Step Aside, Susie Homemaker

**This post was written back at the beginning of September before the previously referenced insanity was really in full swing. Thus, it's a little out of date. With any luck I'll get everything caught up to the present soon. (And by soon I mean before another month passes, just to be clear. Not as in, you know, tomorrow. Because, mercy!)

First of all, despite my initial, um - concerns, the coupon thing has been working out okay. I actually saved a total of $30.18 in August just by using coupons (not counting a free shake from Jack in the Box!), which I think is quite good for my first month. And that's without spending very much time on it each week. (I gave up on all that extended work almost immediately.) Still have a lot to learn, but I'm slowly getting a routine down - and frankly, even if I never do better than $30 a month in savings, that's still quite a lot of money! Or, at least it seems like a lot of money to me now.

Secondly, I think I have mentioned before that I am not the best cook. I've been wanting to change that for awhile - not that I want to become some sort of gourmet (gourmand? See! I don't even know the lingo!) by any means, but it would be nice to be capable of quickly and confidently preparing nutritious and reasonably tasty meals for my family. It would be especially nice to be able to gather enough meals that fall under the above description to fill out a monthly meal plan without us all getting extremely tired of eating the same thing day in and day out.

So, with that in mind, I purchased a copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks with some birthday money and am preparing to embark on the adventure of cooking my way through it. I've actually already embarked on that adventure, but before I get into that, let me state a few ground rules that I've set for myself:

1. This is not Julie and Julia. I've read neither that book nor the blog, but I have seen the movie - which, I must say, I found delightful. However, in the movie at least, the Julie character seems to get slightly obsessed at times. Also slightly crazy. In fact, I believe I recall at least one scene where she is lying on the kitchen floor crying. I am not going there. At least, you know, over cooking. Over the dearth of coffee shops and bookstores in Alton, possibly.
2. I am not setting a deadline. Why? See reference to not wanting to go crazy, above.
3. I may not cook every single recipe in the book. Why oh why? Because, the Pioneer Woman, in addition to being lovely and wonderful in every way, is also, I suspect, a tad bit more well off than we find ourselves at this present moment. She also owns a working ranch. Thus, ready availability of high quality meat is not a problem for her. I find many of the ingredients in her recipes (especially the meat) to be a bit pricey. She also occasionally uses kitchen gadgets and/or various pots and pans that we don't own.

Aside from the above restrictions, I do in all sincerity hope to cook as many recipes from this book as I can over the next few months. My goal is at least one recipe a week although I will probably aim for two in my meal planning.

And, in fact, I have already prepared 3** recipes with varying degrees of success! Slightly boring and/or stress-filled posts to follow, I assure you.

Doesn't that make you want to stay tuned?

But before we get into all that, I think we should start with a moment of calm before the storm. Here is the scene of the crime - I mean, cooking - as it once existed before I took on this hare-brained scheme:
May it rest in peace.