Baking Day 2011
Well, obviously I'm actually at home today and nowhere NEAR a computer with Internet access, so I can't, like, show you what we're ACTUALLY baking. (Maybe someday wifi will come to my neck of the woods...) BUT, I can show you the fruits of my shopping labor aka what we're baking with.
Sis2 and I met up Saturday for some Christmas shopping and put our lists together of the items we'd need. Last year we were so disorganized and ended up having to send Mama to the store to pick up what we needed. That ate up most of our day. Since this year we're doing all the baking at my tiny little country house where the nearest grocery store is a good twenty minutes away I took the lead, cracked the whip and got this crap organized.
In case you can't tell what all is going on up there, we have (starting from the very back):
Fruity O's (off brand fruit loops), a huge bag of sugar--14lbs? (I think), two jars of dry roasted peanuts, a can of whole almonds, powdered sugar, brown sugar, coconut, a big honkin' dark chocolate Hershey bar, a box of semi-sweet baker's squares, six bags of various chips (milk choc, semi-sweet, white choc, butterscotch and Heath bits, respectively), a can of sweetened condensed milk, a can of evaporated milk, a jar of instant coffee, two bags of caramel bits, a large bag of pecans, all purpose flour, a jar of peanut butter, a bag of Reese's minis, storage bags and aluminum foil for packaging, white choc and milk choc almond bark, a bag of miniature marshmallows and 3lbs of sweet potatoes.
Granted, the sweet taters were what I cooked for church lunch Sunday, and I used the evaporated milk for the pie I took to said church lunch, but the rest of it? All for tomorrow.
And then there's THIS:
Cream cheese out the wazoo, sausage and cheese for sausage balls, sour cream, cool whip, eggs, half
and half, heavy cream, milk, margarine, butter, pie crust (for the pie I baked Sunday)...of course, there's lots of stuff that isn't for baking. The Dr. Pepper and sweet tea are a concession to the fact that there will be actual guests in my home who expect something a little more than water and coffee to drink. And there's stuff like aloe jelly that I keep in the fridge for when I burn myself. Not to mention the package of ground chicken I bought to try out How Sweet's Buffalo Chicken burgers. And some diet Barq's that Sis1 left in my fridge back in...October? Oh, and button mushrooms. And tiny bottles of water I keep on hand for Sis1's sporadic visits because she refuses to drink tap water. Also a few condiment type things.
So. Yeah. When the cashier rang me up at Wal-Mart Saturday? I almost cried. I have NEVER spent that much on groceries before. I think I may have had a small panic attack handing over the cash for it all. I mean, it's one thing to drop a load of dough on a new flat screen that you can enjoy for (hopefully) several years. It's quite traumatic, however, to spend a ton on stuff intended to be eaten.
Fortunately, I had saved some nickles and budgeted down to the penny so that I didn't have to charge a dime on Mr. Mastercard. (Take that, evil plastic!) And I actually came in $20 under budget! But still...panic attack. lol
Grand total? $134 and change. I know. For some people that's their regular grocery budget. My regular grocery budget is usually around the $30-40 mark. $50 if I hafta buy stuff for potlucks/parties. See where I'm coming from?
I'm not quite sure what all will be bakedtomorrow today. I've gotten a head start on some things. For instance, all but one roll of the sausage and one block of cheese pictured has already been used to bake sausage balls for my co-workers. I do know that I'm making some Starbuck's brownies, peanut clusters, turtles and possibly spiced sugar cookies. Also, the white chocolate chunkies I made last Christmas will be making a reappearance--minus the cherries the recipe calls for. I like the cherries but I liked the cookies better without them.
Anyway, as you read this, I will likely have been mixing and baking as well as chasing toddlers for HOURS. Picture me exhausted. ;-)
Happy baking!
Sis2 and I met up Saturday for some Christmas shopping and put our lists together of the items we'd need. Last year we were so disorganized and ended up having to send Mama to the store to pick up what we needed. That ate up most of our day. Since this year we're doing all the baking at my tiny little country house where the nearest grocery store is a good twenty minutes away I took the lead, cracked the whip and got this crap organized.
In case you can't tell what all is going on up there, we have (starting from the very back):
Fruity O's (off brand fruit loops), a huge bag of sugar--14lbs? (I think), two jars of dry roasted peanuts, a can of whole almonds, powdered sugar, brown sugar, coconut, a big honkin' dark chocolate Hershey bar, a box of semi-sweet baker's squares, six bags of various chips (milk choc, semi-sweet, white choc, butterscotch and Heath bits, respectively), a can of sweetened condensed milk, a can of evaporated milk, a jar of instant coffee, two bags of caramel bits, a large bag of pecans, all purpose flour, a jar of peanut butter, a bag of Reese's minis, storage bags and aluminum foil for packaging, white choc and milk choc almond bark, a bag of miniature marshmallows and 3lbs of sweet potatoes.
Granted, the sweet taters were what I cooked for church lunch Sunday, and I used the evaporated milk for the pie I took to said church lunch, but the rest of it? All for tomorrow.
And then there's THIS:
Cream cheese out the wazoo, sausage and cheese for sausage balls, sour cream, cool whip, eggs, half
and half, heavy cream, milk, margarine, butter, pie crust (for the pie I baked Sunday)...of course, there's lots of stuff that isn't for baking. The Dr. Pepper and sweet tea are a concession to the fact that there will be actual guests in my home who expect something a little more than water and coffee to drink. And there's stuff like aloe jelly that I keep in the fridge for when I burn myself. Not to mention the package of ground chicken I bought to try out How Sweet's Buffalo Chicken burgers. And some diet Barq's that Sis1 left in my fridge back in...October? Oh, and button mushrooms. And tiny bottles of water I keep on hand for Sis1's sporadic visits because she refuses to drink tap water. Also a few condiment type things.
So. Yeah. When the cashier rang me up at Wal-Mart Saturday? I almost cried. I have NEVER spent that much on groceries before. I think I may have had a small panic attack handing over the cash for it all. I mean, it's one thing to drop a load of dough on a new flat screen that you can enjoy for (hopefully) several years. It's quite traumatic, however, to spend a ton on stuff intended to be eaten.
Fortunately, I had saved some nickles and budgeted down to the penny so that I didn't have to charge a dime on Mr. Mastercard. (Take that, evil plastic!) And I actually came in $20 under budget! But still...panic attack. lol
Grand total? $134 and change. I know. For some people that's their regular grocery budget. My regular grocery budget is usually around the $30-40 mark. $50 if I hafta buy stuff for potlucks/parties. See where I'm coming from?
I'm not quite sure what all will be baked
Anyway, as you read this, I will likely have been mixing and baking as well as chasing toddlers for HOURS. Picture me exhausted. ;-)
Happy baking!
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