New Years Resolution--How Sweet it is.

    


I have been thinking a lot about new years resolutions. In the years past, I have never really bothered to make any. However, this year there is a lot of change for me and I thought it would be appropriate to make one or two really meaningful resolutions. After much thought and consideration about this juncture of my life--Beech having just started elementary school and now Miss Fancy Pants starting preschool--it feels like the kids are launched into a new place in their lives. My little MAD Stitches is slowly growing a bit more and I am gearing up to settle in for the winter and sew, sew, sew for spring. As for my J, all seems to be status quo with him too. So after much reflection, I feel the two things I would love to tackle and improve are 1) my ability to finish up little things before I head onto the next thing 2) To learn to cook...... I would like to free my family of the only four recipes I know how to cook--ribs, spagetti, chicken legs and mac and cheese. There have been times I have actually considered that I am missing the "cooking gene".

    I think the problem I struggle with is I need to embrace cooking like anything else that is creative--So, a few days ago I hit the book stores and found the Farm Chicks book to be increadibly inspiring and SO cute! I have already started to collect, cute vintage glass jars to store flour and sugar in.
                                                                                 

I also found, "Apples for Jam" by Tessa Kiros. The book itself is really beautiful. Along with handed down recipes, she also offers sweet pictures and stories of her childhood. It is divided up by colors; whites, browns, and so on. Tonight, for our family meal ( our parents come over for Sunday dinner...usually ribs or spagetti) I made her Cottage Pie with beef, onions, potatoes and lots of really cool spices. As for dessert, I baked her Honey cake. The picture in her book is so cute--it is truly a happy picture. I had to use a bundt pan instead of a spring form pan which she suggests. After it came out of the oven, everyone came into the kitchen because they wanted to smell it--it made my kitchen smell like warm milk and honey.
                                                                                 

Beech helped me make the frosting which was a fresh lemon butter cream--he absolutely adored putting all of the little heart candies on top! I am looking forward to trying more recipes as the year progresses.