I have been making and eating things in the past month that have been quick and filling…not so much things that I am extremely proud of or want to share with you Quesadillas, chili, soups, pasta, and frozen pizza have reigned our dinner menus, and, sadly, packaged halloween candy and Blue Bell ice cream have been my treat.

Today, I eat a few M&Ms from the package sitting on the kitchen table. I notice on the front of the package there’s a little graphic that reads CALORIES – 210: 11%DV. For a minute, I toy with the thought of just eating nine bags of M&Ms today and calling it a day. I figure that is a lot of artificial food coloring and dismiss the thought, heading to the pantry to figure out what to put together quickly for today’s lunches. Then, its back to other things to think about:

Some of our friends are in the hospital, at 23 weeks pregnant and holding fast to hope for their little baby. Others just got the daughter from Haiti that they adopted years ago, beautiful but difficult. We’re helping lead a class about marriage, also wonderful, but discussion is heavy, at times.

My personal list is decidedly more trivial…refinish the dresser in the nursery, clean out the closets, organize the freezer, cook. Those things aren’t really happening.

I did make these cookies though, they are quick and soft and the whole-wheat flour makes me feel better about the frozen pizza we keep having for dinner.

Quick Oatmeal Cookie Drops

adapted from Homesick Texan

3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 T. vanilla
3 cups oats
1 cup whole-wheat flour (use white if it’s all you have)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream together butter, sugar and egg.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Place place 1.5-inch scoops of dough on  a greased cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes.

You know how you tip based on the level of difficulty you perceive of the task at hand? Well, maybe you don’t, but I do.

From Pumpkin Bread with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

For example:

Venti regular coffee that you just poured out of the drip coffee maker? No tip. I can do that, and do on most mornings.

Tall non-fat double-shot latte with pumpkin syrup (only one pump) and a little of that caramel sauce on the top. Please? Tip for sure. I am embarrassed. I can’t even remember what I ordered.

Valet my car with complimentary restaurant valet and go park it in a tiny spot three cars deep in a lot behind the restaurant because we’re building high-rises in every known parking lot in town? Giant tip. I am not a good driver and would have surely hit at least two cars doing what someone did for me. That would have cost way more than $5.

From Pumpkin Bread with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Ok, so now that you know about my tipping strategy, I will tell you about all of the food we brought to my last friend who had a baby.  The meal signup went out. I picked a day, planned my meal, and  then kept adding to it. Maybe they need dessert too. Maybe they need breakfast? Yes, definitely breakfast as well. And juice. And probably some fresh fruit.

My friend just had a baby. I was thinking about why I felt compelled to bring her so much food. Well it is because having a baby seems way more difficult than parking my compact car in a small spot. I perceive it arduous and stressful. I was trying to bring her the I-just-had-a-baby version of a tip.

So we go over there and bring the food and I am holding this beautiful little baby and trying to explain why I brought all of these things and it came out like, “having a baby must be hard. Here is your tip.”

I am awkward. But I make a mean pumpkin bread, so please forgive me. I love you, and your baby, A Bottom line, if there’s not a line, or a tip jar, don’t try and relate anything to tipping. You will sound insensitive.

Pumpkin Bread

makes one loaf

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup pumpkin

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup flour

1 t. sat

1 t. baking soda

1/3 cup water

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. nutmeg

1/2 t. ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix first four ingredients thoroughly, then add in the rest of ingredients and mix until combined. Pour int oa buttered 9×5 loaf pan and bake 45-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

16 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 stick unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

2 1/2 c. confectioners’ sugar

1/4 c. pure maple syrup

In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat all the ingredients on medium until fluffy (this will take about 10 minutes).

Chill the frosting for 10 to 20 minutes, until it has set up enough to spread smoothly.

From Pumpkin Bread with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

I am going to be honest with you, because it will be best to maintain honesty in our friendship. I originally made these bars to send to my brother. And then I ate them all.

Sorry, Ben.

I shall make more. Actually, I am a little afraid to make more in case the same thing happens where I lose all willpower and then eat too, too many. So maybe I will make you something slightly less tasty.

In the spirit of honesty, there is more I should share… all these tidbits of pregnancy that I did not expect. Honestly…

1. The first is that dutiful willingness to indulge in many a baked treat or carb. I have never been much of a bread or pasta eater, thinking meals laden with such things leave me feeling full and sleepy, but now I have a newfound love for them. Especially when I am hungry and turn into the need-to-eat-now-or-the-hungry-monster-will-take-control-of-my-emotions person, nothing fixes that quicker than a quick pasta dinner or frozen pizza (gasp!) for dinner.

2. There is a sense of pride that comes when someone you don’t know, asks you in public when you are due. At this point, you can stop wondering if everyone just thinks you drink a lot of beer.

3. The willingness of other pregnant ladies to share their pregnancy/baby things. Right now, I am wearing Erika’s shirt and Olivia’s pants. Amber-Rose’s sling and Coralee’s Baby Bjorn are patiently awaiting a newborn, tucked away in the closet, and Jackie’s soft, green crib bumpers are rolled up on the floor, where the crib  will go in the nursery. I didn’t ask for any of these things. Friends just willingly shared from what they had from their own babies. Think of what life would look like if we did that with all stages of life.

4. Temporary, overwhelming emotions to a not-over-emotional person like me.

5. Pain. I came back from a run last week with shooting pain in my back and down my leg. I am only 23 weeks pregnant. This will get worse and I am a little irritated that the pain has started now, and not 12 weeks from now.

6. A sense of feeling. Other than physical pain and other than the occasional over-emotional times that I mentioned before. I feel like if pregnancy has done anything to me, it has made me ‘feel’ things more, giving me a heightened sense of emotion. I like it. I would say that I am someone who shoves things out of my mind and would rather not deal with things that are hard because they can cause hurt, and consequently, I don’t feel as much excitement around happy things as I should, because I feel like getting really stoked about something only sets me up for disappointment, and then that hurt that I so desperately avoid. So….I am hoping I can hold on to this. Not being an emotional wreck, but just having heightened senses of excitement and sadness, because I am finding that those things only drive me to a healthy empathy and sorrow, or joy and thanksgiving.

7. Pregnant does not always mean tired. There have been multiple mornings that I have quit fighting insomnia at the wee hour of 4am and just gotten up to start the day.

8. General largeness. I knew I would get bigger, but I really only thought my stomach would get bigger. I have jeans that side low, on my hips below my waist. I left these jeans in the closet when I rid the racks of any clothing I knew would not accommodate my growing belly. Much to my surprise, I am 23 weeks in and, um, none of those pants fit. Apparently all other body parts grow throughout pregnancy as well. Some more than others, but we won’t go there. This weekend, I will conduct Round Two of maternify-my-closet, and all such pants will be banished to the storage tubs, sealed, and placed on the floor of the closet, not to be opened until June of 2010.

9. Nosebleeds. And giant veins. I look like a body-builder. You gain something like three pounds just in blood during pregnancy…and it shows on me. So much that for 10 days straight the veins in my node would burst from so much pressure and I had nosebleeds.

10. Excitement and Fear. Fear of pain. Of giving birth. Of raising a human. Of not being enough…and Excitement to experience new life. To give birth. To raise a child with my husband. To try.

Chocolate Caramel Oat Bars

from Half-baked

2 2/3 cup oats, rolled, old fashioned or quick cooking, divided

3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter
32 kraft caramels, unwrapped (or, a bag of the new kraft caramel bits for baking)
5 tbsp cream
1 cup chocolate chips

Grease or butter a 9×13 pan.

Take 1 2/3 c. oats and whirl through a food processor until they resemble a fine flour.

Combine oat flour, baking soda, salt and stir well. Stir in oats and brown sugar. Cut butter into dry ingredients until crumbly.

Press half of mixture into a lightly greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.
While the base is baking, in a small saucepan, melt the caramels in the cream until smooth.

Remove pan from the oven. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the base. Drizzle the caramel mixture on top. Add remaining oat mixture. Return to the 350 degrees oven for another 10 – 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Allow bars to cool before cutting. Because they don’t contain any flour or eggs the carmalites are not as thick and a little most crumbly than most bar cookies but they taste so good you won’t mind.

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Back in May, exactly one day after Mother’s Day and two days after I had thrown a baby shower for my most wonderful friend, I, myself peed on the magic wand to discover some timely news.

I have not told you all yet, blog readers,  but I, two-years-and-change-into-marriage, what-should-I-do-with-my-life, oh-things-are-so-easy-to-not-have-kids, am pregnant. Yes, sometime in mid-January we are supposed to be having a baby. I am just sure ours will come via stork, clean and wrapped in a nice blanket and not with the traditional arsenal of medical tools awaiting every pregnant woman at the hospital. I am sure.

From starbucks banana bread

That being said, I have the normal pregnancy stuff, nothing that I can really tell you which would be out of the ordinary. But there is one little caveat. The only thing I didn’t expect is probably this craziness of feelings and thoughts and emotions. I am not a huge “feeler.” I would say, in any event I sort of guard myself from becoming too excited that I would be devastated if let down, and I also deny becoming too upset about anything, because what is that going to help, really?

Let me tell you what has changed. Not just my expanding waistline, or the fact that I am a human incubator harboring giant soon-to-be milk factories, or that any time after 2pm, I could slide into unsuspecting narcolepsy, or that I think if I don’t find out this baby’s gender, I can’t feel bad that I don’t feel prepared for this baby because heck, I don’t even know if it is a boy or a girl. Oh, there is more than that.

We shall call it a tornado of emotions. Now, I would not call myself an over-emotional person. Moreover, I think that I don’t get excited enough about things because I fear disappointment, or that I am not greived enough, because I am trying to shield myself from pain and hurt. Until now. Now, there is no filter. No shielding.

So, last Saturday, I was a huge jerk to my loving husband. I then proceeded to cry, uncontrollably, for at least 90 minutes and between sobs said things like, “I am so overwhelmed,” and, “I am just sad.” And Jon would have done anything to help, but all I wanted was for him to “sit there with me” to console me, after I was so rude. Then I got over the overwhelmed part and cried because I was being a horrible wife and how am I supposed to be a good mother if I am already a horrible wife? It went on. He stayed. Consoled. I survived.

Whew. So, I got through it and I am back now, in action, but something inside me thinks that will not be the last time.

Well, a few good things have come out of the last week. We had some friends and their cute baby over for breakfast last Sunday and I made this banana banana bread that is so, so good. I then proceeded to make it three more times within the following week. That’s how good it is.

All that being said, the banana bread will change your life; the banana bread AND the baby will change mine. Can you tell I am nervous?

From starbucks banana bread

I can’t take credit for this recipe. I started with a recipe for Starbuck’s Banana Walnut Bread that they posted on their corporate site. With a few modifications, this is awesome.

Starbucks Banana Walnut Bread

makes one 9×5 in. loaf.

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/8 cup sugar

1 egg

1 T. vanilla

2 c. flour

1 t. baking soda

3/4 t. cinnamon

3 very-ripe bananas

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

Preheat oven to 325 F and grease a 9×5 loaf pan.

Mix together oil and sugar until blended. Add egg and vanilla and stir.

Stir in flour, cinnamon and baking soda.

In a separate bowl, mash bananas until creamy and then stir in  buttermilk.

Add banana mixture to flour mixture andstir to combine.

Stir in half of nuts.

Pour batter into pan and top with remaining nuts.

Bake 45-60 minutes or until wooden toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.

From starbucks banana bread

From Spinach Salad

It has been over 100 for, like, the entire summer. Ok, not the entire summer, but most of it. The most exciting news on the weather channel is that each day brings us to a new record of hotness. Not good hotness, like what a nice lululemon outfit can do to any workout-woman, but bad hotness, like my-plants-are-scorched, I-pick-out-my-outfit-for-the-day-based-on-what-shows-sweat-the-least, and my-dog-refuses-to-go-outside-in-the-afternoon hotness. Bleh.

So, that being said, I offer you a cool, crisp salad in place of a hot, baked dessert item.

Oh, and spinach was on sale, $.98/bunch and blueberries $.99/pint last week at the a-maz-ing grocery store I go to each week in search of its stellar sales. More on that later.

From Spinach Salad

Here you have it:

Spinach and Blueberry (or any other fruit you have: strawberry, peach, nectarine, etc.) Salad  with Sweet Mustard Vinaigrette.

Serves 6

1 bunch (12 oz) spinach, washed and dried with stems removed

1 cup berries or other chopped fruit

Roughly cut spinach and toss with fruit.

Vinaigrette

1/2 white onion, chopped

3/4 c. sugar

1 tsp. yellow mustard

1 tsp. salt

1/3 c. white vinegar

1 c. vegetable oil

2 tsp. poppy seeds

Mix all ingredients except poppy seeds in blender or food processor until smooth, pour into serving dish and stir in poppy seeds.

Side note: We ate this dressing on everything once the salad ran out. It is delicious.

From Spinach Salad

Everything can wait.

From toffee cookie bars

My work ‘to do’ list is organized and pristine, nothing is crossed off.

The floors in my house are grimy and there are dishes in the sink and I head out tomorrow for a four-day conference that will have, perhaps, no down time.

But, it can all wait. Erika and Micah are having a baby. And Jon and I aren’t going to miss a second of it. Somehow, what I would have stressed myself out with tonight has found a way to fit itself into tomorrow’s schedule. Tomorrow there will be time. Now, we wil wait in the waiting room among family and a now-empty Domino’s pizze buffet complete with four boxes of cinnastix (courtesy of the father-in-law).

Rewind 38 weeks and three days ago. Erika called about an hour after peeing on a pregnance test that gave back two lines unstead of one. I feel like I have been waiting a long time and it is not even my baby. I can’t imagine how long it has been for her and Micah.

Ten weeks before that, we sat in their living room and talked abou the domestic adoption that they were pursuing wholeheartedly, until the news that would follow. And, only five weeks before that. we met at a mutual friends’ house. So much has happened in a year. Our relationship has progressed so quickly: meeting, birthday celebrations, camping trips, adoption plans, tuesday night conversations that went so late they ended in overnight stays  in guest rooms, dinner parties, pregnancy news, holidays, early-morning grocery trips, late-night dinners, more pregnancy news, and now, childbirth.

It has been 30 hours. That is a lot of hours.

They are going on 40 hours of no sleep, 30 hours of labor, and 28 hours of no food for Erika. Laughs and joking have turned to prolonged waiting as she pushes through resisting a cesarean delivery. It is go time. We, in the waiting room, hear there is lots of pushing going on in the delivery room. What was once soft, mood-type lighting in her room has I am sure turned into a spotlight show, with bright lights and lots of instruments and hairnets. All so glamorous.

Well, Erika, this one is for you. I think we polished off a plate of these cookies after dinner one night a few months age

From toffee cookie bars

Toffee Shortbread Bars

adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
6 ounces almonds, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 325°F and grease a 9-x-13-inch pan.

Beat butter in large bowl until light and fluffy, then add brown sugar and beat on medium high until fully mixed. Add in vanilla and beat for 30 seconds on medium-high. Turn mixer to low and mix in flour and salt. Press dough into prepared pan. It will be thin.

Bake until shortbread is golden brown,  firm at edges and slightly soft in center, about 30 minutes.

Take shortbread out of oven. Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the shortbread. Place back in oven for 3 minutes. Remove from oven and using a spatula, spread the chocolate out evenly over the shortbread. Sprinkle the almond pieces on top of the chocolate. Let cool. Place in fridge for 30 minutes and then break into pieces.

From toffee cookie bars

Good luck, E. It’s 9:36 and I think you’re almost there.

Pre baby, Oct 2008

Pre-baby, October 2008

New Year’s Eve, 2008

May 2009

July 2009

Recently, Rocky has really become quite the watchdog. We have a picnic table in the backyard and he takes the liberty to sit on top of it. From there, he can see into a few of our neighbors’ yards and also moniter all bird activity in a 100-yard radius. Oh, how he would love to snag a bird. I even got a birdhouse that Jon put up in the back yard to entice the birds to come into the back yard and entertain him.

It is all very cute.The bridge here is that this biscotti is maybe a little like bird food. It is full of toasted nuts and seeds and whole wheat flour.I like to say that this is a biscotti for the tea drinkers. It’s not heavy and doesn’t need the sweetness that normal biscotti does to hold its own against bitter coffee. This biscotti is perfect with a cup of herbal tea. I am going to recommend something like a tarragon lemon tea. Yes that would be perfect.

Nut and Seed Biscotti

This is totally not my recipe at all. It came from Heidi at 101 Cookbooks. Her site is full of recipes and fabulous.

makes about 15 pieces.
1 1/3 cups white whole wheat flour
2 cups mixed nuts and seeds (I used a combo of sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sliced almonds, and pistacios)
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup natural cane sugar, fine grain
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 300F degrees. Rack in the middle. Lightly butter or oil a 1-pound loaf pan and line with parchment paper.

If you are using any whole nute, place them in a plastic bag or between two sheets of waxed paper. Bang them with a meat tenderizer or a wooden spoon or rolling pin to get them into smaller pieces.

Combine the flour, nuts and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. In a separate large bowl whisk together eggs and sugar. Add the flour-nut mixture to the egg mixture and stir until combined. The dough will be quite thick. Scoop into the prepared pan and press the dough into place using damp fingertips. You want to be sure everything is nice and compact, level on top, with no air bubbles hiding in there. Bake for 45-50 minutes – or until the loaf tests done. If you under-cook the loaf at this stage, it makes slicing difficult. Remove loaf from the oven, and turn the oven up to 425F.

Immediately run a sharp knife around the perimeter of the loaf, remove it from pan, and set the loaf upside down on a cutting board. Using a thin serrated knife (or the thinnest, sharpest knife you have), slice the loaf into 1/4-inch thick slices. Place the slices on a baking sheet. brush tops with a bit of olive oil and bake for 3-4 minutes or until the bottoms are a touch golden and toasty. Pull them out of the oven, flip each one, and brush the other side with olive oil. Bake for another 4-5 minutes or until nice and crisp. Let cool.

Here are some pics of the other animals, you know, so they don’t get jealous.

Sometimes, you have to leave Texas. Sometimes, like now,  you have to realize that there is a recession and you need to go home. Which is ok. Other times, you choose to leave Texas, like my brother who skipped out to move for school to upstate New York where I hear it is cold and lacking in the queso department. Or a dear friend, a fantastic writer, who followed her heart to Minnesota. Or another, who is now tucked away in the northwest, close to family. And then there’s another old acquaintaince who I blog-stock (because come on, their kiddo is really, really cute).

Well, this recipe is for all of you.

You may need to have some of your new never-been-south friends over and treat them to this processed cheese delight. You also may need to drown your homesick-ness in a big bowl of queso at some point in time. It didn’t keep you in Texas, but it will keep you coming back. The beef makes this very filling…so if we start with queso, I usually don’t even make dinner

From Queso

Loaded Texas Queso

1 pound ground beef

2 T. cumin

1 T. chili powder

1 14-oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 14-oz. can Rotel (can’t find Rotel? Use 1 can diced tomatoes and 1 4-oz. can diced green chiles

14-oz.Velveeta (which is half of a package. I use the 2% milk kind, you know, to keep it healthy), cut into 8 pieces

few T. milk

1 avocado, diced (see how to dice an avocado)

Tortilla Chips

In a large, nonstick pan, brown the ground beef with the cumin and chili powder. When beef is browned, add in the tomatoes and beans. Then, add in the cheese and stir until melted. Add in milk if you want it a bit thinner, stir, and pour into a bowl. Top with diced avocado.

Look at me. I am all Southern with my Red Velvet Cake and Texas Queso.

Check out a great blog from the cowgirl-turned-city Homesick Texan. She will keep you company on the months and years to come with Texas recipes straight from New York.

From Queso

Original post at http://saltimbocca.wordpress.com/

From Blake’s Last Day

I am not a huge red velvet cake fan. I just don’t get it. It’s chocolate-but-not-really, and I say, if you’re only going to do a half-job on something (especially chocolate) then maybe you shouldn’t do anything at all.  Also, red velvet cake seems hard to perfect, it’s often too dry and crunbly, yet still greasy.

However, I was swayed by the deep, red color of a red velvet cake to make one. It is so pretty. I saw a red velvet cake in a bakery recently and forgot that I thought the recipe was ridiculous. I was swayed by it’s beauty. That and the cream cheese frosting. I thought, if my red velvet cake is not great, at least I have a vehicle for the cream cheese frosting, because I have been known to just love the frosting.

From Blake’s Last Day

Ok, ok. So it was also a hard cake to make because I made it for one of the girls who is leaving the office. Blake has been an intern for two semesters now, and I have really just gotten the joy of knowing her over the past three months. Blake is fantastic. Witty, smart and adept in all things melinnial, she will surely be missed this summer as she heads back to Atlanta after graduation this weekend.

I made this recipe into mini-bundt cakes by simply pouring the batter into mini-bundt pans. The cakes held their shape well. Sometimes, softer cakes will crack or stick awkwardly to the pan, but this cake stayed firm and intact. It would be a great cake to cut into different shapes, if you wanted to use a sharp serrated knife and cut a shape into  a heart, or a letter, etc.

Side note:  I also just read that instead of using red food coloring to color your red velvet cake, you can use beets. That gives a whole new meaning to dirt cakes.

From Blake’s Last Day

Red Velvet Cake

from the The New York Times

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3½ cups cake flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch process)
1½ teaspoons salt
2 cups canola oil
2¼ cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) red food coloring
1½ teaspoons vanilla
1¼ cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
2½ teaspoons white vinegar.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place teaspoon of butter in each of 3 round 9-inch layer cake pans and place pans in oven for a few minutes until butter melts. Remove pans from oven, brush interior bottom and sides of each with butter and line bottoms with parchment.

Whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl.

Place oil and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. With machine on low, very slowly add red food coloring. (Take care: it may splash.) Add vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.

Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.

Divide batter among pans, place in oven and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pans 20 minutes. Then remove from pans, flip layers over and peel off parchment. Cool completely before frosting.

Yield: 3 cake layers.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

4 oz (1 stick) butter, at room temperature

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Beat butter with an electric mixer unti light and fluffy. Add in cream cheese, beat until combined. Add powdered sugar in 1-cup increments, beat until creamy. Frosting can e refrigerated for up to two weeks.

Blake’s last happy hour. Blake, Deirdre, Emilie, and myself.

Coming in the next few posts: Baby Showers

I only ever post pictures of food! Guess what? I have a video!

Well, it is not my video, but it is  a video of something I think is fantastic.

Ok, so in 2006 I was planning my wedding. Wedding planning for me involved countless  decisions, lovely showers and parties, many attempts of i-will-do-an-hour-of-yoga-everyday-until-the-wedding but then never even unrolling my mat, a last-minute shrunken wedding dress (that’s for another day), and lots of miles on my car. I lived in Austin and we got married outside of Houston, so probably three of four weekends a month, I drove the 6-hour round-trip to H-town for planning bonanzas for a few months.

Let’s just say I listened to a lot of books on tape. In four months I listened to probably four times as many books on tape as books I have actually read in the past four years. Pathetic.

This book was my favorite. It’s about a girl who’s over her crappy desk job and decides to cook through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, one recipe at a time. She has to boil live lobsters and search Manhattan to find parts of pigs that I have never heard of to include in recipes, and she and her husband sometimes don’t eat dinner until 1am because it really just took that long. There are a lot of cuss words through her trials…but in a stick-it-to-the-man kind of way, that makes you want to read (listen?) more.

Here’s the trailer, I hear it opens August 7.

Oh, yes and a recipe. Well, to contrast Julia’s time-intensive recipes, I have the easiest cookie recipe ever.

From Easiest Cookies

Cake Mix Cookies

makes 24 cookies.

1 cake mix (any kind)

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cup mix-ins (optional, see below)

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix ingerdients.

Drop dough by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.

Bake 8-10 minutes.

Ideas for cake mixes and mix-ins:

• yellow cake with chocolate chips (pictured)
• carrot cake with pecans and coconut
• red velvet cake with white chocolate chips
• chocolate cake with mint chips
• white cake with butterscotch chips and walnuts
• pineapple cake with orange peel

From Easiest Cookies