Micah and Christine

Anyone know that song? It keeps going through my head as I write this post.

I used to spend a fair amount of time shopping. I would stalk our 2 "local" Targets, and even knew a few of the Targets in Cary and Raleigh, because I was always shopping for something. I found some GREAT deals, but my focus has changed. We just don't need so much STUFF. In fact, we are now on a mission to de-clutter and get rid of junk we don't need. I actually have another bag of clothes sitting by the door right now, ready to donate the Chatham PTA thrift shop. (On another tangent, isn't that cool that the counties here run thrift shops to benefit the schools? I like that a lot.)

SO, now that I'm not shopping any more, I needed a new hobby. Lately that hobby has been cooking and trying new recipes. We can't afford to eat out all of the time, so one of us has to cook. No matter how busy we are, we have to eat. I have been trying cool new recipes in order to make cooking, rather than being another chore, into something that is really fun and feels like a break from my other work.

What have I been cooking?

I ask Micah all the time what I should cook for him. A couple of weeks ago he finally gave me an idea- cinnamon rolls. So I searched allrecipes.com, one of my favorite cooking websites. They have lots of reviews from people that have made the recipes, which I find helpful before jumping in. 

I ultimately decided on this cinnamon roll recipe with orange glaze. That recipe made a TON of cinnamon rolls. We ate cinnamon rolls for days and days... They were good, but I think that I didn't give them enough time to rise. The rolls seemed a little less fluffy than I would have expected from a yeast batter. I liked the orange glaze, but it was quite tart, so I think next time I will do half the rolls in orange glaze, the other half in a regular powdered sugar glaze. 

The cinnamon roll recipe called for buttermilk, so I purchased the smallest container of full-fat buttermilk our store had- a quart.  I only needed 1.5 cups. Of course I needed other recipes to use the remaining buttermilk!

Next up, buttermilk pie. This recipe intrigued me- I really like cream pies. With so much egg and nutmeg, this pie reminded me of a cold eggnog dessert. Really tasty, with a really strong nutmeg flavor. In the interest of full disclosure, I will make a confession. I have been using store-bought crusts for my pies. Sorry, Grandma! I have just been scared to tackle pie crusts so far, plus I have been hoping to wait until I can get my hands on some lard. :)

I had 1.5 cups of buttermilk left this morning. After searching recipes for more and more desserts, I decided to make one of my husband's favorites- pancakes. I am no pancake expert, but this recipe looked yummy and worth trying. I had just enough buttermilk left to make a half recipe. It did not disappoint. Those pancakes had a tang- a more sharp taste- than the pancakes that come from a box. I really liked them. 

This post has gotten so long that I will stop here. I promise that I cook real food, too... not just desserts!