brief recap and restart for the project!

i cannot believe that it's been (gasp!) a week since my last update...man, i'm such a slacker! so, instead of boring the pants off any of my wonderful readers, i am simply posting a couple pics of the last things i've been able to cook or bake and then starting over. i figure it's just easier that way and a whole lot less explaining on my part of my further laziness; although in this case it wasn't complete laziness since i was working on yardwork (which as a side note, i can't stand doing and so rather than pulling weeds every few weeks, i waited and had to completely rip apart our front flowerbeds just to get rid of all the overgrowth). hindsight being what it is, i know realize that i make things much harder for myself than i really should in the long run!

and with all that said, here's the few things i've made over the last week that i know you're just dying to see!  

bar-b-que meatballs, so super yummy!

i altered a recipe for comfort meatballs from the pioneer woman's cookbook. since i didn't have enough ketchup for the topping that was originally called for, i used sticky fingers bbq sauce instead. i loved them, but i am a complete bbq fiend so anything covered in that sauce is wonderful to me! i'll make them again sometime, but i'll try making the ketchup sauce next time...i think that'll make them more like meatloaf meatballs, which is what they are intended to be anyway!

blondies...like chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips!

i've always wanted to try blondies and after finding a recipe that made nuts optional, i decided to give them a try and break in my new metal 9x9 baker at the same time! (multitasking at it's finest, if i do say so myself!) so, anyway the recipe is from my joy of cooking book (which, by the way, i looove!). the cookies came together quickly and easily and the best way i can describe them is chocolate chip cookies with out the chocolate! no one in my family tried them (typical), which left more for me so i was fine with that in the long run. ok, another side note: it's amazing that i'm not as big as a house with all the things i continue to bake and eat! so, blondies are a keeper recipe...just in case you're keeping track!

mmmm...chocolate chip cookies!

i make some of the best chocolate chip cookies...yes, i'm rather proud of myself for that! i've been baking these cookies for the last 20 years so i better have them down by now! ok, figuring out that i've been baking cookies for 20 years makes me feel so very old! 

 chocolate chip muffins, in honor of chocolate day!

and finally, jordan declared monday to be chocolate day, and really i saw no reason to tell her that it wasn't! so in honor of chocolate day we had chocolate frosted cinnamon rolls, thanks to pillsbury (some things are better made from a can), more chocolate chip cookies and i made up some chocolate chip muffins just to use up the last of the chips that i had in the cabinet. all in all, a very tasty day!

alright, so it wasn't as short as i originally intended, but they never are since i tend to ramble on once i get started! 

i'm working on a couple tops for myself, dresses for jordan, and whatever else i decide to make up this week! 

it's spring break for stephen so we're going on a little field trip up to columbia tomorrow to check out the state museum, so there may be no baking or cooking done again until thursday when i plan on making a beef stew that isn't made using a pouch mix (that'll be a first for me). 

come on back soon! and a quick congrats, before i go, to the duke blue devils! the 2010 ncaa basketball champs!! it was a great game and i've been a duke fan for many, many years! just wanted to throw that in there!