I lost a day. It was Monday. Mondays and Wednesdays are my catch all days. Errands, laundry, housekeeping, show and lecture preparation all are priorities. If I get enough done on Mondays, Wednesdays are much easier, too. Well, this week's Monday had an extra event planned. Phil had to have a little outpatient surgery. Things were running a little slow that day and though we were told we would be done by ten that morning, we did not escape until four. That pretty much flushed all of my Monday down the toilet. So, I have been behind for days. I don't have a set schedule, but I do loosely plan my week out on Sunday. Loosing Monday erased all of that. I will be honest, being behind unnerves me. I get stressed, and when I get stressed, I get extremely hard to live with. My husband, parents, and former teachers will all attest to this fact. Stressed Shannon is so not fun.

It is no secret that since beginning instructing three days a week at the culinary school back in January, I have a jam packed weekly schedule. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I usually am awake for about twenty hours in a row. Up at three for the show, home at 6:30, plan lecture, pass kids off to Supernanny, leave at 8:30, teach, home at noon, and if I am really lucky, Phil might get home early so a nap will happen sometime between one and five. After five, normal Mommy nighttime duties dominate. It is exhausting at times, but I do enjoy all that I do, and at this point, it works for me.

I have been doing a lot of recipes from my cookbook lately. It really isn't a marketing ploy; I just planned ahead when writing it and included some recipes from collection of those that I felt would make good future shows. This planning has really helped me during stressful moments, when I just can't for the life of me think of something to cook on the show. Today's recipe, Orange Fan Biscuits, is one of those from the cookbook. Facts: super simple, just four ingredients, and incredibly hard to screw up. Even if your fans fall over in the muffin cups, they still look good. When I do sweet treats on the show, I do it for everyone else. I have mentioned many times that I don't really have a sweet tooth. These little biscuits are not very sweet. The end product carries just a hint of citrus, though if you would like them to be sweeter, just make a glaze by mixing up some milk and confectioner's sugar and drizzle over the biscuits while they are still warm from the oven. Only two hints for getting the best results. Work quickly with your biscuits, opening the can as soon as it is pulled from the fridge, and getting started right away. Once they get warm, they tend to flop over in the muffin cups. . As stated earlier, this isn't a big problem. They are still cute. If you feel threatened by a time limit, either get two small cans of biscuits, and keep one in the fridge as you work with the other. Other hint, you don't have to use an electric mixer to beat the butter mixture, you can do it by hand. Just make sure your butter is softened or use tub margarine. These are a great item to take to a brunch gathering or to serve for breakfast with some sausage and sliced fresh fruit.

That's it. I have a few other things to get caught up on, and then off to bed I go. See you all in the morning.

Happy Cooking,

Shannon