Nesting?

On top of all of my cleaning, purging, and priming this past weekend I also had the urge (and reason) to cook. I blame hormones. I usually hate cooking.

On Friday afternoon I realized that we had some apples that were ripening too quickly and were getting past the point of edible. I decided to bake something with them, but I didn't want to make an entire pie as I only needed to use 2-3 apples.

I had recently flipped through PW's cookbook and remembered seeing a recipe for French Breakfast Puffs that looked tasty. I found the recipe, decided that adding diced apples would be DEVINE, and set off to make them.

Of course, I first had to call Tina and see if she had eggs because I had none. She did, and there was much rejoicing! (Actually, I had to promise not to send any muffins home with her in order for her to bring me the eggs. Apparently cinnamon-sugar coated muffins are not part of her breakfast diet plan)

I didn't take pictures of the entire process, but here is what the table looked like, and then the finished product. They are as, if not more tasty than they look - and the addition of apples? Fantastic.




Then, as though that wasn't enough, I've made dinner twice in the last two days! Two for two!

Friday night's dinner was a less than stellar chicken, rice, and veggie adventure. I was SO hungry that I couldn't wait for Frank to get home and I started making dinner for us by myself. The veggies and rice were leftovers, so that was easy. I sauteed the chicken in olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and rosemary - and per my usual MO, the chicken was overcooked and dryyyyyyy. Oh well, I tried! Frank dutifully downed his dinner and only spoke of the chicken's dryness after I did.

Saturday night was much more successful! I made another PW recipe, this time it was her chicken spaghetti. We both liked it, but decided that I played it too safe with the peppers. I used the low end suggestions for the quantity of green peppers, onions, and cayenne. Next time I'll be upping all three, and maybe finding a way to work in some Frank's Red Hot. The biggest deal of the evening was that I managed (with a little help from Frank) to break down a chicken! Like a whole chicken! It was kind of fun, though a little disconcerting to hear the bones and ligaments crack....whatever, chicken is tasty.

For now, I'm going to blame this kitchen flurry on hormones and hope that it keeps up for a little while longer. If I can get a few more successful dinners on the table (without crying), I might actually start to have a little confidence in the kitchen.

Here's hoping!