182 : Enjoy Some Cooking Therapy

I went to bed last night with every intention of sleeping in.  There were no kids to wake me.  No work to go to.  No plans in front of me.  Yes, the day was all mine!  And the funny thing is, I was so excited at the thought of this that I practically jumped out of bed at 7am.  Again, there was no alarm.  My body just woke up naturally and when I thought of what I wanted to do that day, I couldn't stay in bed any longer.  I started with coffee, immediately.  Is there a better way to start the day?  And then I made a fire, again.  Why not.
And then I began my morning of cooking therapy.  Bacon Onion Tart.  That was the first thing on the list.  I had tried this at my favorite local bakery about a week ago and had not been able to stop thinking about it.  (Not normal, I know).  I was slightly concerned about the 'tart' part because I suspected this would be tough, but I still wanted to give it a try.  Plus, how could anything taste bad with caramelized onions and bacon?  As to be expected, it wasn't quite as good as the neighborhood bakery, but it wasn't bad for my first attempt.

The next item was some soup.  There was no recipe to follow.  I just wanted something hearty yet healthy to eat for lunches this week.  I combined broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, onion, celery and chicken broth in my soup pot and let them steam and simmer.  After about 20 minutes, I put the chunky vegetables into the food processor for the perfect puree.  Add a little milk, salt & pepper and I had myself a tasty (and low point) soup.

I advanced to my second cup of coffee.  I had music going and a pile of dishes that were dirty but I would continue on.  My mom was coming to visit this week and I wanted to make a new zucchini lasagna for her.  If I could prep everything today, then all we'd have to do is throw it in the oven when mom came.  I cut the zucchini into thin ribbons and then chopped the garlic, onion and fresh basil.  All the flavors smelled so good.  Did I mention I was still in my pajamas?  There was no place to go.  I could take all the time I needed.  

Finally, I needed one sweet thing to balance out the savory.  I found an apple crisp recipe and quickly threw it together.  Apples.  Oats.  Brown sugar.  Butter.  It was pretty hard to mess this one up.  My goodness did my place smell good.  I could keep going.  But I figured, I should probably stop to eat some of this before I made anything else.  

Cooking Therapy.  What an awesome way to spend the day!