Operation Baking Gals - Round up for Team Country Cookies

Let me start by sending out a HUGE thank you to everyone who joined my team, baked cookies, and shipped them to Dan. As I mentioned in the article I wrote when I started Team Country Cookies for this round, I have been baking with OBG, or Baking Gals as we now seem to be called, since Round 2. I have missed only two rounds in the last 16. This group holds a special place in my heart. No, I don't have anyone from my family serving in the military, but I am a mother, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, and can only imagine what it must be like to have someone I love in harms way, far from home, making sacrifices that mostly go unnoticed. I think it takes a very special kind of person to give up home and family to serve our country in a strange land, and I hope that my boxes of goodies let these guys and gals know just how much I appreciate those sacrifices.

So, on to the round up! I had twenty members sign up to bake with Team Country Cookies. I have been able to account for all but 4 of my bakers. I will assume everyone shipped something to Dan during the dates of Feb 1 - 17. If you did ship something, and I don't have you in this round up,  send an email, with pictures if you took them, and I will edit this post at a later date to include you. :) I want everyone who took the time to help out to be recognized!

So, in no particular order...
Shelly and her son Nicholas baked Oatmeal Raisin cookies and also sent a trivia card game, the Super Bowl Sports Illustrated magazine, sunflower seeds, bags of roasted peanuts in the shell, cheese creackers, easy mac, trail mix, microwave popcorn, gum, Goldfish and beef jerky!

Diane baked and sent chocolate chip/Heath chip cookies and some Chex mix.

My daughter Beth joined me this round and baked Snickerdoodles and a Danish cookie that translates to Peppernuts. Kind of a crunchy spice cookie. Thanks honey!!

Linda, a friend I met through her blog,  Diva Weigh,  baked and shipped 5 dozen chocolate chip cookies, 5 dozen oatmeal cookies, 3 1/2 dozen peanut butter cookies and she included 4 boxes of Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies. Linda is one of three blogging buddies who joined me to bake for Dan.

Joyce baked and sent about 6 dozen M&M cookies (like chocolate chips cookies but with M&M's instead), a fleece blanket, a Georgia t-shirt to give to someone who gets little or no mail, and coffee. Joyce, that was really sweet of you to think of someone else in the troop.








Janice baked and sent Cowboy cookies (Chocolate chip, oatmeal, coconut, walnuts, etc, Sounds delicious!) sugar cookies, brownies, sunflower seeds, wipes for cleaning up with, and a local newspaper from Southeast Alaska!

Tara baked and sent Chocolate Chip cookies, Brickle drop cookies, sugar cookies, peanut butter blossom cookies. And, if that wasn't enough, she also made cinnamon streussel muffins and peanut butter fudge. Into that box, with all those other goodies,  she tossed a bag of hard candy and sunflower seeds!!

Susan sent Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk cookes and Ginger Spice cookies. She also made some Chocolate fudge and included granola bars, powdered drink mixes, hot chocolate mix, peanuts, granola, and a local paper from Edinboro, PA.

Tera was another busy baker. She sent Triple Chocolate Temptation cookies, chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips, double chocolate brownies with M&M's, Sweethearts Valentines conversation candy, several different kinds of gum, some personal care items (flossers, travel toothpaste, hand sanitizer), Charms Super Blowpops, Slim Jims, Pink lemondade single serve packets, a Thank-you card, and magazines! Wow!

Donna, who I believe is the mom of a soldier serving in our military, baked and shipped Snickerdoodles and Chocolate Chocolate chip cookies.

Jennifer sent a box filled with home baked cookies, 2 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, candies, gum and a bag of jerky.

Tina shipped off a box for Dan, but I'm not sure exactly what was in it, because she didn't put that in her email to me. :)  I am sure it was full of yummy things though!

Sarah shipped no bake cookies and chocolate chip cookie bars. Individually wrapped packages of beef jerky, peanuts, granola bars and tuna kits.

Gina and her daughters shipped Chocolate Chip cookies, granola bars, crackers, hard candies, puzzle books and magazines.

Julie (My friend from Little Bit of Everything, and the second of my blogging buddies) was another busy baker. She baked 6 dozen Chocolate chip cookies and 4 dozen Oatmeal raisin cookies. She also included some bags of hard candies. Thanks Julie!!

 

Nina, (her blog is Nina's cupcakes),  the third of my three blogging buddies who helped out this round, baked Chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies and decorated sugar cookies!

Jenni and her Mom, Jan, were busy ladies! They baked and shipped Oatmeal raisin cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip with nuts, and then filled the "holes" in the box with valentines day suckers and spearmints! Here's Jan with the box ready to mail and a picture of some of their cookies...

And me? I shipped two boxes to Dan.  I baked 5 Dozen Dark Chocolate Chip cookies, 2 1/2 dozen Peanut butter cup peanut butter cookies, 2 1/2 dozen Reese's pieces peanut butter cookies, 3 dozen Peanut peanut butter cookies and 6 dozen oatmeal raisin cookies. I also enclosed a short letter and some pictures of my family, pets and some deer in our front yard.











Whew! And that my friends is a wrap-up of Round 16 with Team Country Cookies!  What a terrific round of baking!! I hope I hear from Dan (or his girlfriend Kelly) letting me know that he received all the goodies. As for all my team members? I cannot thank you enough for taking time out of your busy lives to make a difference in the life of a stranger. It's a wonderful thing you have done and you should be proud. Thanks again for making my first round as a team leader a big success!! 

Calling all bakers!!- Please join me in baking for "my" soldier!

I am sending out an invitation to all the bakers who read my blog to join me by baking cookies for a soldier this month.

I am leading a team for the first time for Operation Baking Gals. I have been baking with this group for 15 of the last 16 rounds. I missed the first round because I didn't know about the group. After all this time I thought I should step up and lead my own team.

The soldier I am baking for is Dan McNally, a 1st Lieutenant serving in Iraq. I clean house for his girlfriend's grandmother. They gave me his name because they know I bake for at least one soldier every month. I also advertise that I bake for soldiers and am always asking people to give me the names of guys and gals that are serving overseas.

If you are interested in joining me, head over to Bakinggals and (after you register) join my team, Team Country Cookies, and bake Dan some cookies or brownies or whatever moves you, to show him we appreciate his sacrifices. It's a wonderful group, and receiving homemade goodies means a lot to the men and women who are so far away from home. It would also mean a lot to me to have you on my team. Thanks!

Operation Baking Gals - Cookies for my soldiers!

If you came looking for my Sweet Melissa Sunday post, sorry to disappoint. I do not do fruitcake in any way, shape or form, not even for Sweet Melissa! :P But, be sure to check out Karin's blog, Sugar and Spice and everything nice. The Golden Almond Fruitcake was her choice this week, and her pictures make me wish I did like fruitcake!  Also, be sure to check out SMS's bakers page to see which bakers did join her in making the fruit cake.

What I did do this weekend was bake cookies. Lots and lots of cookies. About 47 dozen to be exact!

Operation Baking Gals, or Baking Gals as it is now known,  is a group I have been involved with for over a year now. I joined up in Round 2. The first round was when Susan of She's becoming DoughMessTic asked some fellow bloggers to join her in baking for a cousin who was stationed overseas. The outpouring was overwhelming. The rest as they say is history. I have baked in 13 of the 15 rounds since it's beginnings. I missed the first round because I didn't know about it at the time, and I missed a round this October because I was in Germany. I know, lame excuse, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it! :D

This round was a bit more special than most as I was baking for the nephews of two ladies I clean house for. I have been cleaning for them for a long time now and I had told both women about the organization when they mentioned having family members that were serving overseas. I asked them for the names and addresses of the boys (though it is just as often a girl we bake for) and I passed the info onto Lyndsay, who is our fearless (and tireless) leader now. She got both boys assigned to teams for this round and I joined both teams so I could bake for these two boys.

Did I mentioned I baked a lot of cookies. Here's a breakdown on what I baked...

6 Dozen Oatmeal Raisin (would have baked more but ran out of oatmeal!)
13 Dozen Walnut Chocolate Chip
15 Dozen Peanut Butter with Peanut Butter chips
13 Dozen Molasses cookies (the same molasses cookies we baked with TWD this month!)

I started Saturday morning by making the dough for all the cookies. I made double batches of every kind except the Oatmeal Raisin and that is because I didn't realize I only had enough oatmeal on hand for one batch. Once I had all the doughs made I cleaned up the kitchen and began baking. I started baking the first batch of cookies around 11 Saturday morning and finished the last batch about 9:30 that evening. I took a break long enough to heat up leftover Thanksgiving for dinner, eat it, and then get back to baking cookies. It's a labor of love people. :) When I was done I had about 564 cookies all waiting to be packaged for their trip overseas.

I divided the cookies between the two soldiers and vacuum sealed them for travel. I also enclosed boxes and boxes of Starbucks new VIA instant coffee. It's really good for instant; I drink it and took it to Germany with me so I could have coffee whenever I wanted, no coffee pot needed! I think I had 13 boxes of the 12 packs and about 26 packs of the three packs for each soldier. So, what's that, about 234 "cups" of coffee I am sending.  Much easier than sending pounds of ground coffee and worrying about whether or not the guys or girls have a coffeepot handy to brew it in. And, my local Starbucks collects the packages of VIA from customers and gives it to me to send to "my" soldiers! They are the best!

I packed all the cookies and coffee into 4 separate boxes. Couldn't get it all to fit in just one box per soldier. Thank goodness for flat rate shipping as the boxes are heavy. I also enclosed a letter from me and a few pictures of my family, pets and the local wildlife (deer). The guys who get the boxes like knowing a little about who shipped them. 

Tomorrow I will head to the local post office and mail these boxes out. Official shipping dates are December 1-16, but I am shipping tomorrow. One of the reasons is I already have the addresses of the boys since I know the aunts and I figure one day early won't be a bad thing.

If you ever want to do something to let a soldier know that what they do is appreciated, please stop by BakingGals and join a team. It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside when you do. :)