Warm Hug in a Cold Day

I've been doing a lot of little food experiments to work around the fact I don't have a toaster or toaster oven, and thus can't have toast. 

I was a little worried about the day when I realized that I wanted toast with peanut butter and jelly, but I was feeling ingenius, and thus pulled out my george forman.

Yes, I grilled my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

It was fabulous. 

The great pasta experiment

Sobeys just finished up their Dollar Days, which I took full advantage of (everything I needed for Scott and I for a week for $50 - yeah!).  One of the deals they had was boxes of pasta for $1  Naturally, pasta is a staple in my diet, so I bought 2 boxes - some macaroni for when I make my homemade mac'n'cheese, and long macaroni, becuase, for $1, who wouldn't?

Long macaroni looks like straws when you take it out of the box.

However, once it's cooked, it has a mind of it's own.  Kind of like tentacles, they flail about as you try to move them from the pot to the plate, and from the plate to your mouth.  There is no polite, lady-like way to eat them, so I do not recommend buying them when you're having to cook for the queen.

However, if you're babysitting some little kids, and you don't care what kind of bad habits you give them, by all means, cook them long macaroni, and let them slurp it into their mouths, and eat it with their fingers, because that's exactly how it demands to be eaten.

Not that I told that to Scott. 

Also, this was a very colourless meal, which according to my mother means I didn't get all the proper food groups.

Actually, this is Scott's plate.  I like cauliflower with cheez whiz so I had more colour.  Ha, I win.

(Please note, the immaturity needed to enjoy this pasta remains with you long after the meal is over)

SQUASH!

Becoming the primary cook after being a thankful mooch for many years leads to some great experimentation.  Scott and I took off for the farmers market early this morning to purchase a few food stuffs of the local variety.  Among our purchases was spaghetti squash. 

It seemed like a mythic creation to me - a squash that, when cooked, had the consistency of spaghetti?  Obsurd!

What they should have let me know was that the squash turns into an over-cooked angel hair pasta.  Then my heart wouldn't have been as broken.

However, it was a noble experiment. 

1.  Cut spaghetti squash in half

 2.  Scoup out inside like a pumpkin. 

3.  Rub olive oil on cut portion and place down on baking sheet

3. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes, until a fork can easily puncture rind
4.  Flip over and create spaghetti by scraping from "stem to stern"
6.  Serve as you would with pasta

We used a bit of italian sausage, carrots, celery, tomato sauce and a variety of spices. 

It was a little wet, and not quite like the pasta we'd envisioned.  It kind of looked like it's name:  squash.  However, it felt like a nice hearty meal I'd probably enjoy in winter - not a hot day like today.

Eggsperiment

It's 7:00 CST (note: no Daylight Savings Time on that - so 8:00 for you regular people) and it's still 28 degrees outside.

And of course, today, having been warmer than yesterday, was my turn to cook for my temporary-live-in boyfriend who wanted a "man meal" when all I wanted to do was to munch on lettuce, cottage cheese and cucumbers and call it salad.

After searching the web for recipes which only reminded me of how hungry it was, how hot it was, and how poorly stocked my new apartment's fridge was, I settled on pancakes, only to remember that I didn't have mix, and I didn't have eggs.

After more searching I came across this recipe for Egg-Less Pancakes from All Things Edible. Much like the blogger who tried the experiment, I found it rather... weird.

The batter was very foamy, and ended up rather thick when it hit the pan. I ended up overcooking some of the cakes in order to ensure they were done on the inside.

They tasted as one would expect a pancake to taste, albeit it a little dry - something easily remedied by the use of plentiful amounts of syrup.

With some bacon and Watermelon Strawberry juice to round out this breakfast themed supper, I would say that despite the additional heat of the frying pan, it was perfect for a lazy summer night.

Recipe:

1 c flour
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp baking powder
1 c soy milk (I used regular 1%)
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Mix dry ingredients, and then whisk in wet. Cook on medium heat griddle until bubbles form, flip and cook for another 2 minutes (or until done).