Checking in.

Hope ya'll are having a fabulous week. We've been a little off track with the cooking this week as we had a busy weekend.

A little re-cap of the weekend, I did not cook one bit on Friday or Saturday (but I did eat and eat, and eat..). This weekend included a trip to In-N-Out and some Mexican food. Oh and the Super Bowl included fried pickles. Enough said.

The elliptical and I need to become close friends again.

REVIEWS:

Baking -

The cookies are always great, I have used the Nestle Tollhouse recipe for years, I was going to do a "skinny" version but did not buy the whole wheat flour as called for...so I just made the good ol' fattening kind. :)

The blueberry lemon cake was a just "ok". I was not blown away by it. I thought it could have used more lemon flavor. I may try sugar free, fat free lemon pudding in it next time instead of the yogurt.

Dinners-

Creamy Chicken penne - It was easy and fast. Both kids HATED it. I went easy on the herbs too, thinking it may have been a little strong. Next time, add more cheese for kiddos.

Roasted pepper and sausage - I LOVE it, hubby loves it, one kid ate it and the other said it was "gross". We've had it before and he raved about it so not sure what was up this time. I used a Jalapeno Mango chicken sausage from Costco. The sausage had a kick to it but not overly powerful. A great easy, fast dinner.

Tonight is the mini corn dog muffins! I am so excited to make these. I've seen them all over pinterest and they look really cute, easy and yummy. I went and bought a mini muffin pan just for these. I've always wanted one. I LOVE baking pans. My favorite stores are Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table. There's a great little kitchen store in downtown McKinney too. I love kitchen stores. I think I am the only one who is intrigued by the infomercials on kitchen gadgets.

Ok, off topic. Sorry about that.

More fun stuff -

*Maybe some red velvet, maybe some chocolate covered strawberries coming soon...kind of rolling a couple of things around in my brain. I love that Valentine's day is an excuse to eat chocolate.

*Found a recipe for a non-alcoholic sangria too that I am dying to try. I know you're thinking sangria=summer, but with the "winter" we've been having in North Texas..might as well jump into Spring. You make your own mint simple syrup. I've always wanted to try making my own.

*Looking into cooking classes at either Market Street or Central Market. Thought it would be fun. They are pricey though. Anyone taken a class before? I'm afraid if I go, I may be hooked.

I've been meditating at lot on blessings today. One of my favorite songs is "Blessed be the Name". I could sing it over and over again. Especially the line that goes.."you give and take away, you give and take away..my heart will chose to stay, Lord, Blessed be your name." No matter what your circumstances are, where you may be...you are BLESSED.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." Ephesians 1:3