Tasty Sunday

It only makes sense that since I cleaned the kitchen well yesterday, I should spend a great deal of the day today making a mess, then cleaning again. Just a few observations:

An apple chucked in the bag with the potatoes really does keep them from sprouting. Doesn't do much for the apple, but that's the point.

I love Gooseberry Patch cookbooks. I don't think I've ever made a bad dish from them. But you need to remember that the source of the recipes is reader submissions. While the editors do a much better job than some other of these types of books (I'm looking directly at you, Taste of Home), you do need to be cognizant of that fact.

Then you can be prepared when the yummy chicken-barley crockpot stew you are making needs TWICE as much liquid as the recipe calls for. Good thing I was home, checking on it and stirring every so often, or I would have had a coating of burned barley to scrape out of the crock pot.

As is my wont while in the sewing room, I turned on the television. Not much to see on Sunday afternoon, I didn't have room to set up the laptop and I'm fresh out of unviewed DVDs. But I can always watch (well, listen to) cooking shows. Only it is the Sunday before Ash Wednesday...every single show was one of the New Orleans or "Cajun" chefs. Made me so hungry I pulled out the gumbo cookbook I bought in New Orleans a few years ago.

First you make a roux...

There were a couple of packages of ground turkey in the refrigerator, waiting for me to make room in the freezer. So many of the soup, casserole and crock recipes I have start with "brown the ground (beef) turkey..." I decided to brown it all and freeze it in 1 lb containers. Saves time later, and takes up less freezer room. In the summer, I like to mix up cajun burgers and freeze them in that tupperware hamburger stack thing. Anything to save space and time.

In spite of the activity in the kitchen, I've no clue what to have for dinner. The chicken barley thing is actually meant for lunches for the first few days of the week. Eh, I'll find something...