glorious (and sometimes burnt) food

Last week, I think Monday, I set out to make dinner per la mia famiglia. I took on a lot, normal for me, and things didn’t exactly turn out perfectly. All was pretty good, though, so I’m not at all discouraged. I will cook again!























So, let me describe what I made. I cooked one giant chicken breast in the skillet. I used some extra virgin olive oil, freshly-ground pepper and poultry seasoning. The topping was supposed to be something smoother, like pesto. I had a ton of parsley left over and I needed to use it up, but I couldn’t bear to use as much olive oil as was needed for a real pesto (in fact, there wasn’t anything “real” pesto about this). I used the food processor to mince and mix Italian parsley, chopped spinach (I have a lot of chopped spinach in the freezer), olive oil, garlic and a tomato. The topping turned out really thick, but I really like the flavor. It would be good as a stuffing for the chicken.

We also had the remaining green beans from the refrigerator. I made these with garlic and dijon mustard. I made carrots with a bit of butter and a bit of honey. Finally, I made blender cauliflower. It was a good vegetably meal. At one point, though, as I was doing too much at once, I noticed a strange smell and I realized that the carrots were burning (note the color). I think that I don’t really know how to make carrots, but I’ll continue to make them the same way anyway, because most of the time they don’t burn.

As for tonight, I made something simple. I’m big on build-your-own kinds of meals. Once, for my birthday party, my mom made a few small cakes and we each decorated our own. I think it was that same birthday that we built our own pizzas, too. This is the kind of thing I love. Tonight was a repeat of something I’ve already posted. We eat a lot of the same foods over and over again…I just usually like to post only pictures of previously un-featured meals. However, I think tonight’s oatmeal pictures trump my previous one. I used old-fashioned rolled oats (not steel-cut because I didn’t have enough time), cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, applesauce, fresh blueberries and a touch of maple syrup. Oh, and a handful of Trader Joe’s granola and berry stuff. We topped it with a sprinkle of wheat germ. It was good. Pic helped me cook, which is always fun. (As for the picture, I know, I know, it looks like a tiny amount, but I ate a very large amount of cherries before dinner. And, if you doubt my cherry-eating capabilities, just ask Poke and her mom about the Rainier cherries at the cabin. Also, I’ll be snacking later, I’m sure.)

























Also, in case anyone is wondering...the ingredients in my pumpking pie spice: spice. Seriously, that is what the label says under "ingredients." Elsewhere on the label, the actual spice are listed, though.