If you like chocolate.........

You will love these cookies! I made them a couple of weeks and I would crawl over glass to have one right now. Of course, I'm dieting again and craving anything chocolate. Seriously, these are really delicious cookies.

Ingredients:
3 .... 4-ounce bars sweet baking chocolate, chopped (that's a lot of chocolate!)
2 TBSP. butter-flavored shortening
1 tsp. instant coffee granules
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
6 TBSP. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
...................................................

pecan halves.... optional
powdered sugar.....optional
Directions:
In a small saucepan heat and stir chocolate and shortening over very low heat until the chocolate begins to melt.
remove from the heat. add coffee.
stir until smooth....cool
beat eggs and sugar with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until light and lemon colored.... about 3 - 4 minutes
beat in the cooled chocolate mixture and vanilla
on low speed beat in pecans, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt until combined.
spray cookie sheets with the nonstick coating
drop teaspoons of dough 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets
place a pecan half on top of each cookie
bake at 350' F for 8 - 10 minutes or until the top is just starting to set.
Do Not over bake
cool 1 - 2 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack
cool completely
if desired sprinkle with powdered sugar (I left it off, too messy)
makes 54 to 60 cookies

Lazy Blogger

When school got out and we began making our summer plans I had so many ideas for blogs, but I didn't follow through on any of them. We have been busy this summer, but mainly I have just been lazy about blogging. These are a few of the pictures I took with the idea of posting at least once a week. I went to Lovell for Memorial Day and while there my sister, niece, mom and I went to Cody and had lunch at the Irma Hotel. I took a few pictures of the beautiful bar, but none of them turned out. But.....we did have a delicious lunch. The main purpose of my trip was to visit my dad's grave in Cowley. The cemetery was beautiful, they have added a really nice fence and they take such good care of the grounds.

Ken's parents grave.

We had a young man from our town killed in Afghanistan this spring. During the town's annual celebration they held a dedication ceremony renaming the Legion baseball field after him. This Marine Color Guard added a beautiful touch to the ceremony. He was the first person from our area killed in the war.

On the fourth of July weekend we camped above Red Lodge and took in their parade. There were a lot of horses, cars and flags. The first half hour was fun, but it lasted 1 1/2 hours! Way too much parade.

I noticed this woman right away, all decked out in red, white and blue. Her husband was sitting there quietly in his normal looking shirt, when she walked down the street and returned with this hat she plopped on his head. He looked less than thrilled.

A very large flag. Really cool!

A really strange parade entry.

Luke looking like we all felt at this point "isn't it over yet".