i Ascribe

Do you do weekly meal plans? I never do.  But this week, in an attempt to organize my mind . . . to keep me from spending the entire day deciding what's for dinner, i'm attempting to plan my meals ahead of time. It really does help.  But it also encourages the assignment of certain meals to each day of the week and leaving it at that for infinity. For instance, today is Spaghetti Wednesday.  I've done spaghetti on most Wednesdays for a while, simply because it's fast and simple, and i don't have to think about it.  This is important because on Wednesdays, choir practice starts at 6:00 p.m., so i endeavor (and sometimes fail) to have dinner done and the kitchen clean before i leave for church/choir practice. I like Spaghetti Wednesday.  It's something to look forward to.  When there are great sales on spaghetti sauce, we sometimes also have Spaghetti Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday; but that's another situation altogether. I'm thinking of institut...

 Is it wrong to talk about cinnamon rolls twice in a row?  If it is, i'm sorry. Still, i am going to talk about cinnamon rolls. This is a review of the aforementioned Overnight Cinnamon Rolls recipe that i found on allrecipes.com . The cinnamon rolls that i formed on Sunday night looked like this on Monday morning.  Not exactly what i would call "risen."  But that's o.k. The recipe said to let it rest on the counter top for 30 minutes before baking.  Once baked, they looked like this. With icing . . . Yum . . . My thoughts:  easy and fun to make.  Probably could have made twice as many with the same recipe.  These are gigantic and a little doughy, which is o.k. with me but not with everyone.  The filling is dry and should include butter, in my opinion.  The icing includes corn syrup, which adds a funny flavor i could have done without. All in all, a yummy recipe, but i will keep looking for perfection.

Tonight, i have just finished making Overnight Cinnamon Rolls .  Well, technically, i'll finish making them tomorrow, after it has been "overnight."  Right now, it's only the night before the making of the overnight.  Or something like that. I've been thinking about making cinnamon rolls for my hubby for some time, but since cinnamon rolls are most appreciated in the morning, and because they are a yeast-based food, and because yeast-based foods take a substantial amount of time to prepare because of the rising and what-not, i never made it to the getting up at 3 am to make cinnamon rolls. Today, it was brought to my attention that cinnamon rolls would be a happy event around here, so i started looking for a doable solution.  This recipe is my first attempt.  We will see how it goes.  The idea is that they will rise in the fridge overnight, and in the morning, i will just pop them in the oven.  Then VOILA!  Fresh cinnamon rolls!!!  (Witho...

One part of me thinks of feeling a little ashamed. But i don't feel ashamed. I feel completely content. In theory, you should spend the first day of the new year doing beneficial things, like exercising, or eating well or . . . i don't know . . . getting dressed ? I did none of those things today.  I realized sometime around 6 this evening that i was still wearing exactly what i wore to bed last night.  Nice. GSSH and i spent the day sitting around, eating (big breakfast, junk food lunch, and lots of popcorn for dinner), talking (about thoughts plans and how much we love each other), and watching movies we've seen before. I have to say. That's a pretty good day. As long as that's not every day, of course.  But it isn't very often that we get a holiday together, in which no one is expecting us and we have no pressing responsibilities.  We got the blessing of just enjoying each other. Happy New Year!

Blogs are good for many things.  One of those things is remembering.  Remembering what we've said in the past, what we've thought, what our goals were a year ago - or several years ago.  We can see how far we have or haven't come. Today, as i am sure you are aware, is New Year's Eve.  With less than 12 hours before the beginning of a new year, and a new decade, i will review last years goals and ambitions and see what i can glean for the new year, and the new year's goals and ambitions. 2010's Goals What now? ~become a bee keeper This one, we will forward to 2011.  It is in the works, however, more than it was a year ago.  By the end of 2011, i do expect to be harvesting honey. ~become a chicken farmer who gets to actually collect eggs (eta: February or March) Successful!  We regularly collect close to a dozen eggs per day! ~get better at 'dispatching' chickens Not only have we gotten better at it, we have a system and a new schedule ...

Christmas. We celebrated with family and friends for three days straight.  It was really great.  I have really enjoyed the holidays this year.  And on the 27th, i went into withdrawal. After more than a month of prioritizing baking, cooking, and crocheting projects for multiple family get-togethers, i found myself with nothing specific to bake, cook, or crochet for.  And it made me cry. But i'm o.k. now.  I'm using the quietness of the last week of the year to write down some goals, make some plans, schedule the lives and deaths of multiple chickens, and get used to life at a little more normal pace. Not too normal though.  I like getting things accomplished. One of my goals for the new year is to investigate, and possibly follow through with, setting up an Etsy store for the sale of some of my crocheted items and possibly other things that i haven't made yet. Here are some of the things i made for Christmas presents/stocking stuffers this year....

Whew! This has to be quick.  I'm on a short break. Christmas making is very busy. I'm snacking on some caramel corn i just made and deciding whether i want to adjust the caramel to popcorn ratio for better coverage.  I think that i do.  I'm going to go back and start over in a couple of minutes.  I usually use my mom's Microwave Caramel Corn recipe, but the microwave i currently own is about 30 years old, and though it does the job, it isn't powerful enough to pull off caramel corn.  So i went to the internet and found this recipe .  It's very tasty, but the coverage is a little bit thin in my opinion.  Thus the impending adjustments. This past weekend, we were blessed with some new furniture, which greatly improved our storage space and the appearance of our home.  It also compelled us to rearrange nearly every corner of our home and to get rid of a couple of things that weren't pulling their weight around here.  I've decided that we...