Guilty Groceries

I enjoy shopping at my neighborhood Whole Foods. The produce is lovely and often locally grown. The seafood looks and tastes fresh and the fishmongers can always answer my questions. The meat is delicious and the butchers are happy to cut up a chicken for me or slice one of their enormous steaks in half so that Bill and I can share. They may groan internally but they always smile. Best of all, it’s only a few blocks from my house, so it is a nice walk. I frequently put two of my younger grandchildren in my double stroller and walk over.

However, in my quick trip yesterday afternoon to buy a loaf of bread, I noticed that I was inundated by guilt producers.

It started even before I got in the door as I was greeted with a large sign that read Our turkeys were responsibly raised. I immediately began thinking about all of the Butterballs and Jennie-O’s that I have bought over the past 40 years, and I have no idea what their upbringing was like. I’ve never even given it a thought. Should I have? Those turkeys could very well have been irresponsibly raised. I’m really not making light of this notion (well, not too much anyway). I am opposed to animal cruelty. Still, I don’t want to have to worry that much about my Thanksgiving turkey. Thankfully (pun intended), my daughter-in-law will be purchasing the turkey this year so it will be her worry. I’ll try not to think about it as I enjoy my turkey leg.

Then, on my way to the bakery, I passed their small clothing line, which sits under a sign that boasts All of our clothes are eco-friendly and sustainable. Oh my word. I’m pretty sure none of my clothes are sustainable. I don’t even know what that means. I’ve never seen the word sustainable on any signage at Kohls. More to worry about.

I finally reached the bakery, selected a nice loaf of ciabatta bread, and handed it to the cheerful bakery worker to be sliced. Suddenly her smile is gone. “This loaf is organic and I can’t promise you that the crumbs on the slicer are organic. Will that be okay?” she asks me somberly.

Seriously?

I assured her it would be fine, as I am sure the pork sausages we had for breakfast weren’t organic, nor were the Taco Bell burritos we had for lunch. And I don’t even want to talk about all of the leftover Halloween candy.

And then there was the inevitable question at the cashier stand, “Would you like to donate a dollar to (fill in the blank). I think today’s donation had something to do with Ghana, which I’m not certain is even still a country. It probably is. I have nothing against donating to causes, but I really do have a hard time keeping them all straight. Still, if I say no, well, more guilt.

I assume that I feel guilty mostly because I’m a second-born and, therefore, a people-pleaser. But I must admit I yearn for the days when my most serious concern while grocery shopping was making sure I was getting the carton of milk with the most distant pull date.

This week I am featuring cookies. There are nearly a million cookie recipes available, but I was looking for recipes that were a favorite of members of our family. I started with Bill since he was sitting closest to me when I got the idea. He would always choose chocolate chip cookies. Seriously, who wouldn’t? But I asked him to think outside the box, and he recalled cookies that my niece’s 85-year-old neighbor made for her several years ago. Chocolate cookies with chocolate chips. In his mind, it couldn’t possibly get better than that.

Double Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients
½ c. butter, room temperature
½ c. granulated sugar
½ c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla extract
1-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
¼ c. unsweetened cocoa
½ t. baking soda
½ t. baking powder
½ t. salt
½ c. milk chocolate chips
½ c. semisweet chocolate chips

Process
Preheat oven to 350.

Cream the butter and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed. Lower to medium, and add the egg and vanilla. Sift together the flour cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. On low speed, add the dry mixture to the butter mixture. Beat until combined. Add chocolate chips.

Form the dough into 1-1/2 in. balls. Bake on parchment paper or aluminum foil-lined baking sheet 2 inches apart until centers are set, about 12 min.

Nana's Note: I used the chocolate chips I had on hand, which happened to be semi-sweet mini chocolate chips. The mini chips completely melted into the rest of the chocolate. Next time I would use regular sized chips. Still very yummy.