Winter blahs.

The winter blahs have hit me early this year. I'm not sure what the deal is. It's not that cold, the weather hasn't been awful (although it is supposedly going to snow next week). It's been dark, but no darker than usual for this time of year.

Blech. I hate feeling this way.

The N-boy and I kicked it old school last night with a comfort food dinner of Kraft Mac n Cheese. Yes, name brand even. Growing up this was one of the meals that Daddo would make for me and BabyBrother when he was left in charge of our feeding for a night. One time he tried to substitute store brand for the tried and true Kraft and was called out on the first bite. I like think this means BabyBrother and I have exceptional and epicurean taste buds. But it probably just means we ate too much boxed mac and cheese.

Weekend Recap.

The N-boy and I had a pretty busy, although low key, weekend. We spent some time with friends, some out and about, and some at home.

Saturday.

Art Beat 2012.

Trip to Sonic.

 Prototyping a new crafting idea.

Going to see Magic Mike. Again. 

Sunday.

Processing eggplants from the garden into Eggplant Parmesan. 

Basting hexagons. 

Working on more prototypes. 

Unpictured: a very sweaty six mile walk with the N-boy on Sunday morning, and all the time he logged playing Minecraft with his brothers on his new XBOX 360 that was a birthday and Christmas present from the boys. 

How was your weekend?

The Magic Chicken.

We picked up a whole, raw chicken at the Farmer's Market last weekend from our favorite poulterer: Hiatt's Poultry (can I just say how much I love that "poulterer" is a real and legitimate word). This is pretty much the only place we buy poultry now, and is where we always get the turkey for Thanksgiving. It's local, it's fresh and it's antibiotic free. This chicken was magical.

Mr. Chicken had no chance when up against the N-boy. 

Meal One: Roasted Chicken with a rub of Penzey's Spices.

Meal Two: Chicken Salad with Pecans and Craisins.

Meal Three: Chicken Vegetable Soup-chicken stock from boiling the carcass. 

We ended up eating the soup for several meals and putting three individual sized containers into the freezer. This is definitely the best we've ever done with making use of the whole chicken, and I'm really happy with how well everything turned out. 

Adventures in Canning: Pints of Pickled Peppers.

As mentioned in the previous post, our garden has provided a bountiful supply of banana peppers. So far we'd just been grilling them (which was quite tasty), but the N-boy suggested that we try pickling and canning them (of course, pickled banana peppers is one of his favorite foods-go figure). Although I did canning last year, I was HIGHLY supervised by a friend who was teaching a few of us how to can. Needless to say, I was a little anxious about attempting this adventure on our own and creating a product that won't give anyone food poisoning. I did lots of reading ahead of time in a couple of books and online to make sure I still remembered the basics. 

We prepared the peppers by slicing them into rings and deseeding them. 

The N-boy hard at work.

All ready for the brine solution! The darker jar is a batch of jalapenos from the Farmer's Market.

Into the canning bath they go.

Tada! Five jars total! And they all sealed! 

Although we haven't tried them yet, they all look great. We heard the ping of sealing happiness when they came out of the boiling water and they all tested fine the next day. Can't wait to give them a try!

Last Meal.

The N-boy comes home tomorrow after ten months of dissertation research in provincial Russia. I get a lot of people asking me why I didn't go with him. Just read that first sentence again one more time: "ten months of dissertation research in provincial Russia." I love my husband and I love Russia, but that would not have worked for either of us.

So instead I've been at home with the cats. The N-boy does most of the cooking in our house, so his absence has been a challenge for me in terms of eating. I lost about 13 pounds the first month he was gone. My weight has gone back up some, but meals are probably one of the hardest things I've had to deal with in theses ten months of living by myself.

I've eaten a lot of cereal. And frozen waffles. And bagels. And my personal favorite, pizza rolls. Purchased 150 at a time from Sam's Club, I just opened opened my fourth and final bag of 70 little pieces of happiness. Or at least of calories.

I know this won't last after he gets home. Oh sure, it'll be nice to have home cooked meals again, but I'll sure miss my little pizza rolls.

And lest the Momcat worries, don't fret; I had a salad with dinner, too.

Pancakes!

 Last week when the parentals were here I was whining about how I miss the N-boy making pancakes on the weekend. The momcats solution: pancake mix! Duh! So today I made pancakes all by myself for the first time ever. I even added more blueberries for extra festiveness. Yum!