Mostly Cooking

That was my day, mostly cooking. First thing after I got up and had breakfast I got the Chicken Cacciatore into the slow cooker to simmer away all day.

Then I made Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls which is one of the quickest and easiest recipes in my Investment Cooking repertoire. I cooked a big pot of brown rice to add to each serving of most of the dishes I made today too.

The Cardinals visited, male first, female after. Again he chased away all comers and she welcomed everyone. Some days it feels like that's the way of the world.

After lunch I made BBQ-Glazed Mini Turkey Meatloaves. This is a remake of a meatloaf recipe I've made before substituting BBQ sauce for Hoisin sauce. I left out the fresh ginger and changed the soy sauce to Worcestershire which goes better with Sweet Baby Ray's sauce. I was very tempted to just pick up one of the hot loaves/pucks and eat it where I stood but I resisted. I have extra ground turkey, I suppose that I could make a half batch. Hmm...

While I was labeling container lids the chipmunk visited the patio step. It was peering in the window but turned away when I reached for the camera, the little stinker.

Today's lesson in the You Can Draw In 30 Days book was Constructing with Cubes. He led us through drawing this little house. I added the Peeper in the window and the Peeper dog in the yard.

Then I still had time and energy so I whipped up a batch of Chicken Breasts Pierre. They smell so good with the mustard, tomatoes, and Worcestershire sauce, oh, chili powder too. I had exactly enough rice made for the portions. Whew. I'd have been peeved if I was one serving short.

I didn't get out my watercolors until after supper. I picked out another "looking at water through trees" picture and had at it. Like I said, I'll keep practicing until I'm happy with my outcome.

While I watched Jeopardy! I cast on a hat in nice fat yarn on nice big needles. I need a project for Thursday and Friday nights so I'll hold off adding more rounds til then.

Today's toss... I guess it was all of the onion skins, bell pepper innards, and yukky meat packaging. I spent a lot of time shoving stuff in the garage trash can so that my house doesn't smell like aged raw chicken. If I finish up the last three recipes tomorrow I can have all of the raw meat wrappers bagged and ready to be picked up on Wednesday morning. That's my plan anyway.

I didn't do a gratitude journal list today, I was too busy cooking and washing up. I have dishpan hands. I should get out my lotion bar and lotion them up. I called the heating company and ordered an on-furnace humidifier to be installed. I've finally gotten tired of having the humidifier bottles be empty every other day and having to haul those heavy things. I'm getting too old for that sort of heavy lifting.

--Barbara