Again, you all continue to amaze me and I’m humbled that you would take the time to write such great things for this project. This month’s challenge was to describe something physically about ourselves that pleases us. It could be a body part or an overall physical feature. The project also had a second part of providing a recent photo of yourself that pleases you. Below is a list of the participants:

Kitty’s Living Like you Love It
Her topic is her body’s power to adapt. She has done great things to create a positive image of herself and my favorite line of her entry is, “Hello – I made people!!!”. And while it wasn’t her topic, I feel it necessary to note that God graced her with a great rack. So there.

Gina’s What Makes ME Hot Stuff
I was afraid Gina was going to chicken out on me for this project but she came through with flying colors! As a fellow brown-eyed girl, I can totally respect her choice of highlighting her eyes. And the grin in her photo is awesome!

Martelle’s Hot Stuff
I stumbled upon Martelle through LiveJournal and the SCA, but I’m not sure I could have picked her out of a police line up or crowded feast hall. Her entry gave me all kinds of insight into her childhood, the things she takes joy in, and most importantly a photo so I can introduce myself the next time we’re in the same place! Looking forward to meeting you soon!

Kim’s Living Out Loud II: Body Check
As folks have talked to me about this challenge I’ve mentally noted to myself my favorite thing about them physically. I’ve always loved Kim’s skin and her choice to adorn it in such beautiful detail makes me a bit jealous. I’m just not sure I have the guts for it myself. I also admit to growing my hair out lately with the hope that I’ll get more hair brushings.

Megan’s My Body. Not Wonderland.
I read Megan’s entry about her strong legs and nodded to myself in agreement. I got to her photos and started crying. She is beautiful in so many ways.

Karal’s Forever on the Hips
I’ve been commiserating with her as she struggles with medical mysteries that make her belly her enemy these days. But sometimes the smallest of things can mean so much and remind us how strong we are.

Rich’s Momentos written across my skin
I won’t embarrass us all by listing all my favorite parts of his, but I do admit that his hands are up there in the top five. Chicks do indeed dig scars – this one does at least.

My own contribution is All of me, why not take all of me. So many things about my body I can’t control, but I’m pretty sure I’ll always be a million feet tall. The air really is nice up here.

This project continues to bring me much joy and I personally want to thank all of you for participating. It means the world to me! I’m already looking forward for the project due April 1 (great, April Fools Day).

For this project, I have chosen Megan as our prize winner. She has been waging a battle over her body for quite a while now and bared her soul online for us all. I’ve been wracking my brain for an appropriate prize and have decided that a good massage would pamper all those muscles that serve her so well. Megan will be receiving a gift certificate for a 30 minute massage at her local salon.

I encourage you all to read the entries above and comment. And if you have a suggestion or this month’s project, I’m all ears!

I just had a huge plate of leftovers (including some extra side dishes we didn’t even have on Thursday), the chocolate pies are ready and I can see a few Christmas lights on the porch peeking through the blinds. All in all, things are pretty good today.

I remember my father arguing that chocolate chess pie wasn’t a pretty pie and so we shouldn’t take it to parties or holiday dinners. I’m not sure if he still feels that way, but as a kid it was always one of my favorite desserts my mother would make. It’s also ridiculously easy to make, so long as you take care to add the egg slowly and not overcook it.

1 pie crust (regular – not deep dish)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
1 oz. package of liquid chocolate (Nestle sells it in a yellow box. The liquid is way better than block for this.)
2 eggs, unbeaten

Melt the stick of butter on low heat. Add the sugar and chocolate to make a fudge mixture. Slowly add the egg and continue stirring to keep the egg from cooking once it touches the hot chocolate. I generally add about half of the chocolate mix to the egg and then all of that back into the rest of the chocolate mix.

Be careful not to stir the mixture too much (which I always do) or it will try to fluff up. Pour the mix into the pie shell and cook at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

I got this recipe from Laura in her quest for cookie recipes containing one or fewer eggs. She uses egg replacer, but I used a genuine egg in my batch. The great thing about these cookies is they’re not super sweet (and the sesame is a nice change from icing or chocolate chips).

2 2 1/8-ounce jars sesame seeds (1 cup)
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
2 tablespoons of water (you’ll probably use more like 4 or 6)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

If your seeds are not already roasted, heat them in a skillet until golden brown. Set aside.

Combine all ingredients but the sesame seeds. I mix everything but the flour together and then gradually add the flour to help it blend. Stir in 1/2 cup of sesame seeds, saving the other half for later.

Shape 2 teaspoonful dough pieces into 2-inch-long ovals. Roll ovals in remaining sesame seeds. Place ovals approximate 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. *

Bake cookies 20 minutes or until lightly browned (you can smell them getting done). Remove to wire racks to cool.

Makes 3 dozen cookies according to the recipe but mine were more like 2 dozen. According to the recipe each cookie has 85 calories, so you can do the match for your batch.

* The shaping of the cookies generally kicked my ass when I was making these. I tried chilling the dough to make it easier, and that seemed to help a bit. My first batch was too dry, though, so I added more water and that made the batter almost soupy. I was getting dough on my fingers, the bowl and everywhere except in 2-inch-long ovals on the cookie sheet. If I added enough flour so I could form them into cute mounds, the seeds wouldn’t stick when I rolled them. So good luck with that. But I believe the extra water helps in the end with keeping them from being crumbly and dry after baking.

toasted sesame cookies

This recipe came from my mother’s Aunt Millie. My mother usually only makes these during the winter. We generally would make them and put them in coffee mugs to wrap up as gifts. It can be a bit tricky to get the stirring right and the spreading of the pecans without being tangled up in it like a glue trap. But the reward is worth the mess. Also, remember to not use a non-stick pot as you’ll be doing some failry intense stirring and don’t want to gouge it.

1 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup white KARO syrup
1/2 cup hot water
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups of pecan halves (cleaned well to remove bitter bits)

Boil sugar, syrup and water until it forms a soft ball. Remove from heat and add vanilla extract. Add in nuts and stir until nuts get “set” or it starts to thinken like candy. Pour and spread over waxed paper. Nuts will continue to “set” while drying. After completely dry, break apart and put into a jar away from moisture. Be sure to eat all the bits of sugar left over on the waxed paper.

Another recipe on the same page with Grandma Grimm’s Oatmeal Cookies. Again, I assume they are just as tasty. They definitely have the most thorough directions of them all.

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 3/4 cup flour, sifted
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup thick sour milk (no idea what that means)
3/4 cup broken pecans
1 cup candied cherries, cut in halves
1 cup dates, chopped

Cream shortening and sugar well. Stir in well beaten egg. Stir in flour, salt, soda, sifted together alt with milk. Then add pecans, cherries, dates. Lastly add all flour. Drop by teaspoon on greased baking sheet. Put pecan half on top of each cookie. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

I couldn’t follow what order Grandma Grimm intended for items to be combined, so I just copied her words exactly. Again, there were no baking instructions, but I can assume 375-400 and 8-10 minutes.