This past weekend got a little discombobulated. The plan was the usual – spend on day doing chores half the day, and the second half working on a rage-craft (most likely my PBN). And a second day working in the studio.

But Friday night, I got a message from a neighbour asking me if I could pick her up some cat litter on our Friday night travels. Her car wouldn’t start and she was out. Sadly, I didn’t see the message until we were already on our way home. But I offered to take her out Saturday morning instead.

So Saturday I was up and out the door first thing. We headed to Walmart where she got her litter and other pet supplies. Like most of you, the winter storm was threatening our area so she decided to stock up. Dave tagged along with us and made me stop at the hardware store (more on his project another day).

When we got back, we noticed the furnace was acting up. While it was running, it wouldn’t bring the house up past 65F. It’s a problem we had a few months back, they came and replaced a part and everything seemed fine. Until it wasn’t.

Dave spent a good chunk of the early afternoon on the phone with the company, trying to trouble shoot. There’s a lot more computer stuff involved in these new units. Eventually, they said they’d send out a tech but it would be a couple hours.

I decided it was a good time to get some baking done. The house wasn’t freezing, but a little oven heat wouldn’t hurt. And our convience store lady had broken her ankle the other day, so Dave wanted to take her a little something next time he went in.

Sounds like a call for Chocolate Chip Cookies!!!

I don’t bake very often any more because Dave doesn’t eat sugar anymore. If I bake, it means I have to eat all of it myself or find people to share it with. I made a double batch. Enough for me to have a few, a pile to send to the convenience store lady, and enough to fill a bag for the poor furnace guy who had to come out in the snow and cold on a Saturday.

This recipe is one I can make without thinking. When we were little, Mom always involved us in whatever she was doing in the kitchen – and she did a lot of baking.

I think the recipe originally came from the Better Homes and Gardens red plaid cook book. But I have it memorized. (and to be honest, I don’t really measure most of the ingredients.

The BEST chocolate chip cookies

• 1 cp flour
• ½ cp white sugar
• ¼ brown sugar
• 1 egg
• ½ cp margerine
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• Chocolate chips – measure with your heart (or approx half a cup if you don’t have a heart)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cream margarine, eggs and sugar. Add in flour, soda, powder and vanilla extract. Mix well.
Hand mix in chocolate chips. Scoop on cookie sheet using a spoon. Space out -they will flatten (generally 12 to a sheet). Bake 8-12 minutes depending on oven.

I under-bake mine just a touch (so edges are just starting to get golden) and store in a plastic container as soon as they cool down. This keeps them nice and chewy.

On Sunday mornin,gDave informed me that

a) the furnace was acting up again (they were sending another guy out to look at it)

b) it was also one of our mechanic’s birthday this weekend and he wanted something to take over there on Monday.

I had already given away most of the cookies, but thankfully I had a couple of old bananas…

So banana bread it was! The recipe made eight mini loves – two for the furnace guy, and six for the team to share at the shop on Monday.

This is also Mom’s recipe, though I have no idea where it came from. I don’t have this one memorized, but it’s easy to whip up too.

Mom’s Banana Bread

• 2-3 ripe bananas
• 1/3 cp melted marg
• 1 tsp soda
• Pinch salt
• ¾ cp sugar
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 ½ cp flour

Mash bananas until smooth. Stir in melted butter. Mix in salt and soda. Stir in sugar, egg and vanilla. Mix in flour. (I do this all with a fork – no electric mixer needed)

Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 – 50-60 min (If you’re making mini-loafs – it’s about 20 mins).

I did get some crafting done around all the baking and furnace mayhem – I’ll share that throughout this week. In the meantime – maybe make yourself a batch of cookies! You won’t be dissapointed.