More Adventures in Cooking

When Blair left the house this morning, I was told--and I quote--"I'll be home before 7 and I expect to have my dinner waiting for me, woman!" 

Isn't he cute? We'll give him a pass (just this once). I did declare this weekend that I was ready to dig back into some cooking. And so it was with high hopes that I approached my old nemesis, Mr. Stove, this evening. 

Things did not start off well. I had a recipe for a meatless meatloaf I'd been wanting to try. I love meatloaf and have tried several veggie variations, but none have had that "oomph" factor. Today's recipe called for 14 oz. soy burger crumbles, mixed with egg and ketchup to start. Crumbles, egg, ketchup--check. Except I forgot to brown the crumbles and so just dumped frozen soy clumps in a bowl, poured some beaten egg over that, added rolled oats and spices and wondered why it didn't all stick together.

Amazingly, it was still good. Crumbly, but good. So good that Blair declared he'd be happy to eat it again. Of course, he was jamming on the homemade mashed potatoes I cranked out. Throw in some canned green beans and it was your typical American (vegetarian) meatloaf meal. Very tasty and I'm excited to try the recipe again--this time with browned meat that will form and hold a loaf shape. 

Later this week we've got a pumpkin quiche planned. I am nothing if not adventerous. And Blair, poor Blair, is dragged along for the ride. 

Cheers.

The Headless Horseman Rides Again

The Headless HorsemanIt was a smaller crowd than usual, but we still had a great Halloween. The bridge didn't quite work out as planned. The 6 foot walls Blair had built were just too heavy and unstable and we had visions of them crashing down on small children, so we modified and Blair quickly built a mini-bridge that we struck with lights for the kids to cross over.

Our costumes looked great, but the theme was a bit of a bust as apparently today's kids are completely unfamiliar with the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod Crane, and the Headless Horseman. Since Johnny Depp had done a movie some years back, we thought there might be some recognition, but no. ONE young boy said, "I read that book!" Frankly, I think the parents were more clueless than the kids.

Enjoy the pictures!

Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane

Harris Halloween is a GO!

We weren't sure we'd have the time to pull it off, but Blair has pulled another rabbit out of a hat and this Halloween is shaping up to be one of our most impressive, ever. We're doing The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Blair has built a covered bridge that kids will walk through, surrounded by fog and the clip-clop of hoofbeats. Ill be at the end, in a Headless Horseman outfit. Blair has rigged chickenwire shoulders that I'll wear balanced on top of my head (yes, seriously) and we'll pull a big black cape over that. I look like a 7 foot tall headless horseman. I'll carry a glowing, evil-looking pumpkin head. Meanwhile, Blair is Ichabod Crane and will pass out the candy.

There's one big "if" in all of this, and that is we're not certain we can get the bridge to stand up. Blair built some WALLS to this thing and we're a little worried about it standing on it's own. I'm sure we'll figure something out.

I'll post photos this weekend. Happy Halloween!

I'm Over the Cooking Thing

I spent a lot of time in my kitchen this week. It's part of my "eat healthy to pull out of the funk" endeavor. On the up side, I am eating healthy. On the down side, I am going to turn postal if I have to set foot in that kitchen again anytime within the next 48 hours.

Actually, I can deal with the kitchen. It's the unending trips to the grocery store which are wearing me down. While my ability to prepare a dish based on a written recipe seems to be improving, it's marked by a matching decline in my ability to write down and shop for all the ingredients in one sitting.

I made a red pepper lasagna earlier this week AFTER I made the trip to the store becaue I'd forgotten to buy ricotta cheese and pasta sauce during our regular weekly grocery trip.

My running group is meeting tonight to watch "Spirit of the Marathon," and I thought I'd make a recipe from the recent issue of Runner's World magazine for Coconut-Almond bars. Went to the store and loaded up on ingredients. Started making the recipe and realized the honey I had at home wasn't going to equal a full cup. Back to the store. More prep, only to realize I also didn't have enough peanut butter. Back to the store, this time with gritted teeth.

Today I'm making a vegetable curry. As I started chopping vegetables I realized I'd used all the red peppers for the lasagna. Too bad, I thought. We'll iive without red peppers.

Except I also had no coconut milk in the house. We had looked for it at the store, but they were out of the light milk so I'd meant to check another store and had forgotten. Out the door I sccoted for coconut milk (NOT an easy ingredient to find in a store, btw) and since I was there, what the hell, a red pepper.

No more. I'm done. If it doesn't come packaged or delivered, I'm not eating it for at least the next two days. 

This cooking thing is way harder than it looks... =)