best dinner was best
Last night I set up baked French toast for this morning. I got one of those small boules they sell at Market Basket and cut it up into chunks. Then I beat a dozen eggs, added a couple of big spoonfuls of brown sugar, a squirt of vanilla, a tiny bit of salt, and a glug of skim milk.
I have a 6" casserole dish, so I spread a layer of bread in the bottom, scattered some mini-chips over it... and realized that I forgot to grease the dish. Sigh. I decided that the chips were already in there and that I could just soak off anything that got baked on. Onward...
Second layer of bread, second scattering of mini chips, poured the egg mixture over and made sure everything got soaked. Then I melted half a stick of butter, mixed in enough brown sugar and cinnamon to make it tasty and give it a syrup-like consistency, and drizzled that over the top, covered it, and stuck it in the fridge overnight.
This morning, I heated the oven to 350, uncovered the casserole dish, and baked it... um... till it was done. Half the time, I forget to set a timer when I bake things, but I basically start paying attention when I can smell it. So I have no idea how long this thing was in the oven, but it was crispy on top and puffy all over and soft and delicious in the middle and damn if I didn't knock this one out of the park.
Lunch was the ham and turkey sandwich I made for lunch yesterday, with some baby carrots and green beans. That was pretty good, too.
Campbell's has come out with a series of sauces that they're selling for slow cookers, skillet dinners, and oven baking. Tonight I tried their slow cooker Tavern Pot Roast. I got two pounds of stew beef (it calls for chuck roast, but stew beef is the same thing, just cut up) and stuck it in the slow cooker, set it on high, and let it roll for two hours.
IT WAS AWESOME.
One of the ingredients is Worcestershire, which I don't care for, but it was still REALLY good. And I have plenty of leftovers. I also had a salad of spring greens and spinach, and no one is more surprised than me to discover that I like raw spinach. Mom says that I loved it as a baby, but I really don't like it the way my mom cooks it -- boiled to death from a frozen package. (Corn and peas are acceptable frozen. Frozen shredded potatoes are also acceptable. Everything else should be fresh.) But raw spinach... that's yum.
I've had nutritionists blanch when I tell them that I like ranch dressing. Nutritionally, it's a nightmare. But I eat it by dipping the tines of my fork into the dressing and then taking a bite of salad. Out of a 2 tablespoon serving, I eat maybe 2 teaspoons, so they get over it. The diabetes educator I saw said I should use Walden Farms dressing (no sugar), but it's thin and tastes funny. I'd rather have a tiny amount of what tastes good than a full serving of crap. I'm not eating it.
And then more of the baked French toast for dessert. 30 seconds in the microwave, a little butter on top... so, SO good.
Tomorrow will be a busy day. I think I'm expected to be at work, but since I wasn't going to even try to clear the driveway till they plowed the street closer than 10 feet from my driveway, which didn't happen till 4:30 this afternoon. So there's still lots to do in the morning. The snow is halfway up the neighbor's garage doors (we share a yard and three bays of the six-car garage are theirs; the other three are mine). I have so little room to put snow of any amount, and I still have to clear snow off of my truck and out of the bed -- I'm tempted to park across the street and shovel it out into the park, where the front end loader put the snow it was scooping off the street.
I'll check my work email one more time before I hit the hay; hopefully we'll at least have a delayed opening.
I have a 6" casserole dish, so I spread a layer of bread in the bottom, scattered some mini-chips over it... and realized that I forgot to grease the dish. Sigh. I decided that the chips were already in there and that I could just soak off anything that got baked on. Onward...
Second layer of bread, second scattering of mini chips, poured the egg mixture over and made sure everything got soaked. Then I melted half a stick of butter, mixed in enough brown sugar and cinnamon to make it tasty and give it a syrup-like consistency, and drizzled that over the top, covered it, and stuck it in the fridge overnight.
This morning, I heated the oven to 350, uncovered the casserole dish, and baked it... um... till it was done. Half the time, I forget to set a timer when I bake things, but I basically start paying attention when I can smell it. So I have no idea how long this thing was in the oven, but it was crispy on top and puffy all over and soft and delicious in the middle and damn if I didn't knock this one out of the park.
Lunch was the ham and turkey sandwich I made for lunch yesterday, with some baby carrots and green beans. That was pretty good, too.
Campbell's has come out with a series of sauces that they're selling for slow cookers, skillet dinners, and oven baking. Tonight I tried their slow cooker Tavern Pot Roast. I got two pounds of stew beef (it calls for chuck roast, but stew beef is the same thing, just cut up) and stuck it in the slow cooker, set it on high, and let it roll for two hours.
IT WAS AWESOME.
One of the ingredients is Worcestershire, which I don't care for, but it was still REALLY good. And I have plenty of leftovers. I also had a salad of spring greens and spinach, and no one is more surprised than me to discover that I like raw spinach. Mom says that I loved it as a baby, but I really don't like it the way my mom cooks it -- boiled to death from a frozen package. (Corn and peas are acceptable frozen. Frozen shredded potatoes are also acceptable. Everything else should be fresh.) But raw spinach... that's yum.
I've had nutritionists blanch when I tell them that I like ranch dressing. Nutritionally, it's a nightmare. But I eat it by dipping the tines of my fork into the dressing and then taking a bite of salad. Out of a 2 tablespoon serving, I eat maybe 2 teaspoons, so they get over it. The diabetes educator I saw said I should use Walden Farms dressing (no sugar), but it's thin and tastes funny. I'd rather have a tiny amount of what tastes good than a full serving of crap. I'm not eating it.
And then more of the baked French toast for dessert. 30 seconds in the microwave, a little butter on top... so, SO good.
Tomorrow will be a busy day. I think I'm expected to be at work, but since I wasn't going to even try to clear the driveway till they plowed the street closer than 10 feet from my driveway, which didn't happen till 4:30 this afternoon. So there's still lots to do in the morning. The snow is halfway up the neighbor's garage doors (we share a yard and three bays of the six-car garage are theirs; the other three are mine). I have so little room to put snow of any amount, and I still have to clear snow off of my truck and out of the bed -- I'm tempted to park across the street and shovel it out into the park, where the front end loader put the snow it was scooping off the street.
I'll check my work email one more time before I hit the hay; hopefully we'll at least have a delayed opening.