Fighting the Good Fight

 Other than the fact I've been coughing and hacking and sounding much like a chain-smoking, gravely-voiced secretary from the 60's named Pearl ... I'm doing much better. In fact, we are all doing much better. We are, once again, walking in an upright fashion, complaining about too-spicy toothpaste, and telling jokes about monkeys with indigestion problems. Totally back to normal.

And with 'normal' comes appetite! Having lost poundage during my unplanned fever/starvation diet of last week, my body is insisting that we fight back and fight back hard. We certainly can't risk losing the mom-bum we've worked so hard for, now can we? It's time for battle! It's time to take back those hard-earned love handles and stand up for all that is good and wonderful in this world! It's time to brandish our baked goods and and gird ourselves with butter. Yes, yes. Baked goods, my dears. Baked goods with excessive amounts of sugar and butter. This is a cause I can stand up for.

• Pack-the-Pounds-Back-On Orange Cookies •

Cream:
2 c. sugar
1 c. butter

Beat in:
2 eggs
1 c. sour cream
1 t. vanilla

Mix in:
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
5 c. unbleached flour

Add:
2/3 c. orange juice
orange zest (half of a large orange)

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Once cooled on rack, frost!

• Might-As-Well-Frost-Your-Bum Orange Frosting •

 Whip together:
6 T melted butter
1.5 t. vanilla
3 T orange juice (more if needed)
orange zest (other half of that orange)
2. 5 c. powdered sugar (more or less as needed for consistency)


**You could top with chocolate sprinkles if you don't like silky-orange frosting from heaven, or ... you could frost and then top with chocolate sprinkles. Yes. that sounds much more reasonable.