Monday, September 9, 2013

Virtual Running Date No. 24: Small victories and dessert

Good morning, Crushers!

Do you ever have a day where you feel like you didn't do much? If we were on a virtual running date today, I would tell you how it's important to count all the small victories when you're having a blah day. For instance, since I'm teaching a class this semester, I have to get to work really early on the non-class days to carpool with Steve and make up my hours. On these days, I want to give myself a high five if my clothes all match and I get makeup on my face before 8 a.m. Never mind that I was putting mascara on at my desk...

This weekend wasn't a terribly busy weekend, and I'm glad. We needed some time to just mellow out. Friday night we stayed home (didn't have to tape a game/scout), ate dinner, and watched TV. I'm pretty sure I didn't move very far from the couch except to do the dishes. High five - the dishes got done!

Saturday we got up and ran part of the Ice Age Trail in the Holy Hill segment to find a boardwalk/bridge that Steve wanted to check out. We didn't realize what treacherous hills and overgrowth would hinder us. High five - I didn't totally wipe out after hitting that rock.

We also got to do a few things around the house, Steve helped my parents take some stuff to the dump and I celebrated the bride-to-be, Jenny, with some friends at her low-key bachelorette party. We went to this Arte Wine and Painting Studio where you can either take classes, use instructions or paint freestyle. High five - I didn't get any paint on my clothes!
It's supposed to be "The Wisdom Tree", but ended up looking more like a candy tree.


Sunday, we went to church where we had the most beautiful Unity Sunday (where we only have one service for everyone in the school gym). The bell choir played (high five - I didn't miss a note except the one I purposely skip), the choirs sang, the Chinese outreach choir sang in Chinese, no one fainted from heat, the microphones worked and over 500 people praised God. HIGH FIVE!

Although the Packers didn't win (Steve says there are 6 plays that either make or break a game), we watched the game, ate Greek burgers stuffed in pita pockets (delish!), and made a dessert with just enough ingredients that neither of us had to go to the grocery store for. High five!

Overall it was a pretty great weekend. We got so much done, even if it was just the little things.

Oatmeal Chocolate Raisin Bars:
(adapted from Chocolate Chip Bars from the Entenmann's Big Book of Baking)
Oat mix:
1 cup flour
1 cup quick cooking oats
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (one stick) butter, softened to almost melted (about 20 seconds in the microwave)

Filling:
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup raisins
1 cup chocolate chips

Gear you'll need: A big bowl, a 13x9 pan (greased), a big spoon, can opener, measuring cups and spoons

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the butter in the big bowl and pop it in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Using the butter wrapper, grease your baking pan. Take the bowl out of the microwave and add the flour, sugar and oats. Mix until it has the consistency of wet sand and oats. Press all but 1/2 cup of the oat mix into the bottom of the pan using your hands.
Oat Crust

Rinse out the big bowl (why make another bowl dirty?) and mix all of the filling ingredients together. Pour that on top of the oat crust and spread it out. Sprinkle the saved oat mix over that. Bake in the oven for 25-ish minutes (I think mine turned out to be about 28 minutes because I didn't hear the timer go off right away). Let it cool for at least 20-30 minutes before slicing into bars or it'll stick to the knife and make a mess.

Note: the original recipe called for chopped nuts, but we didn't have any, nor are we chopped nuts kind of people. It also says to spread the sweetened condensed milk out before topping with the chocolate chips, but I misread the directions. It turns out fine if you stir everything together!

Enjoy!

2 comments:

  1. I completely agree that sometimes it's the little things that need to be focused on because otherwise you just become totally overwhelmed!! Good job on all those little things that you were able to accomplish :D

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  2. Thanks Susan! I have a feeling this fall is going to be a lot like that! Hope you have a wonderful day!

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