All day cook-a-thon!

I think today I finally scratched my cooking itch. I literally spent the whole day cooking and baking, but I was quite happy while doing it. Here's what I made:



Chicken stock. I heard it's best to use good homemade chicken stock whenever a recipe calls for it, so I decided to make a batch and just freeze it to have it on hand whenever I need it. The recipe calls for 3 chickens, but I didn't think I could use that much broth so I just third the recipe. This made the house smell so good while it was simmering.



Two loaves of bread. I can't find the link to this recipe, but I got it out of the
Barefoot Contessa cookbook. It was my first time making bread, and I rather enjoyed it. The kneading was my favorite part. Hopefully it tastes half as good as it smells!



For dinner I made Italian baked chicken and pastina. Oh. My. Goodness. So good. The baked crust on top was the best part.



Accompanying the baked chicken pastina was some cheesy bread. It was really good, but really cheesy (all the white is not just cheese, btw. There was mayonnaise and sour cream involved. I know, I was skeptical at first, too... but it's actually good.) The direct review from my brother was, "It's good, but next time, if you only do, like, half the cheese stuff, it would be even better" haha. So next time I'll either half the recipe or divide it among 4 halves of bread. but since we had an entire half left over from 4 people, I think I'll just half the recipe next time.





For dessert I made homemade apple turnovers. I grew up on (and still very often eat) the Pepperidge Farm frozen turnovers and these tasted exactly like, if not even better than, those frozen turnovers. and they were really quick to make.



Whew! I think that's everything I made today. Chicken stock and bread are really great to make when you have the whole day because you can do things around the house like clean, blog, take a shower, do laundry-- whatever, while they're cooking (or rising, for the bread). I think I might be done cooking for this week, haha. Not that I'm over it, but because I work the rest of the week and there are plenty of leftovers. But don't worry, I've already marked some new recipes I want to try out in another cookbook! Bon Appetite!

Last night's dinner

Last night I made Chicken Piccata and Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes for dinner, followed by peach and blueberry crumbles topped with vanilla bean ice cream for dessert. All the recipes came from the Barefoot Contessa cookbook and were oh so good.

I forgot how much I really enjoy cooking and baking. I need to make more time for it. I loved that this recipe called for wine. I've never cooked with wine, but I pretended like I knew what I was doing and it made it feel like it was a gourmet meal. And the fact that all the lemons I used came from the lemon tree in my backyard was awesome. I'm already planning out my garden for the spring! I need me some fresh fruits and veggies to cook with!

Friday The 13th

Dun Dun Dun...

Okay, so nothing bad happened today. Actually, it was a pretty good day.



I remembered I had this sweater in my closet. Score! Wearing it all the time now.

Sweater: Ebay
Shirt and Jeans: Target
Shoes: Ebay



Wore my new wooden ring from The Hunger Site. It's made out of only branches that have fallen off of ebony trees. Better late than never, right?



I got kisses from Dallas. (Dallas is not the dog in the first picture, that's Charlie. Charlie's my baby, Dallas just wants to lick you.)



I also made a Carmelized Pear Upside-Down Cake.

Oh and did I mention that I went to Ihop and got Pecan pancakes? Oh yes I did. They were delicious, I will have to go back and try the Pumpkin ones next time.

I hope all of you had a NOT un-lucky Friday the 13th and have a wonderful weekend!

**Don't forget to enter the giveaway!

Suzie Homemaker

The majority of my day today was spent baking and cooking. Cooler weather always gets me in the mood to start looking through recipes and warming up the oven. Here's what was on the menu:



For breakfast was Raisin Banana Muffins via The Gorgeously GreenBook. These are described as the healthies muffins imaginable, and I wanted to see what the healthies muffins imaginable tasted like. They were good and healthy. haha.





For dinner was perfectly roasted chicken and rosemary roasted potatoes via Barefoot Contessa. I've made these both once before and they seemed to be a hit with the family so I thought I'd make them again.


And for dessert I made baked apples. My mom and I were talking the other day about how good cinnamon apples are and she told me about how she used to make baked apples. Then I realized I've never even had a baked apple! So I looked online to find a recipe and this one looked the best. We paired it with some vanilla ice cream and it was dee--licious!


Since I've been slaving over a hot stove all day, I don't have an outfit post... but I thought I'd post my baking outfit instead. Minus the apron, I was feeling very Audrey Hepburn ala Funny Face today. I didn't mean to cut off my face, but since I wasn't wearing any makeup it's probably best that I did. Hah.

I definitely need to start cooking and baking again, I forget how much it beats fast food. but don't worry-- I already have a stack of recipes lined up to try out, so expect some more culinary-inspired posts in the future! Bon Appetit!