Fresh From the Garden Carrots!

Last week I decided it was time to pull up my carrots.  I had planted the Danvers Half Longs back in April.  Ok, "planted" may be too technical of a term - I dumped a packet of carrot seeds over a four by four foot area and swished the dirt around and watered.  These are a shorter carrot variety that do very well in raised bed gardens.  This year they did great, even though they were crowded and overrun by weeds due to gardener neglect.  I gathered up a large bowl of carrots that have some very special destinations.  GBaby gets some as baby food and cooked up as finger food and a bunch ended up in Chicken Pot Pie (I'll post that recipe tomorrow :-))

Easy Cookie Bars!

Returning from a trip is always so much more work than leaving for the trip.  Last week was filled with a task list a mile long and lots to do for everyone else.  By Thursday afternoon, I decided it was time to do something for me.  I am a huge fan of coconut, chocolate and pecans and easy cookie bar recipes are my best friend!  I had used a spoon of sweetened condensed milk in my much needed coffee on Tuesday before I got to the grocery store so I needed to use the rest of the can (see, I HAD to make these).  This recipe is in the tradition of the Magic/7 Layer Cookie Bars, with the ingredients slightly tweaked.  Prep time is 10 minutes- tops.  Bake it for 25 and then let the cookie bars set- that’s the truly hardest part- and enjoy! (Click here for a printable version of the Macaroon Cookie Bar recipe)

Macaroon Cookie Bars

1 ½ cups crushed Graham Crackers (usually 1 package, crushed)

½ cup Margarine, melted

1 cup chopped Pecans

1 ½ cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, divided

2 cups Unsweetened Coconut, divided

1-14.5 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk

Directions

1. Combine graham cracker crumbs and melted margarine and press into the bottom of a 9x13” pan.
2. Sprinkle 1 ½ cups of Coconut, 1 cup of Chocolate Chips and chopped pecans on top of graham cracker crust, in that order.
3. Drizzle Sweetened Condensed Milk over the top – covering thoroughly.
4. Sprinkle remaining coconut and chocolate chips on top and bake for 20-30 minutes at 350° or until coconut on the top begins to look a little toasted.  Allow to cool completely before cutting.

When I made the Macaroon Cookie Bars last Thursday, I thought there would be enough for me to take some to a party on Saturday.  Um, yeah, well, there wasn’t. So I made Magic Cookie Bars to take to that shindig.  Equally easy and pretty darn yummy.

Magic Cookie Bars

1 ½ cups crushed Graham Crackers

½ cup Margarine, melted

1 cup chopped Pecans

1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1 cup Butterscotch Chips

1 1/2 cup Unsweetened Coconut

1-14.5 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1.   Combine graham cracker crumbs and melted margarine and press into the bottom of a 9x13” pan.

2.  Sprinkle Coconut, Chocolate Chips, Butterscotch Chips, and chopped Pecans on top of graham cracker crust.  Drizzle Sweetened Condensed Milk evenly over the top.

3.  Bake for 20-30 minutes at 350° or until it begins to show signs of browning or bubbling around the edges.  Allow to cool completely before cutting.

Click Here for a  printable version of this recipe.

Sunday Sunshine: Sunny Days & Learning New Things

Practicing contentment by remembering the graces of the week.

This week has been beautiful!  Hazy, foggy mornings giving way to beautiful blue skies and sunshine.  It's been the perfect combination for morning rest and bright energy for the rest of the day.  GBaby is learning new things by the day (signing, almost crawling and how to balance large objects so they don't fall on her head) and I'm learning right along beside her.  I'm rewarded often with bright smiles and happy squeels.  I've continued to gather garden produce for the freezer and was able to spend some good time cooking and baking this week.

What added bright spots to your week?

Travelling Reviews: Thrifty Car Rental (LAX)

In the seven years that HandyMan and I have been married, we have travelled extensively.  On occasion we come across service providers that are excellent.  In other cases we come across those who we can’t recommend as wholeheartedly and some with whom we just have weird experiences.  Thrifty Rental Car at LAX was one of these providers. Because Thrifty rental locations are locally operated, this review references the LAX facility only.

After eight hours of travelling we arrived at LAX bright and early at 10am.  I consulted our rental car reservation which said to call the office upon arrival then meet the shuttle at the designated curb.  Easy enough – we’ve received and followed such instructions on many occasions.  What the reservation didn’t tell us is that when you call the number, or use the convenience phones to contact the LAX Thrifty office your really get the phone bank automated maze that can tell you nothing about the local rental car site.  (Thrifty, if you’re reading this – it’s time for you to revise the directions that come with reservation e-mails).

Once in baggage claim we discovered that our luggage had taken an alternate route and had not yet arrived in LA and the convenience phones were not so convenient, we gave up and went to the curb, where we waited.  Other, less thrifty, rental car companies had shuttles pulling to the curb about every 2 to 3 minutes.  Our Thrifty bus pulled up after about ten minutes.

By the time we arrived at the rental car terminal, GBaby was hungry go HandyMan went to get the paperwork done while I fed her.  Long line and lots of paperwork later, G’s fed and we’re instructed to go pick a car from Section 6.  Ok.  We go out into the blazing southern California sun and see three vehicles parked in section 6: a minivan, a 4-door-hatchback and a midsized car.  We had reserved a compact.  So we loaded up the minivan, before someone realized they were giving away free upgrades, and got ready too take off.  I picked up the contract and almost choked on my trail mix.  The total was more than double what our reservation was.  We stopped and looked it over and through some misunderstanding we had been given their full, top of the line insurance coverage, even though HandyMan had declined it.  HandyMan headed back inside to get this fixed before we left.  I sat in the van and watched two equally confused customers come out with their contracts in hand and try to figure out what car they were supposed to leave with, while three other multi-sized vehicles – fresh with water droplets from the car wash, were added to the selection at Section 6.

Ten minutes later, with the paperwork corrected we took off to face the highways of Los Angeles.  One week later when it was time to return the car, I planned extra time, just knowing there would be a delay of some sort when returning the rental car.  We had prepaid the gas tank so we didn’t have to fill it up (and for those who know our history, we were in no danger of running out of gas).  Arriving at the rental car return, we unload all our stuff, the customer service rep looks over the car and hands us a receipt.  I look at it and it’s about $40 more than our contract.  I politely ask if she can explain why it’s more than the contract.  She says, we didn’t fill up the gas tank.  Ugh.  I point out on the contract that we had pre-paid for the gas, she sends us inside to get it corrected.  While another agent is fixing our charges, we watch our shuttle bus leave.  We catch the next one, with corrected receipt in hand.

So, this experience is what it is: our encounters with disorganization for the good and the inconvenient at Thrifty Car Rental at LAX.  What’s your latest travel adventure?