Let's Travel to my Kitchen

Don't know how often I'll do this but what the heck. I'm not a genius in the kitchen but I'm not shabby. I don't really cook by recipes, I make stuff up. Here's what I've played around with this week:

Last week when my mom came to watch the kids she left two squash. I can't remember the name they use in the grocery store for it but my mom calls one of them "pattypan" squash.  I love this because when I was a kid, my mom baked or sauteed it and then topped it with bacon, bread crumbs and cheese. What doesn't go well with bacon and cheese? NOTHING. That's what. 

So here's what I did to get my kids to eat it and so it wouldn't go to waste:

I chopped up the pattypan squash into cubes that were about 1/2" square. Then I sliced up an onion about 1/2" x 1/8" strips. I chopped up a tomato and then I got a bottle of capers out of the refrigerator. I sauteed everything together (adding the tomatoes and capers last,) with some garlic (dried granule kind,) and some other herb - I think it was basil or "Eyetalian Herb mix." I had a bottle of a dry rose in the refrigerator so I added just about 1/4 cup of that at the last bit of time to give it a little more flavor, but I let it cook down some. I can't remember how many capers I put in but I love capers so I put in a bunch.

When it was all done, I tossed it in some cooked mini bow-ties. Tee Dah. Kids ate it, too. Ok, ONE kid picked around the squash but he eventually ate the squash under threat of "no dessert."

Tonight I tried a new variation of gazpacho. I love gazpacho. I love tomatoes. I love soup. I love not cooking soup. And I love Zero Points Value* on Weight Watchers.

But what I don't love is having to chop all those dang vegetables. That's just too much work. So I don't make it as often as I'd probably like to. 

A few weeks ago we ate at a "new to us" newish restaurant which served a pureed gazpacho. Ooooh, I hadn't thought of THAT before. So tonight, I gathered my English hothouse cucumber, a yellow bell pepper, two bunches of green onions and a pile of tomatoes, and after minor prep, chopped them up one at a time in the food processor. As CS poured in one can of low-sodium V8 and SBS added one can of Spicy Hot V8, I remembered that I usually put cilantro in this, too, but I don't have any cilantro in the house. Tomorrow I'll run to the store, grab some, put it in the not-a-Cuisinart, and add that, too. I might add one more can of the low-sodium V8.

I'm thinking to serve this as part of my menu for my business event on Saturday. (I'd make a fresh batch on Friday night.) It looks yummy but a lot less work!!

* Ok, FINE, I think that WW has decided that V8 counts as points. Stupid WW. But I'm going to live in a little bit of denial because it's one of those foods that changes back and forth. It counts, it doesn't count, it counts, it doesn't count.