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by Kris Mulkey I love when I try a twist on a recipe and it comes out great! For these cookies I used banana in a recipe that called for pumpkin and the results are oh-so-tasty. These banana sugar cookies taste like banana bread with a sweet crispy edge. I debated calling them banana bread cookies. Don thought they should be called banana snickerdoodles. But I settled on banana sugar cookies because they are light and fluffy just like a sugar cookie. Banana Sugar Cookies Makes 3 1/2 dozen Ingredients 1 1/2 cups sugar (plus 1/2 c. more for rolling dough) 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1/2 t. baking powder 1/2 t. salt 1/2 t. cinnamon (plus 1/2 t. for rolling dough) 1/4 t. Penzey's apple pie spice (or pumpkin pie spice) 14 T. unsalted butter, room temperature 2 t. vanilla extract 1 egg yolk 2 ripe bananas, mashed Cinnamon Sugar: 1/2 c. sugar and 1 heaping t. cinnamon Instructions 1. In large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, 1/2 t. cinn...

Guest post by Elli Mulkey, age 15, High School Junior Getty Image Technology Takeover As time goes on, everything around us is aging: ourselves, trees in the backyard, the dog sleeping next to you, the technology in your hands. The article Post-Millennials! Please Go Drink And Smoke And Have Sex In The Woods b y Mark Morford is blaming all technology on how kids are these days. The author wrote that “we might be one of the most narcissistic generations, ever.” Smart devices aren’t the only thing wrong in this generation, they have given us great advantages. Can we really blame all the downfalls of a generation on an object? First I want to state that I can agree with what Morford is writing. There are people out there who can’t go one minute without talking about himself/herself or can’t go one minute without their phone glued to their hand. I believe that the generation with complete tech takeover is starting at the class of 2021. Those kids have been exposed to smart techno...

If you love mashed potatoes, but don't want all the calories, then you should try this mashed cauliflower recipe. They are creamy, cheesy and pretty darn awesome.  The version I make is about half the calories of mashed potatoes and just as tasty. Serve them alongside a nice grilled steak and you have a delicious dinner which will rival any steakhouse. Parmesan Smashed Cauliflower serves 4-6 1 large head of cauliflower 1/4 cup + 2 T Parmesan cheese 1 oz cream cheese 1/4 t. chicken base ( Better Than Bouillon ) 1 garlic clove minced salt and pepper to taste Set a pot of water to boil over high heat with a steamer basket in the pot.  Clean and cut cauliflower into small pieces. Cook in boiling water for about 15 minutes, or until well done. Drain well. Leave cauliflower in hot pan and with the heat off stir it around in the pan. You want the cauliflower to be as dry as possible. Use your immersion blender, or in a food processor, puree ...

From the Mulkey family recipe archives.... Do you love chicken and curry? Then you are going to love Casa Chicken. This recipe is super easy to make and is ready in less than 30 minutes. Every family has their favorite recipes - those craveable flavors you can taste and smell in your mind. This recipe for Casa Chicken is a Mulkey family recipe that Don's mom used to make all the time. It has a great curry flavor, super moist chicken and tons of sauce to smother over rice. And the best part is all the ingredients for the sauce are pantry staples. So on those nights when you don't know what to make you know you can always whip together Casa Chicken in less than 30 minutes. Casa Chicken Serves 4-6 Ingredients: 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, each cut into 3 or 4 pieces 3/4 t. onion salt 3/4 t. black pepper 1/2 cup ketchup 1/4 cup soy sauce 2 T prepared mustard 1/2 t. curry powder 2 1/4 cups water 2 bay leaves 2 T cornstarch 2 T water 3 T ...

TRX at In-Shape Health Clubs If I could give just one piece of advice to people in their 30's and 40's it would be to stay active, work out weekly and keep building muscle. Because as you get older it's really important to have muscle mass and getting back in shape is really hard. It hurts. A lot. My muscles hurt for days sometimes because the muscles are nonexistent. Had I been working out all this time this wouldn't be happening. But I didn't. So here I am. I have also learned that all that hiking and walking I was doing is great. But it did nothing to build my core strength and upper body. It would have been much easier to have been doing some sort of strength training all along. The good news is it's not too late to start. You can get back in shape at any age and it doesn't take that long with a little bit of focus. Here are the things I'm doing to get back in shape. Working out at the gym/club Lucky for me I work for a chain of health c...

When I was a kid, there was one thing I believed without question. If you saw a truck full of hay... you made a wish. Not casually. Not just a quick, "I wish I had a pony." There were rules. Very specific rules. First, you licked the end of your thumb and held it up until it dried while you made your wish. Then you absolutely, under no circumstances, looked back until the truck was completely out of sight. I grew up thinking this was perfectly normal. Like carrying a rabbit's foot. Or throwing a penny into a fountain. Or blowing out birthday candles. Just... something everybody knew. Apparently, not so much. Fast forward to this week. We're driving through Napa when two enormous semis loaded with hay rumble past us. And I mean enormous. The kind of hay-truck opportunity you don't waste. So naturally... I made a wish. I can even tell you what I wished for because it already came true. I wished someone would call me about a job. An hour later, a headhunter called. A...

Elli left for her trip to Costa Rica this morning. Sigh........ Don and I didn't say much on the car ride back to Mill Valley. It will take a day or so to get used to her not being here. It's not like she's ever home that much any way. But she's in our town. Or close by. Not 3,919 miles away. Eeks! I am really proud of her for wanting to go on this adventure with Cross-Cultural Solutions . She worked hard for months to raise the money needed for the trip with her GoFundMe  campaign. Now she's on her way with one of her best friends. They will be with a group of teens from all over the United States. Their purpose is to lend a hand to under-resourced organizations. It will be an eye opening experience being in a country where 1 in 5 people live in extreme poverty. Their home base is in Cartago, an historic, bustling city located within a more rural region of the country. The volunteer assignments will be in Orosi, one of the oldest communities in C...