What’s On Your Floor?

Well, tonight I was watching George the kitten chase whatever he could find on the floor, batting it all over the place. It reminded me of Devin, my ten month old grandson. Now one of the great things about working from home in northeast Oklahoma is that I get to experience things like, Devin crawling around the house when he visits, except that he usually finds something left over from his last meal. No matter how much you sweep, vacuum or mop, there always seems to be something you miss that a baby will find. Which leads to the question, is it safe for babies and children to eat off the floor?

For years we’ve heard of the five second rule, if it is on the floor for less than five seconds it’s okay to eat it, not me! Between the dogs, cats, and children, who knows what lurks on that floor. Yet small children and babies have been doing just that for centuries, without paying attention to the five seconds. That’s when all my police training starts to surface and I think of all the ways one can be poisoned, like Chronic poisoning, Contact or absorption poisoning and Inhaled or ingested poisons. Yet the little ones seem to be immune with all the things they put in their mouths. We still worry, it’s in our nature. The wife and I use green cleaning products throughout the house, which helps.

More of the strange trivia that lurks in my brain is that during the Renaissance the popularity of poison as a method of disposing of people who were in the way surged throughout Europe. You could almost say that poisoning had become fashionable. So what about the floor? Not to mention the children crawling past your feet, who explore the world by tasting everything they find. Yet after having six children and seeing them remain perfectly healthy after doing things like sucking pickle juice out of the carpet, I don’t worry too much anymore.

Of course green cleaning products and disinfectants help ease the worry, I mean it’s not like were serving some exotic poison from the ground level serving tray.

Now as I’ve mentioned before, working from home in northeast Oklahoma has allowed me more time to experiment in the kitchen. No wise cracks, at least I don’t serve off the ground level serving tray that the kids like to use. My computer crashed recently and I lost a couple of the recipes I use a lot, so I went and re-visited Rachel Ray’s website for the recipes. And I found a new one that sounds really good. I went shopping earlier today and picked up some of the ingredients I didn’t have on hand. So, now that Devin and George have semi-cleaned the floor, I’m going to try out some apple spice cookies.

Courtesy of Rachel Ray’s website, and her sister Maria;

Apple Spice Cookies

Makes 4 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS

2 ¼ cups of all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¾ cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/3 cups brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

¼ cup apple cider

5 medium McIntosh apples, peeled and finely diced

½ cup walnuts, minced

½ cup raisins, minced

For the glaze

1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar

1 tablespoon apple cider

1 tablespoon butter, melted

PREPARATION

Pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, cloves and nutmeg and set aside. In a large bowl cream together the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Add the egg and beat on low speed until incorporated. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat on low speed after each addition until combined.

With a spoon, stir in the apple cider, apples, walnuts and raisins – the cookie dough will be quite chunky. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a parchment lined baking sheet 2 inches apart.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown and no longer doughy to the touch – ovens vary with temperature, so pay attention to the first batch and you’ll have your time down for future batches. Cool on a wire rack; glaze when cool (optional).

If making glaze, combine the confectioner’s sugar, apple cider and butter in a small mixing bowl using a whisk.

Take a fork and dip it into the glaze. Hold the fork over each cookie, waving it back and forth and letting the glaze drip off the tines onto the cookies, making a zig-zag effect. Let the glaze completely dry before moving the cookies to a storage container (about 20 minutes).

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