Recently, Ivonne, of Cream Puffs in Venice, had a thoughtful post on the comforts of baking. I have to agree – my life has been so hectic the last few months, I’ve barely had a chance to catch my breath. The weather has cooled a bit, and the leaves are finally changing colors. And I find myself wanting to spend my free time cooking and taking care of my family as much as possible.

So, a few days ago, I passed several happy hours in the kitchen, baking up a batch of cornbread and Tomato and Goat Cheese Muffins from Beth Hensperger’s, Muffins. Master Chow loved the cornbread, and I thought the muffins, which included garbanzo flour (!), were wonderful. A tossed green salad, some sauteed broccoli rabe, and a bowl of soup made a wonderful meal. As I write this, I have a batch of Hensperger’s Cranberry-Orange Bread baking in the oven (more on that in a future post). And I have a faithful companion on my lap:

Life doesn’t get much better than this.

Inquiring pups want to know.

Between injuries and an enormous “To Do” List, I haven’t been blogging much, but I’ll be back soon. I feel an urge to cook up a storm, and that usually produces some dishes worth blogging about!

Inspired by Cream Puffs in Venice’s recent creations from Once Upon a Tart, I pulled out my copy of the cookbook.

I admired the clean cover. Happily, I trotted upstairs and settled down in anticipation of turning the crisp pages, when I saw THAT A CORNER HAD BEEN CHEWED!!!!

Oh, the horror! Who ate my cookbook? Was this the culprit?

Or was it this dastardly fellow?

They are so cute!