Too Many

by Ang

My sister’s post below (doesn’t that food look good?) inspired me to go through my cookbooks. I, too, love cookbooks but don’t use them nearly enough. And I have way too many. I keep them on top of our refrigerator, but right now there’s so many of them that they are falling down.

There's 21 total.

I took them all down and immediately set aside the ones I knew for sure that I wouldn't get rid of:

I made the mac and cheese (in a 9x13 pan) from The Pioneer Woman's cookbook for my husband and a couple of his friends and there was NONE leftover. It was really good. Plus, I learned how to temper an egg. Who knew?

Then I went through the rest and found FIVE that I could part with. Mostly because I have not cracked them open in over a year. Bye-bye!!

Lately, this has been my favorite one:

The recipes are really good and there's tons of pictures!

So there you have it. I pared down from 21 to 16. Not bad! And I found some book ends to keep them all standing up straight. Always a plus.

Amy & Ina

By Amy



I have a problem. I love to buy cookbooks. That's not the problem. The problem is that I love to read them but I hardly ever use them to actually cook. I have been in a funk with cooking lately. So I decided I needed some incentive. I bought this cookbook.

I decided that I would cook my way through it. Like Julie and Julia. Only it's Amy and Ina. And I'm not going to make every recipe. I thought maybe I could. But.....some recipes would just be a waste of time and money. Like....Foie Gras with Roasted Apples. Which includes prunes and duck. I am all for trying new things and experiencing new flavors. But I have to be realistic. And remain in my normal food budget. So I decided that I will make over half of the recipes in the book. I started with something that was semi-basic. Rich Beef Barley Soup.

It was good. Not fantastic. But good. And everyone ate it. Next I tried Old Fashioned Banana Cake. Which called for this.....

Thank you Trader Joes for carrying weird stuff at the right price!!! Creme fraiche is heavenly. It tasted like sour cream, cream cheese and butter.

I love recipes with banana's in it because my fruit bowl always looks like this.

My handy helper.

I let him frost. The cake was really good. Only bad thing is that I ate the entire cake. Honestly. Only two pieces were not mine. Not good for my jeans.

I have also made Bangers and Mustard Mash. Which is basically chicken sausages and mashed potatoes with mustard. I would have taken a picture but I burnt the sausages. Not pretty. The potatoes were like a creamy potato salad. They weren't to bad. I made Weeknight Bolognese. The sauce was incredible and I will definitely be making that again. Tonight we had Lemon Chicken Breast and Couscous with Toasted Pine Nuts. My oldest son said the chicken was "to lemony" and my youngest said he didn't like "nuts in his rice". Sigh. I thought they were both delicious and so did hubby. I have this cooling on my counter.....

It smells heavenly. There are eighty-nine total recipes. That means I need to make at least forty-five. Seven down and thirty-eight to go!

I'll Take An 'S', Pat.

by Ang

I think I have another problem. I can sort of compare it to my lack of restraint when it comes to buying our dog toys.

I like letters. Not the kind you get in the mail (although I like those too), but actual letters.

It's a weakness, apparently, that didn't become clear to me until just now and I started counting up the S's and other letters we have in our house. I like A's and J's too, because my husband's initials are JAS and mine are AJS. So it all works out.

The dining room:

The kitchen:

My desk area:

The dining room again (these ones are glass!): The entertainment unit:

The entryway:

The office:

The bathroom:

The only rooms in our house that don't have any letters are the guest bathroom and the laundry room. I may have to change that! :)

MmmmmmTasty!

By Amy


Hey there Missy! You have a little something on your face....

You got it!

Maybe if you opened your mouth bigger....

That's it girly!

Our Sweet Cat Shakey

By Amy

Sadly our cat passed away on 1/11/11. She was the worlds nicest cat. I'm not even joking. She loved everyone. Even little toddlers who loved to carry her around by her neck. She really had nine lives. She got caught in our garage door and hung there all day until I came home. She fell asleep under husbands work truck hood and he drove 15 miles. When he arrived she was meowing like crazy. But not a scratch on her! We would come home at night and she would be laying in the middle of the street. She was constantly on our roof and in our trees. Her little adventures finally caught up to her. I miss her and I keep forgetting that she is gone. But she lived a happy healthy life for almost 12 years.

P.S Shakey is kind of a wierd name. But when we found her under our bushes, half starved and half grown, she was shaking. Hence her name!

Two Corners

by Ang

I did some more re-organizing today of a few things. Since I am taking a class now, I am working REALLY hard at keeping my desk clean. So far, so good!

I had to move my printer back on to my desk, which I hated at first, but now it's not so bad. It has a nice flat top, so I can just put stuff on top of it. I've been printing off a lot of materials for my class, so it's nice to always have it hooked up to my laptop.

So my desk is looking good and it's very inviting to study at thank goodness. I'm ahead of schedule on my assignments for the week!

I also finally framed and hung up above my desk my favorite card that I got in Paris. It's the Eiffel Tower, but it also looks like an 'A'. It's handmade on this satin-like paper, and the picture does not do it justice at all.

And right across from my desk is our fireplace which we've been using almost every night (which involves turning a knob). I love it, it makes our large living room feel very cozy.

Have a good rest of the weekend!

12 Months of Little Miss A

By Amy

Here are 12 shots of my favorite "almost" 2 year old. They are in order except for this first one. I added it last and then blogger wouldn't let me move it! She is a girl with alot of expressions!

She's priceless!

Copycat Part 2

by Ang

See the post below....this is a continuation of my favorite pictures from 2010 - August through December!

August: (So I only took 4 pictures in August, and this was by far the best one)

September: (Taos, the Rio Grande Gorge, and one fat kittty in the sink)

October: (my parents & Grandma came!, balloon fiesta, me and Grandma on the train to Santa Fe)

November: I took NO pictures in November. Shame on me!

December: (Fantasy Football, Nanette the Nook)

My husband surprised me with a Nook Color and case, which I promptly named Nanette. I love it! (her).

I know that the year ends with December, but I thought I'd throw in some pictures from this month:

Yep. I'm taking some classes! (well, just one class at a time for now - College Writing!)