Cookin' up a Storm

I got hit with a huge cooking stick today. I knew it was coming...I could feel it. Sometimes I have really dry seasons in the kitchen. The counters stay clean, the oven off, and the shelves are stocked full of easy food: Organic Roasted Red Pepper Soup, precooked Chicken sausages, mixed greens by the pound with complementing vegetables. All these and more take no more than 4 minutes to assemble a quick meal...perfect for late night dinners after biking or quick lunches. There is a threshold of how long this can go...my dry spell ended today.
At first I thought I would bake a few blueberry muffins for a dear friend. Then remembered that I have 7 million onions begging to be used, freshly picked from a luscious garden this past weekend. That was all I needed to get the mind spinning of what I can make with onions. Oh, I love a challenge! Driving home from hours of errands, I started menu planning: Curried Carrot and Apple Soup (we also picked 5 tons of carrots from said garden), Caramelized Onion with Bacon and Goat Cheese Quiche, Cheese Straws (made with the frozen puff pastry I learned to make earlier in the month) Classic Marinara sauce with Meat Balls, Teriyaki Marinated Chicken Thighs and finally, Blueberry Muffins. It may seem like a bit of food, but like I said, I go through dry spells so having some frozen homemade goodness is nice to have around. Plus my parents are coming into town this weekend and I would much rather be swimming in Padden with the fam, than cooking in the kitchen.
I get home and begin the chaos. Turn on some music for prep: Pull out the onions, carrots, garlic, blender, pots, cutting boards, butcher knife...crank on the oven and put on the apron. On the Cooking Continuum of Accuracy, my cooking tends to lean towards the end of "not so much." I chop, dice, sprinkle, pour, whip, saute and steam until it "feels right". I also tend to start more than one recipe at a time...after all, I may feel like cooking RIGHT NOW, but I don't know how long it will really last once I get going, so I would rather get after it with everything. Soon enough I have the apples and carrots sauteing, the bacon frying, the puff pastry thawing and the onions chopping (me that is, they don't chop themselves). As I am pureeing the carrot concoction, I rush back to the stove to mix the meat for the meatballs, then layer the quiche, sprinkle the cheese straws and bake. Back to batches of pureeing...back to stirring...check the quiche...watch the chicken...back to pureeing. Yes, I walked 4 miles in a 10 foot radius in my kitchen today...not bad. The amazing thing about the constant back and forth shuffle is it relaxes me. All that stuff going on gives me a huge sense of control and peace. Now don't get me wrong, I am sure each and every one of my recipes would come out a bit better if I were to give it my fullest attention. I would probably walk away with a few less burns too, but hey, when the mood hits you...USE it. The only issue...my filthy kitchen. I have a sink full of dishes, marinara sauce on the wall, floor and oven knobs, 2 cutting boards on the counter with more scraps on the counter than the cutting board, dirty tomato cans, and more cooked food than I have room for in my fridge. It's not pretty, believe me, I am looking at it right now. This is where my sister comes in handy. We are a great team...I cook, she comes in right behind me and cleans. By the end of the meal prep, the kitchen is sparkling clean and dinner is served! Perhaps we should seriously consider moving to the same town sooner than later...I need her (for more reasons that just cleaning of course!).
Ah well, life goes on. Praise the Lord for music...just crank it up a bit and get 'a cleanin'!