'Before, During, And After' ~ A Little Of What We've Been Up To Lately

Beef Barley Soup ~

Before:



During:




After:
Wait, I forgot to take pictures of the beef barley soup 'after', this picture is actually of a 'left over' meal taken a few nights later. Left over beef barley soup mixed in with left over pulled pork. It made a very nice pot luck stew!




Along with garlic bread made from left over hotdog rolls.





Oh, wait ~ MORE after! ~ The clean-up!

There's always that, isn't there? Ray says that I am the messiest cook/baker that he's ever seen! He's right, I can't deny it. This 'leftover' meal wasn't too bad to clean up though. Just a few pots and pans. I always wash my pots and pans by hand, I never put them in the dishwasher, there never seems to be room once all the dishes are in there anyway.




Christmas Cookies ~

(These cookies were actually baked over a few days, and I think the pictures are all out of order.)


Before:




My grandmother's recipes, her cookie press, and her broken kitchen spoon:



During:






Pepparkakor dough needs to set in the refrigerator overnight...


...before it can be rolled out...



... and cut into shapes.



And then this little man amuses his Umma while he waits for cookies to bake and cool:



My grandmother's recipe for her chocolate chip cookies (this batch made with white chocolate chips for my husband and my son Erik), and her broken spoon, she gave it to me and said it scoops enough dough to make a perfect sized cookie. She was right!



After!












Ready and waiting for family and friends with a sweet tooth!




More clean-up!


I actually have a lot of counter space, but every inch of it is usually filled! So I took an idea from my sister-in-law, Barbara, and instead of using a drying rack on the counter top, I open my dishwasher door and use it as a drying rack:



Gingerbread Houses ~

Before Jayden & Mia's Handiwork:




During:














After!






Happy, proud faces!