The Cooking Confessional, or No Rest for the Wicked

Monday
CAbi Party Extraordinaire came off without a hitch.  Well...I did forget the mushrooms for the spinach and goat cheese fritatta, because when I make it for my people, I omit the 'shrooms and add sausage.  I know, but what I've discovered is that when either bacon or sausage is present, nobody notices spinach.  It's possibly my greatest discovery.  Anyway, sweet Julie brought the mushrooms when she came, which meant that everyone was full of scones, cheese, and Charlotte's amazing wild rice chicken salad by the time the fritatta was done.

Home Group (Small Group?) Mexican Fiesta Valentine's Dinner.  It was outstanding.  I truly wasn't hungry (see above), and decided to forgo a tortilla and make myself a healthy taco salad...which would have been fine if it weren't for the darn tortilla chips.  Tortilla chips get me every time.  And dessert.  Cheryl made cream puffs.  Seriously.  I had two.

And now I'm beginning to see the value of keeping a food journal.  Basically, I ate all day and then I ate all night.  Amen.

I was supposed to make homemade pico de gallo for the Fiesta, but honestly, the last of the CAbi ladies left at five, home group began at six, and I was exhausted.  Instead of homemade, I treated my lovely home group friends to Costco's finest salsa.

 The tomatoes are still waiting to be turned into something magical. Sigh.

Tuesday
For lack of better terminology, I was suffering from a socializing hangover.  I was fried.  When we all gathered from our various late afternoon undertakings, the Wonder Hub took one look at my face and grabbed hold of the reigns.  Hallelujah, we had enough CAbi leftovers, plus thisnthat, to fill the bottomless, gaping holes that are the boys' bellys.  Honestly, all I remember is that I hoarded the last of the wild rice salad, which has earned a permanent place on the cooking rotation.

Wednesday
I cooked the ever-loving life out of four chicken breasts, and then spent an inordinate amount of time shredding them finely so that nobody would notice.  When I opened the sauce for the enchiladas, I discovered that it was red.  I sputtered and fumed for a minute, and then threw my hands up and opened an extra can of green chilies to make up for the loss of liquid in my filling.  Fortunately, I remembered that there was one lone can of green sauce hiding in the basement, and used that to top them off once rolled.

They were pretty darn good.


Thursday 
I can't, for the life of me, remember Thursday.  Oh!  I got started early on Thursday and whipped up a little breakfast casserole.  I used this recipe, but changed it to fit my mood.  This is what I did:

One pound bacon (no explanation necessary)
One cup diced onion (1/2 just didn't look like enough)
One cup diced green pepper (and then I ate the rest of the pepper slathered with Trader Joe's Three-Layer Hummus. Glorious.)
Eggbeaters to equal 12 eggs (I could tell you I do this for health reasons, but I'd be lying.)
One cup milk
Tater Tots to cover bottom of 9x12 pan
Salt
Pepper
Dill Weed (Which made me laugh. Every time I looked at it, I laughed. I'd say it out loud and laugh.  I'd read it and laugh. I'd think "dill weed" and laugh.)
Cayenne Pepper
Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Put bacon on foil-wrapped (for the love of all that is good and holy) cookie sheet and place in cold oven.  Bake at 400 for 15-17 minutes.  Remove to paper towels to cool.  Use (some of) bacon grease to saute onion and pepper.  Meanwhile, cover bottom of 9x12 pan with Tater Tots. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and cayenne.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes and then smash down a bit with fork (you don't want Tots to suck up all of your egg mixture). In large bowl, combine Eggbeaters, milk, salt, pepper, dill weed (did you laugh?), and mix with fork.  Add sauteed onion and pepper, dump over Tots.  Cover lightly (or heck, heavily) with cheese.  Bake at 350 for 40 minutes (mine took a little longer).  CHOW DOWN.

It's a banner week, people.  I have not only one, but two new recipes joining the regular rotation.  This was good, and I'm convinced that the extra bacon put it over the top.

Friday
We're at that point in life where our kids have fairly intricate social lives that do not include us.  These fairly intricate social lives, however, still require our chauffeuring services.  Hence, once we finished dropping them off at various places that do not include us, we went out to dinner.  At Uncle Julio's.

AND NOW...

Pastor Ryan's Tikka Masala.  These babies are waiting upstairs for me.  These, and at least three family members who have each come down and begged to know what, and more importantly, when, is dinner.