food-ing frenzy

Got home midday Thursday and threw myself into a WHIRLWIND of productivity.

I took pictures in the order they happened, so bear with me here.

Step 1: muffin prep. Obviously. It had been WEEKS since I made muffins. You knew this was coming. As this was clean-out-the-fridge muffins, I have no recipes.

I used the last of the Not Sweet Vanilla Galaxy Granola (which I’ve decided is too bland to eat on its own) and soaked it in milk (a la the berry granola muffins I made the other week).

I also got some ground flax soakin’ in some water to make flax eggs. Cause I’ve decided farmer’s market eggs are too delicious to mix into baked goods. Don’t try to understand my logic. Just accept it.

Then it was roastin’ time. I think all the “OH MY GAWD I DON’T WANT TO TURN ON MY OVEN IN THE SUMMER” stuff is a bit overblown. We no longer live in the era of wood burning ovens.

However, should one feel that way it is another reason to love the countertop oven. And it’s such an energy sipper!

Vaguely inspired by an Eating Well recipe for roasted tomato soup, I drizzled 3 chopped tomatoes and some sweet onion and two garlic cloves with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and stuck ‘em in a 400 degree oven for half an hour.

That plus leftovers made up Thursday dinner. Bam.

Work lunch for Friday and Saturday. The star?

Quinoa! I just noticed that this quinoa, which we bought at Costco, is organic. How nice!

Also nice cause quinoa is a complete protein, and I’m planning a pre-work workout on Friday, so I will have a nice nourishing lunch. Got that workin’ on the stove (also love how quinoa cooks faster than white rice yet is a whole grain).

Let’s check out the scene by the cutting board:

Mixed preppage, for muffins and for Saturday morning overnight oats (at 7:30, when I have to rouse myself for work, I generally wake up with no appetite. So I go in, put out the first wares of the morning- danish, croissants, and the like- and then by like 9 my appetite has returned and I eat my oats).

Carrot for muffins, apple for overnight oats (though actually I wanted to put applesauce in the muffins but there was less than I thought so I ended up supplementing it with minced fresh apple).

The almonds in the measuring cup are for the muffins, the almonds on the (clean!) counter are for the overnight oats (I roasted those first, mmm. The oven was already on!)

WTF:

Round about this time (12:30), my sister woke up.

Yeah.

I put out this… “food” is a bit of a stretch, isn’t it? Anyway, I hoped placing it prominently on the counter would encourage her to use it before she returns to school on Tuesday, since no one else in the house has any interest in eating it (who buys canned corn in August? Well, ever, but especially now?)

Ding! Tomatoes and other roasties are done. And GORGEOUS.

I let them hang out and cool a bit.

Slid muffin batter into hot oven.

Meanwhile, the quinoa was done, too. Decided to make quinoa salad.

To wit, chopped up a tomato, half a cuc, and a bunch of farmer’s market parsley (also added parsley dressing).

I love love love to the depths of my soul what a large proportion of my diet consists of local produce.

Done and gorgeously colorful!

Ding! Muffins came outta the oven (the pan ended up only holding ten- filled remaining two cups with water to prevent scorchage)

Not bad at all. I ended up not adding any sweetener to these, because I feel like I’ve been on a sugar high all friggin’ summer. Just let the natural sweetness of the applesauce and carrot shine through (well actually there’s a little agave in the granola).

In the meantime, slid a thawed homemade lentil burger and my almonds for the overnight oats into the oven.

One thing to note is that muffins brown a lot more quickly on the top when cooked in a miniaturized oven. Closer to the heating element and all.

Ding! Thawed lentil burger to top the quinoa salad. Salad+burger+yogurt= decidedly well rounded post-workout lunch tomorrow.

The accompaniments for Saturday’s lunch to be determined. I’m going to be wild and crazy and spontaneous and decide what I’m eating less than 48 hours in advance, hahahahahahahahahhaha.

And ding! Toasted almonds for beauteous overnight oats. Usual oats/apple/chia/milk/yogurt mix. With a plummy, just for good measure.

Whirr!

Into the blender, along with some vegetable stock, went the roasted tomatoes, onion, and garlic.

It turned out a beautiful color. And heated up Thursday night, when it fortuitously enough turned out to be rainy and gross, it made for a wonderfully comforting bowl.

Finally done with all my preppage for later meals, I got out our new toys!

My mom and sister hit up that AWESOME kitchen store by Dupont (locals, know what I’m talking about?) and picked up these gorgeously-hued silicone-made tools of wonder.

They do it all:

I brought a wee bit of water to a boil, then reduced it to a simmer. Greased my poachpod, cracked an egg into it, and stuck it into the water where it floated adorably.

Covered the pan and four minutes later, a PERFECTLY poached egg.

I got to thinkin’ about the salad Lyonnaise I ate in Austin (other people have LSD flashbacks, I have French food flashbacks) and I thought, “yeah.”

To that end, greens, fresh shrooms, mustardy vinaigrette, and a Perfectly Poached Egg.

Crack! Ooooooooooooooze….

You are too delicious for your own good, Salade Lyonnaise. Just think, when French people hear “egg salad”, they probably think something like this! Mind boggling.

Rounded out with homemade iced tea (made in a previous food frenzy. My current favorite iced tea involves two teapots- one large and one small- and four tea bags- two plain black tea, two lemon green tea) and one of the muffins.

These muffins taste like Healthy. They are highly highly virtuous. I dig.

Highly satisfying use of an hour or two.

It is funny- I do have these flurries of productivity and I can just go and go and go and go and cook and cook and cook and cook and I'm filled with inspiration and I'm stoked about everything. But then there are other times when I'm just like "Ugh, can I just shove some kind of nutrient capsule into my mouth and not deal with any cooking or eating?"

I think it ties into stress, too. I am definitely sometimes a stress eater... and sometimes a stress not-eater. Thus the freshman year fifteen twenty, thus the senior year hair-falling-out. Oi.

Does this happen to other people?