Table for Eight

 

Ree Drummond's (Pioneer Woman on Food Network) Chicken Fried Steak (and broccoli). Dave made it for us last night and it was awesome. (And messy. Holy deep fryer.)   I'm affectionately dubbing this summer my "Chicken Fried Summer." Why, you ask? Because I think my post-Survivor way of coping with transitions, stress, etc., has been to EAT. Anything and everything! Sour gummy worms? Don't mind if I do. Chocolate cake? Sure. Green olives and chocolate cake?  Uh ... okay, sure! The overeating is kinda (emphasis on KIND OF) funny for someone who starved on an island in the Philippines for 39 days last year, but work with me: I'm doing the best I can. And when I can do best er , I will. Promise. In the meantime, I'm just trying to begin a regular exercise routine to balance out the extra food intake AND love myself as I journey through this phase. And even that hasn't been super easy for some reason.  (For those of you w...

 And the winner of the  Mr. Bubbles Giveaway is ... Sarah L. (Sarah, please email me a snail mail address so Amazon.com can get your bubbles to you ASAP! dawn_meehan@byu.edu) And thanks to everyone who entered (about 100 in all).   *** PS: Have a beautiful Sunday--wherever you may be. Me? I'm spending Sunday time with family, going to church, writing a letter to Jay on his mission, and making Julia Child's "potato leek soup"--with hopes it will FLUSH my dang bronchitis away. (I've had it for 18+ days! For. The. Love!) I never met a leek I didn't like.

Two thoughts on my mind this morning: 1. April Fools' Day is Sunday. I need some good April Fools' Day pranks to play on my kids. Not the mean ones (like cellophane over the toliet seat), but the fun ones (like the above: google-y eyes on the food in the fridge).  PS: In the past, I've bought the Happy Meal boxes and toy from McDonald's, but filled them with homemade sandwiches, green beans, etc.--and had my husband "bring McDonald's" home for our kids. The kids didn't think that was very funny. (It kinda was though.) I also have a tradition of making rice krispie sushi on April Fools' Day. That's one the kids love! (You can find the recipe on Pinterest for sure.) 2. I want to make my own granola bars, but have to admit that makes me sound like a hippy. I'm on Day 10 of "no refined sugar," and while I feel good, it's seriously hard to cut Sugar out of my life. I mean, she and I have been BFFs...

(c) SugarBabyAprons.com, 2012. I decided to cut back on sweets in 2012, so ... I'm making 6 of these today. For reals. So why on earth am I making SIX of these bundts? Because I'm teaching a breadmaking class for kiddos today (ages 7-12)--and this is one of the "sweet breads" we're teaching them to make: Pink Lemonade Cake Is that too CUTE? (Yes.) I'll be sure to post photos after the class today. In the meantime, if you'd like to make this cake yourself, here's the recipe. I actually found it on Pinterest.com, but later found the original at SugarBabyAprons.com. (PS: I don't have any sponsors on my site, so I don't know SugarBabyAprons or have any affiliation with them. I just want to give credit for the cake recipe where credit for the cake recipe is due.) Have a beautiful Friday. And remember, Pink Lemonade Pound Cake 1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix 1 (3 ounce) package instant lemon pudding mix 4 eggs ...

PS: The post is for Caralyn, this pix is for me! Yesterday I received an email comment from a blog reader asking for my bread recipe. And it was then that I realized, "More people than my just my mother-in-law are reading this blog--because she knows and gives me most of my recipes." LOL. So Caralyn, sorry I didn't post this sooner. I'm really not that secretive when it comes to bread baking. I just don't like to tell people HOW to do things--ever--even when it comes to recipes. It feels, I dunno, kinda arrogant?  Plus, I know as soon as I say "We use white flour," someone will say, "Oh, I never use white flour." And at the end of the day, I'm all about co-existing. I don't want you to change--or be me--I want you to be you and me to be me. So, no matter how you feel about bread after reading this post, remember YOU GOTTA BE YOU. AND I GOTTA BE ME. Tee hee. PS: See how my brain works, people? A little questio...