I don't. Neither does this blog I guess.
However, there have been some amazing meals this month. There has also been some tragedy...I gave up desserts again for Lent. This has resulted in compensating with wine and huge spoonfuls of peanut butter. That's not dessert right? If so...sorry God. Gotta have me some peanut butter. Necessary protein.
I don't know why, but I always manage to increase my baking frequency when I CANNOT EAT BAKED GOODS. That, or there are always more baked goods in my vicinity. Here are some explicit examples.
Example 1: Valentine's Day. What a cruel joke to have Valentine's Day THE DAY AFTER LENT STARTS. Come on. I can't eat roses. Steve's Mom sent us AMAZING looking chocolate covered strawberries and mini cheesecake bites. I glared at Steve as he ate them, with looks full of spite and resentment. I tried to convince him to freeze them, but he said the instructions said to eat them within 48 hours...I should probably double check that.
Example 2: Steve's birthday is in February. I threw him a little surprise dinner with some friends at an amazing southern restaurant in Tosa. I also lied to his face (which I'm terrible at by the way) and told him I was going shopping while I actually baked him a maple walnut cake at Caroline's apartment, while she made Kahlua cupcakes. I'm pretty sure the cake was full of longing tears from when I was mixing the batter. Find the recipe for the cake here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/maple-walnut-cake-recipe/index.html
Don't worry, I drank plenty of Kahlua to wash away the pain.
Example 3: I don't know why everyone and their mother is born in February, but I also baked a chocolate chip cookie pie for my co-therapist and our girls' trauma group. They told me that I was "old" because I was in my twenties, then demolished the pie. I'm overwhelmed with their appreciation. Find the recipe here: http://www.bakerella.com/chocolate-chip-cookie-pie%E2%80%A6-oh-my/. I would highly recommend this....it was CRAZY easy and looked amazing. I bought two frozen pie shells at the store so I can make it again after Easter.
I'll stop complaining about limiting my sugar intake and share some highlights of recipes from February. One of my favorites comes from my Uncles Doug and Charlie. It doesn't even have a recipe because it's so easy; the perfect meal to throw together on a whim. Pick out any type of sausage you like (I usually go for chicken sausage), and sautee it with kale and white beans. AMAZING flavor, and takes probably less than 10 minutes.
Yummo. Steve and I also did an all Ina night, in celebration of my two new Barefoot Contessa cookbook.
Lemon thyme chicken, roasted cauliflower and cous cous with pine nuts. Check out her cookbooks Foolproof and Back to Basics for the recipes. Here are some links that have similar recipes: http://www.lhj.com/recipes/holidays/thanksgiving/ina-gartens-fabulous-thanksgiving/?page=2, http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/couscous-with-pine-nuts-recipe/index.html (substituted spinach for currants), and http://barefootcontessa.com/recipes.aspx?RecipeID=632&S=0.
Finally, I made a sweet potato chipotle soup with avocado. It was DELISH. Little difficult to get the right amount of salt, but it was tasty and can easily be made vegan. It was actually a vegan dish, but I ended up using regular milk instead of almond milk.
I microwaved the sweet potatoes for 10 minutes to soften them a bit, and then only ended up baking them for about 10 minutes. I used an immersion blender to get the consistency, and it was spicy and tasty.
Happy eating :)
