typical weekend kitchen projects

Here's a peek at some of my typical weekend kitchen projects . . .

Bread:

The last of the Artisan Bread oatmeal dough, this time stuffed full of cinnamon-sugar, walnuts, and dried cranberries. As soon as this loaf cooled, I stuck it in the freezer until we finish up the half-loaf of bread currently on our counter.

Granola:

I added dried blueberries and cranberries to this once cooled.

Using up random, dying produce:

We bought some pears last week at the co-op, and they were TERRIBLE -- starchy, mealy, and just plain gross. So I peeled them, diced them, and cooked them up (with a couple of aging apples, too,) added a teaspoon or two of sugar, a few dashes of Penzey's baking spice, and voila -- apple-pear sauce.

Pre-prep for coming meals this week:

Shredded cheeses:

Smoked mozzarella, for pizza, and sharp cheddar, to top chili.

Yogurt-Tahini sauce:

(We're having falafel for dinner tonight.)

Kale:

Washing, stemming, and chopping greens on the weekends saves SO much time during the week, when we're trying to get dinner on the table quickly!

More bread dough:

Half-whole wheat this time, for pita later today, and pizza crust later this week.

Tabouli:

To accompany our falafel later today!

I'm also planning on pad thai for lunch, and I'll prep the whole lot of ingredients, (since the recipe yields two huge batches,) bag them up in the fridge in the different stages of frying-up, and then I'll have yet another meal nearly ready to go! Woo!