Alphabet Soup

I thought I'd do my Tuesdays with Dorie post a bit differently this week, just to show you how crazy (and dare we say it...unorganized?) I really am! It's 9:00 am local time, and I just sat my stick of butter out on the counter to come to room temperature. Yes, I'm quite envious of all you wonderful TWD bakers out there that actually prepare the recipe days, even weeks, ahead of time! I always have good intentions to do so, but 1) life always seems to happen, and 2) I tend to be a pretty big procrastinator. I had planned on making these on Sunday, but discovered I was out of honey. Yes, I was out of honey. And I discovered this after I had already been to the grocery store. I finally made it back to the store last night. Did I mention that my oldest is home right now? His school has a two hour delay because of the snow. Yes...snow...again. I live in Texas for goodness sake!! I've had my fill of winter weather thankyouverymuch. So, anyway, I'll be back throughout t...

A few weeks ago, Christi and I were texting each other (as we always do!) and she mentioned that she was making blueberry muffins. I just happened to be writing out my grocery list, so of course the craving hit me and I added blueberries to the list. I had actually been wanting to make blueberry scones for a while, I just hadn't gotten to it! I told her that I would probably make scones instead of muffins, and she responded that the muffin recipe turned out very scone-like. Well, now I was intrigued! I had a scone recipe that I liked, but I would have to try this muffin recipe too!! I actually got the scones made that day...but to be honest, it was over a week later before I made the muffins! Eh, life happens, right? If you've never made scones before, it's very much like making biscuits. You want to make sure the butter is well chilled, don't overwork the dough, and they are best piping hot right out of the oven!! They really are best when served the day they are made;...

This weeks TWD selection was My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies , chosen by Kait of Kait's Plate . I actually made this recipe several weeks ago, when I felt we all needed a chocolate fix. :) I halved the recipe, and while they weren't bad, they were almost too buttery (I know, how can such a thing be possible?), and they spread way too much for my liking. Upon reading the comments from the other TWD Bakers, I realized I was not the only one with the spreading problem. Some people like the thin, crispy cookies, but I prefer mine not to spread so much. Many bakers suggested either decreasing the butter, or increasing the flour. If I make these again, I'll probably cut back on the amount of butter used. However, it's likely that I'll try a different recipe first! They definitely filled the chocolate-fix requirement though, and didn't last long! Be sure to check out what the other TWD bakers did with this week's recipe!! Enjoy! :)

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone has a great day today! The Munchkin's class party was Friday, and I got a wild hair to make Rice Krispie treats on a stick...dipped in chocolate with Valentine sprinkles. Yeah, blame hormones or something. :) I actually saw something similar at the grocery store a while back, and they were something like $2 each ! I thought to myself "I can do that!" It wasn't really that hard, just a little time consuming. I started with just the regular Rice Krispie treat recipe, you know the one on the back of the cereal box. Since I needed to make 20 of them, I had to make two batches of the recipe. After letting them cool, I cut them into squares. Then I inserted a cookie stick onto each one, used a spoon to coat it with some melted candy coating (which I had let cool a bit so it wouldn't melt the treats) and then added some sprinkles. I let them cool on some wax paper, then put them in some clear treat bags and tied with ribbon...

This is some addicting stuff. It's not the canned biscuit variety either, it uses a yeast bread dough. Totally worth it!! Confession -- D and I ate half of it over the course of about 15 minutes! Eek. And it makes a big pan. Sean would only take one bite. Kade loved it. Of course my little monkey would like monkey bread, lol!! It starts with this Martha Stewart Recipe . Then, I tried some of the tips found on this post at Angry Chicken . And made some of my own changes. Instead of mixing the nuts into the coating, I just drizzled some butter in the bottom of the bundt pan and put the nuts just in the bottom. Makes it easier if there are some non-nut-lovers in the household (you could also leave out the nuts completely). I did add 1/2 tsp cinnamon to the dough itself when mixing. Love cinnamon. And I used butter instead of shortening in the dough...just because I felt like it! I mixed the melted butter, cinnamon and brown sugar for the coating, like Angry Chicken suggest...

I recently read that February 23, 2010 is National Pancake Day. Upon further research I discovered that this is actually the IHOP National Pancake Day , in honor of Shrove Tuesday . Except that this year, Shrove Tuesday actually falls on February 16, 2010. According to IHOP's website, they are changing the date of their celebration to extend their fundraising efforts for Children's Miracle Network. See...reading my blog brings you a wealth of information. ;) Now, if you asked my kids, they would likely say National Pancake Day should be celebrated everyday. And in fact, we typically celebrate it at least once per week! Although I have my "go-to" recipes, I'm always up for trying a new one. (Many) Thanks to Christi, I have my very own copy of the Pioneer Woman's cookbook !! In it, there is a recipe for sour cream pancakes. This came in very handy a few weeks ago, when I didn't have regular milk or buttermilk on hand, but did have some sour cream in the fri...

The winner to the giveaway is comment #9: Nugglemama!! Congratulations!!! Be on the lookout for an email from me! :-) Thanks to everyone that entered! And thanks for all the birthday wishes! Katy :)

Last week, the recipe that Sean chose for us to try was sloppy joes. This was funny to me, because I've made them several times in the past, and often he's refused to even try them, so I was skeptical. It was recipe from a Paula Deen kids cookbook, so let me just say it was so incredibly simple I'm not even going to post it!! Sean even declared it "delicious!" and I think he really meant it! However, I will tell you that when I went to the store I forgot to pick up any hamburger buns. Now, if I were "normal", I would have either 1) had D stop and pick some up on his way home, or 2) run to the store for some while Sean was at Tae Kwon Do. I've never claimed to be normal. Instead, I looked up a recipe to make my own. They were definitely delicious, and I may now be banned from ever buying them again...still trying to decide if that's a good thing or not, lol!! :) But before we get to the recipe, I'd like to tell you a bit about my new kitchen h...

Well, I've tried to get caught up on posting pictures for my Project 365. I've been good at taking the pics, just not uploading them! I've decided that I'm going to post the pics through the end of January, and then start posting every two weeks. I've got a couple of food-related posts almost ready to go for the next few days -- woohoo!! And don't forget to check out the giveaway -- there's still time to enter!! Enjoy!!