Pay it Forward: Peanut Butter Cookies

Next up in our Show and Tell Pay it Forward Day is a scrumptious project from Cathy! We cyber met Cathy and her husband Rob through their amazing Creative Kingdom website. We were so excited to get to be a part of their website launch, and we're loving keeping up with the site. You really should go check it out!

Cathy took the Pay it Forward theme to heart and used something that was given to them in their project to give to others. Check it out:

A friend from Canada sent my husband and me a box full of goodies and gifts that would be very difficult to find in Britain. It wasn't a special occasion or anything, she is just a kind person who does nice things like that. I thought it would be a good idea to use one of the things she sent us to do something nice for someone else and pay it forward (see it all fits perfectly).

One of the things she sent us was a big bag of Reeses Peanut Butter Chips, so I thought I would use them to bake some peanut butter cookies and share them out with people. There are lots of delicious peanut butter chip cookies on Pinterest such as this one:

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but they were all American recipies and I wasn't very confident on making the conversions.

So I cheated and used this triple chocolate cookie recipe from the BBC Food website and substituted half the chocolate chips with peanut butter chips. 

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The results were pretty great and plentiful (think the recipe made around thirty) I took them down early to church to share with our worship team during sound check then Rob and Me took a batch each to work on Monday and shared them around the office. There were none left by Monday home time!

I blogged more about the baking here: http://redrosestyle.wordpress.com/2014/11/25/cathys-kitchen-british-peanut-butter-chip-cookies/

-Cathy 

I love how she jumped into the Pay it Forward challenge! Her cookies look soooo yummy. While blog-stalking I learned that these were her first taste of Peanut Butter cookies! How fun is that?! Cathy, if you ever make it to New Mexico (you know, just a hop, skip and a jump from Great Britain), I'll make you a whole big batch of Peanut Butter cookies! They are a favorite in this house. I may have to brave the conversions and try out this BBC recipe, because it looks fantastic. 

Pay it Forward: Chemo Care Package

Whew! We made it to Monday and we're all alive! This past week was Cameron's worst week of the semester with presentations, projects, 30 page papers, etc. Since we just have the one computer at home his needs for school took priority over getting the Show and Tell Saturday post up for our November Pay it Forward projects. But this morning he is finally done (hallelujah!) and I can show you the amazing Pay it Forward projects we were sent. I'm going to give each project it's own post and they will be posted up throughout the day. So check back in often! 

This first one is from Lindsey: 

My mother-in-law just started chemotherapy this month for a rare sarcoma.  She's stage 4, and was diagnosed a week before she retired.  Awesome way to start her retirement, huh?  The whole family is struggling with this and trying to find ways to send comfort across the miles.  She lives in Pittsburgh, and is now in Boston for treatment, while my family is in Maryland.  Even though we couldn't be there in person for her first round of chemo, I wanted her to find a way to comfort her.  I looked for pins to give me good ideas for things that would be a treat and a bit of comfort for a chemo patient, and found a few that really did the trick. Cancer Support & Prevention and Gift ideas and so so many more.  

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They had some common themes: chap stick, fuzzy socks, reading material, and lotion most predominantly.  I went to Target and was able to round up my own collection of goodies. Some say I have a talent for this, others might call me stalker-ish, but whatever your take on how much I store away little details for future gifting reference, the end result is usually a warm fuzzy feeling for the recipient and that's all I care about.

http://lindseyedits.blogspot.com/2014/11/care-package.html

Here we have:

• Bossypants by Tina Fey.  A great read for anyone, but especially for another woman who has been through all the nonsense Tina Fey touches on in this book.  Also, it's funny and funny is good for Lulu.
• A silly card.  I think that's a donkey kissing a little boy's head.
• Fragrance free lotion.  You know, as much as fancy lotions are fancy and nice, if you don't know what scents a person likes, you could be really hit or miss there.  This option is still a treat without the risk.
• My favorite chap stick.  It actually soaks in without that waxy feeling.
• Green tea.  She was an avid coffee drinker for as long as I known her, and then she retires and switches to tea.  Traitor!  Still, I will support her new lifestyle.
• Nail polish.  I don't care who you are, ladies always like nail polish.
• Cozy socks and hand warmers.  She's staying in Boston right now and that = MUCH colder than Florida where she was supposed to be.  She needs some warmth!
• Bath soak.  I know Sheldon says to offer friends in need a hot beverage, which I did (see Green tea, above), but I one upped him with the hot bath, too.
• Vase and colorful fake flowers.  Nothing says perky like flowers you don't have to worry about watering, amirite?
• Monogrammed mug.  If she's going to be cozying up with a book and tea, she needs a mug for that tea!

All little things, but put together they create a bit of pampering and care.  A long distance hug, with some laughter and cheer splashed in.

  

All packed up and ready to go!

http://lindseyedits.blogspot.com/2014/11/care-package.html

It got to her for her first day of treatment, and she absolutely loved it.  Thankfully we're headed up to Boston tomorrow so we can spend Thanksgiving week with her and my sister-in-law's family.  For such an awful time we still have so much to be thankful for.  Finding ways to show our love, with a bit of Pinterest help while feeling lost in this scary landscape, is such a help.