Baking

Minus the daily injuries I accidentally inflict on Jonathan, my domestic ability is increasing. Perhaps it was my mom's visit last weekend so she could rub off on me a bit.

At the moment, my favorite domestic activity is making food taste good and look pretty. Though I search for recipes online, through cookbooks (More with Less being my fav), and via my mom, I do have one personal rule that no one will be surprised to hear: never follow the recipe exactly. If I follow the recipe exactly, it's not really me, is it? It's more of me putting together someone elses thing. I want to put my own personal creation together!!!

So, this is what I've done, and have planned in the next week:

Spinach and Artichoke Dip-Mix together some spinach, artichoke, and a lot of different kinds of cheese (I think we used cream cheese, Parmesan, and possibly something else too), and an extra amount of both crushed and powdered red pepper. Nuke it in the microwave and then broil it to melt the cheese you spread on top. We prefer it with the Tostitos Gold Tortilla Chips and carrots.

Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza with Mountain o' Veggies-Though I didn't quite get the yeast to come alive (or I murdered it), the crust was still good (courtesy of More with Less). We just called it "thin crust pizza." Then, I domestically used store bought pizza sauce, and in honor of pizza night with Yuliya loaded mounds of veggies on top. We cooked it on our new and super cool pizza stone and ended up with good pizza. Even though I am never a fan of delivery, homemade pizza is in a class of it's own!

Chocolate Layer Cake with Chocolate Frosting (from scratch)-Okay, this was so good!!!! Pretty darn dense, and if you're Jonathan and not really a fan of chocolate, I'm pretty sure you won't dig it. I thank Martha Stewart for the cake and Mrs. Mills for the frosting. Here's a partially eaten picture (because I forgot to take one prior to eating). Clearly, it's more for eating than for looks...



Using every ounce of willpower I had, I wrapped it up in foil for a couple of days and we'll take it to small group tonight.

Blueberry Breakfast Bars-When you see how much butter and sugar is in these guys, you'll realize there's nothing breakfasty or hearty about them (though I did reduce some sugar and butter, and use some whole wheat flour instead). They're still cooling so I haven't sampled them yet, but I'm sure they'll be enjoyed at our coffee tasting on Friday night.



Yellow Cake with Lemon Filling and Chocolate Frosting--I'm pretty excited about this one. It looks so pretty in the picture!!! This is my un-chocolaty attempt to use up the rest of the chocolate frosting. I'll go to work on it either tomorrow or Friday.