I should do a better job of keeping track of how I come across my recipes. I may have come up with this when I was looking for cookies with coconut oil in them. Anyway, these make delicious cookies but they are soft and moist so don’t travel well.

Source:

Tastykitchen.com

Ingredients:

1¼ cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

⅛ teaspoons salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 tablespoons coconut oil

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup light brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1½ teaspoon pure vanilla

1 cup shredded coconut. unsweetened*

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 350ºF.

2. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In an electric mixer, cream together butter, coconut oil, and sugars. Scrape down the sides. Add egg and vanilla. Mix to combine.

4. On a low speed, gradually mix in flour mixture, until incorporated.

5. Mix in shredded coconut and oats.

6. Mix in chocolate chips. The dough will be pretty solid.

7. Form into balls  of about 2 tablespoons and place on sheets lined with parchment paper.

8. Bake  about 11 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for about 2 minutes more on the sheet then remove and place on a cooling rack to finish cooling.

 Notes:

*  I used sweetened.

I tried these with and without adding 3/4 teaspoon coconut flavoring. Of course, they were more coconuty with the added flavoring but I liked them better without it.

In my job, I get to see the good and bad side of most everything in life. Pregnancy is so often a thing of excitement and hope. It has its darker side, as well. Here are a couple of stories that don’t exactly exemplify a positive perspective of pregnancy.

None of My pregnancies was Planned

I was helping a thirty-two year old woman who was having pain and bleeding in early pregnancy. It was her seventh time being pregnant. Knowing whether a woman wanted to be pregnant is helpful in making decisions about how to deal with what might turn out to be a miscarriage so I asked, “Is this a planned pregnancy?” In answer to my question, she said, “None of my pregnancies was planned.”

For some reason, that really hit me. One of the reasons the role of women in our society has changed so much is their ability to control their reproduction. It just seems crazy to me that a poor woman with no insurance and questionable ability to care for seven children would take the “None of my pregnancies was planned” approach to life. Where is the desire to be in control? Where is the drive to get your life to play out the way you want it to? Where is the feeling of responsibility? Such important decisions being left up to chance in this modern age makes no sense to me.

Of course, in these situations, all of this just goes on in my head. It is not my place to lecture someone like this nor do I think confronting would make any difference.

Something More than Pregnancy

The other pregnant patient was a fourteen-year-old girl. She was thirteen weeks pregnant and came to the emergency department with her mother when she started to have some spotting of blood from her vagina. Her mother was worried she might be having a miscarriage. She denied any other complaints.

She had never been pregnant before and never had a pelvic or vaginal exam before. I took a few minutes explaining why we needed to do the exam to make sure everything was OK with her baby. I also told her just what I was going to do so she would know what to expect.

The first part of the exam is the speculum exam. A speculum is gently introduced into the vagina then spread open inside. The goal is to see the cervix or opening into the uterus or womb. As I peer inside, I am looking to see if there is any blood and if the opening is closed or not. In this case, rather than see blood, I saw a nasty vaginal discharge. When I asked her if she had noticed it, she said she had but had not told her mother about it.

Usually, such a discharge in a young woman is caused by some sort of a sexually transmitted disease. There is a pretty long list of germs that people share when they have sex and we test for most of them. In this case, she hit the jackpot with two. The laboratory reported that she was infected with both trichomonas* and chlamydia.** So, whoever was responsible for her being pregnant also left behind a bonus for her to deal with.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichomoniasis

** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlamydia_trachomatis

Several people have asked me to make a back pack out of trauma straps. Each attempt was met with frustration. Then I got the idea of buying an old backpack at Goodwill and using the back panel and the straps as the basis for a Tad Bag. This is my first effort and it came out pretty cool!

One of my wife’s coworkers brought her a big basket of ripe figs. When I saw them, I went right to work looking for a fig cookie recipe. Most are for filled cookies, like Fig Newtons. They usually call for dried figs. I had to look for a while to find one that called for fresh figs and looked like something I would like. These have cloves in them, which I found in many of the fig cookie recipes. The fig and clove combine for a very interesting flavor. They are soft and cake-like.

 Source:

http://rocksrecipies.blogspot.com/2011/10/fresh-fig-oatmeal-cookies.html

 Yield:

24

Ingredients:

12 fresh figs (a little over a cup for the figs I had)

½ cup white sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

½ cup vegetable shortening

1 large egg

1½ cups flour

½ cup oatmeal

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

 Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine flour, oatmeal, salt, cloves, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

Wash figs, cut off stems, cut into quarters.

Placing figs in a mixing bowl, along with the sugar. Shake to coat well.

Mix in egg, butter and shortening.

Stir dry ingredients into the butter mixture.

Drop dough in 2 tablespoon balls onto a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until the edges turn brown. Remove to cool.

Like Father, Like Son

Two trauma patients came in from the same accident. Both were driving cars that ran head-on into each other. One patient was a middle-aged man who was very intoxicated but fortunately had only minor injuries. The other patient was also drunk and suffered only minor injuries. He also happened to be the son of the first man. They both went off to jail in the same police car.

Luckie Hong

Luckie Hong was a toddler with a respiratory infection. We were mildly entertained by the name and even more so when the intern helping me take care of him told me her dog was named Lucky. Then, when the pediatrician came to admit Luckie to the hospital, she told us she had a pet parrot named Lucky. Name of the day was “Luckie(y)”

He Pulls Out All the Time

When I was living in Alabama, I worked one shift when I saw two different 17-year-old girls claiming they couldn’t possibly be pregnant because their husbands “pull out all the time.”

Janell, a tech in our emergency department, asked for a black flower on a black bag. In my mind, it was not likely to turn out very interesting. I was so wrong. The bag looks great and goes well with the black clothing she almost always wears.

There is no story behind this recipe. I was just lying in bed, searching for recipes on my wife’s ipad when I came across it. I had the ingredients so I made them. You really don’t need to flatten them  but with so many floaties in them, they don’t flatten out very much and come out pretty rounded.

Source:

Somewhere on the Internet

Yield:

24

Ingredients:

¾ cup unsalted butter, softened

½ cup light brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract

1¼ cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup almonds, finely chopped

1 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened (I used sweetened)

1 cup mini chocolate chips

 Instructions:

 Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Mix in the egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Beat until well blended.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Add to butter mixture. Beat until just incorporated.

Stir in almonds, coconut, and chocolate chips.

Scoop 2 tablespoon balls and place each about 1 inch apart on a parchment-lined or nonstick baking sheet. Flatten with fork, fingertips or bottom of a glass, coated with butter and dipped into sugar before each flattening.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown.

Let sit for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

Notes:

Not too sweet.

Consider using coconut flavoring in addition to or in place of the almond extract.

I look at myself as being culturally sensitive as a result of being exposed to many different cultures, especially while living in this wonderfully diverse community.

Here are three little cases that highlight interesting things I come across as a result of working in a place where people from all around the world come for care.

Deer Blood with Faith

A thirty-year-old Spanish-speaking man came in after having had a seizure. He had a life-long history of seizures. He admitted he quit taking his seizure medicines and instead was taking “sangre de venado” (deer blood.) He insisted it had to be taken “with faith” in order for it to work. Unfortunately, his seizure was evidence it had not worked for him. I prescribed seizure medication and encouraged him to take it.

This piqued my curiosity so I did a web search, which was very interesting. Here is a quote I especially liked from an advertisement selling Sangre de Venado:

“This magnificent formula has been created specially for the person who wants to attract that someone special their way and to get rid of any person who wishes harm to you.”

Cuts His Back for Islam

A twenty-six-year-old man came in bleeding from self-inflicted lacerations on his back. He denied any suicidal intent but said he cut himself as a part of a Muslim ritual. He said he had been doing this to himself since he was twelve. This time, he cut himself a bit too aggressively and had not been able to stop the bleeding.

Examination of his back showed that most of the skin was red and swollen with many small lacerations. In the middle of all that were two large, gaping, bleeding cuts. There were also many scars from previous similar injuries.

He allowed us to suture his wounds and we sent him home.

Here is a Wikipedia link that is interesting. It is very easy to find amazing pictures and videos of men and boys and cutting themselves in observance of this tradition. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Ashura

Is that a Russian Name?

My patient’s name, appearance, and accent caused me to assume she was a Slav. I introduced myself and made sure I had her name correct. Then, in an effort to be personable, I asked if her name was Russian. Whoo! What a mistake! She emphatically told me I should first ask and not just assume someone was Russian. She was Bosnian. The Serbs, cousins to and buddies with the Russians, are enemies of the Bosnians. My patient was really miffed I would assume she was Russian. Ouch! How could I have anticipated that? It was a good reminder that being culturally ignorant puts you at risk of offending others, despite your best intentions.

One of my wife’s coworkers brought her a big basket of ripe figs. When I saw them, I went right to work looking for a fig cookie recipe. Most are for filled cookies, like Fig Newtons. They usually call for dried figs. I had to look for a while to find one that called for fresh figs and looked like something I would like. These are moist and very tasty but not really very figgy.

Source:

COOKS.COM

Yield:

4 dozen

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

¼ cup shortening

1 cup packed brown sugar

1½ cups white sugar

¾ tablespoon vanilla

3 eggs

3 cups flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

11 tablespoons cocoa

½ cup fig nuggets*

12 ounces chocolate chips

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment.

Sift together flour, soda, salt and cocoa. Set aside.

Cream together butter, shortening and sugars.

Add vanilla and eggs. Mix until well blended.

Fold in figs and chocolate chips.

Scoop in 2 tablespoon balls  on prepared baking sheets.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes until just set. Do not over-bake. Cookies will be soft and appear not to be done.

Frost with your favorite chocolate frosting or glaze. **

 Notes:

* I have no idea what “fig nuggets” are. Do you get them from McDonald’s? I just cut up ripe figs and folded them in.

** They really do not need any frosting or glaze but I am sure they would be great frosted.

I don’t have a photo of every bag I have made but I do have a photo of most of them. I first started taking pictures of them with the idea of referencing them for some future design idea. Then, it kind of turned into a documentation project. A while ago, I decided to try to do something with them and came up with the idea of a bag photo collage. We finished it last night and I wanted to share a picture of it with you. It is 24 by 36 inches and has 96 representative pictures. I am going to hang it in Hilary’s room, where I sew.