Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Confessions of a Non-Cook


In the last two days I have made cookies and soup in addition to squeezing three large oranges and zesting the skins.

If my children read this (not likely) they will be convinced someone else wrote it. When my children think of me, it has nothing to do with my cooking.
There are two more containers in the back
First the soup.
I made a batch of Quinoa Vegetable soup. I didn't have the required paprika (what? That has to be remedied immediately) and I used shredded carrots not called for in the recipe (I bought them to use in the cookies and had left overs). It takes time to sauté, boil, simmer, add, simmer some more, cool and package. I had a yield of eight containers. There are only six in the freezer, because I gave one away and consumed another. That took up the morning.

I can count. There are not 9 cookies on that plate...but I know where the missing ones are! Yum.
On to the cookies.
I found this recipe from a Facebook link. Anything calling itself CARROT CAKE in whole or in part will get my total attention. As unbelievably beyond delicious these carrot cake sandwich cookies are...way too labor intensive for such a small yield.

First the carrots have to be tenderized with brown sugar.

Then the batter is prepared and the carrots added. The batter is supposed to make 28 cookies. No way. I got 19...which means nine and one half cookie sandwiches.

While the cookies are baking the filling is made.

Cookies baked and cooled. Filling spread on one cookie and capped with another cookie.

Now the tasting. Out of this world good. BUT...for all this work, and all I had was 9 1/2 cookies? It's late afternoon...I'm exhausted from a whole day of cooking.

I have soup in the freezer and cookie sandwiches on a plate. After a couple hours rest, I was able to appreciate life is good.

Now for the orange zest.
And here we are today (Wednesday). Because I needed orange zest for the cookies, I bought three large navel oranges on sale. I needed one teaspoon of zest. (Oh, come on. I bet you've done the same thing). I took my one teaspoon of zest yesterday so today I needed to zest the rest of the oranges.

Mmmmm. Look at all that delicious pulp! I actually ate it.
First I squeezed the oranges for their juice. Not going to let that go to waste and I don’t like to eat oranges. Then I proceeded to scrape the skins. In retrospect I should have done it the other way around.

A little messy.
It took me a few tries to get the hang of zesting an orange and not my wrist or knuckles (It won’t take long for them to heal).

My kitchen smells amazing!
The zest is currently drying on a paper towel so I can package it in small amounts and freeze. An internet video I saw, stated that you cannot buy zest in the grocery stores. If you think I'm ever going to do this again you have another thing coming! I probably have enough to sell for a hefty profit!

I hope you enjoy the pictures. I took these not so much as a show-and-tell, but as a warning to anyone thinking of doing the same thing. Think twice!

I slept in this morning. I earned it. Now, will someone please keep reminding me that just because I said I’m going to accomplish such and so all in one day, doesn’t mean I really have to. Just because I said I was going to do this all in one day, I felt obliged to. Now I get it. I need to acknowledge when enough is enough. Ok. I have enough soup and nowhere near enough cookies!  

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Spring, Spring, Beautiful Spring


Well at least the calendar says astronomical spring will arrive today. Looking out my windows I still see lots of snow. Dirty. Snow. But, I have to be fair…there is a lot more grass showing up in my back yard. Here in the condos, we don’t exactly have what you would call a front yard. Most units have shrubs. Then you have people like me who must have flowers. However, the space is very limited.

The weather forecast for this afternoon is for temps to go up into the low 50s! Goodness gracious me! The low 50s. That will feel like a heat wave around here.

If the forecast holds, I will put my bike on the bike rack (which was never taken off the car this winter) and take it to the nearest gas station to get the tires pumped up. I’m one of those optimists who just knows there is going to come a day…soon…when the weather will be perfect for my first ride of the season. I intend to be ready.

Oh! Spring, spring! Beautiful spring. 

(Don't think I'm not going to post any more Maya pictures. You bet I will. Just not today.)