Alphabet Soup

It's here!  The April edition of my Project 365.  And I'm doing it "my way" which means that some days there are more than one picture while some days have no picture.  It's my project, and in the end it will still chronicle my year.  :) There are a few things from this month I want to talk about, or explain further. April 1: the Half+Half Tea.  See, I love sweet tea.  But during this pregnancy, it didn't love me.  I finally got where I could drink it if I ordered half sweet and half unsweet.  I looked down at my receipt and laughed over the fact that they actually have a setting for that.  It made me smile anyway! Apr 20: that is the mess left over after doing my belly cast.  My friend sent me the stuff to make a belly cast -- this was the first time I'd done one!  One messy bathroom later it was finally done.  Apr 22: belly pic taken shortly before leaving for the hospital! Note the 2 year old shining the flashli...

We are going to pretend for a moment that in some alternate reality, it's actually Tuesday and not, in fact, Wednesday.  Cool?  Cool. I think it goes without saying by now that I'm the Queen of Procrastinationland.  I had every intention of getting these baked up yesterday.  Um...yeah.  Didn't work out so well for me. Anyway, this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection was for Chewy, Chunky, Blondies chosen by Nicole of Cookies on Friday , and it was a perfect choice for me. See, we live outside of the city limits and whenever we need our land mowed (and I'm using the term "mow" loosely here...it takes a full size tractor) our neighbor has to do it for us.  When we first moved out here, I asked him what I could bake for him, and his response was butterscotch blondies.  To be honest, I've never strayed from the recipe on the back of the butterscotch chip bag...until now.  And I may never go back! The flavors in this bar cookie are...

My oldest child is always trying to talk me into buying those mini powdered sugar doughnuts at the grocery store.  Why?  I don't know!  All you can taste is sugar.  Maybe the fact that I always say "No" makes them more appealing.  Or maybe it's hereditary - his father loves those things.  I may have found an alternative, though.  I started with a recipe from King Arthur Flour, and made a couple small adjustments.  Also, I don't have a doughnut pan to bake them in.  Am tempted from time to time, but just can't see getting one.  Instead, I used my mini muffin pan. They turn out almost like baked doughnut holes! These go together from start to finish quite quickly and easily, making them a perfect "anytime" treat.  I managed to get them whipped up between the baby's "mini naps" today.  Ugh.  Guess it's a Monday for us all today! Use a scale to measure the flour if you can.  Also, don't over mix the batte...

We love Mexican food at our house.  Well, Tex-Mex.  Er, Tex-Mex that you get around here.  See, in Texas, there are about as many different styles of Tex-Mex as there are restaurants, and what you get in North Texas won't be the same as what you get in South Texas, or anywhere else for that matter. Our favorite Mexican restaurant is a locally owned place (dive?) that we've been going to for years.  They've seen our family grow larger, and we never need a menu when we go in.  This place cooks with a lot of green chiles, and enchiladas with green sauce tend to be my favorite.  This isn't exactly an attempt to replicate a particular dish there, but rather a combination of some of my favorite things!  For some reason, I tend to prefer making chicken enchiladas with flour tortillas instead of corn.  The flour tortillas soak up the sauce and almost puff up during baking.  While you can definitely use store-bought tortillas for this recipe, try ...

My education, that is.  In a previous post, I mentioned that we don't grill very often.  Part of that is because I don't know what I'm doing!  Growing up, "grilling" at my house meant that about once every year, we would buy a bag of charcoal at the store, listen to my dad curse under his breath trying to get the fire started (while smelling an overwhelming amount of lighter fluid in the air) and then throw some hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill.  Yep, good times...good times.  Needless to say, I didn't get many lessons on grilling at home. I realize that this it is a stereotypical role, but many husbands are the grill masters at their houses.  Not mine.  I love him dearly, but D doesn't have much more knowledge than I do when it comes to grilling.  Plus, and I'll be honest here, I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to cooking, so I have a hard time letting someone else be in charge.  He's okay with that.  Or at least...

Every few months, D and I look at each other and say "You know, we really should use our grill more often."  Yes, we should.  And we have actually been using it more lately, and not just for hamburgers.  I've been running a little rib experiment, that hopefully I'll be able to post about before too long.  I've grilled corn on the cob (definitely a winner).  And I even want to try grilling pizza! But today, I'm going to post about some sausage and vegetable packets I threw together last night.  It turned out to be an adaptation of several different recipes and ideas that I have seen recently.  This method was quick, easy, and I didn't have to heat the house up with the oven in the process!  This recipe can easily be adapted to your personal tastes by switching out the meat, veggies and seasonings as you desire.  I can see myself playing with this one all summer long! Sausage and Veggie Packets on the Grill 1 lb smoked sausage, c...