Monday, July 23, 2012

Day 75: Oatmeal Raisin Cookies with a Tall Glass of Milk, and The Cookie A Day Challenge's FIRST GIVEAWAY!

Growing up in Michigan I have been to my share of what I like to call, education farms. Farms where I can take the boys to hold baby chicks, see a goat and even pet a horse. However, last Friday, thanks to The Michigan Dairy News Bureau, I was able to tour a Michigan Dairy Farm.

We took a tour of Goma Dairy located in Marlette, MI which is run by the van den Goor family. Immediately I was impressed. Gertie van den Goor welcomed us and began to introduce her family and explained how her family became dairy farmers. She then went on to give us a little history about her family's farm. The currently milk 3,000 cows and take pride in their care for these beautiful animals.




Before we could begin our tour we were required to slip on surgical foot coverings. The purpose of the this is was protect the cows from any diseases we may track in. I thought this was very smart! Keeping healthy cows is important to to the milk production. As any mom knows, once a child brings a virus into the house it is very difficult to keep the other kids healthy. This seems to happen to us every November as the flu season starts to peek in the elementary schools. I couldn't imagine having to protect 2,999 other cows from getting a virus that starts in one!

We saw where the cow's feed was stored, then went into the barn. The cows were happily eating and paid little attention to the group of bloggers all snapping pictures of them.


After seeing where the cows spent most of their time we moved on to the milking station.
The cows knew exactly what to do and the workers were so fast! The the cows were hooked to a machine and the pumping began. What stood out most to me was that once the cows were attached to the milking machine, their milk was never touched by human hands! It goes right from the cow to the truck, fantastic!

Cows being milked

Milk goes from the tubes down to the basement where it is pumped into more tubes

In the basement, the milk is pumped into the large silver tube and moves to the cooling tubes.

The milk goes directly into the truck!
We ended our tour with a delicious lunch in the barn. I learned a lot form my first dairy farm experience and give a lot of credit to the people who choose this as a career. It is truly a labor of love. We were lucky enough to be joined by Dairy experts; Deanne Kelleher an registered dietitian, Dr. Ron Erskine a veterinarian and Katie Dellar Facebook's Dairy Mom. The knowledge they shared was invaluable!

What goes better with a warm batch of cookies then a nice tall glass of milk?! I decided to make a classic Oatmeal Raisin Cookie. The warm soft chewiness of this cookies is complemented so nicely by milk!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies




  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg plus 1 egg yoke
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3/4 cups flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg or all spice
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 cups Oats
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts (optional)

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees
    Sift together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg or all spice, baking soda and salt, set aside
    Cream together butter and sugars
    Add egg, egg yoke and vanilla
    Slowly stir in flour mixture
    Mix in oats, raisins and walnuts(optional).
    Place a teaspoon sized drop of dough on a cookie sheet
    Bake for 8-10 minutes
    Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute
    Remove cookies to cooling rack to complete cooling



    


    It's Giveaway Time!!!!
    The Cookie A Day Challenge is giving away a Get Moooving dairy gift bag that includes:
    • A $50 MasterCard Gift Card
    • A Complete Magic Bullet 17-piece Hi-Speed Blender/Mixer System
    • Reusable Grocery Bag
    • got milk? Baseball cap
    • Dairy Themed Socks (adorable!) 
    To qualify for the giveaway you must:
    1. Like The Cookie A Day Challenge on Facebook and/or Follow @cookieaday on Twitter or  subscribe to The Cookie A Day Challenge by email.
    2. Like the Michigan Dairy News Bureau on facebook (to have your facebook like count, please comment on the Michigan Dairy News page that The Cookie A Day Challenge sent you) or subscribe the The Michigan Dairy Bureau's You Tube Channel
    3. Comment on this post

    Giveaway Rules
    1. You must be a US resident to win (sorry)
    2. You will get one entry for EACH site you like or subscribe to. Total possible entries 6!
    3. The winner will be chose at random
    4. Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery of your Get Moooving Dairy Gift Bag. 
    5. Contest ends July 31st, Winner will be notified by August 2nd.
    6. Good Luck!!

    25 comments:

    Unknown said...

    I already like you on FB :)

    Unknown said...

    and Follow @cookieaday on Twitter and subscribe to The Cookie A Day Challenge by email.
    I now Like the Michigan Dairy News Bureau on facebook
    AND I LOVE Oatmeal Raisin Cookies :)

    Stephanie {TheCookieADayChallenge} said...

    Thanks Shari!! These Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are so good! Thanks for entering the giveaway :)

    The Cooking Actress said...

    Yum! I love a good oatmeal cookie :)

    The Cooking Actress said...

    I like The Cookie A Day Challenge on fb!

    The Cooking Actress said...

    I follow @cookieaday on twitter :)

    Unknown said...

    new follower from nap time reviews hop, and joining you on FB and twitter too. I have a giveaway hop going on right now if you want to add this post. impressed with cookie a day challenge my kids would love living with you.
    www.stayingclosetohome.com

    Jessica@AKitchenAddiction said...

    I like A Cookie A Day Challenge on FB

    Jessica@AKitchenAddiction said...

    Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are my husband's absolute favorites! He'll love these!

    Jessica@AKitchenAddiction said...

    I already subscribe via e-mail

    Jessica@AKitchenAddiction said...

    I follow you on Twitter

    Jessica@AKitchenAddiction said...

    I subscribe to Michigan Dairy Bureau Youtube Channel

    Unknown said...

    I like the challenge on FB

    Unknown said...

    I like Michigan Dairy ... on Fb

    Unknown said...

    I commented on michigan FB as tara jones

    The Gay Gourmet™ said...

    @TheGayGourmet & @CookieWeek heart you and follow you both on the twitter & Facebook. We also commented on MIchigan Dairy News Facebook.

    This is Cookies & Milk magic and I hope you can be part of National Cookie Week next year!

    Kisses
    Michael Muñoz
    www.hesthegaygourmet.com

    CJ - Food Stories said...

    Pinned your giveaway to my pinterest giveaway board :-)

    Harmony said...

    I Like The Cookie A Day Challenge on Facebook

    Harmony said...

    I Follow @cookieaday on Twitter
    @hburmeister

    Harmony said...

    I subscribe to The Cookie A Day Challenge by email.
    njharmonyg@aol.com

    Harmony said...

    I subscribe the The Michigan Dairy Bureau's You Tube Channel
    njharmonyb

    Harmony said...

    Great recipes, love the blog.
    thanks for the giveaway

    Harmony said...

    I like Michigan Dairy News Bureau on facebook
    https://www.facebook.com/MichiganDairyNewsBureau#!/MichiganDairyNewsBureau/posts/448278615212585

    HVS said...

    followed you on Twitter & suscribed to the Youtube channel.

    Nana said...

    Could use one of those cookies right now!