Miss Madeline turns 8 months old today, but I’m going to do her recap tomorrow. Today, the spotlight is all Miss Sophie. Happy Birthday!

She so didn’t know why we were laughing at her.  When she’s 16 and starting to date, I am dragging these pictures out to show prospective suitors.

She loves Banana Pancakes almost as much as Nicholas does.  Maybe even more.

In doing The $7 Dinner Challenge, besides challenging ourselves (that would be Sarah and I), we want to make sure that what we’re making is accessible, so readers can actually make these meals for $7 as well.

Have a food blog and want to join in the fun? When we post on Monday nights, feel free to leave us a link with your post — the more the merrier.

The Ground Rules:

• You have $7 to create a complete dinner for four, to include the main course and either an appetizer or dessert.
• Your meal must include a serving of vegetables for each person.
• Items such as bread can be prorated (total cost of loaf/slices used).
• Salt and pepper are free — no need to count these into the cost total.
• No frozen meals. You actually have to make something (however it can have premade components).
• You must state where you get your pricing info from, and it must be current to the date posted (as in, if the sale is over, the current price is the one that counts).

So if you’re looking for delicious food without breaking the bank, be sure to tune in every Monday night and see what we’re all cooking up … with just $7.

With tonight’s Presidential debate on in the background and speaking of “ok” recipes, it’s as good a time as any to bring up Barack Obama’s Chili that I made last week.  Barack, seriously?  This is the recipe you want to be known for?  This is a recipe you shared on Good Morning America?  Barack, seriously?  I’m not even going to get into the should-a-real-chili-recipe-have-beans-or-not debate.  I’m going to leave that one alone.  But Senator, where is the heat?  Where is the spice?  And, quite frankly, where is the taste?

Now don’t get me wrong.  It wasn’t bad.  It was just ok, nothing special.  If it wasn’t for the fact that The Huffington Post lists this recipe as the one Barack brags about, I might not have given it a second thought.  But with such a buildup… When I tasted it after following the recipe to the letter, I needed to get busy doctoring it enough that it would pass muster.  To keep things easy, I added barbecue sauce and a dash of Worcestershire.  I can promise you this, it might have made airtime with Good Morning America, but I urge you to exercise your right and vote no.  Pass this one on by.  I’m sure, I just know, that Barack has much better recipes up his sleeves for us.  This just wasn’t one of them.  He’s just holding them back for later.

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It’s been a great time for us to bond, quiet our minds (hey, mine needs quieting sometimes too!) and just relax, which is, of course, easier said than done with an energetic six-year-old and a baby that does.not.sit.still.anymore. But as Nicholas says, “good times, Mama, good times.”

Got a bit caught up on updating our list, and we’ve visited with dogs, bunnies, pumpkins and Baby Bundt recently.  We have a few favorite old-time classics coming up, some that even though they’ve been around for over 50 years, I’ve never even read myself.  Have any new favorites that we should add to the list?

Writing Here, There and Everywhere … a to-die-for vinaigrette that ends a 10+ year search of mine over on MyRecipes.com, officially the Summer Drink of ‘08 and my latest piece on Delish about an interesting positive to come out of the current economic situation.

Monday: Tacos, Bean and Cheese Enchiladas and Nachos - tons of melted cheese.  ‘Nuff said.  Baking with Nicholas: 18 Carrot Cupcakes from Rachael Ray’s magazine.  One of our carpooling friends had a birthday last week and hit “the double digits,” so a belated celebration for her.

Tuesday: The Ditch Dog.  Martha Stewart dedicated a recent episode of her talk show entirely to hot dogs.  The whole 60 minutes.  Turns out she loves them.  And, of course, ever since I saw that, I’ve been craving them too (and had them twice since).  The Ditch Dog is a hot dog covered with macaroni and cheese, a recipe made popular from the Ditch Plains restaurant in NYC, and a hot dog that Martha deemed one of her favorites out of the 50 (!!) she sampled.  (You can read more about the episode in an article I wrote for Delish.com right here).  Also making Mararoni Salad, using a recipe I found on retro-food.com.  The Husband won’t eat it, but figured I could use it for lunch.

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Nicholas is a hard sell when it comes to eggs.  He loves egg sandwiches, and occasionally wants eggs sunny side up, but only to eat the yolks.  And sometimes he pretends he doesn’t like eggs at all.  I figured I had half a shot with these — he’ll eat toast, he’ll eat eggs.  But will he eat them together?

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