Change of Plans + Cookie Bonanz-a

Change of Plans

Hubby got all dressed up in a suit for our celebratory dinner tonight, but we ended up deciding last minute to save our celebratory dinner for another night. We weren't feeling it and I really think if you're going to spend your precious time and money on a dinner, you should be ready to fully enjoy, savor, and appreciate it.

Instead, we ended up waiting 40 minutes for a table at PF Changs. I think we caught the end of the rush, because I swear we were the last people on the wait list the whole 40 minutes we were waiting. The room cleared out and we were still sitting there!

I left my point and shoot camera at home (my DSLR is still off being fixed) so I used my iPhone to take some blurry and dark photos.

The weather outside was absolutely frigid, so a BIG bowl of wonton soup was the perfect starter for hubby and I to share. I love how they add spinach and (dare I say it) mushrooms in their version.

I had two bowls of mostly broth and water chestnuts (hubby hates them and I love them) and one wonton.

For dinner we got the Mongolion beef with some chicken added. I love the sweet sauce on this dish - it reminds me a lot of teriyaki in style. We split this with brown rice and...

...a small side of spicy green beans (wow these beans are gooood!)

Plate #1

Plate #2

Great fortune tonight: "It is sometimes better to travel hopefully than to arrive." This fortune immediately reminded me of the quote, "Life's a journey, not a destination." So true! Sometimes I rush around so much trying to achieve a goal, I forget to enjoy the ride.

Cookie Bonanz-a

We have a pot luck in the office tomorrow, so I signed up for...you guessed it...COOKIES!

Remembering how easy they were the first time, I decided to make the Oatmeal Butterscotch cookies I made recently again. I know I'm supposed to be trying new recipes, but I really needed something easy considering we weren't even getting started baking until almost 10pm.

I made some changes to the recipe to help health-ify it: I used white wheat flour, 1/3 less butter, almost half the sugar, and added some vanilla soymilk.

While my first batch of cookies baked away, I cleaned off the counters and set up my coffee pot for tomorrow. I know I should do this more often, but I usually just forget. It truly is so nice to have hot coffee waiting for you when you stumble groggily out of bed, though, no?

Two batches of cookies later and our kitchen was overflowing with hot butterscotch goodness, making our entire house smell divine!

Nothing like the smell of fresh-baked cookies!

I wish you could smell these cookies...yum!

I of course had to taste test one...

...maaaaybe two cookies.

So glad I removed all that extra sugar! The cookies were perfectly fine the first time, don't get me wrong. But, I'm finding that with time, I prefer things less and less sweet. I still have the biggest sweet tooth of most people I know, but I don't think things have to be super-sweet to be delicious.

Just have to pack these babies up for the potluck tomorrow (and possibly some to give to friends/neighbors) and then I'm off to bed! So glad my coffee will be waiting in the AM!

Dessert, Dinner, Restaurant

Comments

[eatingrd]

I always enjoy going to PF chang's. Boy those cookies look good! I'm going to a cookie exchange this weekend and still haven't decided what to make. Hope you have a fun work party!

[Jessie]

I just made these cookies for my office this week. I loved them! I don't blame you for making them again.

[Good Taste. Healthy Me]

I made these and they flattened out to nothing! I don't know what I did wrong! :(

[Rebecca]

I love PF Chang's! Now I want to go there!! Your cookies look great!!

[Kristen]

Those cookies look so yummy. I love that you made some swaps to make it a bit healthier.

[Diana @ The Chic Life]

Did you see the first batch I made?  Mine got super flat the first time, too. They are just more stiff in these pictures because I took out so much sugar and even added in extra flour!  I think next time I'll take out some sugar but take out some flour too!  I thought mine were pretty tasty even though they were pretty flat.

HTH,
:) Diana

[Jenna]

cookies look great!