A Special Gift

I have this friend. She's pretty darn amazing. I met her back in high school (maybe even Jr high?). We were choir nerds together. That's a bond that can stand the test of time.

Her name is Katie.

We are both grown ups now and live on opposite ends of the country. Thanks to a healthy addiction to social networking, we got back in touch. She is a runner but at one point in her life, she wasn't. She set out on a journey to lose some weight, which she did. She started running about 2 years ago and she has been unstoppable ever since.

On Sunday November 6, 2011 Katie finished the New York City Marathon. She ran and completed TWENTY-SIX miles!!! How many of us can say that? Not many! I tracked her run through out the day on the ING website. It was pretty fun to check up on her progress and cheer her on from Southern California. I "watched" closely at the end as she crossed the finish line. I even cheered a little.

I am extremely proud of Katie. Running a marathon is no easy feat and she inspires me to keep running. Katie has been a huge motivator and resource with my running. She's passed along a training plan for a half marathon, which I intend to follow in order to complete the Rock & Roll Half Marathon in June 2012. She asks me how my training is going, gives me pointers, reassures me when I feel like giving up or I can't do it. I am blessed to have Katie and a few others that run to help me along the way.

Because I am proud of Katie and think completing a marathon is a pretty big deal, I wanted to do something special for her.

I happily follow  this blog and came across a recipe for "Marathon Cookies". Follow the link I attached and it will take you to the original recipe. I swapped out a few items ( I just couldn't find Chair seeds and the through ofbuying dates makes me gag...sorry Liz!). The recipe has 26 ingredients: 1 ingredient for every mile ran.

I watched Peyton and Tyler the other day so I had Peyton help me out with the cookies while Tyler was napping.

She's 3, almost for so she's a "big girl" now and can help pour stuff into the mixing bowl. I plopped her onto the step ladder and we started working.

As I chopped some of the items, she informed me that I could put them in the measuring cup and she would dump them into the bowl.

She tried to scoop the flour and oatmeal, all by herself,  out of the containers. It took about for scoops from each container to reach the amount we actually needed to add. She did great scooping the dough onto the cookie sheet.

I explained to her that these were special cookies for my friend Katie. "That's my mommy's name!", was her reply. I told her they were called Marathon Cookies and she repeated the name a few times. After the cookies were out of the oven I asked Peyton what kind of cookies we made. "Chocolate Chip".  Oh the brain of a 3 year old!

I couldn't let her make cookies and not let have one...What king of auntie would that make me?

Shortly after they munchkins went home, I packaged the cookies up and shipped them off to New York for the marathoner to enjoy.

Congratulations Katie! I am SO proud of you!!

Here's my version of the Recipe:

1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup quick oats
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter chips
1/4 cup chopped peanut butter cups
1/4 cup chopped pretzels
1/4 cup chopped banana chips
1/4 cup chopped apple chips
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup dried blueberries
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Beat the butter, peanut butter, and sugars until creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and vanilla; mix until creamy.

In separate bowl, stir the flour, graham cracker crumbs, oats, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing until combined. Fold the remaining ingredients into the cookie dough.

For large cookies, use a 2 1/2-inch cookie scoop to drop the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake about 12 to 14 minutes, until deep golden brown.