Rainy Weekend

We're in the rainy season here in Okinawa. It's been pouring non-stop for the past three days. The roads get slick from the coral dust and the Okinawans were protesting the US Military presence here this weekend, so we didn't really do our normal weekly errands. We made it to the commissary (grocery store) so that J could get a certain brand of salsa he likes. He calls it his crack. You can kind of see how dreary it is here from the next two pictures.





So, in my never ending effort to clean out the kitchen cabinets, I decided to make some cookies.

First up were Chocolate Chip Cookies with Hershey's Assorted Miniatures. I halved the recipe so the quantities below are for a whole batch

You will need:
45 Hershey's assorted miniatures (because I halved the recipe, I did not use the mini heath bars in the picture)
8 oz butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 cups flour


Preheat the oven to 325. Coarsely chop the candy bars. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla. Add the baking soda, salt and flour. Mix until well blended. Fold in the candy bars. Bake for 9-11 minutes.

This recipe took car of using all the miniature candy bars we had in the house. J buys this stuff and then only eats the special dark bars, which is unusual because he's not much of a candy eater. These cookies were pretty good. I'm not sure where the chocolate chip cookies come from though, because no chocolate chips are used.

Then the next cookie I made was from a small Pillsbury magazine that you find at the check-out. I bought this one when we lived in Germany and used it quite a bit when the kids were little. There is a recipe in the book to make calico kitty cookies and whenever the kids had a birthday, I would make those to send to school with them.

At any rate, this time I made the No-Bake Brownie Bites

You will need:

1 (1 lb 3.5 oz) pkg fudge brownie mix

2/3 cup milk

1/2 cup margarine or butter

1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used chunky because that is what we had on hand)

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups quick-coking rolled oats

1 cup candy-coated chocolate pieces (M&M's)

In a large saucepan, combine the brownie mix, milk and margarine; cook over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add the peanut butter and vanilla, blend well. Stir in the oats, then carefully stir in the M&M's. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto waxed paper-lined cookie sheets.

I was able to use up all of the remaining oats, the brownie mix and almost all of the peanut butter. So more progress is being made.

We also talked to K1 yesterday. He went to Washington D.C with the Mormons. I thought the Mormons were just want he and his friends were calling some of the guys they hang around with. When I asked who they were, his comment "uh, you know, The Latter Day Saints?" So, I guess it was the religious group. He said that these types of groups on the post offer day trips to some of the surrounding areas. I haven't heard whether the trip was good or not.