Oh, the shame.

I know I said if the chili turned out alright, I'd post the recipe.

I would, too... if I hadn't buried it deep in the backyard, with the hopes it will remain undiscovered by impressionable young cooks digging for new recipes.

That being said, I would like to point out that despite the fact that it was a terrible disappointment, it did not, I repeat NOT -- get last place in the competition. Second to last... maybe (ok, so it was actually second to last) but definitely not last.

I feel a deep, burning shame ... I have failed my fore-mothers. As some of you are aware -- my roots lie deep in Texas and Oklahoma. I feel a responsibility to uphold the high standards of traditional Southern and Midwestern foods... fried chicken, fried biscuits, fried green tomatoes, fried snickers bars, fried ... well, pretty much anything that CAN be fried. (It's the American way.) And CHILI. Oh, how I have shamed my ancestors! I feel like Charlie Chaplin after he lost his own look-a-like contest. But no more tears ... I must move on with my life.

And I DID.

This weekend I got over myself by throwing myself head-first into a few sewing/crafting projects. I started Marcus's Halloween costume (the lawn gnome) and I must say, I am fairly impressed with myself. Seeing as I haven't touched my sewing machine since *last* Halloween (when I broke a needle attempting to help my friend sew ears onto a cap for her son's Batman costume...) I did fairly well. I was tempted to post some pictures of the progress, but I'd rather wait until the entire ensemble comes together. (Read: I'm way too lazy to take pictures and post them right now.)

My success with the costuming (including pointy gnome shoes!!!) led me to search through my closet for all of my thrifting finds that were too big of a bargain to pass up, yet didn't fit me quite the way I'd envisioned. I'm halfway through altering one dress (that cost me a whopping 25 cents -- take THAT expensive retail chains I can no longer afford!!! BAM!) and I've got a few more I'm considering working on.

THIS success has led me to un-box yards and yards of fabric I've either thrifted or picked up as remnants on the cheap and start planning out patterns for some dresses and jumpers. Most of these, I'm sure, will have disastrous, muumuu-like results and the fabric will ultimately go to waste... but I've got to start somewhere, right? (Just say yes. It's easier to justify destroying perfectly good fabric if I have people egging me on.)

This morning I also made zucchini bread, seeing as for an entire week, everytime I had to pick something up from the grocery store, I'd think: "Zucchini! I need some!" Thus resulting in about five zucchinis I needed to use up.

Zucchini Bread

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 beaten egg
1 cup finely shredded zucchini
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cooking oil

Grease loaf pan. Set oven to 350.
Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg in a medium sized bowl. Make a well in the center, set aside.
In another bowl, combine egg, zucchini, sugar, and cooking oil. Add in well in dry ingredients. Stir until just combined. Pour into loaf pan.
Bake 50 minutes.
Sit on your couch and eat piece after piece while watching The X-Files on DVD. (Scratch that. That's just what I like to do.)

And now to relieve Joe of his Marcus watching duties, as I've been holed up in this room for quite a while. (Damn you
addictive celebrity gossip websites!!!)

A buck late, a day short... wait. Strike that. Reverse it.

Well, this blog has proven how little time/motivation I have for the upkeep of this blog. But seeing as it is now autumn, a transitional time of the year, I have decided to once again at least *try* to keep some sort of records of my experiments with cooking/baking/crafting and other such nerdiness.

Quite a bit has happened in the past few months, so rather than bore everyone with the endless droning of run-on sentences, I've decided to give a pictoral guide of our summer. (With perhaps a few recipes and significant songs thrown in for good measure.)

JUNE

Marcus's favorite song:

Stevie Wonder - Superstitious

Mood/Events:

Scared. Trapped in a laundry hamper.

JULY

Marcus's Favorite song:

Beethoven - Ode to Joy

Mood/Events:

Confusion. Blue Angels are LOUD.

AUGUST

Marcus's Favorite song:

Aaron Copland - Rodeo

Mood/Events:

Exhausted! Weddings, fake birthday parties, and too

many dang airplanes.

Applesauce Cake
(We tripled this recipe for a 9' x 13'' pan, it fed about 20 people!)

1 cup flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1 cup applesauce
1/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Grease a 9 x 13 pan
Preheat oven to 350
Mix wet ingredients, stir in dry
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes
Decorate like a Casio to the best of your sad little ability. (Oh wait, that's just what *I* did!)

SEPTEMBER

Marcus's Favorite song:

Michael Jackson - Thriller

Mood/Events:

Busy. Sick with Cold-O-Doom. Excited for fall.

Dave's wedding in TX, MHAFB Air Show, first trip to the "beach",

and most importantly, MARCUS TURNS ONE!

So that's about it. I have about twelve recipes I've been meaning to put on here, plus some pictures of some crafts I've been doing. (Not to mention Marcus's Halloween costume I am making... he will be a lawn gnome. This weird idea brought to you by the letter J, which stands for Joe.)

Also, I'll try and mention how our new budgeting system is going. After re-installing Quicken, (and seeing how much money we've spent on travel these past few months... yikes) I've decided to implement a new spending system. I've allocated certain amounts of cash to certain envelopes, one for gas, groceries, incidentals, etc. It will be interesting to see how it goes -- especially the grocery part. I'm not going to deny it -- I am a grocery junkie. The produce section is my Tiffany's... I almost can't help myself.

And now I must be off, as Joe has informed me only very recently (read: today) that there is a chili cook-off tomorrow. So instead of making my mom's famous chili, which takes about three days to make... we're faking it. If it turns out somewhat decent and our marriage is still intact, I might just put the recipe on here!

Until next time!

-C

"e-lec-tric-al banana..."

In a fit of a diet-induced need for something homemade and sweet, I decided to make some oatmeal cookies. To mix things up a bit, I decided to tweak my tried and true recipe. In the process, I realized I had made some deliciously easy vegan oatmeal cookies. Now, I am not, nor will I ever be, vegan... but this latest health kick I seem to be on has led me down some vegetarian/vegan paths. Ratatouille, vegan curry dishes... it made me wonder what baked goods I could make without animal products. So after only one (!) trial run, I've decided this recipe is good enough to put on here.

Vegan Banana Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup vegetable shortening
6 tsp water
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 ripe banana (mashed)
1 tsp vanilla
1.5 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2-3 cups oatmeal
1 cup walnuts, raisins, craisins, or any nuts/dried fruit (optional)

Set oven to 350.

Mix shortening, water, and sugars in a large mixing bowl. Beat until creamy.

Add mashed banana, vanilla to mixture. Beat well. (Some little lumps of mashed banana are ok.)

Sift and beat in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, cloves.

Stir in oatmeal and nuts/dried fruit (if using any.)

Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on your oven.

(You do really have to keep an eye out on at least the first batch, they should start to brown around the edges but still be a little soft in the middle. Wait for them to cool on the cookie sheet a little before you try to get them off with a spatula... when they are warm they tend to break fairly easily.)

So that's it. It even got the thumbs up from Joe! (Although I neglected to tell him they were sans animal product until after he had devoured a few.)

Thankfully, my sous-chef (Marcus) has seemingly overcome his fear of the electric mixer. So hopefully this means more baking adventures in my future.

Now if he'd only get over his fear of my hair-dryer...

-C