I didn't intend for this to be a blog about cooking, but it seems as if that's what it's turning into. Probably because cooking is one of those things I always turn to when I'm stressed or I need to take my mind off of something. And the more work that is required, the better...no dumping out a box of brownie mix for me...that wouldn't have the same effect. What I really like to do is make things that involve lots of chopping and a huge mess when I'm REALLY stressed. I'm not really stressed right now, but there are definately a few paths I need to keep my mind from wandering down. The three things I have always used to sort of "nourish my soul" when it's in need of nourishing are writing, cooking, and gardening. I have the writing part covered. But, the heat of this summer has turned most all of my plants into the flower version of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree, so there's not much point in gardening. All that's left is cooking. If only I enjoyed cooking low fat healthy things as much as I enjoy baking cookies and cakes and breads. And cookies. And brownies. And cookies.

This morning, I baked this for breakfast:





Orange cinnamon coffee cake. And the best part (well, other than how good it tasted) is that I had all the ingredients for in my pantry. I only ate 2 slices. Amazing, huh? I wish I could say I then took advantage of the beautiful fall-like morning and went for a long walk. I could say that, but it would be a lie.

A week or so ago, I wrote that I was going to start writing about things I love about my house. I wrote about a blog that I love to read where the gal does that every single week, and I have always thought it was such a cool idea. I was going to start last week, but I didn't have the chance to do it. And besides, nothing in my house was...shall I say, photo worthy. Actually, it was rather a mess. It's not anymore because I've spent most of the weekend cleaning. Well, when I wasn't baking that is. One thing I love about my house is my walk in pantry. It started out as a laundry room, and while it is an awesome pantry, it really sucked as a laundry room because it was way too small. A few years ago, I talked Tony into building a laundry room in the basement. Everyone thought I was nuts, but I've been so much happier not having to have my laundry spilling out into the kitchen on laundry day.

This morning I decided to clean out the pantry. Well, I should say *I* didn't decide...my pantry decided it needed to be cleaned. There was something in there that smelled, and for the past few days, I have been trying to figure out what it was. I couldn't find anything, so I figured the only way to find it was to clean the entire thing. Who knew that chopped pecans don't smell so great when they are old and stale??

Cleaning my pantry turned out to be a very good thing. Upon cleaning out a drawer, I discovered enough baking chips and chocolate and almond bark to keep me happily baking for a good long time. Check this out!




I found 12 (yes, TWELVE!) bags of Nestle semisweet chocolate chips. Twelve! The unfortunate thing is that all but one of them were opened with some of the chips missing. I guess I now know how my children satisfy their sweet tooth when there are no cookies or other sweets in the house. At least they were kind enough to put the partially eaten bags into small ziploc bags so they didn't go bad. I also found a Ghirardelli baking bar. Hmmm...wonder what I was planning on making with that? Guess I'll just have to come up with something. I also found 2 Nestle baking chocolate bars.

I'm almost embarrassed to tell what else I found in there. I will, but promise not to turn me into the show "Hoarders." Many boxes of pudding. Three boxes of pancake mix, 2 unopened. Four boxes of lasagne noodles. Three cartons of oatmeal. Four boxes of cornbread mix. And best of all...4 unopened bags of brown sugar. What was I thinking? The good thing though, is that I think I can make dinner nearly every night this week without having to buy anything at the grocery store but some meat.

Here is a picture of the fruits of my labor. My cleaned out pantry!





Are you starting to realize it doesn't take much to thrill me?