Happy Pi Day!

You know that overwhelmed feeling?

That one when you walk into Hobby Lobby for inspiration on a new craft, and then you walk away empty-handed because there are just too many options?

Or that one when you're looking for a new dinner recipe on Pinterest, and end up making Kraft macaroni and cheese instead because your Pinterest board is full of recipes you'd never actually cook anyway?

Or when you flip through your new favorite cookbook and feel compelled to bake every single cookie on your new baking mats but haven't made a single one because how can you decide between Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Cookies and No-Bake Nutella Cookies?!

And then you realize today is Pi Day so you really should be baking a pie.

But you don't have a pie crust and goodness knows your homemade pie crust tastes like flour cardboard.

Plus, your husband is on the school board and since the board made a motion to make you the Honorary Cookie Provider, you should bake cookies. With a recipe from your cookie cookbook. On your baking mats.

But then again, you could make a graham cracker pie crust for strawberry pie.

No, cookies.

Pie.

What about chocolate covered strawberry muffins?

Or zucchini muffins? Because you still have frozen shredded zucchini from your brother and sister-in-law's zucchini bounty last fall.

"Mom. Just pick something."

Right, right, right.

And if you're still reading this - and you're not my mom - thank you. You are proof that miracles do still happen today.

I put on my big girl panties, vowed to open up my cookbook to a random page, and bake the first cookie I found that I had all the ingredients on hand.

I only cheated three times until I found a cookie I liked.

And then we walked to ShopKo to pick up some potato chips for the cookies since I didn't have any. So really, I didn't follow through on that vow at all.

I'm a big fan of Sally's recipes. My husband is a big fan of my baking of Sally's recipes. And my son is a big fan of food.

What I appreciate most about Sally's recipes is her make-ahead tips. All of her cookies provide the option to bake the same day after refrigeration, to bake within 4 days with refrigeration, or to freeze the dough and bake within 2-3 months. And as a mom, the ability to prep, make-ahead, and have warm cookies in a moment's notice is invaluable.

Naptime is precious time in this house. So if I can mix up a big batch of cookie dough during Tuesday morning nap time, and bake 1/3 of it during afternoon nap for my husband's school board meeting, refrigerate 1/3 of it to bake on Thursday for my college brother-in-law to have warm cookies after supper, and freeze 1/3 of it to give to a new mama so she can have homemade cookies - I'm all in.

Plus, I appreciate that Sally always provides measurements in cups and in grams. I mean, who really wants to pack brown sugar or level off flour when you can just weigh it instead?

And the hum of the KitchenAid is perfect background noise to reheating my coffee for the umpteenth time.

So I now challenge you - Grab a cookbook. Flip it open. Bake the first recipe you come across that you have all the ingredients.

Or, the third. After you make a trip to pick up an ingredient.

What are you baking?