Natalie Sélavy

I can’t wait to have kids. (Breathe Mom, Breathe! )
I mean years (many, many years) from now, of course.

Children are beautiful little things, but I am looking forward to being in control of someone else (just sayin!) doing things the Natalie way. I see the way some people raise their kids, and it really irks me. But I know better than to tell someone else how they should raise their child. Here are the things I plan on doing.1. No bad music. I listened to oldies until I was about 12, then I started listening to the mainstream music. But when I was a kid, it wasn’t so bad. N’Sync, Backstreet Boys, Britney and Christina, all innocent compared to what is being played now. The other day I saw this kid that couldn’t be older than 11, listening to the radio while her Mom was in the store. Listening and singing loudly to a song called ‘Birthday Sex‘ that is popular on the radio right now. Kids shouldn’t be singing that, gosh!

(I am a total Dr. Laura fan, can you tell?)

2. No fast food. This is the hardest one for me to stay quiet about when I see other parents do it. I recently saw a friends baby eating a Jack in the Box taco.

A baby. A jack in the box taco.
I’ll give you a second to process that.

Even I won’t eat that, I know for a fact a baby under two shouldn’t be. When I still lived at home, we had neighbors who had twins that I often babysat. These kids had been eating raw vegetables since they could eat and were never fed unhealthy junk or sugary foods. To them, a treat was raw red bell pepper. That is amazing! I can’t (yes I can) wait to raise a little human with healthy foods!

3. Limit one cookie.

….who am I kidding? I don’t stop at one cookie. I’ll let that slide. I will just have to start baking healthy, sugar free cookies.

Until then, here are some Andes Mint Cookies I made for the Cookie Exchange over at Steph Chows. I was partnered with another Natalie and she sent me the softest, most brownie-like cookies I have ever had. How were they still so soft after being shipped? Go check out those cookies! These are what I sent to her.

Andes Mint Cookies
yield: 3 dozen

1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter, room temperature
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Salt
2 1/2 cups AP Flour
1 (10 oz) bag Andes Mint Baking Chips

preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Cream butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add both sugars and beat until light and airy.
2. Add the vanilla, then the eggs one at a time. Wait until the first one is fully incorporated before adding the next egg.
3. In a seperate bowl whisk together the dry ingredients (excluding the chips) and add to the butter mixture until fully combined. Mix in the Andes Baking Chips last.
4. Chill dough for 30 minutes before portioning into 36 evenly sized balls. Lightly press with your palm to flatten the cookie a bit before placing on a parchment lined baking sheet.
5. Bake the cookies for 8 – 10 minutes (I prefer mine softer, around 8 minutes). Cool on the baking sheet 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

These cookies are fantastic, especially straight out of the oven. When they are warm and gooey, it tastes like you are eating a melted Girl Scout thin mint cookie. The mint-chocolate chips (that are swirled) that you can buy around the holidays always taste a bit artificial to me. But these chips taste smooth and creamy and have an intense mint flavor, just like an actual Andes Mint. Kyle doesn’t like mint flavor which just meant more for me!

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