Evolve discreetly into a 1950s domestic goddess

Since today was Veterans Day, I decided to cook a special meal for dh and some of our neighbors who are also military folks. The menu included:

a roast
buttermilk mashed potatoes
green beans
whiskey-glazed carrots
homemade rolls
and a decadent chocolate cake.

It took forever but it left me feeling incredibly domestic. I enjoy making things from scratch (it’s very empowering for some reason) but I’m beginning to see why convenience foods are so popular. With the homemade bread and the roast, I was cooking off and on for about 18 hours. I have no idea how Donna Reed and June Cleaver managed to do that everyday. :O

I really must steer my culinary explorations away from desserts. They’re interfering with my waistline. :P

_{These are the infamous cream cheese brownies that have made many appearances on my “Daily Reflect on 5 Things for Which I’m Grateful” entries.}

I made some lovely peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies from scratch this afternoon. It probably would have been better to wait and make them this evening (because the house would have cooled off faster) but the recipe looked so good that I just had to try it. Even the dough by itself was tasty! I think I ate about half of it before I even put the cookies on the cookie sheet. : O _{I bet it’d be awesome with ice cream!}

I’ve been vacillating about whether or not to put this goal on my list for some time now. But finally I just decided, oh…what the heck. While I will never be Martha Stewart, my role in life at the moment is that of a stay-at-home mom. I spend loads of time in the house (cooking, cleaning, keeping my two-year-old from setting anything on fire) and I’m of the opinion that if you’re going to do something, you might as well do it well.

My cooking skills have vastly improved in recent years and I have a small arsenal of tried and true recipes that never fail me. I also know some little secrets that are only picked up with time. (Or in my case, from the internet.) For instance, if you add a little bit of oil to practically anything you’re trying to boil, it won’t boil over. I also know that you should grease and sugar the pans of anything sweet you’re baking rather than grease and flouring them. This, of course, helps with presentation and also increases the odds that everyone at the table will lapse into a diabetic coma.

I am sadly deficient in the area of sewing (pretty much anything having to do with cloth) and I see little hope for improvement there. Give me a dress pattern, some material, scissors, a needle, and some thread, and the final product will inevitably end up resembling a poorly constructed over-sized pillow case. (Like something the Jolly Green Giant might be able use.) Ask me to iron it and you’ll get back a poorly constructed over-sized pillow case with decorative burn marks. :P

I would love to learn more about entertaining. I do it from time to time but not often enough to feel really comfortable with it. I also want to learn some more cleaning tips. With a toddler in the house, I could really use those.

I’m off to see if I even own an apron now. Wish me luck!