'50's House Wife

I'm a terrible '50's house wife. I don't work so you would think that my house is perfectly immaculate and that I have dinner hot, ready and on the table for my hard working husband when he gets home from work. WRONG. My house is usually picked up because clutter literally drives me crazy (and lets admit.... I'm already too crazy naturally to begin with) but there is always a layer of dirt, dog hair and whatever else around it seems like and laundry is not my favorite thing to do. I do in fact like to cook and I'm finding out that I'm a much better baker then I had thought..... but it's the whole having to have groceries and not knowing what to make for dinner that usually thwarts my good intentions. So this year I am going to make a honest good women effort to become a good '50's house wife. My goals are 1) to keep my house cleaner..... as clean as I use to keep my dorm apartment when I was in college (I use to be awesome at that... I'm just lazy now); 2) have dinner ready and done on the days Brian works (he works 3 days a week so this is a good way to start); 3) work out a weekly menu/schedule so I'll be able to grocery shop more efficiently and hopefully cheaper; 4) organize and build up a good pantry so I'll be able to cook and bake more.

This is what my pantry looks like now.... random, sparse and unorganized.

Pier 1 was having (may still be having) a fabulous sale and I was able to buy ramekins for $1 each!! That's amazing. So I bought 12 and had to try them out. I made Molten Lava Cakes - they are way way sweet, chocolaty, ewy gooey souffle like individual cakes. Most people know I don't normally bake because I believe that the batter is better than the cooked result..... well people - this cake actually tastes just like the batter! It's yummy. It's seriously so sweet you can only eat one.... it's like crack, sugar, and chocolate. Anyway, it was really fun to make and turned out beautifully. I took a picture because I was so proud of myself.

My next baking project (one of these days) is to learn how to make rolls. Yeah we'll see how that goes.... Dee I would DIE for your roll recipe (and tips on how to make them).

Cooking. Eh - I'm an okay cook. Sometimes stuff turns out great and other times eh ok..... I'm not "fearless" enough according to Julie&Julia (the movie). So usually I stick to dishes I know and never try anything new. Well I'm trying to improve. Julie&Julia really inspired me.... and my husband joked that maybe I should "cook my way through" his french cookbook (much much thinner than Julia Child's). Yeah right.... we don't have that kind of money to spend on groceries. But there is something i'm actually really quite decent at: making soups. So I tried a new recipe from allrecipes.com tonight- it was "delicious ham and potato soup". It turned out wonderfully! We all loved it (my mother-in-law dropped by for dinner so it was me, brian and her).

I'll blog about these new projects when I complete them.... since like I said it's something I'm trying to work on this year. Would you guys like me to include the recipes on my blog? Just let me know. So tips, suggestions, and recipe ideas would all be lovely from everyone and anyone who reads this. I need all the help I can get :)