Okay, poor attempt at a joke. Oven, lovin’…to me they’re the same thing. I was as happy as a bird with a french fry today because I spent a good deal of my time in the kitchen. I’m back in my groove and life is good. The morning was spent doing the regular chores, a bit of laundry, a visit to the hen house, a half hour spent throwing tennis balls for the hound, cleaning his muddy prints off the floor when we came in, and so on. But the afternoon was all about the cookin’!
First I made a big pot of spinach-tomato-orzo-sausage soup. I’ve shared the recipe here before, and it’s so simple I can make it from memory. In no time at all, this…
turns into this.
You’ll need:
1 lb turkey Italian sausage
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb spinach, fresh or frozen, defrosted ( I use fresh)
1 – 15 oz can diced Italian tomatoes,with oregano and basil (if you love ‘em use more!)
1 cup package orzo pasta (again, if you love it, use more!)
1 quarts chicken stock (1 box)
1 quarts water (just refill that box with water and dump it in)
olive oil
Grab a big soup pot and drizzle it with olive oil and toss in your onions and the turkey sausage. Give it a few stirs and when the onion is tender and the turkey doesn’t look pink, toss in that garlic. Saute for another 2 – 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, spinach, chicken stock and water.Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium. Now is a good time to take a taste and decide if you want to add a pinch of salt. Your call. Throw in the orzo and cook for 12-15 minutes, until orzo is tender. Ta-da! Done! Couldn’t be easier.
While that bubbled I got busy with some chocolatey oatmeal bars. I’d never tried this recipe before but it sure looked good. Into the mixer went butter, brown sugar, vanilla, eggs, oatmeal, flour, and baking soda…
and into a saucepan went chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla. Do your teeth hurt yet?
Most of the oatmeal mixture gets patted into a pan, covered with the chocolate mixture and then that is covered with more blobs of oatmeal. It comes out of the oven golden and smelling like heaven.
This is what it looks like when it’s cut before it cools…Mickey couldn’t wait.
Here’s the recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/copycat-of-starbucks-oatmeal-fudge-bars-466134
Mickey really liked his bar, but they’re a bit too sweet for me. Verrrry rich.
I took a break, cleaned up the kitchen, and called my mom. We talked about everything under the sun and then she had to get ready for a hot date with my dad. They have a few favorite restaurants that they like to keep afloat, and I think it’s quite patriotic of them to boost the economy the way they do. Quite frankly, after more than a half century of daily cooking I love the fact that she’s not doing dishes tonight. We all know that it’s not the cooking, it’s the washing that drags you down. After a chat with Mom, I took the hound out and admired the sky.
Good gravy, what a lovely night! Boxcar Willie stopped by for his third snack of the day (that cat eats better than most people) and the hens gossiped in Coop de Ville. Moments like this are a balm to my soul. This is what makes me happy. Peace and quiet, good smells in the kitchen, and some happy furred and feathered folks going about their business. I could do this the rest of my days. I hope I do.
I heard Mickey trying to wrap up his last call of the day so I rounded up the dog and went back to the kitchen. Dinner was a simple affair of chicken tacos, but simple can still be pretty. Look at this colorful relish for topping the tacos.
Purple onion, black beans, tomatoes, corn, avocado…I love colorful food! We used this on our tacos tonight and you can bet that I’ll be adding a couple more tomatoes to the mix and eating it on tortilla chips tomorrow. I get excited about pretty food. Have I mentioned that I lead a simple life? A good avocado can send me into a tizzy.
After dinner I sat down to browse Amazon and fill my cart. I traded some books back this week and had a nice $40 credit. Have you tried their trade-in service? It’s wonderful. You enter the title of the book you’re willing to trade, the price pops up & you click whether or not you want to submit it…then when you’ve entered all of the books you care to trade, you simply print a shipping label on Amazon’s dime, and send your books in! Within a couple of days your books are processed and the amount is credited to you account. Tonight I spent my credit and in no time at all there should be a box of murder, romance, and beauty at my door. I can’t wait! I drool over books like some women do shoes or jewelry. If someone would just pay me to read for the rest of my life I could die happy. Who am I kidding? As long as I have a kitchen and some animals I’ll die happy. Let’s face it, I’ve just got a terminal case of the happies. I suppose that’s because I’m so stinkin’ grateful for this life. We’re not rich, or famous, or even all that good looking - but man, we’ve got love and laughter enough to fill ten houses. We have a safe, warm home and a full pantry. Our sons are making their way in the world and doing good things. Our dog isn’t all that smart, but he’s sweet. See what I mean? We’re living a beautiful life. I apologize for rambling my way from recipes to books only to finish in a frenzy of gratitude…..it must be bedtime. …or PMS. I’m just feeling thankful today. I remembered reading a quote once that said “Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” So I looked it up and found the whole thing :
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” ~ Melody Beattie
Isn’t it true? A meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend….all by simply being grateful. Okay, I really will stop now before I break into song or make someone sick. I’ll just be sitting over here thanking my lucky stars for this lovely day. Nothing fancy, nothing special, just a beautifully ordinary day.
Sweet dreams, dear ones.
