In My Kitchen: December 2014

Photo: crutches ready to go back into storage, hooray!

In my kitchen orderly quiet reigned during the first week of December, unusually quiet for this noisy, active cook who sings aloud, talks to herself and fills the counters with stacks of pots, bowls, cutting boards and assorted ingredients while cooking. Crutches and limited mobility might account for the diminished activity, but I'm on the mend and it is time to get busy again. Does surfing food blogs across the internet count as being productive?... mmmmm, probably not, but it did bring me to Celia's monthly event on Fig Jam and Lime Cordial where food bloggers from around the world invite you into their kitchens for a quick visit and chat. Drop by December's In My Kitchen roundup to see what's happening in these interesting kitchens this month.  

In my kitchen we have been dining on various interchangeable breakfast/dinner items like tacos, omelets and frittatas...

Photo: Egg-topped Kale and Red Pepper Taco

simple soups that enjoy a long simmer on the stovetop and freeze well... 

Photo: Hearty Tuscan Bean and Kale Soup

colorful, plated, main-dish salads loaded with healthy fruits and vegetables and a bit of protein...

Photo: Greens with chicken, feta, blueberries and pomegranate seeds with a sweet vinaigrette

and scads of fruits that double as breakfast or dessert. No new, exciting recipes this week, just familiar favorites that keep us well fed until I recharge my cooking enthusiasm. Holiday baking might be a good starting point... or maybe not. 

Wednesday's brownie baking was an interesting episode, a laughable kitchen semi-disaster. I thought brownies would be an easy dessert to share with a friend invited to join us for dinner and Seattle's annual Christmas Ship parade and caroling at Seward Park. 

Brownies are easy to make, whether from scratch or from a boxed mix, right? I went with a new-to-me box mix, eager to try out a silicone baking pan designed for mini brownies, blondies and bars. The directions on the packaged brownie mix called for lining a baking pan with parchment or foil for easy brownie removal - uh huh, I'll bet you see this one coming. I carefully cut strips of foil to fit inside each cup and extend up the sides, then sprayed each one lightly with cooking spray. This was tedious work and I quit early, leaving 4 mini cups without foil. Gold star for effort, if not for brilliance. 

The brownies looked good, smelled divine, and tested our will power as they sat cooling on a baking rack. Next they tested my patience as they clung to each square cup in the silicone baking pan. The 4 brownies without foil wrappers broke apart into large, layered chunks; tasty but not pretty. The brownies with foil stubbornly clung to both silicone and foil. It took long minutes of grumpy muttering, picking away with knife and fingernails, for the cook to separate food from foil. In the end we piled brownie bits in bowls and covered them with whipped cream for a dessert-with-a-story, a funny memory to share among friends. 

In my kitchen you will find a barely used silicone mini brownie pan looking for a new home. Would anyone like to adopt it?