Tuesday June 18 Finally, this is what retirement feels like! and a recipe!!

Well, I finally got the guest room sorted out, as the English would say….we’ve been watching a lot of British TV, if you wondered. Anyway, back in May, I dumped all of my winter clothes on the guest bed.  Then I pulled out the boxes of stored clothes (etc.) from my “attic” room and added them to the pile, and finally, opened wide the doors to the guest room closet.  Well, you can imagine!!  Yesterday, I finally got back down to the bed spread, returned the winter clothes to be preserved to their storage wars (yes, that works) and the hopeful, I do want to fit in them again, to their places, and ended up with a box to add to the landfill, and three, at least, bags to recycle. And I feel free again.

For your amazement and amusement, I also found a slide rule, which I gave to my husband to dispose of (it is a sort of antique though so that may have been a mistake) and some really good Christmas gifts that I overbought and will distribute this next year.

In my new found unburdened time, I actually looked up some new recipes, made a wonderful corn and bean salad yesterday.  A friend or two asked for the recipe for the Forgotten Cookies mentioned yesterday, so I thought I would add the cookie recipe here.  And maybe the salad tomorrow (if I remember)  Isn’t that one thing, older ( I refuse to say old) ladies are good for: recipes?

Forgotten Cookies: You pull this recipe out to make when the oven is hot after all your other baking, or you have extra egg whites, or you want a gluten free recipe, or you want some pretty cookies to fill glass jars with at Christmas. Or your grandsons ask for them for their weddings. Oh, and this doubles easily, but you probably don’t want to more than double it because you have to bake it all at once – for five hours at least!!! Bet that got your attention.

Preheat the oven to at least 250 or use an oven you have been baking in. Then beat two egg whites to a froth and beat in ¼ teaspoon of cream of tartar.  Continue beating till peaks form and very gradually add (like a couple tablespoons at a time) 2/3 cup of sugar.  Beat until you have nice peaks.

The fun part comes now.  I tint a batch green with food coloring and fold in by hand a cup or a bit less of mint chocolate chips or flavor this batch with ½ teaspoon of mint flavoring and use regular chocolate chips.

I also tint a batch pink adding ½ teaspoon of good vanilla and fold in regular chocolate chips or my favorite – mini chocolate chips.  You should end up with at least two dozen or more cookies.  I just did it with 3 egg whites and a cup of sugar and got about 40 cookies.

Bake on a baking sheet(s) covered with parchment paper or lightly sprayed with plain baking spray.  Once you put the baking sheets in the oven, turn the oven off and leave them in the oven over night, or at least five hours.  And nothing will happen to them if you “forget” them in the morning.  And remember that sugar makes that many cookies, so they can’t be more than 20 calories or so a cookie.