so maybe i didn't make anything..

Well, I know I said I was going to make granola for Mr. Dill and his camping buddies, but I didn't. Alas.

I don't have a reason, I just didn't. But that doesn't mean I won't.

I had very good intentions, but just didn't.

I also had great intentions of making these....





but I didn't... for this reason...

1) I need help with this. So the brownies may have, oh I don't know, expired about say, um, a year ago.... don't judge. Now, here is my question.... Can you still make them and they be ok to eat? The text did read, "Better if used by...." not, "Best if used by..." So, what do we think?


I am sorry, I know I am toying with your emotions. I know you are on the edge of your seats just like you are on the edge waiting for the next twilight movie to come out, but then you click on my blog for some great blogging and then nothing!

I have let you down... but fear not! I will return with some amazing-ness that your little hearts can ponder and dwell on, this weekend. (maybe even sooner)

so maybe i am making something!

So I thought I wouldn't be making much this weekend, except warming up leftovers. But fear not folks, I am going to try my hand at making some granola!

Mr. Dill is going camping this weekend, and what better treat to make than the good ol, tree-hugging, granola?

Speaking of granola, did you know that a person can be referred to as a granola?

Example:

Hey you remember Sue?

Yea, she was such a granola.


Someone help me with this. What does it mean to be called a granola? I am not as up-to-date on my slang terms as one would think.

Anyway, I will let you know how it goes.

Catching Up

Man. I know I need to do a better job at blogging more. I have been quite busy with getting back on my school and work routine.

Let's just give a re-cap of everything that has been going on.

First, and I know you have been anxious to see these, here are some pics from the cookies!



(I am a bit of a messy cook!)



mmmm this is what i call heaven.... man that cookie dough was soo good!



the recipe made about two dozen.



finished and ready to be eaten! and they were :)

So those were the cookies.

Let's see, my classes have started, which you all know by now. I think it will be a great semester. Tough but great.

Moving along to the Chicken Parmesan. This was great. It was quite easy and very tasty. The only thing I would change is that instead of breading just one side of the chicken, I would bread all of it :) Martha thought that it would be a healthier option to only bread one side of the chicken, but the Dill's have decided that it would be a better thing if the whole thing was in breaded goodness. I mean we are from the south and we can't handle these healthier options that Martha speaks of. Even though we are trying to be healthier, you just can't bread one side. It is against our southern upbringing.

Needless to say, the meal was very good and will be made again. Here are some pics:




Finished product!










Yummy Sauce!


Now it is time for a little rant. After the chicken parm, we decided to get some dessert downtown. (I never made up my mind about what to fix for dessert) So we are downtown on a Saturday night. We are just walking and enjoying our time together, taking in all the goodness that Greenville has to offer. As we get closer to walking towards Falls Park we all of a sudden notice a lot of teenagers just standing in the middle of the sidewalks. Not walking with the other people, just standing. Not moving at all. Just standing. And yelling. Standing and yelling.
So we, like everyone else, have to manuever around these teenagers. And as we get closer to our destination of ice cream (which don't stand in my way when I want ice cream) there are more and more of them. Just standing.

Now just a note to these teenagers:

1) Where are your parents? It is 10 o clock on a Saturday night. Where are they?
2) Why must you continue to yell? Girls, don't "holla" at a cute boy that walks down the street saying "Hey boy Hey, in the white jacket, this girl like you." That guy doesn't even know you, and you don't know him.
3) MOVE out of the way when people are walking on the sidewalks.
4) Don't eye me up and down either. I don't like it.

Ok. Sorry, back to the story. It is 10 o clock and the cops have now arrived. (Greenville has a curfew for these youngsters to get out of the park at 10. They can't be in the park, but they can just stand other places) As Mr. Dill and I finally reach our ice cream destination, we find a seat next to the window (mainly so I can watch these kids get busted by the cops, I am quite nosey.) The cops tell the kids repeatedly to not sit on the ledge next to fountain and to move along. Well they do this the first time, but the minute that little cop turns around, they sit right back down.

Another note to the teenagers:

1) I know you are trying to keep your attitude in check because you think it is cool, but it isn't.
2) Stop yelling.
3) don't act like you are all that. (haha remember that show on nickelodeon?)

Ok. back. So anyway to wrap up the evening of dodging teenagers on the streets, we had some very yummy ice cream.

My next project is to at some point make some homemade ice cream!

Moving on. I was in Barnes and Noble the other night, and saw the most amazing thing......




Yep, you are reading this correctly..... An Encyclopedia of Crafts, by the Queen herself. I will own this one day.....

Well, it may be a little bit before I cook a great meal again. Mr. Dill is going camping this weekend and it looks like we are either having leftovers or just simple spagehetti the other nights. Who knows though, I may cook all weekend just for myself. (I doubt this highly)

I will be back with more soonnnn!!!

plans....

So, my classes started this week... That has been nice to get back into a routine. I am a creature of routine...but yet I am also a creature of spontaneity. How does that work? I don't know, but I know it does.

This week, I plan to prepare this meal....I decided to take a recipe from the queen herself. Mr. Dill is a very healthy man. (I am too, but I have a slightly bigger sweet tooth than he does.)
I try to make things that will both satisfy our healthy hungers, but sometimes I would just love to have McDonald's french fries every night. I mean they are just soo good. Who's with me? (Speaking of McDonald's, they just built a new one where I go to school. This now brings the count of restaurants in that little city to a big number 3).

Anyway, we shall see how cooking this goes. I haven't ever made chicken parmesan before, so it should be interesting!

As far as dessert, I can't decide yet on what to make. I need to try my hand at making a cake again. The first one was a disaster, but the frosting was good :) I will have to get back to you on the dessert!

Oh! That reminds me about the cookies from Friday. They turned out really well. The recipe actually makes about 2 dozen, so there was plenty of extra cookie dough for me to indulge in. Man, I really love cookie dough.

Now, as for the crafting side of my new life, it has yet to begin for a few reasons:

1) Money. Crafting and cooking costs money. I never knew it cost so much. I had to go over to my mom's house the other day to raid her pantry for ingredients of the cookies. That is always my first stop. I think, "Does my mom have that?" Is this cheap? Naw, just smart shopping. Anyway, I want to get a sewing machine. It costs about $170. I think I may have to hold off until Christmas, and just ask the parents for that one, because Mr. and Mrs. Dill just got married and it is called Mr. Dill is the only one with the income at the moment, because Mrs. Dill decided to get her Masters, so things like sewing machines get put off just a little bit. (That may have been a run on sentence) But fear not! I will have a sewing machine and the sewing can commence.

2) Well now that I have made my list, there is really one reason for the lack of craftiness at the moment.

But anyway, I am looking forward to making a new dish this week. Hopefully I will be able to make Queen Martha happy.

Salmon and Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Mr. Dill has been such an amazing husband lately, I thought I would cook for him tonight.

( Since my surgery I haven't been cooking a whole lot. BUT I finally feel like cooking again!)

Menu for Tonight:

Low Carb Crockpot Poached Salmon (found at crockpotrecipes101.com)

Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies (found at bakerella.blogspot.com)

I want you all to notice my most favorite word in cooking.... see the word above that says "crockpot"? This is KEY. I love crockpots. They are great. You just dump in a bunch of ingredients, turn the dial, and then GO! They are wonderful. (That is how I have time to write this blog right now! Let's just be honest with ourselves, the crockpot is the real cook of the Dill household.)

Here were the ingredients to the salmon meal.... (excuse the melon to the right. he was just hanging out)

The recipe was quite easy to follow. As I was getting ready to place the last ingredient into the magic crockpot, Mr. Dill says, "Did you take the skin off of the salmon?" Yeaaaa, about that.

WHOOPS! So luckily, we took the salmon out of the crockpot and Mr. Dill helped me to filet the salmon.. I have never dealt with salmon before, so this was a definite learning experience! Reminder.... take skin OFF before placing in crockpot.

After it was all in and ready to be cooked, it looked quite lovely....

Sooo... I am just waiting for my lovely creation to be ready...

Next thing on the list! Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies!!! YUMMM.... I decided that I wanted to actually put some effort into these cookies. Usually I am the one who gets the break off pack at the grocery store and eats about two or three uncooked cookies before I slap them into the oven. Tonight, I shall try making these cookies from scratch. (And that means there will be even MORE uncooked cookie dough to be had!)

I will let you know how those turn out..

I will leave you with this image. This is where Mr. Dill and I will be dining this evening. I also wanted to show off the pretty rose that Mr. Dill gave me for our 3 month marriage anniversary!

A Fresh Start

So, for those of you who followed my other blog, which might be few and far between, I am starting over.
I wanted a completely new look and new approach to my blogging, so that is why I switched blogs.

I have named this one "Searching for My Inner Martha" for a few reasons.
A list if you will: (I really like lists)

1) Martha Stewart, at least to me, is like a queen when it comes to all things crafty and bakey (not a word I know, but it rhymes. If you can't figure out what "bakey" means, just think baking.) She can just do it all, and I, Little Mrs. Dill, would love to learn her ways.

2) I have wanted a new hobby, or new hobbies, for a while now. I have thought about many things such as kickboxing, all the way to archery. (Kidding about the archery, this was added purely for kicks and giggles.) I used to be really into running and biking, which I still am, but I wanted to expand my horizons a little bit. So this blog will be dedicated to my new hobbies of being crafty and being "bakey."

3) I know I have an inner Martha buried deep down in my heart. I mean I WAS the best Popsicle house builder in kindergarten. Heck, I could even color inside the lines in my Polly Pocket coloring book. So, I have some Martha in me, but I just need to resurrect her.

So here it is, my new beginning

I have new ideas about how I would like to go about my blogging.
Another list of what my blog will entail:

1) Ramblings about my life.
2) As with my other blog, I am still going to feature a friend every so often that I am proud of and want to brag about.
3) My experiences from the world of being crafty and "bakey." (This term will be used often, so get used to it.)


I am pretty excited about this new outlook and venture on my life.

I will let you know how it goes.

So heres to sewing machines, thimbles, spatulas and flour.
Move over Martha, Little Mrs. Dill is coming through.