Let them eat cake

Those of you who know me know that I am not exactly the most domesticated creature. I still have to ask my mother-in-law how to boil an egg every Easter. Generally, we have survived on eating out and the kindness of others...mostly those who "love" to cook.

Over the past few months of basement living, we have been without the option to cook our own food. We either ate with our hosts or, when we didn't feel like being a burden, found the nearest fast food joint we could afford (which was dramatically limited, I might add). So, it may surprise you to know that once we moved into our new place, I was actually looking forward to cooking. Of course it didn't help that I had been reading those mystery books where the prime detective is a baker and recipes are included at the end of every chapter...and more than a few late nights of Cupcake Wars.

So, much to the delight of my boys (and a little bit of trepidation), I have been cooking and baking up a storm. The downside is that I haven't lost any weight and I've been running our tiny apartment dishwasher constantly. The upside is that I haven't had any major cooking disasters...yet. Yes, there have been several comments regarding "Who are you and what have you done with my mother/wife?" But overall, I have been very pleased with the response. Maybe I am more domesticated than I give myself credit for. Or maybe the June Cleaver will wear off in a few days. But for now I say, "Let them eat cake!"

My Cooking/Baking Accomplishments this week:

• Spaghetti with spicy sauce (ok, the sauce was from a jar, but it was tasty nontheless)
• Mac N Cheese (this was also from a box, but I put it on the list because CT loved it because I added extra shredded cheese and butter)
• Three containers of chismol (Honduran pico de gallo that didn't turn out right because I forgot the salt, but I froze two of the containers and I think they can be saved by adding the salt after defrost)
• Crockpot pork roast and potatoes (leftovers chopped up and smothered in BBQ sauce for yummy sandwiches after church on Sunday)
• Chicken and sour cream enchiladas (made from recipe given to me by a good missionary friend. I even managed to find Honduran crema, which is 100% tastier than our sour cream, at a little Latin American store)
• Make-Your-Own Pizzas with homemade pizza dough and tons of toppings to choose from.
• Cheesecake swirl chocolate brownies (from a box, be baked to perfection)
• Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (no boxes or jars...all from scratch and delicious!)
• Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting (made from leftovers of cake and delivered to the ladies in the rental office of our new apartment building)
• Banana bread (made from scratch and half was devoured while it was still warm from the oven)