Well, WE Liked It, Okay?

Here is what we had for dinner last night:

Holy Kale and Ravioli With Stuff On

Break up your kale, discarding the tough stems. Charlie likes the tough stems, but I don’t, and he’s old enough to know you don’t always get what you want in this sad old world. Put your kale in enough salted water to cover and boil the hell out of it.

Meanwhile, cook frozen ravioli according to directions.

MEANWHILE, heat pre-cooked bacon and chicken until hot. If I had had some mushrooms, I would totally have cooked some in a dry non-stick skillet until they were browned and toasty.

Drain the ravioli, dress it with garlic-infused olive oil, salt & pepper, top with meat (and mushrooms, if you got ’em). Remove some of the kale with a slotted spoon and nestle it next to the ravioli. SAVE THE KALE WATER AND ANY EXTRA KALE FOR SOUP.

Sprinkle everything with shredded mixed Italian cheeses.

For dessert, we had this:

Well, I had this. Charlie had this minus the topping. This is an old family (my family) dessert, kinda sorta.

Cottage Cheese and Fruit

Put cottage cheese in a little bowl. Top with fresh or canned fruit or with jelly/jam/preserves. Charlie and I like raspberry-flavored peaches. That’s it, for Charlie. My family and I top it with a dollop of mayonnaise. YES, I DID–I SAID MAYONNAISE.

Now I have to get ready to leave–going to Louisville to have lunch with Jane.

MA

Writing prompt: Give one of your characters an Old Family Dish that makes other people go ewwwww!

Still Not A Vegetarian lalala I Can’t Hear You

Charlie and I had smoked vegetables last night, made in my new stove-top smoker. Used alder chips, as recommended by the cookbook that came with the smoker. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, celery and onions. Wish the onion had been a sweet one and that I had had a nice fresh green or red pepper, but alas I did not.

I tossed the raw veggies (cut up into strips and cubes and rounds) with garlic-infused olive oil and Jane’s Crazy Mixed-Up Salt, which we LOVE, and smoked them on medium for about an hour. They turned out just the way we like them, with the potatoes tender and moist and the celery and carrots just the teeniest bit still crunchy. Didn’t taste “smokey”, but subtly infused with something other than usual. Charlie’s verdict, “Goes down easy,” which is an encomium, coming from him. (For those without a dictionary, an encomium is a good thing not a bad thing.)

For dessert, we had cottage cheese topped with raspberry-flavored peaches (from a can, yes, from a can). I also added to mine a dollop of mayonnaise. (Yeah, go on, say EWWWWWWW! Got it out of your system? Good.)

Wrist much better, still haven’t heard on the x-rays–they haven’t been sent to my doctor yet. The scratches on my leg are requiring anti-biotics–and, no, you don’t have to skip the blog for the next week, I will NOT be posting pictures of the Grievous Wounds. I was hoping to have some brilliant bruising to add color to my life, but so far no good.

Happy Epiphany! Today is when some Christians celebrate the arrival of the Three Wise Men in Bethlehem. Also celebrates (Epiphany means “enlightenment”) the coming of salvation to the Gentiles through the birth of the Christ and the Gentiles’ recognition of him (in the persons of the Mages). This is also the 12th Day of Christmas, when we can all celebrate the fact that we do not, in fact, have twelve drummers drumming, eleven pipers piping….

MA

Writing prompt: Your character decides to leave the artificial Christmas tree up all year. Does he/she do it? Why or why not? Decorated or undecorated or redecorated every month?