Days 71, 72, 73, 74 - Summer is approaching!

Dinner tonight:  Chicken Cacciatore

Saute the onions, bell pepper, and garlic.

Dredge the chicken in flour and brown it.

Add wine, stock, and tomatoes.

Chicken Cacciatore!

Butternut Squash

Wild Rice Bread - whole wheat bread with cooked wild rice in it.

 English Muffins...on the griddle - how easy is that?!

Then I made a Spinach Souffle - I didn't realize how easy souffles were to make!

Whip the egg whites. 

Boil the potatoes.

Make a bechamel sauce (sort of) with milk, egg yolks, onions, garlic, and flour.

Process the sauce with melted cheddar cheese and 10oz of spinach, and fold the egg whites in.

Top with grated parmesan cheese

Bake at 375F for 30 minutes.

Serve immediately.  (It drops pretty quickly)

Quinoa, Mango, and Black Bean Salad

 My mom and I did an exercise where we pick any word and then pick 3-5 colors to express it.  We picked frustration.  Quite appropriate for this time.  This is what we came up with:

Mine

Mom's

I did a little more on my still life - I think the reflection in the colander is pretty cool.

 Then my mom and I did another exercise where we picked a word and tried to portray it the best we could in any way we felt like.  We just got this great set of Copic Markers,  So we chose the word patience (very appropriate too) and gave the markers a try.

seeds take time...patience...

Day 70. Pie Day.

Dinner tonight?  Shepherd's Pie and Pumpkin Pie.

Saute the onions, carrots, and celery.

Add the turkey and spices.

Simmer with chicken stock and tomato paste, add peas and corn.

Boil the potatoes.

Mash with milk, egg yolk, and butter.

Assemble, and you've got shepherd's pie!

For the pumpkin pie, grind the gingersnaps with more ginger, butter and sugar.

Press into a pie tin.

Simmer the pumpkin with half-and-half, sugar, eggs and nutmeg. 

Pour and bake!

 My family better be VERY grateful that they are getting gourmet meals every night, because when I can finally eat, the only one I am going to be cooking for is ME ME ME!

I finished my inchies piece...

It's going to look very nice with all nine pieces hung up together.

Day 69 - manicotti night!

Okay, now I'm in an impatiently positive mood.  The fistula is looking dryer and dryer...but I am getting hungrier and hungrier!!!  Tonight I made sausage and cheese manicotti - with hand made manicotti shells!

Brown the sausages and onion.

Simmer with white wine. 

Add crushed tomatoes, chicken stock, and spices.  Simmer for one hour.

Combine ricotta cheese, spices, parmesan, and provolone cheeses,

I made the manicotti shells on the crepe-maker - they smelled delicious and came out so authentic! 

Coat the pan with half the sauce.  Fill each manicotti with the cheese mixture.

Cover with the remaining sauce and extra parmesan cheese.

YUM!!!!!

 I also experimented a bit with gouache just for fun - I'm not the best at watercolors, but it's a good way for me to challenge myself and experiment with something different.

 I have a set of 9 miniature square canvases - I am going to paint each one a solid color and put four inchies each on it.  I think it will be a very nice way to display them.

I can't' believe that it's almost June...will I be eating this summer?  Will I get off of TPN in time for college in the fall?  Only time will tell.  I just have to trust that God DOES have a plan for me, this IS a road I am meant to follow, and things WILL happen as they are supposed to.  (Right?)

Day 68.

My drainage has decreased to very little again, so here I go, getting all optimistic once again, daydreaming of what food used to taste like.

This is the latest on my veggie still-life.

 Since it was Shabbat, I decided to make a challah.

I prayed with my family to heal this fistula.  Hopefully God will hear me.

 To go with the Coq Au Vin, I made pasta...from scratch!  It was so much fun and so easy too!

First, you run the pasta dough through to knead the dough.

 Then you change the attachment to a pasta-making attachment...

 Real fresh pasta!!!

 Then, I reduced the coq au vin sauce by 1/3, which took about 2 hours.

 Fresh challah, pasta, and chicken - now that's a meal!  Of course, I watched from afar as my family enjoyed it...

 My piece for the day:  a little whimsical daydream.