I know Ivy and I already demonstrated the basics of one-pot cooking for you, but I figured I would include a few examples from Martha's book, for the gastronomic learners out there.
One-Pan Pasta. Like regular pasta, but very slightly lazier.
Pot check:
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| One. |
Sweet Potato-Sausage Soup. Like regular soup. I mean, those generally involve one pot.
Pot check:
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| One. |
Stir-Fried Chicken with Bok Choy. I am actually pretty interested in this, because usually I have to pull out the rice cooker or a separate pot for noodles when a stir-fry is in the works.
Pot check:
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| One. |
Uh oh.
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| TWO. You can't just throw "cooked rice" on the ingredient list and pretend it's a one-pot recipe, Martha. |
Well. That was so close to success. Calendar time!
October 21st: "Pilates." Mmm hmm.
"Decorate the house for Halloween." Really? Martha-Stewart-brand Halloween items descended upon stores a month ago but you wait until the 21st to decorate your house? Did you get thrown during a weekend horseback ride and sustain a head injury which caused you to have soap-operatic-memory-loss and now you don't remember that you are Martha freakin' Stewart who definitely decorates for Halloween more than ten days out?
Anyway, I already decorated my house.
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| I put a bird on it. |
October 22nd: "(Blank)." Seriously, Martha, are you okay? We're worried about you.
October 23rd: "Harvest pumpkins; carve some with the grandkids and toast seeds." Ah, here we go. A cutesy, moderately labor-intensive thing that I can't justify not forcing myself to do. Back on track!
I was really hoping to continue the gag of Anna being the one who is doing all of the Halloween work, partly because that's the extremely gentle parental humor you've come to expect in these parts and partly because it meant that Anna was the one who was doing all the Halloween work. Started off well with the pumpkins:
Until pumpkin-gut removal. Then she was out.
Turns out she's more of an art director when it comes to pumpkin carving.
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| In case you were wondering, this is an exact recreation of the pumpkin that the children carve in "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." The other day, when instructed to draw a "space-themed" picture, she draw a full diagram of the solar system complete with labels. What I'm saying is, we may need to set our unrealistic sights on "genius" as opposed to "creative genius." |
I did the actual carving. Considering the amount of concerned-sounding encouragement showered upon me by the children, I must have really looked like I was struggling. "Nice eyes, Mom." "You're doing great, Mom. You're almost there." Ivy even used that psychological trick where you address someone else within the subject's earshot. "Daddy, Mommy is doing a gooooooood job." She said this several times.
They were very relieved when I completed it.
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| She legitimately thought this day would never come. |
And then I toasted the seeds, yes I did.
Pot check:
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| Okay then. |
