Yes, I know it’s been awhile since I managed to update.  Christmas totally whipped my butt there for a while.  And not because I was doing a whole lot of Christmasy Fun Stuff, either.

No, it’s because I foolishly thought that it would be a fun idea to handmake all my holiday gifts this year.

*facepalm*

Y’know how there’s that saying, “It seemed like a good idea at the time…”?  Um, yeah.  When you’re a knitter, primarily, let me just say this:  That time had BETTER be sometime in JULY.  Because if it’s after that?  You’ll either a) not make it, or b) give yourself lobster claws where your hands used to be from the insane amount of stitches that fly off your needles for the four weeks preceding Christmas.  Seriously.  Ow.  My wrists still hate me just a little bit.

But I’m not here to bitch.  Really, I’m not.  It was a fabulous holiday, and all the gifts (other than the husband’s, which he knows about and knows it’ll be probably February before he receives it/them…it’s a big honkin’ project that he’s going to love, though…) were done by Christmas Eve.  I really can’t complain.  Everyone loved everything, so all’s well in Wifetown.

So I’m getting back to this Alphabet meme, with B is for Baking…

I am a fabulous cook.  No, really.  That’s not ego talking, that’s just a fact.  I can rock me a pan on the stovetop and find dinner in a bare cupboard full of shoe leather and old barbie heads, as long as I have spices.

But baking…?  Not so much.  Part of it, I think, is that our oven here is inconsistent at best (it’s propane, not real gas).  The other part is that I *suck*.

I can take foolproof baking recipes and be fooled.  Seriously.  Things from a BOX die at my hands, much less anything mixed up by me.  Remind me to tell y’all sometime about the time I tried to make blackberry cobbler without flour.  You may die of the giggles.

That said, I’m finding that practice, while not making perfect, is making passable.   I have a few recipes that I don’t screw up 90% of the time, so I make them over and over.  I’m working on expanding my repertoire a bit this year, but still?  Those same six recipes are pretty much the only ones I don’t hose up on a regular basis.

I figure I’ll keep trying as long as J keeps eating my mistakes.

And for getting this far and still being here, despite whining and long blogpauses, this is the best. soup. ever.   I thought I was going to have to extract the crock pot from my husband’s head, he was so into it.  (And I really wish I was kidding about that last part, too.)

Cheesy Potato Soup

serves about a billion (or 6 with good appetites)

16 oz. sour cream
2 pounds of potatoes, peeled and diced
3 cups of cheddar cheese
2 green onions
2 cans of cream of chicken condensed soup
1 can of cream of mushroom condensed soup
1/2 lb. cooked ham, diced
3Tbsp chives, chopped.  (Or 1Tbsp dried chives)

Cover the potatoes with water in a saucepan and cook them until tender.  Meanwhile, throw everything else together in the crock-pot and stir it well.  When the potatoes are done cooking, pour the potatoes AND the cooking water into the crock pot.

Cook on high for four hours or low for six.

Serve with fresh-ground pepper on top.  It won’t last long.

Happy New Year everyone!