I got a bread machine from my Grandma, since she wasn’t using it anymore. I love it. You do get funny-shaped loaves, but it’s so easy to make bread and it tastes yummy. I don’t really have to buy bread anymore.

This is my go-to white bread recipe:

• 1 cup warm water
• 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 cups flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Put all ingredients into bread machine and cook on white bread setting, 1.5 pounds, with light crust.

I also found use this for multi-grain bread:

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/4 cups 10-grain hot cereal (uncooked) (I got this from the bulk section at Winco)
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Cook on white bread setting, 2 pounds, light crust.

Cooking is pretty awesome. It’s actually helped me get through some hard days–if I have dinner I’m excited to make, it sort of helps carry me through the afternoon.

Navajo tacos:

Scones (Utah style):

• 1 cups warm water
• 1 cup warm milk
• 1 tablespoons yeast
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup melted butter, cooled
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 5-6 cups flour

Combine water, milk, sugar, yeast. Allow to activate. Add butter, salt, and then flour one cup at a time. Allow to rise until doubled.

Heat up some oil, and deep fry flattened, round pieces of dough until golden brown.

Assemble the tacos by topping the scones with canned chili (or use homemade), shredded cheese, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, ranch dressing, salsa, and cilantro.

I made this forever ago and I don’t remember what I did.

I have a lot of meals like that: even if it tastes really good, I know I’ll never have it again because I just sort randomly put ingredients together.

I made sushi today.

I like sushi quite a bit. My husband has never had sushi and thus despises it–however, as he doesn’t really like fish/seafood and that sort of thing, I can understand.

What I did was simple, if not exactly perfect sushi-making technique. I cooked 1/2 cup rice (long grain, because it’s what I had, though that isn’t really proper), then added 1 tablespoon rice vinegar and some salt. Let it cool.

While it was cooling, I made chocolate chip cookies. My mom’s recipe, of course. I love my mom’s recipe. It makes a whole ton of cookie dough and then I freeze it.

Then I fed MM leftovers for lunch, because she had a taste of the seaweed and thought I was trying to poison her. So maybe she can try sushi later on in life.

Now, sushi does not mean raw fish. It can include raw fish, but it’s not a necessity. Sushi is more about vinegared rice combined with other ingredients, which may or may not be raw fish.

So I got some seaweed sheets from Walmart, of all places. They were half sheets, meant for hand rolls–which are cones instead of the sliced out rolls you usually see–and so I went with it.

Put the rice on the seaweed. Put toppings on rice. I did a slice of cream cheese, a slice of cucumber, and some imitation crab meat. Then I rolled it into a cone and ate it.

Do you know that seaweed is really good for you? It’s packed with all sorts of good stuff.

Anyway. This particular combination–cream cheese, cucumber, and crab–is my favorite sort of sushi. And to be able to make it for myself was wonderful.

Note: I didn’t care what it looked because I was just shoving into my mouth anyway.

As an added bonus:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe:

• 1 pound butter, softened (note: if it’s melted or close to, the cookies will spread out more)
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 cups brown sugar

Cream the above. Add:

• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons vanilla (if you’re actually using real vanilla and not imitation like I do because I’m cheap, you can use less)
• 2 cups oatmeal
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp soda

After that’s mixed up together, add

• 6 cups flour

Though I usually use a little less than 6 cups–just watch the dough consistency and make sure it doesn’t get crumbly, but that it’s still stiff.

Then add in

• 1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips

I suppose you could use milk chocolate, but why would you want to?

Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. No longer. Sometimes they don’t look done, but take them out, because they are done. Promise.

I haven’t done a meal plan post for ages and ages, so I have a long list of the previous month or so. 

• Wednesday: Chicken enchiladas
• Thursday: orange chicken
• Friday: fish tacos and tin foil dinners with pork
• Saturday: biscuits and potatoes and gravy and salad
• Sunday: cold cereal and frozen taquitos
• Monday: squash soup and salad
• Tuesday: pizza (disgusting)
• Wednesday: fish and rice pilaf
• Thursday: green chili enchiladas
• Friday: garlic chicken and mashed potatoes
• Saturday: spaghettios and whatever
• Sunday: waffles
• Monday: instant potatoes and peas
• Tuesday: pasta salad
• Wed: fast food
• Thurs: don’t remember
• Friday: ward party–made red velvet swirl brownie
• Sat: nothing exciting
• Sun: tacos
• Mon: nachos
• Tues: cold cereal
• Wednesday: fish, potatoes, squash bread
• Thursday: lentil soup
• Friday: turkey, mashed potatoes, etc.
• Saturday: Breakfast burritos
• Sunday: chicken parmesan
• Monday: grape nut bars, pot pie
• Tuesday: pizza and homemade french bread
• Wednesday: mashed potatoes, gravy, cook some turkey
• Thursday: leftovers/nothing
• Friday: teriyaki bowls
• Saturday: meatball sandwiches
• Sunday: crock pot turkey drum sticks/mashed potatoes
• Monday: pot pie (in the microwave)

So there you have it. If you’ve noticed, I don’t use a recipe a whole ton. Most every time I did, I linked to it. The rest of it is just me making it up as I go.

The teriyaki bowls (we didn’t actually eat them in a bowl) were really good and I just made it up as I went–and I don’t remember what I did. Something with chicken and soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, etc.

But that’s okay that I don’t remember. I think that’s part of the joy of cooking is managing to come up with something good and eating it right there and then and knowing that you’ll never quite have the same dish again.

Also, please forgive the fact that I ate cold cereal for dinner twice in the last month. It happens.