Why is it that winter and the colder weather always bring on the starch monkeys? Maybe its our bodies' way of adding a few extra calories to help keep us warm? No matter, nothing beats a big batch of beef and noodles to warm a tummy on a cold winter evening. I grew up on this dish and always serve it with mashed potatoes and green beans. Of course tonight is no different.

Mine aren't quite finished, but as I was looking for other's recipes, I ran across this website: http://meesosweetandspicy.blogspot.com/2008/04/moms-beef-noodles.html

She posted her mom's beef and noodles recipe, which was mighty close to the way I fix mine. Give me a bag of noodles, I will boil them into starchy goodness! Check out Meeso's recipe for beef and noodles. I thank her for posting it. Now on to the starch!

I have a secret. I am a closet chocolate-holic! Since I've been home the last two days because of the snow, yesterday was a baking day. It had been ages since I'd made a German chocolate cake with the traditional pecan and coconut frosting, so I decided to make cupcakes. Believe me, there is nothing more full of eewy-gooey goodness than these babies. The only thing I would have done differently would be to scoop out a little of the cupcake to fill it with some of that wonderful frosting...but unfortunately, I didn't have enough of it to do that. Next time I'll plan ahead! There's nothing like "comfort" food on these cold and snowy days. It makes you want to forget the calories and go for the gooey goodness that only a warm cupcake can bring. Are you hungry, yet?

(photo courtesty of http://www.slowtrav.com)