Will this ever end?

We (me and the boys) have been on winter break for 18 days.  Its been fun. We got ready for Christmas, celebrated Christmas, played soccer, got snowed in, went to the Museum Center, celebrated New Years,  had play dates. And now we are frozen in. FROZEN IN. It's a POLAR VORTEX.

This is a good summary of the last couple of days.

Yes, that is a cowboy hat paired with a basketball jersey.

So what do you do when the laundry is done, your closet is organized, Christmas decorations are put away and you can't sweep the floor one more time. I started cooking. We watched Trisha's Southern Cooking the other day and it looked good so I decided to make everything she made on the show. Un-Fried Chicken, Mashed Cauliflower and a Carrot Cake.  Yes, I made a Carrot Cake. I followed the recipes on foodnetwork.com and made some small changes to fit my pantry.

Trisha Yearwood has a 30 minute show.  It took me nearly 3 hours to make all of this. 

Here is a trick I use (I think I'm clever) instead of having a garbage bowl I take a plastic grocery bag and put it in my sink. I also use my cutting board over my sink this way everything can go from washed to cutting - scraps go in the sink/trash bag.

 Here is the Carrot Cake:



  

While making the Carrot Cake I was able to
use my new Christmas toy.

Instead of using my hand chopper on a cutting board I do it
in a measuring cup like this so it doesn't make such a mess.

 

 

 Here is the Un-Fried Chicken:

I didn't have any buttermilk so I used greek yogurt 1 for 1. The good thing is if you use yogurt you can use the leftover in the mash.

 

 

 

Here is the Cauliflower Mash: