I've been lax in the cooking realm lately. This is due in part to overall lethargy, but that lethargy dangerously coupled with an envelope Dudette sent (said envelope spilled over with gift cards to restaurant after restaurant after restaurant, and we've been eating like royalty without my lifting a pinkie finger lately).
"Whatever shall I do," I thought tonight, "when I'm forced to return to the real world of nightly meal preparation?" I decided the first and easiest step in renewing my acquaintance with cookery wouldn't be actually cooking something delicious. Oh, no! The first and easiest way to remember that gift cards disappear after one uses them is to post lots of recipes on buildabelly.
May you have to use them long before I do, and may Dudette know how quickly I've become dependent on other people serving up delicious food for us. (Thank you!)
We were happy to get a $25.00 check that said "Go to Lunch" on it. At first, being me, I said, "Well-this will buy us our groceries this week!" (That is the danger of just getting money and the JOY of getting gift cards-you just CAN'T be responsible!) But then I said... "THIS IS CHRISTMAS and I HAVEN'T GONE OUT TO EAT IN A YEAR! We WILL use it for lunch!" The very next day we went to an old highschool haunt of mine. I was starved for it-not cooking, not cleaning up, the atmosphere, the fun, the pleasures of eating out. OH-I do so miss going out to eat!
ReplyDeleteAnyway-THANK you for posting all those WONDERFUL sounding recipes on your blog. I am VERY excited to have REAL meal ideas instead of just the bad-for-you but so temptingly delicious stuff swirling around in my head. I can't wait to try those bread bowls-except I don't have stainless steel bowls. This sounds silly but-would cereal bowls work? I mean...don't plates and bowls have a heat resistence for the oven that is pretty high? Probably not. OH well. Maybe I will find some stainless steel bowls at garage sales this year...
I think I am going to try the Chicken soup with noodle balls tonight! We'll see. "Keep them coming!" says your greedy green friend who cares not a wit that you have other things to do besides provide good pictures, recipes, and ideas to make our lives in CANdor more interesting. :-)
Ah Abigail, I am comforted to know that there are others in the land of cooking apathy...I too have not had to cook for way too long, with all the Christmas parties and visits we have had, I had gone over a week straight with not lifting a ladle! But this week, sigh, I have been forced to start up the oven again...however, I am only slowly easing back into it, as we have winter weekend retreats here at Rock Mountain until March, which means no cooking on the weekends! and what shall I do with all this extra time? maybe read my new martha stewart baking book, and dream of the things i could make if i got off the sofa! :)
ReplyDelete-chelle belle
I would save some of those gift cards for after the baby is born. But whoever Dudette is, she sure is thoughtful, cause there's nothing a very pregnant woman cares for less than standing up, whether it be over a hot stove or sink full of dishes doesn't matter much. Too bad you can't stockpile sleep. Wouldn't it be nice if the naps you took now gave you a reserve to tap into during all those 2am feedings? As a young woman recently wrote to me: be well.
ReplyDeleteRebecca,
ReplyDelete"Go to lunch" = Buy groceries for the week? Yep, I'm the same way, and it's nice to be forced to use money on something unneeded and yet so, so enjoyable.
You can use anything for the bread bowls, as long as it won't crack in a heated oven. (And I've no idea if your bowls would or not!) If you have any smaller pyrex dishes, they'd work well, too. If not, you could even just spread the dough over larger casserole dishes and tear off pieces of bread to toss in the salad or munch with the stew.
The belle-est of belles,
My mom said you just barely missed us! Argh. Our stay was limited and packed, but I still groaned when I heard of your call. Someday, we will sit together on the same couch, enjoying good conversation and leisurely eating dark chocolate. May it be before I'm gray....
Kathy,
You sure do seem to understand the mind of a pregnant girl! (Gee, I wonder why that is...)
Dudette is John's mom, and she outdid herself this time with generous restaurant visits!
Naps? I take about one a month, and your words startled me, because they made me remember that, if I don't take advantage of sleep opportunities now, I'll kick myself for ungratefulness once the new one is here. So, anyway, zzzzzzzz......