always reflect on the Savior and his birth as a little baby. I think about Joseph and Mary and how much joy they must have had at holding that little baby in their arms. I also think that they had a lot of anxiety and fear, knowing and realizing that they were going to be raising the Son of God. I am grateful that I have a Savior and that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I am especially grateful that I get to be with Zack for time and all eternity. I love him so much and I am glad I get to be with him Forever. 

Well have a Merry Christmas everyone.

XO 

Caitlin

Recipe > Honey Mustard Pork Chops

I made this recipe last night for dinner. It is so delicious and has a bunch of good flavors. I think it would make a great sauce for chicken as well. Zack really enjoyed it which means I will make it again in the future. Make sure and dress it up with some sort of vegetable, our staple is green beans but peas would work or a yummy Caesar salad. 

Ingredients:

1 package Thin Cut Pork Chops (I used 6 slices of pork chops, but you can find packages in 4 if you don't want leftovers)

2/3 cups honey

1/2 cup Dijon Mustard

2 Tsp paprika

2 tsp parsley

Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions:

preheat oven to 350 degrees

grease a 9 X 13 pan and place pork chops on the bottom

In a small bowl combine honey, Dijon mustard, paprika, parsley, and salt/pepper. Mix ingredients until well combined. 

Pour mixture over the pork chops and make sure each piece is well covered.

Cook for 30-35 minutes or until there is no pink in the middle of the meat.