>>CHRISTMAS GOODIES FLOP

This weekend I attempted to bring out my domestic side and make a few Christmas treats....you know, so I could be a good neighbor and all. 

I learned that I suck at being domestic.

First I thought I'd make a tasty wassail.  Failed....funky taste.  Note to self: next time omit the pineapple juice.

Then I thought I'd make some fudge.  Failed....consistency of poo.

Then I made some lemon crinkle cookies.  Failed....overcooked, hard as rocks.

Finally, I said to myself, "okay, this is getting ridiculous...stick to something you know how to do Jen!"

So, I decided on white chocolate covered pretzels.  I've made these a million times, so surely I couldn't mess them up.

Failed....burned the chocolate.  Twice.

I give up.

No neighbor gifts this year.  Or maybe I'll just give out candy canes.

Will somebody PLEASE teach me how to cook?
Or bake.
Or whatever you call it.

>>SOUP, IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER

A big THANK YOU to those who sent me soup recipes!  You guys are awesome!  I think we are set with enough recipes to have soup everyday 'til summer.

Bring on the cold weather!

Thanks again!  


[If you sent me a recipe and didn't get an email from me, please let me know.]

>>"NO SOUP FOR YOU!"

...couldn't resist the Seinfeld reference.

I LOVE soup!  Especially in the fall and winter months.  You too?  Who doesn't love a nice hearty soup on a snowy winter day followed by cuddling and watching Love Actually.

Here's the deal.  I am in need of soup recipes.  If you are willing to email me 1 or 2 (or more if you so desire) soup recipes, I will compile them all and email them back to you.

You might remember when I did this last year with easy dinner recipes.   If you didn't get a copy of this but want one, just let me know and I will email it to you.

I personally thought it turned out splendidly.  I am always going back through my little booklet of recipes for dinner ideas.  So hopefully we will have a good turn out this time too and have a nice little collection of soup recipes.

So...what do you say?  Are you in?  If so (and I hope you are), email your soup recipes to jennycheney[at]gmail[dot]com.  How about we set a deadline for next Monday (the 17th).  That will give you a week to get the recipes to me.  After that, I will compile the recipes and email them back out to everyone.

Sound like a plan?

 

>>WONDERING WHAT TO MAKE FOR DINNER?

This meal is a staple at our house...

THE BREAKFAST BURRITO

Brown some sausage.  Throw in some onions and peppers if you so desire.  Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.

Scramble some eggs. I usually add a splash of milk to up the fluffiness factor.

Grab some tortillas.  My favorite are sun dried tomato.

Grab some cheese (if you so desire....again, sometimes I use it and sometimes I don't)

Top your warmed tortilla with the goods...roll it up....and there you go...dinner is served.

Nom nom nom.

Don't be jealous of our nice bowls.  We like to be super fancy when it comes to dinner....if you haven't already guessed...you know, with the gourmet burritos and all.

recipes

Thank you to everyone who emailed me your recipes. I received a total of 46 recipes, so I'm pretty darn happy about that. They have all been compiled and have been emailed back to you. If for some reason you didn't get the email, let me know and I'll resend it.

I'm happy to share the recipes with others, even if you didn't email me any (who's really keeping track anyway?). Leave your email address in the comments section or email me at jennycheney(at)gmail(dot)com and I will send them your way.

I will also try to post some of the recipes on the bon appetit recipe blog. If any of you are interested in being able to post recipes on this blog, let me know and I will add you as an author to the blog. Just send me your email address.
I'm hoping all these recipes will help me in the kitchen. Cooking doesn't come naturally to me...at all. I never cooked while growing up...I didn't really help in the kitchen...I didn't learn how to make this or how to make that....and I was never really interested in doing so.

Then I got married.

Turns out, Curtis didn't cook either.

I think we probably had a lot of top ramen our first year of marriage...and second... and third... and fourth...

Time for some good home cooked meals at the Cheney house.

This week: clam chowder, tacos, chicken/broccoli casserole. I need you guys to hold me to this...otherwise, it will turn into Taco Johns, cereal, and frozen pizza.

an idea

One of my goals that I really, really want to work on is to make dinner more often at home. We like eating out...and we do it a lot. However, it's not a healthy way to eat, and it also isn't cheap. When I write out a weekly dinner plan, I do much better. The problem is, I am struggling to come up with meal ideas for my weekly dinner plan. Maybe some of you are having this same problem. Yes? No?

This is where my idea comes into play.

If each of you emailed me 1 or 2 (or however many you wanted) recipes that your family enjoys, I will type them up on one document and then email them out to everyone. Then we would all benefit by having a whole slew of recipes to turn to for dinner.

I think it would work best if the recipes were simple...the very recipes that your family eats for dinner on a regular basis. It doesn't really even have to be a recipe. For example, we like baked sweet potatoes, so, my recipe could just be how we bake the sweet potatoes (how long, what temperature, etc and how we top them with butter and salt and pepper.

So, the next time you haven't a clue what to make for dinner, you can whip out your sheet of recipe/dinner ideas and pick one from the list.

What do you guys think? I would love it so much if you would all participate. Even if you don't know me, feel free to join in. The more, the better.

Email your recipes to jennycheney[at]gmail[dot]com. I'm looking forward to seeing what's cookin' in your kitchen.

>>PROGRESS

We are making some progress on our house. We painted the kitchen this weekend and got our new appliances installed.

As per my grandma's request, the before and after...

Here is our pink kitchen before:

priming:

And here is our kitchen now: (it's a light creamy color)

I polished the cabinets too, but I didn't get a before picture. They look so much better. It's amazing what a little lemon oil can do.

I'm excited to work on the rest of our house. Next up...the pink bathroom.

Homemade Girl Scout Cookies

HOMEMADE SAMOAS . . . yummy!

Don't these look delish? They are. If you want to try some of this yummy goodness, just come on over.

If you can't/don't want to come over....for any of the following reasons:

a) you don't know me
b) you don't like me
c) it's too far to drive
d) you feel awkward about coming over and asking for food
e) you don't like Samoas
f) b and c
g) c and d
h) b and d
i) any combination of a-h

or for whatever other reason, click here for more homemade girl scout cookie recipes you can make yourselves.

[I still encourage you to buy girl scout cookies from the cute little girl scouts, but these are a good option for when you run out and need to fulfill your girl scout cookie craving.]

The Cake

I forgot to post these pictures with Curtis' graduation post. I made this cake for Curtis to celebrate his graduation from law school. For those of you who have never seen a law school book, they are big, boring and brown, just like these.