I’ve been dedicating a lot of time here recently (mostly behind the scenes: moving to wordpress, partnering with advertisers, now working on a redesign… so exciting!!) and it has prompted me to think about my purpose in this space. What am I doing here? Not on earth in general- we’ll save that for another day. But why I bother with this blog. Why I put so much of myself into something that maybe just a few (wonderful) people read. Well, this is what I came up with:

I love it. I love food (obviously). I tolerate taking pictures of food (one of my goals is to improve this aspect of things). I love cooking. And I want to inspire you to love it too. That’s it. My big purpose. I hope I can reach at least a few of you out there and inspire you to create in the kitchen. To feed yourselves and your families healthy, whole foods and to enjoy it!

The second purpose is to journal my successes and failures. I post the recipes that are worth repeating, along with what I learned in the process of getting there. This is my love affair with food, chronicled as a reference for us to share.

And last, the most selfish reason of all- I want to write. To write about food and whatever else I please. To write about my little unimportant life, in a way that’s meaningful to me. To write about eating too much and not sleeping nearly enough. About being a wife, a daughter, a mama. Just to say something.

So thank you for listening.

Now cookies. Because we all deserve a treat. I loved my friend’s description of these, “the perfect balance of chewy, and coconut, and sweet”. They’re simple- nothing exotic or unusual. Just a vanilla cookie batter with coconut and oats. Soft and sweet and chewy.

Chewy Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

INGREDIENTS

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 cup quick oats

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment paper) a large baking sheet.

2. Cream butter and sugars with an electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix well. Add the baking soda, baking powder, salt, flour, coconut, and oats and mix until well combined.

3. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes until just golden brown on the edges. Remove cookies to cool on a wire rack.

Makes 2-3 dozen cookies, depending on size.

(Adapted from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe)