A Taste of Yellow

When I first read Barbara's A Taste of Yellow post, I knew immediately that I'd be participating. For I am a cancer survivor. I kicked it's ass and I'm quite proud of it. I had to give up the option of ever having kids, and although that saddens me at least twice a day, it was a small price to pay for being able to still be here with my family and friends.

In November of 2005, I was called back in to see my doctor after having a routine pap smear. The first one I'd had in 4 years.* I was then sent to my OB/GYN who did a biopsy, which came back positive. 'kay so I just wrote two paragraphs of what I went through and deleted it.. suffice to say that after all attempts at saving the cervix failed, my only option was to have a radical hysterectomy including removal of the near-by lymph nodes.

Amazingly my bout with cancer lasted 2 months only. It's amazing how far some cancer treatments have come. When first diagnosed, I thought for sure I'd be dealing with this for at least 6 months. This past December, I had my 1 year check-up and all results came back negative. =)

So you see, I am eternally grateful for people like Lance Armstrong and his LIVESTRONG Day as well as Barbara of Winos and Foodies and her A Taste of Yellow event - these are survivors who take action, who try to make a difference. I don't believe for a minute, that cancer treatment and cures would be where they are today if it weren't for people like Lance and Barbara raising awareness about cancer issues. And that's a true statement.

It is with great pleasure that I can participate in such a worthy cause, even if it's just with a simple recipe that took no more than 30 minutes of my time. To even be a miniscule part of helping to make people aware, is a great honor. Thank you to Barbara for organizing this wonderful event! =)

Well.. my yellow food, she ain't yeller. But she smells yellow and she tastes yellow - so that counts right? Months ago as I clicked on one of my favorite blogs, Danielle's Habeas Brulee, I found a post she had written about finding a piece of scrap granite that was hers for the taking, and all the ass pain she went through to get that free slab of stone home.

Although Danielle's post was fun to read, it was the cookies that stayed in my memory these past 5 months. I KNEW I'd make them at some point. It may not have been immediate, but I knew they wouldn't sit in my "Must Make" pile forever. The cookies are called "Lemon Chocolate Chunk Cookies" and the photo she shared of them was extremely drool-worthy. Oh yeah, baby.

I had found an excellent opportunity to make these cookies, as they were a pretty shade of yellow and fit the requirements of this event perfectly. Now, I followed Danielle's recipe - my only change was to use chips instead of chunks of chocolate (as I had depleted my stash of good chocolate on The Martha's Crepe Cake) - but mine did not turn out looking even remotely like hers. Mine look like your normal chocolate chip cookie, with maybe a slight twinge of lemony color. But what's fabulous about them is you can smell the lemon and when you take a bite, the lemon flavor stands out. It's wonderful.. truly. And as we all know.. I'm all about the chocolate/citrus combo these days, eh? (DUDES! I'M THE FIRST BROWNIEBABE! WOOOOO!!)

I'm copying Danielle's recipe exactly as she has it on her blog, but I really urge you to go check it out for yourselves. You'll see what I mean about total drool worthiness. Not to mention, this gal can cook! If you haven't been reading Habeas Brulee yet - do yourself a favor and click on over there and read, read, drool, read!

Danielle's Lemon Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Courtesy of Danielle of Habeas Brulee

1/2 C unsalted butter
Zest of 4 lemons
3/8 C granulated sugar
3/8 C packed dark brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/8 C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 C chocolate chunks

Preheat the oven to 375º.

You can use store-bought chocolate chips for this if you like, but I prefer to take a hunk of good chocolate and cut it into large chunks myself.

Cream the butter, lemon zest, and sugars together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. At low speed, beat in the flour, salt, and baking soda just until blended. Add the chocolate chunks and mix in until evenly distributed.

Prepare baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Place heaping tablespoons of dough on the baking sheets about 2″ apart.

Bake 10-12 minutes, or until lightly golden and done.

*Note: Ladies, please don't be stupid like I was. As much of a pain in the arse it is to get your yearly pap smear done, it's crucial that you do not skip it. Had I not blown my test off for 4 years, the cancer could have been caught in the early, early stages and I'd most likely still have all of my pieces parts. This means the decision to have children or not, would not have been taken away from me, without my having a choice.

xoxo