Second guessing...

As most of you know, I like a recipe. If something goes wrong, I have someone else to blame. It wasn't my recipe so obviously it's not going to be perfect :) Well, my sister is pretty much my Food Network Channel. She could whip up the best dinner out of elephant dung and it would put the Barefoot Contessa to shame. I envy her cooking mastermind. Brillance in fact. I clearly don't have the cooking confidence My Contessa has. Now, Baker Man and I have been in the world of couponing for quite some time. If you're not hooked like we are, you should be! Southern Savers has kept our pantry STOCKED! While it has changed our way of shopping, it has inevitably changed our way of cooking. Yesterday afternoon I sat gazing at a bag of black beans. At first I was trying to come up with something for dinner when my mind quickly drifted to how similar those black beans looked to the "coal" in the back of my son's Thomas the Train toy. I was quickly brought back to the bag of beans when Baker Man interupted my happy thoughts with asking me what's for dinner. Dinner...I loathe figuring out dinner. I would eat cereal every night of my existence if it weren't for my offspring. I could take the survival of the fittest approach but I'm affraid DFACS would be knocking at my door faster than I could say "what's for dinner?" Back to the pantry. Black beans and rice. My Puerto Rican bother-in-law would be so proud. Since I've never cooked any type of vegetable that wasn't canned I had to read the directions. And it's a good thing I had this idea at lunch time because who knew you had to soak those things for SOOOO long?! Now I wanted some Mexican rice but the only way I knew how to do that was with a Rice-A-Roni and we only had Uncle Bens...it's what's on sale ;) I decided to be adventurous and make my own...from plain ol' white rice. A little bit of this spice, a little bit of that...follow the instructions on the bag for cookings and BAMB! Mexican Rice! As I stare in aw at my rice perched there on the stove in it's perfection...I glance over to my drab, insipid, boring black beans. Back to the shelves! Can of corn...diced tomatoes...a little sour cream...a few more spices...mix, mix, mix...throw down some flour tortillas in a caserole dish...layer with my marvelous mixture...another layer of tortillas...marvelous mixture...top with cheese...bake...and my own version of Food Network. My three year old cleaned his plate! This never happens. Oh dear, what's that...a thought. Is it really that delectable or did I forget to feed my kids lunch? No, Baker Man has given me praise for my dish as well. And surely we both would not have forgotten to feed our little angels. I must call My Contessa! She would be so proud. I have created a dish from nothing. No recipe. Have I turned a new leaf? Probably not. But I can't wait to eat my leftovers!

News from the Corner

Baby Dress Cake

Beach Birthday Cake - Foot Prints in the Sand Cake

The Tot is Two. This is the cake we did for our little girl. But we were short on time, so it was a quick one.

Well, that is it I think. Stay tuned for what the Corner Crew has coming up!