Betty Crocker, Your Job is Safe for Another Day

It's been an interesting morning at my house. Last week, hubby & I discovered that the floor in our bedroom was caving in. After crawling under the house, he discovered 3 broken floor joists. Yikes.

So after getting up REALLY early this morning, running to Hell Depot, and then coercing his best friend to help, the 2 of them spent 4+ hours under my house this morning, repairing the damage. It's so nice to have a handy hubby (with a best friend who worked for Hell Depot for many years and has knowledge of home repair).

Wanting to reward their efforts, I channeled my inner cooking diva and decided to make Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip cookies from scratch. Hubby loves chocolate chip cookies, so I knew this would be a winner! After carefully mixing the dough and spooning out my perfect round bulbs onto the cookie sheet, I placed them in my preheated oven and set the timer. And the next thing I knew, smoke was coming out of my oven and this is what I was awarded with.

Burnt cookies! Now, the whole reason I bought this PC stoneware was because I was ASSURED that you can't burn cookies on them. Well, I sure showed them! I also learned an important lesson about that time frame that they give you on the package. Apparently, my oven cooks beautiful cookies at 9 minutes. It burns them at 11 minutes. Burns them into flat, concrete weaponry.

So, I pitched the first batch into the garbage. Please ignore that ice cream store bag. I know nothing about how that got there.

I baked what was left of the dough on my second try and came out with 14 beautiful, perfect cookies.
And so, while the boys had to leave before the perfect cookies came out of the oven, I had to at least prove their existence. Because there are no guarantees that these cookies will be here when hubby gets home. I have 2 growing girls you know. Yeah, that's it.

Serene Sunday

What is the recipe for a perfect, serene, Sunday afternoon?

A couple of Planter's Punch drinks.

And a best friend with a brand new pool.

This has been a fabulous weekend visiting with my BFF, Angela. She is an AWESOME cook and a wonderful hostess. To see all the yummy food that we've eaten this weekend, go check out her blog. You won't be sorry! Happy Sunday y'all!

Hot Potato

It's just after midnight and I should be completely exhausted. However, my adrenaline has been pumping overtime for the last 2 hours as I've been literally, slaving over a hot stove.

As I mentioned earlier this week, it's Teacher Appreciation Week at my daughter's preschool. Being the pushover that I tend to be, I felt badly when I saw that nary a person was signing up to do anything for the luncheon that's being held tomorrow. So, what started out as my attempt to help (volunteered to bring a gallon of tea) turned into Iron Chef in my kitchen! And the mystery ingredient tonight is.......POTATO. I somehow managed to volunteer myself to make homemade baked potato soup for 10 people. It's official, I have lost my mind.

Now, it's not often that I say this, so mark this one in the books. My hubby is "da bomb"! Thankfully he doesn't totally freak out under pressure situations, such as when the potatoes have been "baking" in the oven for almost 2 hours and they're still not done. No, he goes to plan B and microwaves those suckers, so that I can stop hyperventilating over the base that I've whisked into a frenzy. He totally came through for me in the pinch and I am so grateful! And now, I have an awesome batch of homemade soup in the fridge, ready to transport to the school in 8 short hours. Wow, I hope I don't sleep through my alarm.