School daze

The older two went back to school on the 16th and my little guy started preschool yesterday.  So you're probably thinking that with all three kids in "school" I finished revising the novel, finished reading a book and folded all the laundry, right?

I was really, really close.  I went to the dentist, bought a new bra and a coffee.  Whee!

But I am revising the novel.  At 0-dark-thirty.  I've been getting less sleep during this last week than when I had newborns but I just might get this done, yet!  (Delirious, bleary-eyed edits have GOT to be good, right?)

How's your week going?

Sweet!

I had to do something with the bananas.  My daughter and her friend were dancing around with them (a cute ending for a math video they'd been filming) and broke the stems off of the fruit.  They've been here a few days, anyway and are at the point where I usually declare that I need to make banana bread or throw them out.  I hate to throw out food so I make banana bread...and no one eats it.

So...I used one of Jessica Seinfeld's recipes this morning, and made peanut butter and banana muffins (with carrot). (Ssshhh).

 I got distracted (surprise!) in the middle however, and only put in half of the required amount of brown sugar.  Thinking no one would eat these now, either, I went ahead and sprinkled some brown sugar on the top of each muffin and hoped for the best.

My son just ate three.
(Maybe 3 is a bit much--he ate two and finished his brother's--but that has to be better than the 2 or 3 doughnuts I let him eat last weekend!)

Mama said there'd be days like this...

My mother did teach me to use recipes to cook.
She also said (often) that I could not walk and chew gum, at the same time.

So--I stay away from gum and enjoy red wine while I cook, instead! Apparently, I cannot drink, talk and cook at the same time.

My husband and I are trying to kick a few pounds, together. So I found a recipe for a pasta sauce (to be enjoyed only with whole wheat pasta, of course) that I thought he'd like. He said it sounded good and asked me to double the recipe--so there would be leftovers this week. So I was sipping, talking and doubling. Rather than 1/4, I put in 1/2 cup of basil and crushed red pepper.

As it turns out, the original recipe called for 1/4 TEASPOON of red pepper.

The other reason I don't bake

While I am able to cook dinners that my family enjoys, I don't bake.

I bring fruit or "no-bake" recipes to bake sales.

My standing reason has been that my desserts/muffins/etc. never turn out right.  They don't look right, and they are either still moist in the middle or resemble a brick.

In accordance with my recent endeavors to sneak veggies into other foods however, I've ventured into baking.  The banana bread (with cauliflower!!) was a success!  (Stay tuned for another post on that one).  So, today I am baking brownies (with spinach--sshhh)!

However, I have cleaned my kitchen floor (in spots) three times.  My other problem, you see, is that I spill.  When I spill sauce while making lasagna, it's easy to spot and easy to clean.

When I spill brown sugar on a brown, hardwood floor however, it's not so easy to spot.  So I clean.  Then I hear the crunch under my feet. I get many wet paper towels and clean again.  Then I spill flour.  (Easier to see but this settles into the spaces between my hardwood floorboards.)  I vacuum.  I use more wet paper towels.  I vacuum.  There!

I put the vacuum away and come back into the kitchen.  

Crunch.