It's Not Quite As Late...

... but there's no way I'll hit the sheets while the clock still says 10:something, no matter how fast I type.  

I cooked today.  This weekend my plan is to cook and freeze the dishes for our three suppers up at High Point Inn next weekend, to whip up the roasted red pepper hummus I'll take for snacks at next Thursday's knitting guild meeting, and make some soup I had all the ingredients for.  Oh yeah, and make a batch of breakfast burritos for Durwood and figure out a reasonable, low points facsimile for me.  I'm working on that last one.  I'm thinking about it.

First thing this morning I peeled a pound of parsnips, probably a pound of carrots, a 4# butternut squash, and a large onion, cut them all into big chunks, sprayed them with nonstick cooking spray, sprinkled them with salt and pepper, then roasted them for about 40 minutes until the edges were a bit browned and the house smelled great.  After that it was just a matter of scraping all the veggies into a pot, adding a little evaporated milk (Milnot, for those who care about such things--Mom) and enough chicken broth to make it soup instead of spackle or grout.  (Man, I love stick blenders.  This was so thick I had to start with a potato masher.)  It was a little thick before I added two additional cups of broth.   I added a can of chicken breast chunks to give it a little protein, a little stick-to-the-ribs-itude, and a little parsley to cut the orange-ness.  It's delish.  One of the great soups--and a cup of it is a mere point.  A piffle.  A mere bagatelle.

For supper I tried the Baked Ziti recipe out of the new Yes, Italian! WW Freestyle cookbook.  I was excited and foolishly thought it would bear some resemblance to the cheesy deliciousness of the Pioneer Woman's recipe.  Silly me.  It's Weight Watchers.  WW doesn't hold with masses of cheese and this sauce is so thin as to be non-existent when it comes out of the oven.  Next time I make it I'll double the tomatoes and reduce the sauce so it has some substance and can stand up to the ziti.  (there are three 2-serving containers like this)  It's good for me and I heated up some jarred marinara sauce for Durwood.  His sole thought when you say "Italian food" is red sauce so he's happy if he can spoon some on disappointing, not heavily sauced, pasta dishes I make.  Tomorrow I'll have two slow cookers going--one with chicken cacciatore for next weekend (and the freezer) and the other with honey-garlic chicken legs for a couple nights' suppers.  It should smell pretty darned good around here tomorrow.


Tonight I finished the second of the pink wool mittens for LC.  I'm thinking I'll find some "boy" yarn and make a pair for OJ too.  His kept coming off the last time we played in the snow and acrylic mittens just aren't warm enough.  I offered to make him a Packer hat, green and gold, and he said he wants a red hat.  That's my boy!  I'm sure Meemaw has some red wool that can become mittens for that boy.

February 10--Paul Gauguin, Breton Girls Dancing, Pont-Aven, 1888.  The three little girls were in their own world.  They danced down the lane, hand in hand, singing a song of their own making.  They sang of captive princesses and fire-breathing dragons that guarded the castle set high in a rocky place where rescue was nearly impossible.  The brown and white dog that trotted at their heels howled along with the sad chorus about the lonely princesses and the brave princes that tried to save them.

I must confess that I am impressed to see that Paul Gauguin painted something other than bare-breasted Tahitian girls.  And these Breton girls were fully clothed.  Must have been an early work.  Tomorrow once I have the crock pots up and running I'm going snowshoeing in the park.  Maybe the owl will hoot again and I can catch a glimpse of it.
--Barbara