We started seriously house hunting a few weeks ago so we've been very busy. I'm really excited to be buying a home. We hope to be in a house by the end of 2009. For the tax credit but also because we'll be married for a year in August (:-O) and our goal was to be in a house or at least seriously looking by our anniversary. Looks like we're right on track. We live with our in-laws rent free in the basement so we are able to save a ton of money but it will be really nice to have our own place. 

We've been crunching some numbers in order to figure out how we'll afford said house and as we thought it's going to be very tight budget-wise. So lately I've been trying to cook up (pun intended) some budget-friendly recipes. One of our friends got us a budget cookbook which has some great ideas in it. Also when your pantry is set up it's easy to come up with something cheap and easy. (Next post I will be posting about setting up a pantry and some things I consider essentials so stay tuned.) Right now we cook for ourselves but our pantry is not as extensive as I would like. I'm excited to have that in our own house. Today I'm making a recipe from Cooks Illustrated's Best Make Ahead Recipe. It's one of my favorite cookbooks. I bought it when I was entertaining the idea of being a personal chef. It's really cool because it explains how to add flavor to something that is frozen. It also has desserts in it. Yum. I will post pictures later.