Slump Update

I did it. I cooked AND baked this weekend. I made a pot of spaghetti and meatballs. Yes, I kept it simple and comforting to ease myself back into the kitchen. Speaking of the kitchen, MJ, my wonderful husband, made going in there worthwhile. You see, while I was cleaning the bathroom, he cleaned the kitchen. That little act of kindness inspired me. I had to cook something special just for him. And yes, spaghetti and meatballs are special because it's one of his favorite things to eat. The sauce was semi-homemade and the meatballs were a Harris-Teeter BOGO special. Hey, I'm a slacker what can I say.

Yesterday, after I finished breakfast, I popped some asian marinated chicken in the oven. I bought a bottle of sauce again from Harris-Teeter. MJ picked it out. After that particular shopping trip, I decided to make pre-emptive strike and toss the marinade and chicken and into a freezer bag for a later meal. I rarely want to sacrifice taste for time. The chicken was absolutely fabulous. I wish now that I could remember which sauce we used. Should have labelled the bag, too. Oh well, maybe next time.

Ah, yes, the baking. Well, a friend asked me to bake three kinds of cookies for her. And I told you that I was going to try the cake balls from Bakerella's site. I'm going to call them cake bites from here on out. It just sounds more appetizing to me. I made oatmeal raisin and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I love it, one recipe, two kinds of cookies. I'm making the third kind tonight. CH loves my molasses cookies. Will whip those up tonight after I prep my crockpot short ribs.

Now, the cake bites were easy to prepare up to the last step. Draping or enrobing them in the white chocolate. I'm like a cat that hates to have its paws wet when it comes to dealing with stick, gooey foods. The easiest way to do these is by hand. And yours truly didn't have any food safe gloves. The directions said to use a spoon for this part. That was taking much too long. I have four dozen frozen naked cake bites in my freezer. I'm looking for an assistant or assistants that don't mind getting melted chocolate all over them. If you're interested, please leave a post.

The slump isn't over yet, but I did have a good time in the kitchen. It helped that I had a clean slate to work with. What makes you feel good about working in your kitchen?