...italian meatballs... pg. 163

You can find the recipe here

These are delicious. Or how my son likes to say, "ilishis"! And that's exactly what he said as he ate these meatballs! :) I have NEVER eaten meatballs, or should I say never enjoyed eating meatballs. Just the sound of it is just gross to me. That's how I feel about meatloaf too. Who wants to eat a LOAF of MEAT?! They need to rename these things.

Anyway, these are divine.

Our oven doesn't have a broiler, so I just put it in the oven on 450 degrees for 5 minutes on each side. Worked for me!

doesn't it look YUMMY?! Oh, it was, let me tell you...

{paired with spaghetti sauce & breadsticks}

...breadsticks... pg. 30

you can find the recipe here

So I've made these quite a few times now. They are just really too easy NOT to make them all the time. Especially when you add the garlic seasoning to it! I must admit though... these were made with dough that I made earlier, and froze the extra. And I find that dough doesn't raise as much when frozen. So that's why they are a little skimpy! Still taste great though! :)

...giveaway...!!!

Oh would you look at me! I'm so grown up, doing my very own (very first) GIVEAWAY! Well I've talked to a lot of you. Two things come up, the people that own this cookbook, tell me that I've inspired them to use it more. And the people that don't own the book, either go buy it, or wonder why I don't post the recipes. Well, they aren't mine to post. So if they happen to be on "Our Best Bites" website, I'll link it. If not, gotta look in the book.

So I thought, why not give away a cook book to one of you lucky ducks?! Well, quite a few of my friends and family that read this, already have this book. So... drum roll........

Enter to win a $20 gift card to AMAZON.com!!

That way you can go buy the book yourself, OR if you already own it, buy something pretty for your hair.

How to earn valid entries:

1. follow my blog - comment that you follow me

2. link this to facebook and tell your friends about it - comment that you did that (just hit the facebook link at the bottom of this post)

3. comment why you want to win this gift card!

There you have it. You have THREE chances to win! It's that simple.

I will close this giveaway Wednesday, October 12th at Midnight.

GOOD LUCK!

...one month down-5 to go...

It's been a month since I've started my challenge. And BOY, do I need to HUSTLE! I've only logged 10 recipes!! Well, I'm pretty proud of myself that I've made it this far. I thought it would be fun to do a "progress report" once a month to log any things I've learned, or just check my progress.

Things I've learned thus far:
- I like almonds!
- even if you're short on time, you really CAN throw together something DELICIOUS (don't let time scare you)
- I still don't like mustard
- how to peel tomatoes
- if the recipe says to chill for 12 hours... CHILL FOR 12 HOURS!
- to just try it! Don't let ingredients scare you out of making something.

I love my cookbook, and I love hearing from people that I've inspired them to cook more, or try new recipes. I'm not sure I've ever wrote this, but I am in no way affiliated with the ladies of "Our Best Bites". I'm not a sponsor for them, a friend of theirs, or anything.... I'm just someone that came across their cookbook, fell in love, then challenged myself!

Also, for those that do follow this blog, is there anything you'd like to see on this blog? Or any changes I should make? I'm open for suggestions!

Thanks for joining me on my journey!! Here's to cooking!

...baby back ribs... pg. 144

For this past Father's Day, my mom, sister and I KNEW we were going to grill ribs for my dad and my husband. So the day before, we created the menu, and made our shopping list. I told them I wanted to try this recipe. My little sister was a little weary, just cause what if it didn't turn out?! Yeah, I hear ya... but what if it's AMAZING?! So I went ahead with the recipe. The next morning, before I started prepping the marinade, my mom and sister both wanted me to re-think this recipe. They both wanted me to not have to fuss so much over it. I thought about it for a second, then pushed forward. When we got home from church that afternoon, I'm not going to lie... It didn't smell too good! Everyone else thought it smelled good. So I wasn't too worried. While my sister was finishing them up on the grill, I was frying our homemade french fries. I hear through the window... "OH MY GOSH JEN!! These ribs are SOOO good!!!"

And there you have it.

These are hands down the best ribs I've ever had... (sorry Buster's!)

I've made these twice. So yes, this might be cheating, because this is from before I started the challenge. But i came across this picture, and thought I needed to post it! :)

...strawberry sauce... pg. 71

You can find this recipe here

This was so easy to make. Recently I found my Mom's Cuisineart, so I've been using it a lot lately! And it made it very easy making this. I made it to go in the strawberry cheescake bars.

It's very good. Next time i really want to put it in lemonade.

...strawberry cheesecake bars... pg. 216

You can find the recipe here

My little sis came into town. She's been living in a hotel for the past month with her husband, while he travels for work. So she desired for a home cooked meal! Can you blame her?! Oh, you can follow her adventures here. So I picked out this from my cookbook for dessert! Well, something I learned from this recipe: read through the ENTIRE recipe AND instructions BEFORE beginning to cook! You see, I didn't do that. And at about 3 pm I started getting prepped for these bars, and then read that it needs to chill for at least 12 hours! YIKES! No time to start something different... So I hustled through the recipe and threw 'em in the freezer.

BIG MISTAKE. The texture was a little off. They were not firm like cheesecake.... But everyone enjoyed them! And you better believe I stuck them back in the FRIDGE!

My sweet daughter keeping me company while baking!

They were quite delicious once I let them cool properly! :)