I love to cook!!

I just love to cook...cookies, dinners, anything really! Now when I'm working full time, I don't tend to cook all that much, but right now, since I'm at home still, I have been cooking up a storm!! I have actually cooked dinner just about every weeknight for the last 3 weeks or so! Pretty impressive...compared to my "when I'm working" stats...which is maybe 1-2 nights a week, if Justin is lucky!

So last night, I decided to invite my parents over for dinner. We have eaten at their house so much this summer...the pool just draws us there...so I decided it was time to return the favor. So I was a busy bee, cooking most of the day, and was pretty proud of all the 'from scratch' things I made. Now of course, I wouldn't remember to take any pictures of it all until we were over halfway done, and by then the food wasn't looking pretty enough to take pictures of anymore...oh well! But I'll give you links, and maybe even steal a few pics off those websites so you at least get the idea!

Here is what I made...

Beer Butt Chicken...sounds classy, I know, but boy is it yummy!! You cook the chicken on a grill, over a can of beer, for about 1 1/2 hours, and it turns out so moist and yummy! You have to try it!!!

Creamed Corn...and I am not even really that much of a corn person! My father-in-law brought us 10 cups of frozen sweet corn this summer, and I figured it was time to use some of it. Yum--and everyone, including me, loved it!!

We also had couscous, pasta salad (good old Pasta-Roni out of a box----we like the ranch and bacon one--you have to tryit!),and a yummy fruit salad from my mom.

And then for the grand finale...

1-2-3-4 Cake from my friend Audra's blog, with Blueberry sauce ...oh I think this was my favorite of the night. When I served this, it actually looked like it was a dessert coming from a restaurant...not typical from me!! Audra--I stole the picture off your blog--my cake looked similar, just imagine blueberry sauce with whip cream instead!

All in all, it was all so yummy, and I'm sure I'm at least 5 pounds heavier today because of it!! =)

I love all the variety of recipes you can find online...if it were up to me, I would cook something different every time I cook! Some of my favorite sites are E-Mealz (you have got to try this out...super cheap for tons of recipes!!), Pioneer Woman (I can't wait for her cookbook to come out!!!), Google, some blogs of people who post things they cook, and even an email recipe "club" that my friend Jenny started. Maybe someday I'll even do a recipe blog, complete with step by step pictures, but for now, I'll just blab about my yummy creations from last night! =)

Just thought I'd share my delicious night!!! And tonight, I'm making homemade chicken potstickers--yummy! What are some of your favorite meals to cook???