Pregnant, Brain Dead, Old, and Unemployed

So today marks the one month anniversary of my lay off from the hospital. Ho hum. In the days leading to my lay off, I was excited about all the new time I would have to be working on the blog. Readership has naturally plummeted since I haven't been present in say...half a decade. (slight exaggeration.) However, I have been in a bit of a slump.

 

I turned 30 last month without much fanfare. It's hard to have a lot of excitement when your half way through a pregnancy that has only let you stopped vomiting in the last 10 days. I didn't even make a cake, or get a cake...or even want one for that matter. I am so burned out on cake it's not even funny. I blame the Wilton class for it. Once I learned that the bulk of "buttercream" icings were mostly vegetable shortening ("the more trans-fat the better your decorations will hold!") I have been on icing hiatus. I used to leave the cake to eat just that crap. Barf!

 

Since being home, I have cooked all of one meal. I am really ashamed of myself. I've been trying to get used to the idea that I might be a stay at home mom for awhile. No judgement, just not how I thought things were going to work out. I've been reading "Stay at Home Mommy Survival Guides" to get an idea of what to expect, because all I have managed to do in the week that I have been off is get addicted to Game of Thrones.

 

A lot of changes have been happening besides the layoff and the pregnancy. We bought a house, and the documents are in the works. Jon and I moved out of ghettosville at the end of May. I've been trying to clean and unpack as best as my body will let me. I just find that I don't have the stamina I used to. I'm 27 weeks pregnant and only now starting to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. The baby is fine and healthy, I've just turned into a pile of goo.

 

Well NOT TODAY.

 

I got off my bum and decided my dear breadwinner of a hubby needed some sweets to get him through the day. Since there will be no cake, I decided to try my hands at Snickerdoodles. A Christmas favorite, due to their warm holiday spices of nutmeg and cinnamon, this little cookie is usually usurped by it's fancier friends, chocolate chip, macadamia nut, or oatmeal raisin.

 

Snickerdoodles are relatively new in my orb of awareness, though they have been around for generations (so I've read.) I guess I thought they were a "Wal-Mart Cookie Creation" because I had only seen snickerdoodles in the pre-made dough squares offered at mass grocery chains. Every time I see something advertised as a snickerdoodle at a bake sale, they still have that squarish shape from those packaged beginnings. "Why?" I ask. After some Googling, I found they are pretty simple to make, don't require a lot of fancy ingredients, and are very quick to prepare. To me, cookies that are soft and chewy will always beat out a a crunchy cookie. I tested out this recipe and found a winner:

Chewy Snickerdoodles
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)
1/2 cup butter (NOT margarine)
1 1/2 cups of sugar
2 eggs (room temperature if you have time)
2 2/3 cups flour
2 t of cream of tartar
1 t of baking soda
1/4 t salt

~Topping~

1 T of sugar
1-2 t of cinnamon

Start by getting all your ingrediants together like we've discussed a million times before. Put your butter and eggs out 30 minutes or so before you're ready to start so they will be room temperature, but not melted. If you forget to put the butter out to soften, nuke it until soft but not melted. Sometimes it helps to cut it into pieces so it doesn't stay a brick on the outside and melt in the middle.

• Preheat your oven to 400*
• Mix your shortening, butter, eggs, and sugar.
• In a seperate bowl sift your dry ingrediants together if you have a sifter. If not, it's not the end of the world.
• Mix in the wet ingrediants to the dry.
• In a small bowl, mix the topping sugar and cinnamon together.
• Once everything is well incorporated, roll the dough into ping pong ball sized balls. 
• Roll the balls in the topping covering. Be generous.
• Place the dough balls on a ungreased cookie sheet. about 2" apart. If you grease it they will be overdone on the bottom. 
• Push the balls down a little with your fingers. These babies don't spread out like other cookies.
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

 Enjoy the chewy awesomeness.