What do you do with a snow day?

Bake cookies of course!  While I didn't have the ingredients to make those yummy looking chocolate mocha cupcakes that Jessica at creative index suggested, and I wasn't about to hit the roads in this ice storm, I did have everything to make these fabulous chocolate chip cookies though.  Let me tell ya, these cookies are a.maz.ing!!

I know, I know we're wusses here in Texas you can see there is hardly any snow on the ground.  In our defense that is actually ice, and there is supposedly an inch thick of ice on the roads.

Mommy's Cookie Monsters

Warning:  Photo overload, because that's what moms do right?!

nom,

nom,

nom,

nom,

nom,

nom,

What a ham!  Can you believe he didn't like chocolate a month ago?

Vintage Cookware

 I FINALLY remembered to pick up my Great Grandma's cast iron cookware!  I am soooo excited to start using it.  The only problem is that it has been in Mom's crawlspace for at least 10 years.  They have rust and crud (that's a technical term) all over them and need to be cleaned.

First I wiped them down with a dry towel to get the dust and cobwebs off.  Next I heated the pan up to medium heat with a generous amount of oil until the cast iron was hot to the touch.  At that point I turned off the heat and added enough salt to the oil to create a paste.  I scrubbed the pans with a wad of paper towels until they were clean and then rinsed them with hot water and soap.  Immediately after I dried them down with a dish cloth so they wouldn't rust.

(Sorry about the blurry picture, I think I had smoke inhalation)

 I think that they are still seasoned pretty well, but I gave them a little rub with canola oil and put them in in the oven for an hour at 500 degrees.  Turns  out my smoke detector that goes off at the slightest bit of heat doesn't go off when the house is full of smoke.  Looks like I am going to have get a better SMOKE detector!

Ahh, there is something so nostalgic about cooking with cast iron.  Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!