We’re making a baked ham tomorrow, with pineapples. I’m having a hard time coming up with ideas for side dishes though. Do you have any ideas? I was thinking about my grandmother’s recipe for macaroni and cheese, but I really need to lay off of the pasta. I guess we could just make some salads or something, or possibly potatoes, or even rice. I’m almost positive we’re having a few vegetables too though, so the salad might be a bit much. All this talk about food is going to eventually lead to me looking up a list of best diet pills!

We were originally going to have roast pork, cooked in the slow cooker. After checking the deep freeze, we have pork.. so there went that idea! It’s Father’s day though, so we want to do something really nice. It’s not mandatory by any means, but my family has always had big dinners on Mother’s and Father’s day.

Speaking of mothers and grandmothers though.. I really miss my grandma Mac. I’ve been thinking about her a lot lately. Creepy story for you.. My grandmother loved verbenas. Well my mom went out and bought some recently, to plant near the house. I guess it was just something to remind her of my grandmother or something, but anyway. So she’s got them planted now, and a couple of days ago one of the plants looked like it was nearly dead. She headed out to work the next morning (I believe it was Thursday), the plant looked the same - nearly dead. Well, when she got home that evening, some of the flowers had bloomed. I got goosebumps when she told me about it. She swears it’s a “sign” of some kind, that my grandmother is still around and that was just a little something to let my mom know that. Either way, I think it would’ve upset me! But that’s just me.

I have finally gotten my butt in gear and am starting to get caught up on all things internet related.

First off; I’ve posted the recipe for the muffins / cupcakes. You can find it over at my new “domestic” blog - Domesticdelight.com.

I still have a lot more to catch up on, so if you’ll excuse me.. I’m going to actually try and do that now!

There aren’t many things that I can honestly say that I hate. That being said, I absolutely hate running out of everything at one time. I’ve just run out of my beloved sweet pea body wash, conditioner (strange that I run out of conditioner faster than shampoo) and mousse. Yesterday, after baking cookies, I realized that I am now out of shortening and chocolate chip morsels. I wonder what’s next? Am I going to run out of computer memory while I’m typing this out? Ha, ha!

How annoying! Well, actually the most annoying part of that is that a) there are no Bath and Body Works here, b) I can only get the conditioner at Wal-mart and the closest one is 30+ miles away.

Anywho.

Speaking of chocolate chip morsels; when I realized I was out, I remembered that we’d purchased some Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough a couple of days ago. Since the cupcakes lasted no time and I had a sweet tooth, I decided I’d make bake some cookies.

Since I’ve been on a tight budget lately, I decided instead of buying gifts for everyone, I’d make dinner instead. And of course that included yummy, sweet cupcakes that didn’t last 24 hours (24 cupcakes… GONE) and my on concoction of 4 cheeses (Asiago, Ramano, Sharp Cheddar and Mozzarella), chicken, bacon and lasagna noodles. I’m going to post that recipe up later tonight, or tomorrow morning.

I’ve been a bit bummed today, which everyone here has picked up on. Today is my dad’s birthday and tomorrow is my mom’s. This is the first year I’ve not spent it with them and that’s left me somewhat sad. Boohoo. I know, I know. I feel like such a baby for feeling like this but daggummit, I can’t help it!

PS; Don’t forget about my contest!

I’ve been looking for a few cookie recipes since before Christmas. Two, specifically, were for shortbread cookies and lemon snowballs. I was so happy to find recipes for those today and can’t wait to try them out.

My mother in law gets several canisters of cookies every Christmas from one of her friends, inside of each contain a variety of cookies like: snowballs (the chocolate, coconut ones), cherry thumbprint shortbread cookies, Reese cup cookies, haystacks (Rice Krispies over large marshmellows covered in honey or caramel), etc. Since getting a new canister of them a few days ago, I’ve been wanting to try making some of them on my own, so that we don’t have to keep this poor woman working so hard (haha). Many people wouldn’t dream of handing out their recipes but my mother in laws friend is going to give me a few of my favorite cookie recipes to try. I doubt they’ll be as divine but it’s worth a shot!

I have a few new recipes coming your way soon. One includes a recipe for homemade bread, which is a “loan” from my mother in law. She made the most delicious loaves of bread tonight. Way better than anything you’ll buy in the grocery store and fresh… oohhh wee, yeah, it’s fresh! I’m also going to share Jo’s concoction (aka his recipe for cornbread dressing), as well as a really yummy way to eat a hamburger and a breakfast sandwich (ham, egg, cheese, onions, bacon and sausage) and here’s a hint: it’s stuffed! I’m hoping to have these typed up and ready for posting by the end of the weekend, at the latest of course. Heck, I may even be kind enough to share a recipe for holiday snowballs. I know the holidays are almost over but they’re so good you’ll want them all year long!

Now I’m going to try and figure out how to work “self portraits” on my camera. I made some attempts earlier while the internet was down but I’m not happy with many of them. I’ll share the one I was most happy with though, it’s “OK” I guess!

PS; My AIM isn’t working tonight for some reason. Actually, our internet is acting really weird tonight in general. Facebook keeps spazzing out on me, as does one of the blogging companies I work with. Pffth.

The NO-MIXER required sugar cookies; aka Sugar Rush - a family recipe.

1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup of butter, softened - equivalent to 1 stick
1 and 1/2 cups of sugar
2 and 3/4 cups of flour

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Preheat your oven to 325ºF.

It is important to have your butter at room temperature, so that it is soft enough to work with.

In a large mixing bowl, cream your butter and sugar until smooth. It took me approximately 7 minutes to reach a smooth texture. Once you’ve creamed your butter and sugar, beat in your egg and the vanilla extract. Gradually add the remaining dry ingredients. Once you’ve done this add in the tbsp of milk and continue folding / mixing your cookie dough. For me, I continue folding and molding my dough into a giant ball (which you will see in the photograph below).

Use a spoon or your hands to scoop balls of cookie dough into your hands. I dampen my hands with a little water to help roll them into perfect (or almost) balls before pushing them down slightly on my greased / buttered / baking sprayed cookie sheet. Separate each cookie by about an inch.

If you really want to spruce up these basic sugar cookies, add your favorite sprinkles or frosting. I added sprinkles to mine tonight, which you will see in the photographs below.

Bake for 8-12 minutes - may vary depending on your own ovens.

Yields: 2 dozen

Mmmm, so delicious. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

The NO-MIXER required chocolate chip cookie recipe

1/2 cup of butter - equivalent to 1 stick
3/4 cups of regular sugar
3/4 cup of brown sugar
3/4 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of salt
2 and 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
2 large eggs
1 tbsp of vanilla extract
1 bag of chocolate chip morsels

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Microwave your butter in a microwave-safe dish. Let cool before adding to your mixture. After all, you don’t want scrambled eggs in your cookie dough.

In a large mixing bowl; mix your dry ingredients (sugars, flour, salt, baking soda). I whisk mine a bit to make sure there aren’t any lumps. Add in your wet ingredients (vanilla extract, butter and eggs). Add in your bag of chocolate chips and start folding the mixture until it resembles cookie dough (photo provided lol). I originally started with my whisk before realizing the dough was going to be too think for it. Whatever works best for you.

I used a spoon to scoop out exact portions of cookie dough, which I then rolled in my [clean] palms. I got best results with damp hands. I used a baking spray to grease the foil on my cookie sheet. Place your balled cookie dough onto the cookie sheet, leaving about an inch in between (on each side) each one. Press slightly on the tops of each ball, just to push them down slightly (photo provided).

Bake at 325�F for 8-12 minutes. This will vary depending on your own oven.

Yields: Approximately 3 dozen cookies

MMMM… I hope you enjoy them as much as we did. I plan to make another batch of them on Christmas Eve day, along with homemade sugar cookies, shortbread cookies and tea filled cookies. We’re planning on having a lot of company beginning on Christmas Eve day, so I figured finger foods would be best and cookies will be fresh for a couple of days!

I think almost everyone loves a little comfort food once in awhile. We’ve all been feeling a little blah today. I think it’s because the weather has been keeping us indoors. After dinner tonight I decided to attempt to bake homemade chocolate chip cookies. Much to my surprise, they turned out super yummy! In fact, all 24 cookies are gone now! I was pretty worried about how they’d turn out because like I said, it was my first time baking cookies from scratch. I was really happy to see only crumbs left on the plate.

If you’re interested in the recipe (which is EASY), I will be posting it to my recipe blog tonight. I’ll link it up here when I’ve typed it all up!

Do you have a favorite comfort food? Besides goodies like cookies, I also love potato soup. In fact, potato soup is my absolute favorite comfort food. Now if I can only perfect that dish.. lol.

I haven’t had much of an appetite for the last 3-4 days. I’ve been having chills off and on but that could also be attributed to the colder weather. I really hope that I’m not coming down with that nasty flu bug that the rest of the family has had recently. That’s one thing I know I can do without right now.

I did wake up this morning wanting a nice warm bowl of grits. Unfortunately they don’t sell them here. They do sell cream of wheat but let’s face it, grits and cream of wheat aren’t one in the same. I’m a grits girl. I guess I’ll just have an egg and some toast. My mother in law makes the best strawberry jam and it’s absolutely scrumptious on toast! It’s no warm bowl of grits that’s for sure but it’ll be more than just “satisfying”.