Dr. Mike's Protein Cookies

Since our guys grew up, moved out and left Hubby and I with an empty nest we have changed our eating habits.  We are trying to eat a bit less and bit more healthy.  When I miss baking one of the guys receives a care package or I bake Dr. Mike's Protein Cookies.  The protein cookie recipe is from the The 17-Day Diet book.  Granted these are not as tasty as the Almond Glazed Sugar Cookies that we all know and love but they are satisfying and pretty tasty.

Dr. Mike's Protein Cookies

 

INGREDIENTS
* 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
* 2 tablespoons almond paste****
* 1 tablespoon flax seed oil
* 10 packets of Truvia
* ¼ cup agave nectar
* 1 large egg
* ½ teaspoon vanilla
* ¾ cup whole wheat flour * ½ teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* ½ teaspoon salt
* ¼ teaspoon black pepper
* ½ cup vanilla whey powder
* 2 cups oats
* 1 cup dried cherries
* ½ cup sliced almonds

DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together applesauce, almond paste, flax seed oil, Truvia and agave nectar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour, baking soda, salt, pepper and whey powder. Beat thoroughly. Stir in oats, cherries and almonds. Mix well.

*Drop the batter by large tablespoons onto a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with **vegetable cooking spray. Divide dough so that you have 18 cookies. Flatten each cookie with the back of the spoon.

Bake 16 to 18 minutes or until brown. Remove from oven. *****Cool and store in a plastic container. ***Each cookie supplies 128 calories and 5+ g. of protein.

My recipe notes and tips: 
Also known as my way or the highway:
AKA too many asterisks to count*********:
****I sometimes substitute a bit more applesauce and 1/2 tsp. almond flavoring for the almond paste.
*I use my medium sized cookie scoop.   The medium cookie scoop makes more than the 18 cookies per batch.  ***This works for me because then I figure each cookie has about 100 calories instead of 128.   I like to count by 100's.  It's easier for me.  Here's my creepy little secret... don't laugh... If I can't sleep at night I count up my calories for the day in my head.  The math prevents dementia, the calorie count keeps me accountable and if I can't count that high I give up and fall asleep.  And falling asleep is the goal. Right?  Although some nights I lay awake and freak about all the calories I had that day.  Boo.

**The recipe is NOT kidding about spraying your cookie sheets with vegetable oil!  These babies stick!  I flatten the cookies with my fingers which I dip in cold water.  Why?  Because these babies stick!

*****I double the batch.  Why not?  Everything is out and they are all going into the freezer anyway.  I wrap each cookie in saran wrap and store them in a large Ziploc bag.  They are easy to grab for a to go snack.

If you aren't watching your weight or want a treat bake the Almond Glazed Sugar Cookies today.  They are the bomb and  I miss them.  A. LOT.

The Painting is Finished

We've been painting at the Stone House.  Well actually, I've been complaining a lot about painting with a little painting thrown in.  It started with the upstairs landing.  Here are the BEFORE pictures.  These were taken after the Christmas decorations were taken down but not put away.  It looked like some crazy hoarder lives here.  Be nice.

We ended up getting new doors, new trim  around the doors, painting the landing and the kitchen, organizing the closet, the attic and the built in shelves and dresser.

AFTER:

I swapped the desk for one that was in Max's room, Hubby built a new door for the attic access and we continued to paint.

The photo of the doors may not be a great photo but what is significant is that the doors and knobs are all the same now and they are all painted.  I kinda love them.

 This project went on and on.  For too long it went on.  I was determined to get control over the weekend.  I wrote a weekend to-do list.  It was pretty ambitious.  On Friday I went to find curtain rods for our bedroom, made some returns in Bellingham, brought a care package to Angela to deliver to Sam and  I went to the worst garage sale ever on Friday morning.  Ever.  Then I baked cookies and mailed Max a care package.  Don't worry Danny, you're next!

On Saturday I painted and painted, cleaned and cleaned some more.  We had friends over for dinner but they brought the dinner!

Tonight the painting is finished, the paint and tools are put where they belong, the new curtains are hung in the bedroom, which I did Spring clean.   The house is clean, the laundry and ironing are caught up.  Many, many projects were completed this weekend.  Hubby helped today.  A lot.  He does the hard stuff for me.

 I think it's fair to say that we are finished with indoor projects until Fall.  Well, at least until we have a rainy week or two.

I didn't make it to the bank or to the Green Barn for groceries.  Hubby said he'd go for me tomorrow.

I'm going back to work to get some rest!

Chihuly Glass and Garden

On Monday Hubby and I went on a field trip with Mark and Karen to Seattle.  We went to see the Chihuly Garden and Glass at Seattle Center.  After parking downtown, we took the monorail to the Seattle Center.

Dale Chihuly, a local artist,  uses the Puget Sound, Native American art and photos, flowers, plants and his collections for inspiration.  

 A museum docent took our photo, gave us a card and told us to scan the card at a kiosk, we could then email the photos to ourselves.  It was included in the admission price and I thought it was a nice touch.

Dale Chihuly doesn't blow glass anymore because of physical limitations but he draws, paints and designs the installations.  His drawing are included in some of the exhibits.

 I loved the ceiling installation.  I wanted to lay on the floor and just rest.

 We moved on to the indoor garden and wow it was stunning.

 The wood boat filled with floats was beautiful as was the one filled with sea life.

 After the indoor exhibit we went out to the gardens, leaving the building through the conservatory.  It was inspired by Chihuly's collection of conservatory vintage postcards.  They were enlarged, framed and on the wall.  

Karen is planning a party.  It would be fantastic to party here and it is possible.  We asked a docent for an estimate of cost.  To reserve the entire exhibit and garden it is $70,000+.  There was a wedding held on Saturday evening.  They reserved it in its entirety and had Collections provide the catering and open bar at an additional cost.  And yes, the open bar did make museum staff nervous.

 The next two photos are my self portraits at the exhibit and in the garden.  The second one is my reflection in the ball.  We stopped at the gift shop as we were leaving and they were selling a postcard that was similar, of course, I wasn't in that photo.

After viewing the garden we had lunch at Collections, an on site restaurant featuring Chihuly's collections.  Each of the tables features a collection.  Our table was vintage toy travel trailers.  Oh my!  I need to collect those.  There were accordions hanging from the ceiling, framed collections and of course, the tables.  Our food was delicious too.

We enjoyed small plates at Dragonfish and then shopped our way home.  It was a wonderful day!

* This post has many photos but it's a fraction of what I took.  I did not use a flash as I felt the flashes going off around me were very intrusive.  I set my little point and shoot camera on the flower setting, turned the flash off and held it low, and against my leg to keep the camera still for most of the photos.  I didn't know what I would actually get until I had taken the photo.

He is Risen, Indeed

Last week I was a tad busy.

The museum hosted its annual Docent and Volunteer Dinner on Thursday evening.   Since it was close to Easter I chose a flowery purple theme for the tables.  I took no pictures as the whole thing felt frantic for me.

After we were home from the dinner and the car was unloaded Max arrived home for Easter.

It was so good to see him.  He plopped on the sofa and I plopped right next to him.

Hubby had a four day weekend, Max came home and the sun was shining.  It was a perfect storm.

We painted.  And then we painted some more.  The landing, hall and kitchen are painted.  The doors and trim are painted.  The banister is not.  The walls are a pale cream color and the trim is grey.  The paint cans are out of the kitchen.  The cars got washed, the lawn mowed, weeds got pulled, paint was applied, and the floors got mopped.  

I wanted to have a dozen more Fridays and Saturdays but Saturday rolled into Sunday and Sunday was Easter and it is the best!  I attended a funeral for Janet, my Mom's cousin and dear lifelong friend, on Tuesday.  I thought about Janet during the service and what a special Easter she was having in heaven this year.   Her funeral made Passion Week very meaningful for me.

 After our church service on Easter morning we went to my parents home for Sunday dinner.

 So many Easter egg hunts have involved pretty Easter dresses, parkas and rubber boots in the Pacific Northwest that it felt like a modern day miracle to enjoy sunshine and  warm temperatures on Easter Day.

 Everyone should be lucky enough to have a cute little girl running around wearing a pretty pink skirt and cowboy boots.

 Max and Levi helped hide the eggs and then set themselves up for some action on the bench by the pond.  They each had an egg in their hot little hands.  They spread rumors that they had the  money  eggs.   The kids tried to grab the eggs but of course, Max and Levi were faster and closed their hand over the egg.

Not nice, Lucy! 

 No one tried harder than Clayton.  Clayton makes me pine for the days when my guys were little.  He is just adorable and would be mortified to be called adorable but he is adorable.  I don't want to be known as the crazy old auntie that pinches cheeks but ohhh my, it is tempting with that cutie patootie!

 There were confetti eggs after the hunt.

 It felt so good to be in the sunshine with family.  It was a wonderful day.

Later, I'll post about our field trip that we took Monday.  It was a good thing.  Very good, indeed.

Junkin' Again

On Saturday Shelly and I went junkin'.  Again.  This was an estate sale with a packed house.  We stood in line early and then when the doors opened we were right there.  It was slow going through the house and even slower checking out.  There were many shoppers.

Good thing we took our assertive pills prior to the sale...

 I left Shelly in the driveway with our pile of loot.  I ran back into the house to  pack up a set of dishes. HAH!  You thought I was going to say that I bought a set of dishes.  No, not this time, it was Shelly.  My big purchase was the green chair, which I had to pack out of the basement.  I then jogged back to the car and drove back to where Shelly was saving me some rock star parking. 

 After all of our hard work we needed a break so we stopped at Lettered Street Coffee for some caffeine and a treat or two.  We enjoyed a nice visit with Sam's girl, Angela and then headed back to Lynden.

 I unloaded and then vacuumed, polished and scrubbed the chair.  Honestly, I didn't know where it was going but I loved the shape.  For the time being she is in the living room with a throw to soften the green.

 The green picks up on the green in the curtains and the green in our Evergreen Playground map.  If I decide I want to change it I can always get it recovered with some painter's drop cloth.  Or sell it to Shelly or to the woman that wanted to buy it from me in the driveway.

A small box of shiney brites and a candy cane blow mold were it for Christmas items.  I found a few other small items too.  A very successful, sunny Saturday for me.

Meanwhile...

I am still painting and I am still complaining about it.  And I am still not finished.

No end in sight...

EFMB

Sam spent the past two weeks in the field, training, testing and PASSING the Expert Field Medical Badge.
I am so happy for him and just a little proud of That Sam I Am.  Well, a lot proud of him.  Just in case you aren't familiar with the EFMB requirements I've posted them below, taken from Wikipedia.  Not always a great source but this will give us an idea of the requirements.

"The Expert Field Medical Badge is a United States Army decoration first created on June 18, 1965. This badge is the non-combat equivalent of the Combat Medical Badge and is awarded to medical personnel of the US Military who successfully complete a set of qualification tests including both written and performance portions. It is authorized for wear by United States Air Force medical personnel that meet the same requirements.
Army regulations prohibit the wearing of both decorations simultaneously by personnel awarded the Expert Field Medical Badge and the Combat Medical Badge. In such cases, the Combat Medical Badge has precedence according to Army Regulation 670-1.

The pass rate for FY 2008 was 15.3%, making the EFMB one of the most difficult and prestigious Army skill badges to earn.

Comprehensive Written Test

60 multiple choice questions; 75% to pass.

Army Physical Fitness Test

Pass to standard.

M16 or M4 Weapons Qualification

Pass to standard within last 12 months.

Land Navigation

Day and night land navigation courses.

Forced Road March

12-mile road march with a standard fighting load to be completed in three hours.

Current CPR certification

Tactical Combat Casualty Care Tasks

• Perform a TCCC patient assessment
• Triage casualties
• Control bleeding using a tourniquet, hemostatic device, and dressings
• Initiate a saline lock and IV
• Initiate treatment for hypovolemic shock & prevent hypothermia
• Insert nasopharyngeal airway
• Treat a penetrating chest wound
• Perform needle chest decompression
• Treat an open abdominal wound
• Treat a casualty with an open head injury
• Immobilize a suspected fracture of the arm
• Treat eye lacerations/contusions/extrusions

Medical and Casualty Evacuation Tasks

• Evacuate a casualty using a SKED litter and litter carries
• Evacuate casualties using one- or two-person carries or drags
• Extricate a casualty from a vehicle
• Establish a helicopter landing point
• Load casualties onto a helicopter, ground evacuation platform, and two nonstandard vehicles

Warrior Skills Tasks

• Protect self from chem/bio contamination with protective mask
• Decontaminate self with chemical decon kits
• Protect self from CBRN injury or contamination with JSLIST gear
• Store protective mask
• Protect self from bio/chem contamination when removing JSLIST
• Perform self-aid for mild nerve agent poisoning
• Correct malfunction of M16 or M4
• Disassemble, assemble, and perform functions check of an M9 pistol and an M16 (or M4) rifle
• Move under direct fire, react to indirect fire, and react to an UXO or possible IED
• Move over, through, and around obstacles

Communications Tasks (5 Tasks)

• Assemble and operate SINCGARS or SINCGARS (ASIP) w/o ANCD
• Load FH/COMSEC data and conduct radio check using SINCGARS / SINCGARS (ASIP)
• Prepare and Transmit a MEDEVAC request (All 9 lines) (No longer a Mandatory GO)
• Submit an NBC 1 Report
• Submit an Explosive Hazard Spot Report"

The testing takes five days and by Friday morning Sam had passed all tests and lanes.  He was texting us each day to let us know if he had passed.  Hubby and I were praying for him and his buddy, Perkins.  On Friday morning the last requirement is a 12 mile ruck in full gear in less than 3 hours.  Normally this wouldn't be a problem for Sam but after two weeks in the field he was very tired and hungry(honestly, rations!).  His buddy Nate Perkins was with him and they were the only two from their group to pass the five days of tests.  Sgt. Tucker came out and ran back with them to cheer them on to the finish line.  They made it with 12 minutes to spare.

Sam on the left and Nate on the right at the finish.

Nate has a wife and twin baby boys, God bless them too.

Congratulations guys!