One of my new personal favorites

Cherry Chip Bars
The Ugly Binder

1 box cherry chip cake mix
1 egg
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup oil
chocolate chips (put in as many as you like)

Mix well and put in a lightly greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 15-20 min. or until light brown. Can double recipe and bake on cookie sheet.
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This is the first recipe that I've posted in a while and it's not even from a cookbook. I found it on Our Recipe Box, which has a much more enticing picture. I was trying to use up a box of cherry chip cake mix that I had picked up at some point. I happen to love that almondy fake-cherry flavor and it goes great with chocolate so these were a winner in my opinion (and everyone else's actually). It took quite a bit of willpower to resist eating the entire batch of them.

If you really want me to start cooking again, maybe if all of my readers send good thoughts that one of the townhouses that I want to rent opens up, it might help!

I did it!

The archives are all caught up. They may be a bit sloppy so if you come across any bad links or anything, let me know.

Right now it stands at 954 recipes from 322 cookbooks.

I even have a new recipe that I will post soon but otherwise I am doing even less cooking than I had been doing. Someday things will pick up around here.

An update

Just checking in to give you a status update. I realized that I was passing up the perfect opportunity to bring the recipe archive up-to-date. I was waaayyyy behind on that - there were no recipes past May 2009 in the archive. Yikes! It's a long process so I'm slowly catching up. I just started on July 2009.

Otherwise, my life is still in a state of upheaval but I'm looking forward to getting to the other side. I'm in the process of getting a divorce and all that fun stuff that comes along with it. In the meantime I am just feeding everyone as basically as I can since, well, I just don't feel like putting much effort into it (and the dirty looks I get when I don't make an effort really make me want to cook even less but why am I still the only one who can put a meal on the table???)

If there's anyone who never found me on Facebook (and wanted to), e-mail me and I'll direct the way. I should pop up if you put my e-mail address in the Facebook search box (you can find my e-mail address if you hit 'Email' under Contact in my profile here on Blogger.)

I baked!

Layered Brownie Bars
Taste of Home Baking Classics Copyright 2008

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ounce semisweet chocolate, melted
3/4 cup chopped walnuts I left these out
9 whole graham crackers
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine milk and vanilla. Combine flour, salt and baking soda; add to the creamed mixture alternately with milk mixture.

Remove a third of the batter to another bowl; stir in melted chocolate. Fold in walnuts. Spread into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Arrange graham crackers over top.

Add chocolate chips to remaining batter. Drop by spoonfuls over graham crackers and spread evenly. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched. Cool on a wire rack before cutting. Yield: 2 dozen.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 each) equals 203 calories, 11 g fat (5 g saturated fat), 33 mg cholesterol, 252 mg sodium, 25 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 3 g protein.
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I just felt like making something yesterday. I have a surplus of baking ingredients that I either need to use up or they will end up in the trash.

I only sampled a small bit of these but I thought they were good - just what you would expect based on the ingredients. My older son was not impressed but it may have been the graham cracker layer - he's never been a fan of graham crackers. And, well, he's become accustomed to store-bought treats lately. My little guy begged for one of these this morning but then he just smashed it all over the couch. I think they will go over fine at work.

One really nice thing about these is that they don't take long to bake - mine were done in 20 minutes.

I will cook again

For a moment there I wondered if I would ever cook again. I contemplated selling off my cookbook collection. But lately I'm thinking that I will eventually cook again. I may thin down my cookbook collection a bit but I'm not going to let go of it just yet.

So hang tight, I will be back eventually.