Monster and I have both had just about enough of the blood-glucose testing involved in trying to get her diabetes under control and this is only day two of the establishing-a-baseline exercise that requires blood tests every four hours. Insulin shots, no big deal. Poking her ear every four hours to get a drop of blood so we can see how she's responding to the insulin, we hates it. No, we really HATES it.
When I wasn't poking my cat with sharp things I spent the day in my kitchen where my beautiful new stock pot simmered all day making chicken stock (no more msg laden store bought inferior chicken broth!). And I made beef stew with dumplings and a pineapple upside down cake. But the stew didn't turn out very well. The recipe said I could use parsnips, turnips or rutabaga and I opted for parsnips and turnips but the parsnips gave the broth a sweet flavour which wasn't very good with the savoury dumplings. And, while the cake looked very pretty on the platter, I used a Cooks Illustrated recipe and I think that was a mistake (I hardly ever say that). I should have stuck with the old version from my grandmother's 1940s cookbook. CI modified the cake batter to give it a lighter crumb (not in itself a bad thing, I thought, since it meant about half the butter the older recipe called for) but what I have sitting on my kitchen table this morning, with only a modest 3 pieces missing is some yummy pineapple topping on a dry and crumbly white cake. I have distinct memories of having no leftovers using the 1940s recipe.
So, to sum up, I love my new stock pot (I now have 13 cups of home made chicken broth in my freezer) but the things I actually tried to eat yesterday weren't what I hoped for and I still have to continue poking my cat with sharp things for another two days. (grumble)
But today, between the poking with sharp things at noon and the poking with sharp things at 4pm, I'm going out into the grey and the cold to the loveliness of Kensington Market and I need a list...
Sunday: Pizza Bianca
Monday: Eggs Benedict (make pasties)
Tuesday: Brie & Bacon Pasta & Chicken Cesar
Wednesday: Pizza
Thursday: Greek Pitas
Friday: Pasties
Saturday: Chicken & Dumplings
Sunday: Spaghetti & Meatballs
Dessert: Banana Cream Pie (crust)
It occurs to me that my favourite dessert is cheesecake and I've never made one. Not ever. Not once. And I've been collecting cheesecake recipes for a good long time. Hmmm.
I do have one thing to report. I finally made these and they were delicious and ridiculously simple. Dangerously simple. I'm not sure it's a good idea for me to have the knowledge that I can have a plate of these on the table in a matter of fifteen minutes using things I already have in my pantry.
poem
When I wasn't poking my cat with sharp things I spent the day in my kitchen where my beautiful new stock pot simmered all day making chicken stock (no more msg laden store bought inferior chicken broth!). And I made beef stew with dumplings and a pineapple upside down cake. But the stew didn't turn out very well. The recipe said I could use parsnips, turnips or rutabaga and I opted for parsnips and turnips but the parsnips gave the broth a sweet flavour which wasn't very good with the savoury dumplings. And, while the cake looked very pretty on the platter, I used a Cooks Illustrated recipe and I think that was a mistake (I hardly ever say that). I should have stuck with the old version from my grandmother's 1940s cookbook. CI modified the cake batter to give it a lighter crumb (not in itself a bad thing, I thought, since it meant about half the butter the older recipe called for) but what I have sitting on my kitchen table this morning, with only a modest 3 pieces missing is some yummy pineapple topping on a dry and crumbly white cake. I have distinct memories of having no leftovers using the 1940s recipe.
So, to sum up, I love my new stock pot (I now have 13 cups of home made chicken broth in my freezer) but the things I actually tried to eat yesterday weren't what I hoped for and I still have to continue poking my cat with sharp things for another two days. (grumble)
But today, between the poking with sharp things at noon and the poking with sharp things at 4pm, I'm going out into the grey and the cold to the loveliness of Kensington Market and I need a list...
Sunday: Pizza Bianca
Monday: Eggs Benedict (make pasties)
Tuesday: Brie & Bacon Pasta & Chicken Cesar
Wednesday: Pizza
Thursday: Greek Pitas
Friday: Pasties
Saturday: Chicken & Dumplings
Sunday: Spaghetti & Meatballs
Dessert: Banana Cream Pie (crust)
It occurs to me that my favourite dessert is cheesecake and I've never made one. Not ever. Not once. And I've been collecting cheesecake recipes for a good long time. Hmmm.
I do have one thing to report. I finally made these and they were delicious and ridiculously simple. Dangerously simple. I'm not sure it's a good idea for me to have the knowledge that I can have a plate of these on the table in a matter of fifteen minutes using things I already have in my pantry.
poem
Here is yet another reason why science is good. I want one or two of these in my kitchen so I can run some tests. And, as it happens, I just had my first baguette baking lesson so the timing couldn't be more perfect.
What I'm really doing while I sit here in bed drinking coffee is making a menu for the week and then turning it into a grocery shopping list. Since baguettes aren't going to be on the menu this week, there's some strong indications that I might be malingering and I'm fine with that.
I need six meal ideas. I get to carry over two from last week that I have ingredients for but didn't get around to making (Lamb Curry and Calzones) and I have meat in the freezer for greek pitas if I want to make those... Oh and I have 1.5lbs of lean ground beef that hasn't been spoken for or frozen yet... and, it being super bowl sunday, chicken wings are on sale just about everywhere so I could have a chicken wing and macaroni night easy as anything and whether that's this week or another week, now's the time to put the chicken wings in the freezer.
Monday: lamb curry & rice
Tuesday: calzones
Wednesday: garlic chicken with fries & gravy and green beans
Thursday: beef stew with dumplings
Friday: spaghetti & meatballs
Saturday: chicken wings & white cheddar macaroni
Leftovers: michigan pasties (this is my favourite pastry recipe)
Desserts: churros and/or oatmeal cookies
Recipes to try some other week: Thai spiced tomato soup, Devil's chicken thighs, mushroom risotto, coq a vin, garlic soup
What I'm really doing while I sit here in bed drinking coffee is making a menu for the week and then turning it into a grocery shopping list. Since baguettes aren't going to be on the menu this week, there's some strong indications that I might be malingering and I'm fine with that.
I need six meal ideas. I get to carry over two from last week that I have ingredients for but didn't get around to making (Lamb Curry and Calzones) and I have meat in the freezer for greek pitas if I want to make those... Oh and I have 1.5lbs of lean ground beef that hasn't been spoken for or frozen yet... and, it being super bowl sunday, chicken wings are on sale just about everywhere so I could have a chicken wing and macaroni night easy as anything and whether that's this week or another week, now's the time to put the chicken wings in the freezer.
Monday: lamb curry & rice
Tuesday: calzones
Wednesday: garlic chicken with fries & gravy and green beans
Thursday: beef stew with dumplings
Friday: spaghetti & meatballs
Saturday: chicken wings & white cheddar macaroni
Leftovers: michigan pasties (this is my favourite pastry recipe)
Desserts: churros and/or oatmeal cookies
Recipes to try some other week: Thai spiced tomato soup, Devil's chicken thighs, mushroom risotto, coq a vin, garlic soup
Song: Alley Cats (Hot Chip)
"So young a child," said the gentleman sitting opposite to her, (he was dressed in white paper,)
"ought to know which way she's going, even if she doesn't know her own name!"
(Lewis Carroll Through the Looking-Glass)
"ought to know which way she's going, even if she doesn't know her own name!"
(Lewis Carroll Through the Looking-Glass)
Cooks have been doing this magic since the position of cook was first created. I mean, it must have started not long after the first person made a meal to be shared and, by the time 'cook' became a division of labour that other people relied on for survival, this alchemy would have been essential. But how is it done? How do you feed people day after day with limited resources? The puzzle for the home cook seems particularly tricky: turn limited money into a grocery list that can be used to create a variety of meals for a specific number of people with known likes and dislikes within a limited amount of free time. I just spent a month attempting to do this and I still feel I have no idea how it's done and I have a new sympathy for women who've spent years doing this who say they no longer enjoy cooking. I mean, after juggling the grocery list and menu and finding seven recipes that are varied but that don't have completely divergent ingredient lists and that don't include any of the things people hate to eat and that are affordable... it feels like I've completed a jigsaw puzzle in record time without the aid of the picture on the box. Fun, sure but... every day?Anyway, some of my recent forays into this area have seemed more or less successful and I'm going to attempt to make note of them since odds are good I'm going to need the information again sometime. (but right now there's pizza dough rising in the bread robot and I have to start the sauce making, cheese grating activities... I forget - can grated cheese be frozen?)