Still have to make a pie

Still August! Yep! 100% August! In case you had lost track! Not complaining, just making a note of it, for posterity. "August continues to be." Okay, I'm done, here we go.

Category: "Pizza." Recipe: The Best English Muffin Pepperoni Pizza.

This involves doing a lot of extra work in order to make what should be a very very easy recipe taste marginally better.

And you gotta throw some RB down anyway, so what's the point, really?

Category: "Sweets." Recipe: Triple Chocolate Pound Cake.

Because I failed to frost this, it is actually only a double chocolate pound cake.

May as well not even finish the post, I know so many of you just closed this window in disgust.

Category: "Pancakes/Waffles/French Toast." Recipe: Carrot Cake Protein Pancakes.

Was my six-year-old taken in by this particular sneaky-healthy recipe?

No. No she was not. But her sister was!

It Is Still Summer For Some Of Us Activities:

Yard work!

Hiding/seeking!

General fun times! Thumbs up!

Apparently a lot of things in first grade are settled via dance-off

Only a week left in August and I still haven't tackled the categories of Pies, Candy, Pancakes/Waffles, Sweets, or Snacks. So, it's going to be a pretty great last week of August, is what I'm saying.

Category: "Appetizers" aka "Things To Take To Book Club." Recipe: Pepperjack Pull Bread.

As the recipe says, "it's like a bread version of nachos." I can think of no stronger recommendation than that.

Category: "Frozen Desserts." Recipe: Honey Roasted Peach Buttermilk Ice Cream.

I don't actually like frozen chunks of fruit in my ice cream, but somehow I managed to eat this anyway.

I'm no hero, any of you would have done the same

Category: "Donuts." Recipe: Chocolate Strawberry Donuts.

The six-year-old was not fooled by these at all. "This is healthy chocolate," she said, crestfallen.

Not once we piled some whipped cream on top!

Summer Activities, Nominal End of Season Edition:

Burgers and chattiness!

Really, really, really thoroughly testing potential new shoes!

Starting first grade!

SSFMLA Goes Goth

Super Social Food and Makeup League of Austin channeled the bright color of our late-August mood into our lipstick this month.

It's not complaining. It's a non-verbal expression. Of feelings. That are very negative.

We ventured east a bit to Mettle because 1) a lot of natural light, obviously, and 2) Fancy Bacon Tater Tots.

We probably could have just ordered four rounds of these and been as happy as one can be while wearing black lipstick.

Also other, more entree-ish foods.

And dessert, which was fancy and wonderful but also dark and blurry, much like ourselves. I will note that of all the genuinely weird things we have worn out in public, this one actually seemed to garner the most attention/reaction for some reason. Maybe because we matched? Or because black lipstick seems like a statement more than, say…teal eyebrows or feathery eyelashes, which just seem goofy? I don't know. But boy howdy we endured some looks this month. August is the best.

WE DID HAVE A COLD FRONT THO

It has passed now. Onward, to Pinterest!

Category: "Muffins and Quick Breads." Recipe: Heartland Raspberry Yogurt Muffins.

These were very good and contained enough legitimate breakfast ingredients to seem acceptable first thing in the morning. I wish there wasn't only one left.

Update: I wish they weren't all gone.

Category: "Veggie Entrees." Recipe: Lasagna Stuffed Zucchini.

These were good and I even managed to wrangle them into the toaster oven.

WHO NEEDS MAJOR APPLIANCES NOT ME

Category: "Meat." Recipe: Dr. Pepper Slow Cooker Roast Beef.

It was nice to have the slow cooker bubbling away on a chilly, overcast day (SEE ABOVE).

Summer Activities:

Just enjoying the hell out of this home stretch of summer vacation!

The key is getting out of the house every day!

At least I can still muster exclamation points

Guys, you know I'm not complaining, but most of Ivy's hair melted off.

It's that point in August.

Category: "Sandwiches." Recipe: Fontina + Blueberry Basil Smash Grilled Cheese.

I liked this recipe because it did not require me to turn on the oven and also for obvious, melty reasons.

Responsibility…Basil?

Summer Activities:


Pitifully beseeching neighborhood potted plant thieves!

Dan is really sad about his chile pequin plant, guys.

Going Full Shawshank in PaPa's water mister!

Heat-related levitation? Not 100% sure what's happening here.

CANDLE UPDATE:

Y'all know I'm all about that #boothlife but the fact is, my sweet delicate babies need to live in air conditioning until about October. And now they doooooooo! We have a little shelf space in a real live store! Everyone go to Atown to visit them! I will totally understand if you end up buying lots of other things instead, that place is insanely appealing!

Maybe I was just bragging about how hot my car can get, allegedly

Do you want to hear my secret for mostly keeping my August resolution?** Not talking very much.

Category: "Sides." Recipe: Broccoli Slaw Salad with Honey Mustard Yogurt Dressing.

This only took a few minutes to make and I didn't have to turn on the oven.

Thumbs up.

Category: "Soups and Stews." Recipe: Summer Squash Soup.

This tasted like vegetable broth, which means my children liked it, and I did not have to turn on the oven.

Thumbs up.

Category: "Breads and Crackers." Recipe: Rosemary Olive Oil Bread.

Hey, did I mention that my oven is broken? I should have just tossed this dough out on the sidewalk, it would have been more effective.

Not complaining! That's a very convenient option!

Summer Activities:

Determining whether heat does indeed rise by staying as low as possible!

Melting! (And accessorizing!)

**Muttered asides to Dan and Regan notwithstanding. I share spousal/SSFML privileges with them and they cannot be compelled to testify to any hypothetical pictures of miserable dashboard temperatures I may or may not have allegedly sent.

Conserving keystrokes

Long introductions increase body heat. Let's just do this.

Category: "Drinks." Recipe: Apricot Horchata.

I'm not sure what I expected here. It's fine? Light and sweet? If you have some rice and some apricots and are thirsty, go for it.

Why not

Category: "Eggs." Recipe: Caprese Avocado Breakfast Toast. 

It was pretty unlikely that I was going to dislike anything from this category.

All is well

Summer Activities:

Just normal stuff.

why are you even tracking our activities weirdos

August and everything after, or at least during

Let's continue Pinteresting our way through the mid-to-late summer, may as well, nothing else on the schedule really.

Category: "Salads." Recipe: Strawberry Kale Salad with Granola Croutons.

Guys. Listen to me. I command you to put granola on your next salad. I command it.

You know I don't like to get stern with you unless it's important.

Category: "Cookies and Bars." Recipe: Toasted Sesame Oil Cookies with Bittersweet Chocolate.

I do not command you to add toasted sesame oil to your next chocolate chip cookies.

But it wouldn't hurt.

Category: "Pasta and Noodles." Recipe: Broccoli-Almond Pesto Pasta.

You can make your own call as far as putting mushed broccoli in your noodles.

"One out of two children ate this!" --Erica's middling pull-quote

Summer Activities:

Fighting the crowds at the cinema!

Forcing things to compete and then judging them accordingly!

Wow, box of frozen vegetables. That's pretty rough.

Just being generally prepared because you never know!

Never let the heat dull your senses. That's what it wants.

So far so good

For August recipes I have decided to show some love to my sadly neglected, intricately compartmentalized Pinterest page. I'm going to try to make at least one thing from every board, which fortunately for me and my household includes "Donuts," "Candy," "Pies," "Frozen Desserts," "Cookies and Bars," and obviously a catch-all board for…."Sweets." IT'S GOING TO BE VERY HARD WORK BUT I AM NOT AFRAID.

Category: "Cereals." Recipe: Blueberry-Coconut Baked Steel Cut Oatmeal.

I decided to kick off this month's challenge by not following instructions, because one of the great things about summer is just being super laid back and not worrying about ruining stuff. Who's with me? Anyway, I used my slow cooker overnight instead of baking it in the oven, and at first it looked like I had made a giant bowl of inedible blue slop but it turns out it just needed to set up in the fridge for a little while. Like the recipe says.

Another great thing about summer is doing things correctly! 

Category: "Dips and Spreads." Recipes: Muhammara and Roasted Heirloom Tomatoes in Fontina. Summer is also a time that you can serve dips to your family and act like it is dinner and they'll pretty much be okay with it. I find that this holds true for autumn, winter, and spring as well, but that doesn't take anything away from summer.

GOOD JOB SUMMER

Summer Activities:

Sciencing!

 

Watering the mud patch!

Deeply pondering our structural inability to fly no matter how much or how insistently we flap our blanket!