Throwing Caution to the Wind

In a move very uncharacteristic of my food-safety obsessiveness, I allowed Carson to lick the batter from the oatmeal cookies.  (Breathe Shauna, breathe.)

Y let her daughter do it on the reassurance from her commenters that the evildoer Sal Monella would keep away.

[picture removed]

I’m pleased to report that we are diarrhea and emergency room free.

I’m noticing that my rule-breaking self appears to be on a downward spiral.  First the “borrowing” of Internet access, now the licking of contaminated batter.  I am out. of. control.

54 Responses to Throwing Caution to the Wind
  1. Kara
    March 10, 2008 | 7:22 am

    what a happy boy. You crazy mama you.

    Kara’s last blog post..clearing things up…

  2. Mary
    March 10, 2008 | 7:35 am

    downward spiral………..pull it together girl!
    j/k

    Mary’s last blog post..Please stick your tongue out

  3. Penelope Anne aka The Mama Bear
    March 10, 2008 | 7:50 am

    Honey I am 37, almost 38 years of proof that raw cookie dough will not get you.
    And my kids are 15,14 & 11.
    Relax mama, and breathe it tastes good.

    Penelope Anne aka The Mama Bear’s last blog post..The Tick-Tock of the Clock is Painful Monday

  4. tulipmom
    March 10, 2008 | 7:57 am

    So I guess I shouldn’t tell you that the only way we can get antibiotics in SB is by emptying the contents of the capsules into raw cookie dough …

    tulipmom’s last blog post..34 Weeks Today

  5. Queen of Shake Shake
    March 10, 2008 | 7:57 am

    I’m just channeling my rule-breaking spirit to you, that’s all.

    Queen of Shake Shake’s last blog post..The Pissy Superpower

  6. Maggie
    March 10, 2008 | 7:58 am

    Holy smokes, is there no limit to your crazy side? The next thing you know, we’re going to find out that Carson has *gasp* stayed up a little past his bedtime…

    I ate cookie dough ALL the time and survived just fine. Besides, it’s too good to pass up. And it has oatmeal in it – HELLO, that’s a HEALTH FOOD. So clearly you were just assuring his proper nutrition.

    Maggie’s last blog post..Best Shot Monday – Trouble? What Trouble? and Lessons

  7. Mama DB
    March 10, 2008 | 8:11 am

    Yay for throwing caution to the wind! Next up, TP-ing your neighbor’s house!

    Carson’s such a little cutie!

    Mama DB’s last blog post..Dead Wood

  8. Sadie
    March 10, 2008 | 8:31 am

    I always have, and continue to, lick the batter of my baking delights. When my girls get old enough I will allow them to…and would allow DC to if he asked (he never does *G*)…

    And as for you taking all of these risks, breaking all the rules…well…

    You go girl :P

    Sadie’s last blog post..7 Random Things…

  9. Kelly
    March 10, 2008 | 8:39 am

    Alton Brown reassured me on that point in that (so he says and I’ll believe it if it means raw dough) only 1 in 10,000 eggs has salmonella in it. I’ve been giving my kids “batter licks” (finger swiped in bowl and stuffed into gaping child-maw) since they were over 1yr and nobody’s gotten sick yet (I’ve two, 3.5y and 15m).

    Kelly’s last blog post..That Thing You Do – White Day

  10. Amy
    March 10, 2008 | 8:44 am

    I agree with Kelly. Although I think Alton told me not to worry about it because mose edds are pasturized now.

  11. pgoodness
    March 10, 2008 | 8:50 am

    You crazy woman, you! LOL. I’ve never gotten sick from cookie dough, cake batter, brownie batter….in fact, the raw dough is the best part of baking!! My dad taught me that.

    pgoodness’s last blog post..Whoops

  12. Sandy
    March 10, 2008 | 9:18 am

    You know, most of us have eaten cooking/cake/brownie batter in our young lives and we are ok….

    Though I have to say I only gave Babyhead one lick once before I realized I was giving him raw eggs. You know, it is funny how things seem super important when your an adult, but kids could really care less.

    Sandy’s last blog post..Teens, Drugs, and Love

  13. Nell
    March 10, 2008 | 9:21 am

    What are going to do with you? What’s next, leaving your children alone while you go out for a manicure? When you get out of control, man, you really go for it, don’t you.

    Nell’s last blog post..Maybe We’re All Crazy

  14. wright
    March 10, 2008 | 9:29 am

    CRAZY! But look how much he is enjoying it!

    wright’s last blog post..Less Selfish or Momnesia

  15. Shelly
    March 10, 2008 | 9:33 am

    What’s next? Streaking through your new neighborhood???

    Shelly’s last blog post..Send More Tissues, Please

  16. sam
    March 10, 2008 | 9:48 am

    Ya for you! Don’t it feel liberating!?

    Ive been eating batter for YEARS – since I was a child and I’ve never succumb to the evil salmonella monster *touch wood*

    I say eat until your heart’s content! :D

  17. Blue Momma
    March 10, 2008 | 9:49 am

    How can you deny your kid the pleasure of licking the beater? There is no way. It is impossible! I think mine would rather have the raw product than the cake or cookies I’m making any day.

    Glad you are adjusting so well to leaving the south. It wasn’t hard at all, was it? And I LOVE your new kitchen!

    Blue Momma’s last blog post..Haiku Friday

  18. Melizzard
    March 10, 2008 | 9:53 am

    Allowing the licking of batter bowl and mixer thingies were one of the few easy going things my other wise stick in the mud mother allowed me to do.

    And hence one of my few fond memories of her ….

    Melizzard’s last blog post..Watching The Tourists Go By On A Cloudless Day

  19. Shania
    March 10, 2008 | 9:57 am

    OMG! You’ve obviously crossed the line. When will child protective services be in to save the poor thing? I kid..I’ve got four, haven’t done one in yet. When you get to the third or fourth, it doesn’t really matter anymore if they drink out of the dogbowl, teeth on the toilet bowl, eat cheerios out of the sofa cushions. It’s all good.

  20. tommie
    March 10, 2008 | 10:21 am

    She’s a wild thing…..I still can’t to the batter thing. Myself! Not even the kids! LOL

    I’ll have to make some cookies today and see if the kids want to lick them….just for grins and giggles.

    tommie’s last blog post..Weekly winners March 1-8, 2008

  21. The Mom Bomb
    March 10, 2008 | 10:22 am

    What is life without raw cookie dough? ‘Sides, a few germs will build up that immune system. That’s what I tell myself when I see my kids picking dropped food off the floor then popping it in their mouths.

    The Mom Bomb’s last blog post..Please Tell Me . . .

  22. The Other Dawn
    March 10, 2008 | 10:48 am

    You are completely out of control, and you must be stopped. I recommend that someone call the hunky half-naked police, housed a block down from the fireman in your last post.

    That way, when they take you away in cuffs for your insolence, you won’t be TOO upset.

    The Other Dawn’s last blog post..Dear Daylight Savings Time

  23. bananas
    March 10, 2008 | 11:09 am

    WOOHOO look at you go with your inner rebel…!

    bananas’s last blog post..Make Me Laugh Monday

  24. amanda
    March 10, 2008 | 11:29 am

    seriously i couldn’t wait for the bean to be born so i could lick the beaters again!! i am very proud of you!!

    amanda’s last blog post..friday funk

  25. Natalie
    March 10, 2008 | 11:33 am

    HA! You rebel, you! I let my son lick the batter. I went through childhood salmonella (sp?) free, at least from batter, and it is one of my fonder memories. *knocking on wood* he does the same.

    I was agape when yesterday when my friend (who just had her third boy), watched her three year old drop a cooked cookie on the grass and then laughed and said “oh well” when he picked it up and ate it. He dropped it on the sidewalk, too. And then back on the grass, and then back on the sidewalk…you get the picture.

    Meh, it’s good for the immune system! I think there comes a point where you just throw your hands up in the air and realize you are taking away some of the best parts of childhood by trying to protect them too much.

    Man, that was deep, huh?

  26. Stephanie
    March 10, 2008 | 11:34 am

    Liv is 5 1/2 and licks EVERY beater she can get her hands on. She’s fine! :) Glad Carson enjoyed it!

    Stephanie’s last blog post..WW- Just like Daddy

  27. Annie
    March 10, 2008 | 12:03 pm

    Many’s an identical sunbeam beater I licked in my childhood while my mother was baking. I never ever got sick from it. I let Miss E lick the beaters all the time :)

  28. Mary Beth
    March 10, 2008 | 12:03 pm

    Licking the beaters is one of the rights of childhood – and the right of the baker, of course. There are 6 of us, all proud beater lickers, and all made it to adulthood relatively problem free.

    Mary Beth’s last blog post..DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME

  29. (the other) Maggie
    March 10, 2008 | 12:08 pm

    Cookies aren’t cookies unless you like the beaters. And use a spatula to help lick the bowl. I do it all the time even now and since I was about one, and look how I turned out? OK, well, you get what I mean ;) Have fun!

  30. (the other) Maggie
    March 10, 2008 | 12:09 pm

    Cookies aren’t cookies unless you like the beaters. And use a spatula to help lick the bowl. I do it all the time even now and since I was about one, and look how I turned out? OK, well, you get what I mean ;) Have fun!

    (the other) Maggie’s last blog post..Lost Hour, Preview, Linky Loo Add

  31. Beth
    March 10, 2008 | 12:16 pm

    My daughter has been doing this since she was two and she is fine. Actually she is crazy, but I don’t think that is raw egg related. My only question is how you kept him away this long?

    Beth’s last blog post..project 365/5

  32. ~JJ!
    March 10, 2008 | 12:33 pm

    Crap, I’ve been lickin’ the bowl since I’m 3.

    Sal has never had his way with me…Knock on very hard wood.

    ~JJ!’s last blog post..NIN

  33. Jerseygirl89
    March 10, 2008 | 12:42 pm

    Personally, I think raw batter and dough are the key to health, not the curse of it.

    Jerseygirl89′s last blog post..Happy Birthday, Lovebug

  34. Stimey
    March 10, 2008 | 12:57 pm

    Did you ever think that this would be what “living on the wild side” would mean for you?

    Stimey’s last blog post..To Parents With Autistic Children:

  35. Anne Glamore
    March 10, 2008 | 1:08 pm

    I say give ‘em some bendy straws and let ‘em wash down the batter with a couple of swigs from the fishbowl!

    (Actually, I don’t encourage that, it’s just that my boys thought that up on their own).

    Anne Glamore’s last blog post..The Girls Who Came To Visit

  36. janet
    March 10, 2008 | 1:38 pm

    funny… my kids were totally indoctrinated by people OTHER than me. my daughter would never lick the bowl in a million, zillion years.

    pity, that.

    janet’s last blog post..Fun Monday #56: the wish I’d thought of that edition

  37. ali
    March 10, 2008 | 1:55 pm

    i’m obsessive about things in the kitchen being sanitary…meat, veggies etc.

    but, hell if i don’t make a meal out of raw cookie dough at least once a week. it is ABOVE the laws.

    ali’s last blog post..things learned while in St. Lucia…

  38. melissa
    March 10, 2008 | 2:17 pm

    wow…tempting the fates! you know how to live on the edge!!
    i just made some yummy cookies and, as i was eating the batter, my mom called me. she wanted to know what i was doing. i told her that i was eating my hamentashen batter (a little cookie made for purim…a jewish holiday, one of my faves). she yelled at me and told me how bad it is to eat batter that have uncooked eggs in it. i’m going to be 39 this month…i’ve been eating batter with uncooked eggs for years…i’m not dead yet!!

  39. krissy
    March 10, 2008 | 2:28 pm

    Oh sweetie, I lick the paddles myself and then my daughter licks them after me! We share the germs around my jungle house! :-)

    It’s okay! I promise!

    I’m super glad that the diarrhea and er runs are over!

    krissy’s last blog post..My hero hubby!

  40. Sus
    March 10, 2008 | 2:35 pm

    my kids are young enough that I can tell them, with my mouth full of raw cookie dough in my mouth and while spooning out another bite, that they have to eat two more bites of carrots before they get raisins for dessert.

    ps. try making the oatmeal cookie recipe inside the top of the quaker oats box with whole wheat flour. then it’s totally guilt free. except for the butter and chocolate chips.

    oh, and thanks for the comment at my place. :) yes – indiana – altho no meijer in my town so we probably aren’t neighbors. (too bad)

    Sus’s last blog post..The Toxic Cumin Spill of 2008

  41. Sus
    March 10, 2008 | 2:36 pm

    my kids are young enough that I can tell them, with my mouth full of raw cookie dough and while spooning out another bite, that they have to eat two more bites of carrots before they get raisins for dessert.

    ps. try making the oatmeal cookie recipe inside the top of the quaker oats box with whole wheat flour. then it’s totally guilt free. except for the butter and chocolate chips.

    oh, and thanks for the comment at my place. :) yes – indiana – altho no meijer in my town so we probably aren’t neighbors. (too bad)

    Sus’s last blog post..The Toxic Cumin Spill of 2008

  42. Devan
    March 10, 2008 | 3:27 pm

    d loves to lick the beaters so much that I finally gave in too. He’s never been harmed so far…

    Devan’s last blog post..I hate you Little Rock!

  43. andi
    March 10, 2008 | 3:29 pm

    You really are going over to the dark side, aren’t you?

    I too am guilty of allowing the kid to lick the beaters. Life is much more fun when we’re a little less paranoid about these little things (you know, within reason).

    andi’s last blog post..Doing her part to set the women’s movement back 50 years

  44. Shauna Loves Chocolate
    March 10, 2008 | 5:35 pm

    I was totally laughing when I read this post. And of course, horrified at the same time. And after reading the comments, I need a paper bag!

    (Okay. Breathing normally now.)

    Sorry, the only raw cookie dough my kids will be allowed to eat will be the prepackaged ones that are required to use pasteurized eggs (and yes, that includes cookie dough in cookie dough ice cream). Or maybe raw cookie dough that I make with pasteurized eggs.

    The “I ate it all the time and turned out fine” reasoning just doesn’t hold with me. Chickens and eggs are farmed, handled and distributed differently than they were 30 years ago and that is a big part of the reason why food poisoning is more prevalent.

    (Okay, getting off my health educator soap box now.)

    Shauna Loves Chocolate’s last blog post..The Bad, The Good & The Ugly

  45. skiplovey
    March 10, 2008 | 7:45 pm

    raw cookie dough, yum! i used to eat gobs of the stuff when I was a kid. never got sick. but yes, things were different back then, y’know before the wheel n’ all.
    cute pics!

    skiplovey’s last blog post..Desert dwelling

  46. Dawn
    March 10, 2008 | 9:27 pm

    ah, it’s like vaccinating them. you give them a tiny bit so they won’t react when the big Sal comes around.

    Dawn’s last blog post..NaNoWriMonday – 3:4

  47. HRH
    March 10, 2008 | 10:02 pm

    You are one wild woman. Stand back.

    HRH’s last blog post..Potluckapaloooooooza…

  48. Jenni
    March 10, 2008 | 10:32 pm

    Oh, just have a few more kids.

    You’ll let them play in the toilet if it means a few minutes of peace.

    Jenni’s last blog post..A Father’s Love

  49. Phoenix
    March 10, 2008 | 10:32 pm

    I wonder what’s next? Drinking straight out of the OJ container?

    My mother encouraged licking the spoon. I’m still here, so I’m sure it’s okay. Although that second nose gets in the way sometimes, I’ve grown to love it.

    Phoenix’s last blog post..It’s out to get me….and Public Service Announcement #101

  50. Loralee
    March 11, 2008 | 12:17 am