Not Food Related

My little Baby Hulk cracks me up. In the midst of a fussy, cranky morning thanks to my attempts at sleep training (aka, an hour of screaming trying to get her to fall asleep for a nap on her own), I discovered that Aisling has bitten through the nipple of a pacifier. She's a beast!! hahaha. At least we know her teeth are coming along nicely.

Toddler Eats

We are taking care of our friends' little boy tonight while they go out, and it was so cute to see him and Aisling sitting across the table from one another. Just one of many dinners together they will enjoy, as they are destined to marry each other down the road, haha.

Watching a nearly 1-year old and a 1-1/2 year old chow down on hot dog chunks, Easy Mac, and Yogurt Melts really struck me...how do they know to like junk food? Are humans hardwired after eons of evolution to seek out and enjoy food that is basically poison to their bodies? I love hot dogs, and have been known to get down on some mac n' cheese now and again. But these kids are new here, and don't know that this crap is what people crave and eat so much of that two thirds of their fellow Americans are obese. Yet, there they were, loving every greasy, non-nutritious, artificially colored bite. Strange. At least they liked the carrots and Cheerios too :)

Shorthand/Abbreviations Key

Cookbooks
BC: Betty Crocker
BH&G: Better Homes & Gardens
GCC: Guide to Country Cooking
TOHC: Taste of Home Cookbook
TOHH: Taste of Home Holiday
WM: Wal-Mart Cookbook

Magazines
BH&GM: Better Homes & Gardens
KF&F: Kraft Food & Family
RS: Real Simple
TOHM: Taste of Home

First Pizza

Well, my dreams of soft, chewy, fluffy homemade pizza crust went up in hard crunchy thin-crust smoke, as my dough barely rose at all. Probably b/c the yeast I used was expired by about 6 months but I thought it would still work...fail. It was still pretty tasty, but unfortunately not all I had hoped for by any means! Baby enjoyed her first taste of pizza though, so that was fun.

Crust recipe: New BH&G. Used about 3/4 c. of whole wheat flour out of 3-1/4 total.
Toppings: Pepperoni, Italian sausage, onions, diced tomatoes, mozzarella & cheddar cheeses.

Topics for Future Posts

Just so I don't forget:

The best thing(s) I ever ate
Bee cake
Beer/wine love
Cooking w/ an almost-1-year-old at your feet
Holiday cooking
Cooking goals/things to try to make
Cooking & freezing in preparation for arrival of a baby

In the beginning...

...there was the first post. And it was lame. I've finally caved and started this food blog I've been talking about/thinking about doing for a couple months now, mostly to get my recipe and cooking successes/failures/thoughts/notes down somewhere, with pictures in their full Technicolor glory so I can remember/adjust/keep track of my cooking life. And yes, in the interest of full disclosure, I fully admit that the fact that the movie "Julie and Julia" came out recently gave me that final push to get started (though I have not even seen the movie...sigh. I miss going to movies). Not that I have any illusions that anyone will read this blog except for me and maybe my husband and a few random family members. But...probably just me. Anyway...I shall dive in headfirst and make my first cooking entry tonight...pizza!