back in the saddle again!

It's been sooooooo long since I've really cooked much of anything, and getting back into the kitchen yesterday was AWESOME! I made a couple of wonderful meals for Dan and I, and also cooked up a TON of chickpeas in the Crock Pot, deciding at the last minute to turn half of them into hummus. Yum! Hot beans really do blend up creamier, don't they?

Anyhow, here's the rest of the food I made!

First, while cleaning out the fridge, I discovered a half package of corn tortillas . . . from before Christmas! I figured I better do something with them ASAP, before they dried out too much and/or got moldy. Homemade baked tortilla chips it was!

What better to serve them with, than a little homemade guacamole?

Even though lunch yesterday didn't require much actual "cooking" on my part, it was absolutely delicious!

Having a stash of homemade tamales in the freezer for low-effort meals is awesome! Even though they take an hour plus in the steamer, it frees me up to get other stuff done around the house. Woo!

I had been talking with my friend Christine on Saturday, and somehow, we both got on to the subject of how much we both love olive bread. I had to take care of that craving ASAP!

I used the "Olive Oil Dough" from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and made a deeeeeelicious loaf of olive bread:

Yes, I did add butter at the table, too! :)

To go with the bread? Some wild rice soup!

I follow this recipe from Eating Well, with a few modifications -- I use veggie broth and omit the turkey, increase the celery and carrots to 1 full cup, increase the mushrooms to 3 cups, and cook up 3/4 cup regular dry wild rice to add to the soup. It's sooooooooo good!

Dessert was something special, too!


I. Love. Pie. (Blueberries were from the summer, still in my freezer!) YUM.