Half-baked: A little bit of this, a little bit of that ...

Welcome to August!  I've always loved this month (and not JUST because it means its almost my birthday :) Memories of August include sweltering days poolside, watering flowers in our yard for Dad and back-to-school shopping.  I still remember buying some sweet cords and a brown velour top that I LOVED one year for elementary school.  (Did I just totally date myself?  Oh well.)

Last week Rhett and I removed EVERYTHING from our bedroom for a pretty intense deep-clean.  That meant furniture, craft supplies, clothes and well, you name it was spread throughout the house.  You could barely walk into our living room for almost a week.  The kids playroom literally had paths to the computers.  We took that time to re-arrange things as we put things back in order.  Rhett and I switched our "office" areas.  He now has my old sewing table and that side of the bedroom and I have a longer fold-out table in the living room.  I also gave up my craft closet that stored all my supplies--painting, crochet, sewing and scrapbooking.  Its been quite interesting trying to create suitable new spaces.  It will be ongoing ...

Since I got most of that to a stopping point, I took some time to finish my Tetris block for week 3--YAY!  I'm loving how this is coming along.  This is my first truly scrap project and I think it'll make a fun picnic or outdoor blanket.

Finally, I got some baking done last night.  We have a little "thing" this afternoon at Rhett's work that I'll post more on later, but I wanted to make a goodie tray to take with us.  Both recipes I got from other bloggers.  My favorite cookie ever is Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, so I had to try this recipe that was recently posted.  I made them with my small Pampered Chef scoop--so people would be more likely to munch.  They turned out really well.  They browned up nicely and are soft to eat.  I still prefer my Aunt Susie's recipe (I'll  have to post that sometime ...) that I've had forever, but these aren't bad.  The cinnamon flavor is really strong, so I'll either halve or totally omit that next time.  This other recipe is one that I've made before for ward potlucks.  It always disappears super fast.  I cut it into about 1" squares.  It's a very rich three layers:  chocolate chip cookie, oreos and brownie mix.  The recipe calls for double stuff, but I just use regular Oreos.  It can take 15 or 20 minutes more to cook than the recipe says, so be patient. Its definitely worth the time it takes to cool and set up, so leave yourself plenty of time by making it the night before you actually want it.

Half-Baked: Happy Valentine's Day!

Well, I can’t ignore it.  It’s today!  I don’t know what it says about me that I’m just as excited about taking fruit to my kids’ school parties as I am about the possibility of doing something with my sweetie.  I don’t go all out on holidays—I just don’t have the energy.  But I do enjoy seeing how excited my kids get over the little things.

Half-baked: Simple Pasta Dinner

So, as some of you know, my oldest was recently put on a really restricted diet.  Not that I’m a live-out-of-the-box cook, but I do enjoy my convenience foods.  One of my favorite foods to make is spaghetti sauce.  I have two favorite recipes, one from my mom and one from my friend, HDK.  The problem with my mom’s recipe is that it uses tomato soup--MSG and bad additives--in it.  I’ll have to find one that is “safe” before I can make that one again.  The other one, which I love for it’s flavor and simplicity, unfortunately uses sausage—another no-no.  So, on our shopping trip this last weekend, I gave in and bought a jar of all-natural spaghetti sauce that would fit the bill.

Half-Baked: Mealtime Organization

Yesterday, one of my dear cousins posted this on Facebook:  "Trying to decide what to make for dinner.....hum... Whats on your menu this week?"  She got quite a few responses, and I've seen several similar posts from my different circles.

It seems that the perennial, "What's for dinner?" will always be the bane of most moms.  I've tried many systems over the last 15 years or so, and last year, finally found the one for me.  It's actually a mix of several I've seen and tried over the years, but it is all ME.  That said, I will tell you that while the format is set in stone, the variables are constantly changing.  You'll see what I mean. Let me introduce you to my mealtime binder...

Half-Baked: Marmalade Muffins

One of the things I really love to do to unwind every day is read.  I have found several series of books that I return to over and over again.  One of these is a series of culinary mysteries by Diane Mott Davidson.  I thoroughly enjoy the way she intersperses her love of food with her storytelling.  It is not contrived, as other authors sometimes are.  Seriously, I find myself laughing out loud at times.  Check out the series, starting with Catering to Nobody.  I have found numerous recipes that my family enjoys from these books over the years.  This particular recipe is called "Marmalade Mogul Muffins" and published in Tough Cookie in spring of 2000.

S.W.A.K.--What a way to end a week!

I've been thinking about a way to get into a schedule that includes regular blogging.  I look around at a lot of the blogs that I enjoy browsing and they have all these catchy names like Wacky Wednesday or Make-it Monday or Fabulous Friday.  While all this is cute, and fun I don't want to duplicate what someone else has already done.  On the other side of things, I don't want to back myself into a corner where I feel like  I just have one more thing I have to do.