Randomness

We didn't drink hot chocolate when I was a kid. We would drink things like carob milk or molasses milk, and I still love them but seldom make them. I've been saving my almost empty molasses jars for a cool morning when I had milk, so I enjoyed some molasses milk the other day. So good!

A friend loaded us up with abundance from her garden, including yellow pear tomatoes (which I consumed before she finished picking everything), kale, rosemary, squash, and more. It was such a nice treat. I thanked her with pears and pear and apple cores for her compost.

I'm doing cooking lessons with an 11-year-old girl from church. The first week we made biscuits, the second week I let her pick a dessert from my 30-minute cookbook. I regretted that decision, because it meant I had to buy things I wouldn't normally buy, like a roll of cookie dough that wasn't even on sale. Ugh. I'm helping her learn basics like reading a recipe, how to measure flour, and cleaning up as you go. Anyway, this is her chocolate chip cookie pizza. We'll go back to dinner basics now, and use things that are in her pantry.

I finally tried making quinoa! I found a book at the library that had tons of recipes and made it seem very easy. It was easy. I cooked it in some frozen broth that I think was ham, so I'm not sure of how it would taste alone. It's definitely not Nathan's new favorite.

I also tried making barley as a side dish, with the rest of the broth and herbs, to go with grilled chicken and veggies. Nathan said it was decent and he would eat it again. We don't have rice currently and I'm trying to use what's in my cupboards. The chicken was marinated in salad dressings that Sarah bought and didn't like, since I got on a use-it-up kick. My use-it-up adventures don't always fare so well, as you'll see in tomorrow's bread recipe.