Crustless Quiche with Sweet Potato and Kale

Sweet potatoes and kale are just made for each other, in my opinion.  The contrast of the soft, sweet, orange spud with the toothsome, slightly bitter, dark-green kale is gorgeous, delicious, and nutritious.  I love baked sweet potatoes stuffed with sautéed kale and white beans, a couple of poached eggs with roasted sweet potatoes and sautéed kale for breakfast, and most recently, quiche loaded with cubes of sweet potato and ribbons of kale!  And what could be a more perfect contrast to the sweet and bitter notes in sweet potatoes and kale than tangy, creamy goat cheese?  I can't think of a better trio.

I decided to eighty-six the crust this go 'round, so I could enjoy a heartier portion with fewer calories. (Still a slave to MyFitnessPal.)  However, this quiche would also be delicious in your favorite homemade or store-bought pastry crust, and stands up especially well to the more robust flavors and textures found in a whole-wheat crust.  Enjoy!

Crustless Quiche with Sweet Potato and Kale

serves 4

Ingredients:

1 small to medium sweet potato

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 bunch kale, stemmed and finely chopped

salt, pepper, ground nutmeg, and cayenne pepper

4 large eggs

3/4 cup half-and-half (whole milk works, too)

6 ounces goat cheese

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  Peel, cube, and dice the sweet potato.  Toss with a bit of olive oil or spray with cooking spray, season with salt and pepper, and roast the sweet potato on a parchment-lined baking sheet until tender and beginning to brown, about 20 minutes.  Cool.

2. Turn the oven temperature down to 375.  Grease and flour a pie plate.

3. Saute the onion in a bit of olive oil or cooking spray until the onion is translucent; add the kale and continue sautéing until the kale is tender and most of the water in the kale has cooked off.  Cool.

4. Whisk together the eggs, half and half, a hefty pinch of salt, a few cranks of freshly ground pepper, and dashes of nutmeg and cayenne.  Fold in the cooled sweet potato and kale-onion mixture.  Roughly crumble the goat cheese, and fold into the egg mixture.

5. Pour the quiche into the prepared pie plate and bake for about 40 minutes, or until completely set in the center and beginning to brown on top.  Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Note:

Quiche keeps well and reheats beautifully.

What are your favorite things to add to quiche?  I am always looking for new combinations to try!

400-calorie dinners (v)

I had the opportunity to travel to Seattle last week for training for work -- so much fun!  I had a chance to eat at Veggie Grill three times, (it was a block away from my hotel, and well, there were so many things on the menu I wanted to try!) at Chaco Canyon with Victoria and Brent, (isn't meeting fellow bloggers you've "known" for years so much fun!), and at Chutney's Bistro with my friend Christine!  Add on the hotel breakfast daily, and a "Snowball" from Trophy Cupcakes and well, it was a tasty trip.  :)

(Victoria, what was the name of the ice cream place we went to after dinner?)

Needless to say, I wasn't counting calories while I was away.  I rarely travel, so I figured I'd give myself a vacation from that, too!  I could see how hard it would be to eat healthfully for frequent travelers, though!

Now that I'm home, I'm back at it!  Three more 400-calorie dinners for you today . . .

MORE pizza:

Half whole-wheat Artisan Bread in 5 crust, topped with olive oil, minced garlic, an entire 10-oz package of frozen spinach, dried tomatoes from last summer's garden, part-skim mozzarella, and feta.   Popeye would be jealous, vampires would run screaming.  :)  216 calories per slice!

The classic soup-n-sandwich:

Creamy Tomato-Basil Bisque, with a half grilled-cheese on the side.  332 calories as-is, (sandwich made using one slice of whole-wheat bread and an ounce of sharp cheddar, cooked in cooking spray,) or you could increase your sandwich portion to a full-size if you were looking for a larger meal.

And, my new favorite meal:

Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Leeks and Sausage.  I used two links of leftover homemade kielbasa instead of the suggested Italian pork sausage; super-delicious!  I had a feeling these stuffed sweets were going to be delicious, but I had no idea they would be quite so . . . incredible.  Creamy, sweet, savory, cheesy, hearty, and filling, but still a calorie bargain at 265 calories per potato half.  Add a huge side salad for a light supper, or enjoy two potato halves for a heartier supper.

~~~~~~~~~~

Do you try to eat healthfully when you travel, or do you indulge more?

atop brown rice

Most weeks, I spend some time over the weekend prepping meals/ingredients for the coming week, and last weekend was no exception!  I ended up cooking up three cups (dry) of brown rice for our meals this week, and it wasn't even enough!  Ha!  We stuffed some of that rice into burritos, and had the following two meals:

"Mapo Tofu," from New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant:

While this was a good, quick, easy to prepare weeknight stir-fry, (especially when I prepped all of the veggies and sauce ingredients ahead of time,) the flavor was a little . . . strange.  John exclaimed immediately how tangy the sauce was, and I tended to agree.  :(  Personally, I like my homemade stir-fry sauce better, so I guess we'll be sticking with that one!  However, this was a perfectly acceptable meal.

Coconut Curry:

I don't use a recipe for this meal -- just fry up some tempeh or tofu, add veggies, a couple tablespoons curry paste, a tablespoon each sugar and tamari, and add a can of coconut milk.  Rich, flavorful, and delicious!  This week, I used tempeh, sweet potato, red onion, and green beans.  I'm not always a huge fan of leftovers, but this meal improved with time -- bonus.  John wasn't sure about the sweet potato in a Thai-style curry, but I love it!

~~~~~~~~~~

I'm really thrilled about this three-day weekend, although it's raining this morning.  John and I have some errands to run, lots of gardening to do, and a camping trip to prepare for!!!  I can't WAIT to go camping!  What are you looking forward to this holiday weekend?

soup and bread

If you ask me, one of the best, simplest suppers around, especially during the fall and winter, would be soup and bread.  Soup and bread is one of those meals that can be virtuously healthy or rich and comforting, depending on your particular soup and bread chosen, and always yields plenty of leftovers for midweek lunches.  :)

Sunday, I chose a virtuously healthy soup, and paired it with a rich and comforting muffin for, in my opinion, a nicely balanced supper.  :)

Smoky Split Pea Soup, from Vegetarian Times:
















I love the sweet-spiciness of this soup, and also that I was able to use up quite a few pantry ingredients!  My split peas were likely past their prime, so they didn't soften as much as I would have liked them to, but the soup was still excellent.  We had our fill on Sunday night, and then ended up with enough soup leftover for four lunches this week.  Score.

On the side, Cheese Muffins, from The Pioneer Woman:

Admittedly, I've never made this recipe as written.  The original recipe calls for THREE CUPS of shredded colby-jack cheese.  Part of me just can't handle adding that much cheese to a muffin recipe, part of me just can't afford to add that much cheese to a muffin recipe.  :)  So, I cut the cheese down to 2 cups (still decadent,) use a more assertive cheese (usually sharp cheddar,) and add a cup of thinly sliced green onions.  Deeeeeeelicious!

What is your favorite soup and bread combination?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I think Thanksgiving might be my favorite holiday.  The perfect excuse to have an all-out cooking and eating extravaganza!

This year was no exception . . .

BREAKFAST:

Light and simple, and easy to make ahead.  Not that I didn't want to spend my day cooking on Thanksgiving; rather, I didn't want to spend my day washing dishes!  I did much of the prep in advance, which was a very smart idea, in my opinion.  We enjoyed Pumpkin Muffins (using my favorite baking ingredient . . . buttermilk!) and a beautiful fruit salad with some fresh mint from the garden for breakfast.  I used half whole-wheat flour in the muffins to increase their nutritional value a little bit; otherwise followed the recipe as written.  These muffins are FANTASTIC!  They call for very little oil, yet are moist and tender from the pumpkin and buttermilk.

LUNCH:

I decided we'd snack on a variety of appetizers for lunch, as we were possibly expecting company and didn't know what time they would show up . . .

Brie topped with Double Cranberry Chutney . . . so delicious!  I always want to make cranberry for Thanksgiving, but always end up with a huge amount of it leftover and never know quite what to serve it with.  This was perfect!

Deviled Eggs!

Veggies!  (With hummus, not pictured)

Spanakopita Triangles:

Using Ali's recipe as inspiration, I ended up simplifying a little bit . . . used one egg, one package of spinach, feta, juice and zest of half a lemon, and a little salt and pepper for the filling.  Perfect!  Now, what to do with all that leftover filo?

DINNER:

The big feast!  I really wanted to make everything, but I didn't want TONS of leftovers, (since I was likely cooking for just John and I,) so I selected my recipes, cut them in half (or sometimes in quarter,) and made most everything in 8-inch loaf pans.  Bonus feature?  Our entire dinner fit in the oven at once, even though John only has one rack in his oven!  Woo-hoo!

(P.S. I made everything, except for the mashed potatoes and gravy, in advance, covered the unbaked things with foil, and froze.  Everything thawed and baked up beautifully!)

Spiced Sweet Potato Casserole:

One of the most important parts of Thanksgiving dinner, in my opinion.  :)  I love, love, love this version from Cooking Light -- it is subtle in its spiciness, just sweet enough (although I do cut down the sugar to 1/4 cup in the full-size recipe,) and lively from the orange juice concentrate.

Creamy Corn Pudding:

This pudding may join the ranks with sweet potato casserole and compete for most important role!  We always had some kind of corn pudding in my family for Thanksgiving, and even though most people don't think to add it to their Thanksgiving repertoire, I want to keep a bit true to my heritage, ya know? This recipe is INCREDIBLE.  (With all that butter and heavy cream, why not?)  ;)  Slightly sweet, creamy and comforting, like a softer, smoother cornbread.  Mmmmmm.

Mashed potatoes and gravy:

I mashed my local yellow potatoes with garlic, butter, buttermilk, chives, salt, and pepper.  They were so flavorful on their own, they almost didn't need gravy!  (I said this to John, and he replied, "no, no, no."  Ha!)  A big batch of mushroom gravy on the side -- 2 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp olive oil, plenty of sliced mushrooms, 1/4 cup flour, 2 tsp soy sauce, and 2 cups mushroom broth.  Simple and VERY delicious.  A perfect vegetarian gravy, in my opinion!

Caramelized Onion and Herb Stuffing:

This has been a repeat my last several Thanksgivings, for a couple of reasons . . . first, it is super-delicious and super-easy, but most importantly, no sage!  I don't care much for sage, especially in stuffing, and it's hard to find a recipe without it.  This recipe is a keeper for me!

Creamed Spinach Casserole:

A new recipe this year, and a good one -- both John and I love spinach, and this was a simple casserole to prepare in advance.  Rich but not heavy, and a beautiful burst of intense dark green on the plate!  (I switched out the traditional cheddar for white cheddar in my version, otherwise prepared the recipe as written.)

Nutloaf:

This may be the best vegetarian entree for holiday meals EVER.  Rich, filling, and "meaty," delicious on its own, smothered in gravy, dolloped with cranberry chutney, or leftover on a sandwich with ketchup.  :)

My plate:

And don't forget about dessert!

John requested pecan pie this year, and although it's not my favorite, I was happy to oblige.  I tried this recipe from Real Simple, and although I generally find pecan pie too sweet, both John and his roommate were happy gobbling down slices.  They reported it was lighter and less dense than many pecan pies they have had, and his roommate stated it was the best she's ever tried!  Score!

Hope you had a wonderful holiday and enjoyed some time off from work with important people.  Now, I better get started planning my Christmas cookie baking!  ;)

cleaning out my cupboards

I have been on a mission recently -- a mission to clean out my freezer and cupboards. I'm not entirely certain as to why I'm on a roll in this department -- maybe I want to get stuff cleared out before the intense heat of summer, when things go bad faster and I don't cook much? I bet that's it. Anyhow, I emptied out my jar of wild rice earlier this week, and made headway towards clearing out my stash of green split peas tonight:

Smoky Split Pea Soup is, in my opinion, the ONLY thing to do with split peas. So, so delicious. But maybe I'm wrong? Any other stellar split pea recipes out there?

weekend food recap

I'm lacking creativity this morning; I apologize for the bland and uninteresting post title. (My cat hates me, I think. I am so sleep-deprived!) Anyhow, I demonstrated much more creativity when meal-planning and cooking last weekend:

After a long, chilly, beautiful hike along the St. Croix on Saturday afternoon, a filling, speedy, delicious dinner was in order:

Breakfast burritos also make an excellent dinner! Sprouted tortillas stuffed with refried beans, cheese, hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, salsa, guacamole, and sour cream. Delicious.

Lunch Sunday was supposed to be dinner Saturday night, but we swapped meals due to hunger and speed of preparation. The lasagna was just as good the next day!

Whole-wheat noodles, homemade sauce, and a three cheese/spinach/artichoke filling became much more than the sum of its parts!

Dinner Sunday night was quick, easy, delicious, and consumed on the couch in front of a movie:

"Indonesian Sweet Potato and Cabbage Soup," from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers. I love the sweet/salty/spicy/creamy/rich flavors in this soup so much!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend, too! (Although it really feels like a long time ago at this point . . . !)

recap of the week

Sorry for the long absence . . . it has been one hell of a long, stressful week. And now we are allegedly going to get over a foot of snow today! Boo-hoo. (I wouldn't care, except that I have PLANS, people! Drat.)

OK, enough complaining. Even though I still kind of feel like a crazy person, I did manage to cook/bake a little bit this week! Results:

First, it's been so long since we've done something for the bake-a-long, I thought it about time for some bread!

Even though I've made the "Broa" before, (page 82,) I was more than happy to make it again. I love the subtle flavor the cornmeal brings to the loaf, and the wonderful, crispy crust against the slightly dense, chewy bread. I heart bread!

Bread goes so well with soup, doesn't it?

Melody had requested I make my "Sweet Potato-Coconut Curry Soup" and post about it again, and I was happy to oblige! Years ago, when I still thought I was writing a cookbook, this was one of my recipes I was proudest of -- but it's amazing how our tastes change, isn't it? As I was reviewing the recipe, I had several thoughts about the recipe, and made a few subtle changes as I went along. Here's the revised list of ingredients -- I figure most can figure out how to make soup, so I'm not going to post directions. This can be done either in a soup pot or Crock Pot, depending on your preference and time available! Here are the ingredients:
2 teaspoons canola or coconut oil
2 cups chopped onion
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon curry paste (I usually use red, but whatever you have on hand should be fine!)
3 to 4 cups vegetable broth
4 heaping cups peeled, cubed sweet potato
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt (depending on how salty your broth is)
1 15-ounce can full-fat coconut milk
minced fresh cilantro (for garnish)

I also managed to make some stir-fry the other night:

Tempeh, red bell pepper, sweet potato, red onion, broccoli, and some mixed mushrooms combined for a delightful topping for some plain brown rice. I kept this one fairly simple, and appreciated the hefty dose of veggies, whole grains, and healthy protein.

Happy weekend, all!

appetizer, dinner, dessert!

(UPDATE: I'm joining along with Vegan MoFo this year! Woo! All of the flurry and excitement got to me, and well, why not, right? Although we're not strictly vegan at our house, this will encourage me to make many more vegan meals this month -- and to blog a bunch more, too! App/Dinner/Dessert was 2/3 vegan last night -- ignore the traditional pudding, please!) :)

Munched on a few of these . . .

(Although I saved the above for Dan, since pumpkin seeds are his FAVORITE,)

While making this . . .

("Indonesian Sweet Potato and Cabbage Soup," from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers,)

And will enjoy this in a minute . . .

(Homemade chocolate-vanilla swirl pudding . . . and no, I'm not superwoman. I made the pudding yesterday!)

Off to bed early tonight . . . I sense a cold coming on. GRRRRR!

TREATS.

A few treats to share . . . !

Dan's parents brought us a couple of treats from their extended stay in South Carolina this spring:

Hel-LO sweet potato butter! I tried really hard to convince myself to wait on opening this jar, since we have 3 or so jars of homemade jam/apple butter littering up our fridge right now. I made it about a day and a half, before I finally cracked the seal:

Oh my. SO good. (The other piece of toast has homemade raspberry jam -- we haven't opened the mango pepper jelly yet.) I want to eat about 15 pieces of toast with sweet potato butter right now, but I'm full from dinner. Thanks for the treat, Pat and Sandy!

Speaking of dinner . . .

OH YES. Courtney and I went to Costco this afternoon, and I procured a package of four GIANT artichokes! MMMMMM. Also included in the meal were sauteed morels and asparagus, over local lemon-pepper fettucine. (There were some shallots, thyme, and parsley in there as well!) This was one treat of a dinner.

And dessert?

Organic strawberries from California, conventional blackberries from Mexico, but well, sometimes it's hard to resist beautiful berries! (And I couldn't BELIEVE the price on the blackberries at Costco!) I piled my berries over a scoop of vanilla ice cream; Dan ate his straight up. Deeeeeeeeelicious!

Vermont Cheddar Bread

I'm really enjoying this bake-a-long that Victoria, Crystal, and I are busy with! It's been a very casual, fun, and low-pressure way to try out a bunch of new bread recipes.

Like . . . last night's Vermont Cheddar Rolls:

Oh, so yum! Still warm from the oven and slathered with butter, these were just about the best thing in the whole wide world. The dough might even need more cheese next time . . . :)

Served the rolls alongside . . .

"Smoky Split Pea Soup," from the most recent issue of Vegetarian Times. Pretty quick and easy for a weeknight, given I used split peas from the co-op, (high turnover means quicker cooking times, I've found,) and dang tasty, too! I especially enjoyed the sweet potato instead of the more traditional carrot -- I love sweet potatoes, and don't love carrots! Isn't that weird?

Tonight, I wanted even faster, less-complicated fare:

Pasta and salad never fail to satisfy.

AND NOW . . . I need your help! I have been dealing with a monster mac and cheese craving for days now . . . I'm talking, instant mac-in-a-box type craving! I might try making some stovetop mac from scratch this weekend -- anyone have a good recipe they love?? Please share!

orange food, woe is Flickr

Three of our four meals this week included some sort of orange vegetable . . . amazing! And tasty!

"Roasted Pumpkin-Apple Soup," from the most recent edition of Eating Well:


Tofu Mom's Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Buttered Chard:


Pasta and salad:


And "Acorn Squash Stuffed with Chard and White Beans," also from Eating Well:


~~~~~~~~~~

In other news, Flickr has started to "mess" with me. Grr. I have a mac, and one of the lovely things about Macintosh computers is that often all you have to do with anything is "drag and drop." I used to be able to drag and drop my photos into my blog posts . . . no longer. Now, Flickr thinks I want to add a title or some dumb thing when I click on images! Drat. No more drag and drop for me, and I can't figure out how to copy and paste the dang images, either. So, I upload directly through blogger now, which is more complicated than I originally thought. AAAAAA! Wish me luck!

i so sick.

Hey, folks -- sorry for the extreme delay in posting and general lack of food photography here this past week! I, of course, have a lame excuse -- after a whirlwind weekend including hiking, biking, eating out THREE times, a "cleansing" juice from the co-op while shopping, and movie theater popcorn, (which I blame fully for the following,) I am mighty sick today -- like, up half the night in the bathroom sick. Ugh. Fortunately, I've been keeping food down just fine since the sun came up, and I'll be back to work tomorrow.

I do, however, have a backlog of some eats and treats that I discovered on my camera! Woo! Some food to show you!

A wonderful, summery dinner:

I made Melody's All-American Burgers, stuck them in a bun with some Vegenaise, lettuce, heirloom tomato, and sliced avocado, and served oven-roasted sweet corn and sweet potato fries on the side. If I had an appetite right now, I'd be wishing I had one of these! In my humble opinion, these are the BEST VEGGIE BURGERS I've ever had, storebought or homemade. Thanks, Mel, for sharing your recipe!

Anybody else gorging themselves on heirloom tomatoes lately?

Homemade pizza topped with caramelized onions, heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, olives, and a sprinkling of Italian seasoning. YUM. Oh, by the way -- those beets on that salad? They are from my dad's garden -- thanks, Dad!

Cake-n-Ice-Cream:

The cake is called "Reduced-Guilt Chocolate Brownie Cake," and I believe the recipe came from Nava Atlas. A cinch to prepare, moist, and delicious! I'm deeply saddened that we lost THREE-QUARTERS of this cake to the "fuzz," though. I'll make room in the fridge next time!

Applesauce-making:

Yes, I confess . . . I am the biggest dork . . . EVER. Alton Brown would shun me for owning this unitasker, but hey, I live in MN, and when it's apple season, I don't want to spend hours over the garbage can with a peeler! So there. Chunky, slightly sweet, slightly cinnamony applesauce came in handy today with my touchy tummy.

Last, but not least, MORE heirlooms:

But really, what else does one need this time of year???

as requested . . .

I received a couple of email requests for my sweet potato soup recipe. Here 'tis:

Sweet Potato Coconut Curry Soup
YIELD: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS:
1 teaspoon light cooking oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 to 1 teaspoon red curry paste (hot, or really freakin’ hot – you pick!)
2 cups vegetable broth
2 heaping cups peeled sweet potato, diced small (about 2 small ones)
1/8 teaspoon salt (or a little more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup light coconut milk
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS:
1. Saute the onion in the oil over medium heat until the onion is nice and soft. Add the red curry paste, and continue cooking 1 minute. Add the vegetable broth, sweet potato, salt, and ginger, and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat, cover the soup, and simmer it 10 to 15 minutes, or until the sweet potato is tender. (It should fall off a fork when pierced and lifted out of the soup!)
2. Transfer the soup to your blender. Process the soup in batches until it is fully pureed. (Pull the stopper out of the blender top and cover the hole with a folded towel while you are blending the soup to allow steam to escape.) (You can alternately puree the soup using a hand blender directly in the pan.)
3. Return the soup to the pan. Stir in the coconut milk and cilantro. Heat the soup through on low.

soup, salad, sandwich

I've got a great boyfriend.

Why? Well, after the long, cool, dreary, rainy day we had yesterday, I found myself at home immediately after work, craving a grilled cheese sandwich. Dan called about two seconds after I walked in the door, letting me know he was on his way over. (We had planned to have a low-key Tuesday night "date" last night. I was going to cook, and that was about it.) Despite the monsoon-like downpour conditions outside, Dan was happy to stop and pick up bread and cheese so I could feed that craving!

And not just any bread and cheese -- 100% whole-wheat bread, and local Monterey Jack cheese. Yay Dan.

While Dan was battling the rain, I made my sweet potato coconut curry soup, and a quick side salad topped with roasted candy-stripe beets, local goat cheese, balsamic vinegar, and a drizzle of olive oil:

The sandwich was cheesy, crispy, and ever-so slightly greasy, the soup was sweet and spicy, and the salad was clean, crisp, and earthy from those beets. Lots of flavors and textures -- a great soup, salad, sandwich kind of dinner!

lazy Sunday's FLOG

As of 3:30 pm today, I still haven't left the house!!! Ha. That's what I call one helluva lazy Sunday!

BREAKFAST:

A cup of black coffee and a watermelon Naked juice. Dan went out to buy the New York Times this morning, and brought this back for me as a treat. Yum! A fluid-rich breakfast, for certain. :)

LUNCH:

I made Black Bean & Chipotle Soup, the recipe for which I found here. This was some damn tasty soup! I followed the recipe pretty much as written, using dried beans cooked from scratch, a can of crushed fire-roasted tomatoes, and 1 teaspoon salt as my "salt to taste" addition. Garnished the soup with some chopped cilantro, diced avocado, and a dollop of local, organic, low-fat sour cream, with blue corn tortilla chips on the side. Mmmmmmmm.......!!! Perfect early fall food!

MIDAFTERNOON SNACK:
a cup of red tea, my multivitamin, and

The rest of the figs! They ripen SO quickly! I'm a little bummed that they are gone already. Sad face :(

DINNER:

I made Sweet Potato & Red Pepper Pasta, from a recent issue of Eating Well magazine. This recipe is definitely a keeper -- slightly sweet, slightly creamy, and extremely delicious! Dan helped quite a bit with the prep for this dish by peeling and shredding sweet potato, washing spinach, crumbling goat cheese, lots of stirring, etc. He is definitely my favorite prep cook! (And my favorite trash-taker-outer, and my favorite floor sweeper, and my favorite stove scrubber . . . he's been a helpful guy this weekend!)

EARLY EVENING:
a cup of red tea sweetened with honey

LATER:
approximately three cookies (two baked, plus a few bites of dough snuck from the bowl)

~~~~~~~~~~

I think I'm going to bake yet tonight. I have an experimental cookie idea forming in my head as I type . . . more later!