Here is a cheesecake that Joshua made last week. It was a vanilla cheesecake, similar to this basic cheesecake recipe (for those curious).

Due to various factors (forgetting to grease the sides of the pan, allowing the cheesecake to completely cool in the pan, etc.), the cheesecake ended up with some huge cracks in it. I don't think I've ever seen such a disastrous-looking cheesecake before!!

The good news is that we smothered the top of the cheesecake with some super-flavorful homemade cherry pie filling/topping. I used some of my canned sour cherries. The addition of red food coloring would have made the topping even more attractive, but we knew our guests would rather eat a dark topping than a bright one, if it meant adding food coloring. :)

When the cheesecake was cut, the cracks still weren't even really noticeable. It tasted great! :)

This morning, I really got busy in the kitchen. I hadn't washed the dishes last night, so I tackled those first, with the help of Eliyahu. I got a chicken in the oven and started some homemade roll dough in the bread machine. For once, I had actually completely followed the recipe for the rolls, which was a recipe given to me at my bridal shower that I'd saved and never made. (Read more...)

I tried a new recipe today. It called for sweet potatoes cut into wedges and tossed with oil and seasonings before being baked.

They looked yummy. They tasted awful! They were soggy, too. I got a nice photo though. :D

We're out of cheese.  Those of you who peruse my weekly menus and the recipe archives on this website might realise how much my kitchen depends on cheese. I don't think I've ever run out of cheese before.

I normally find cheese on sale at Kroger for $1 per 8-ounce block. This sale comes every couple months (or used to) and I purchase a large amount, which is usually plenty to last until the next really good sale. (This is the main reason we can afford to cook with so much cheese!)

But sales are fewer these past few months, and our cheese consumption hasn't decreased. I've found myself purchasing a pound or two each week at Aldi's (which is excellent cheese, just slightly higher than the sale price I like).

We've been doing our grocery shopping on Sundays. I dislike grocery shopping. It takes so long, and by the time I'm back home, the children are famished and there's so much to do, always all at once. Which thing should I do first? Do I put away the frozen foods, start making lunch, change Eliyahu's diaper, nurse Eliyahu, or use the restroom? Hmn.

Last Sunday, we shortened our weekly shopping trip by skipping Aldi and just going to one store. I figured I would just go to Aldi this week. I could last two weeks between Aldi trips.

I forgot that this week, Sunday was Christmas Eve. We may be out of cheese, but we're not going to any store on Christmas Eve, cheese or no cheese. We're also not (obviously) going grocery shopping on Christmas Day, since everything is closed. And we're not even desperate enough to go shopping the Day After Christmas.

Have I mentioned that we dislike shopping and we dislike traffic? :) So, waiting we are.

Now, other news...

For those interested in a photo of the Easy Saltine Cracker Candy I made, the recipe is now up! :) I made half with nuts and half without, but somehow only got photos of the part without nuts. Oh well; there will definitely be a next time for this recipe! :)

I heard a peep from Eliyahu, and it's getting closer to my bedtime. I think I'll close for the evening. :) Tomorrow is clean-the-house day, and maybe I'll even get some photos of my recent organization efforts! :)

You know you're a mom when you're re-sizing your (supposedly) professional-looking photographs of food you've made, and you're cropping out things like sippy cups and pudgy little fingers.

I think I've been mentioning that the baking/cooking bug has really gotten to me this month. Every single day, I feel the urge to cook or bake something (or several things!) and I've been so busy cooking, I haven't even blogged about half of it yet!

When Crystal sent me a copy of her breakfast recipe ebook, "Simply Centsible Breakfasts", I could hardly wait to try some new things!

After making 5 batches of Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins, I moved on to her Easy Peanut Butter Granola. In a word, YUM!

Of course, I was able to transform "easy peanut butter granola" into "try-again peanut butter granola", and I managed to waste some good peanut butter in the process!

To start with, I was melting my peanut butter as the recipe said. I had used a spatula to clean out my peanut butter jar, and for some reason, was using that same spatula to stir it in the saucepan as it melted.

Before the peanut butter was even half-melted, I noticed something sticking to the bottom of the pan, and the harder I scraped, the more there was stuck. After stirring a little longer, I realised that my spatula had melted into the peanut butter. Yay!

So, I got a new pan* and opened a new jar of peanut butter. Those pesky all-natural peanut butters sure do like to separate, and I managed to get peanut butter on the counter as I tried to mix up the practically level-full jar of separated peanut butter.

Finally, it was mixed, and I scooped out a cup to use for my granola. I chose a silicone spatula to stir the pan. I rarely use my one silicone spatula, but now I'm down to 2 spatulas in my kitchen, and I knew at least this one wouldn't melt on me!

I must not melt peanut butter often enough, because I didn't realise that turning the heat on medium and going over to measure out some oats would result in burned peanut butter.

So, I'm back at the beginning again, trying to get some peanut butter melted without melting a spatula or burning it!

But it was worth all the hard work... and I'm definitely making this granola again. With a silicone spatula and the heat turned to low. ;) 

*Thankfully, I was able to clean the plastic off my first pan later!

The past couple weeks have been full of great new learning experiences.

For example, I learned how NOT to make dinner rolls. Twice.

First, I learned that, while citric acid is used as a dough conditioner, it's used in very small proportions. VERY SMALL PROPORTIONS. Yep, I ruined an entire batch of rolls, and we had company coming, too! How lovely!

So, I tried the rolls again. The second time, I learned that even if a yeast bread recipe claims to be a "30-minute" or even "60-minute" recipe, it might take longer to make. Allow plenty of time. No one wants hard, dense rolls. When I give these rolls a third try, I am going to start several hours in advance, especially if we have guests coming.

I also learned how to start fires in my electric oven.

Just let your oven-roasted chicken run over, onto the bottom of the oven.

Then take out the chicken and heat up the oven to 450 degrees, so you can bake some Italian Cheese Bread. Or, not.

Flames all across the bottom of my oven and smoke filling the kitchen...

I quickly learned how to put out a fire... with baking soda. (Actually it was Joshua to the rescue -- thanks, Hon!)

And then I learned how to clean out my oven, and I will always put a cookie sheet under my chickens when the dish is that full. Always.

But, if I'm not learning about rolls and fires and citric acid, I'm busy learning how to not over-salt our foods, how to follow a recipe (yep, I still ruin things because I think I have a better way!), and how to fully cook rice.

Bet you don't wish you were eating at our house last week! ;)

Somehow, I don't think this is how Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins are supposed to look. I could blame the recipe, but it's a family favorite of the lady who passed it on to me.

So, I'll blame Yehoshua. He's the one who sneaked into my bananas and ate TWO of the remaining four. I had my heart set on making these muffins today. And now I was one banana short of the three bananas this recipe called for.

But a chef like myself doesn't even bat an eye at having two (small) bananas when the recipe calls for three.

I just got right busy substituting things. I hadn't been planning to substitute on this recipe. I planned to measure everything just how the recipe said for once. But I should learn to not turn my back on my little Curious George toddler.

So, I added an extra egg. Then I added some applesauce. I would have added pumpkin, except I was worried that might give the muffins a funny taste. The batter did seem a little thin, but for all my adding, I didn't even think to add a little extra flour.

So, I made some flat-topped muffins. The good news is that they taste delicious!! The bad news is that photos of flat-topped muffins aren't suitable for a website recipe. So, someday I'll be making these again... with the proper number of bananas... and then I can share the recipe!

You know you don't comb your hair often enough when your two year old sees you brushing your hair and says,

"Going bye-bye, Mama?!"

Nope, sorry Yehoshua, this is just my once-a-week brushing, whether we're going bye-bye or not! We usually only go out once a week, and this week it's not until Friday. :D

Actually, I do comb my hair, but not every day. I wash it and put it in a bun and usually leave it in for a couple days without touching it, or, at most, simply putting it in a more secure bun.

But I would like to do better at making myself look more... presentable on a regular basis. :P Maybe soon I'll post our new schedule and ask for beautifying tips :D

My energy bars came out of the oven a couple hours ago, and I just put them away. They turned out wonderfully this time, and of course it figures that I didn't measure what I did to the recipe. :) My cooking style drives Joshua crazy... he can't stand to watch me pouring things in from the bags, or spooning in honey instead of measuring!

(As a side note, when I was younger, I once was making bread and decided to start just scooping in the shortening instead of measuring. One of the times I them measured what I had scooped, and it was very close the the right amount! And no, I don't use shortening... my mom does ;D)

Anyway, tonight I was making energy bars. I have been experimenting with the recipe, and using all honey instead of sugar and corn syrup. They were turning out chewy, but crumbly. Tonight I was low on honey, and didn't have nearly enough, so I just put in all I had... maybe 1/2 cup or so. Then I put in a cup of white sugar, and a loose 1/2 cup of brown sugar, but decided to add some more brown later. I measured my oats, but I think I only put in 8.5 cups instead of 9.5 cups, since I wanted to add other goodies. I poured in the rest of my chopped almonds (maybe 1/3 cup) and threw in some sunflower seeds, ground flaxseed, and coconut. Then I stirred it all together and decided to add more flax.

And it figures that these would turn out JUST how Joshua likes them -- chewy but the least crumbly they have EVER been. He saw me cutting them and said, "Wow! Those look good!" I said, "I know. Too bad I don't have the recipe." :D