Can't-Have-Just-One Cookie Recipe

A few months ago, I finally found the perfect oatmeal cookie recipe on the bottom of the lid of the Quaker Oats container. Then last week, I was desperately craving carrot cake. I needed to bake some kind of carrot cake-ish goody. I got an idea--carrot cake, oatmeal cookies. I used the Quaker Oats recipe as a base but put a twist on it.

So here it is for anyone that happens to read this and loves cookies. :) They are easy to bake and are oh so good for breakfast, dessert, or a snack.

Ingredients

*1 1/2 sticks butter--Smart Balance is great if you haven't tried it, half butter, half canola oil (add 2 tbsp. for moister texture)
*1 cup light brown sugar
*1/2 cup granulated sugar
*2 eggs
*1 tsp. vanilla
*1 1/2 cups flour
*1 tsp. baking soda
*1 tsp. ground cinnamon
*1/4 tsp. salt
*3 cups rolled oats
*1/4 cup cooked carrots (chopped in food processor)
*1/3 cup toasted walnuts
*2/3 cup chocolate chips or craisins

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Peel 2 full-size carrots and chop into 3-inch pieces. Steam until a fork can be inserted through the pieces with ease. This takes about ten to fifteen minutes, so you can continue on to the following steps in the meantime.

3. Toast walnuts for about five minutes. You'll smell a lovely aroma when they're done, but it is easy to forget about them!

4. Beat butter and sugars until smooth.

5. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat.

6. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, and beat.

7. Add oats, walnuts, carrots, craisins or chocolate chips. Stir if you are without a stand mixer until well blended; mix on lowest speed if you have a stand mixer.

8. Drop rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.

9. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

YUM! I usually keep baked goods in the freezer, because they always seem to taste even better when chilled. They'll also keep longer this way, although we never have to worry about this at my house anyways.

Let the Little Things Live

There are things that are under-appreciated each day. My boyfriend has a tendency to dwell heavily on the negative, forgetting there will always be at least a few things that are not completely perfect. It is the balance of life, I suppose. Yet I am guilty of this sometimes too. The two of us stress about saving money for our future and while I am in school, I am always stressing about homework and trying to balance my job at the same time. Sometimes life is overly encompassing, and you forget not only to enjoy the simpler things, but you forget how to.

The things that seem the most important are in actuality probably the least important when it comes to living your life to the fullest. Who cares how prestigious your job was, or how much money you made? What matters is that the job was fulfilling for you. But today people equate a high salary with happiness, with overall satisfaction. Sometimes, it just seems like everyone is so concerned with doing the right things that they don't do what makes them happy.

A few nights ago, I was hanging out with some friends, and one of them asked: "What do you think the meaning of life is?"

Most of us said we believed in a hedonistic purpose...to do what makes you happy. I agree with this, for the most part. I think we should do lots of things that make us happy (so long as those things are of no harm to other living beings), but we should also work hard and dedicate ourselves to creating or contributing to something larger. But in the process, don't let those little things go unnoticed. You might realize it is those little things that really matter.