A wonderful-gut day

For those among you who are not nearly as Amish as I am, the title does not imply any reference to my actual gut (innards, outards, or otherwise). It is the (evidently) typical Amish way of saying 'wonderful-good.'

But today I am feeling quite Amish and am pretending that I am. Sometimes I do that: I'll snuggle down underneath our (new from Christmas) quilt (thanks Mom/Dad/Rich/California Mommy!) at night and imagine that I'm in a cold farmhouse out in the country (it's not too far from reality: I'm in a very cold Cape Cod on the city grid), with the snow blowing around the landscape (also not that far from reality).

So today is setting up to be a snow, gray day: a perfect day to remain in my kitchen and make wonderful-gut things.

I've had the past three days off - you would think that with so much time off I'd have all kinds of time to kick back and do whatever I want. Yeah, not so much. I had these grand ideas of catching up with friends and so forth, and it never happened. See, I work this weekend for three days. Off one day, and then on two more. Since I work twelve hour shifts, this means that more than half my time for nearly the next six days will be spent at work, considering I show up there around 6:45 and don't leave to around 7:30pm. Come home, eat dinner, go to bed. Wash, rinse, repeat.

So that means piling dishes, piling laundry, a house that is quite askew. And it literally takes at least a day or two to prepare for the work/sleep deluge, make sure the laundry is done and dried and put away, make sure there's enough food (and preferably prepared meals) to get us through without needing to run to Wendy's, etc.

Anyway, I'm rambling. My mom Facebooked me and told me I need to post a new blog. hahahaha!!!! What a weird age we live in. But I DO need to post again, I've been wanting to, but I simply haven't had much of a moment to sit down and do so. I'm hoping today I can catch up with that. I might have one of those multiple-post days if time allows, because there is plenty I want to share.

One thing I want to share is some recipes. If you're bored by recipes, you may kindly skip over those posts. But if you're looking for new, delicious recipes, I have some grand ones. I've collected a few new cookbooks over the past few months and have been cooking up a storm some days. The recipes I will share in forthcoming posts are gluten- and dairy-free for my allergen-sensitive friends and family, vegetarian (actually, vegan) for my veggie friends, AND delicious, for my food-loving friends...like me! And they can all be tweaked by adding beef or chicken or whatever you want, so it's not like they're bland, tree-hugging-grass-grazing freak recipes or anything like that.

Before I embark on my culinary cruise with you, I need to share with you the most delightful kitchen tool that you absolutely MUST have: the Vidalia Chop Wizard.

I can take no credit for discovering this countertop maven that can - and will - exponentially increase your culinary prowess. My friend Carolyn and my aunt Ginger introduced me to it. I give it out for birthday gifts now. It can be yours for a mere $20 at that black hole of a store, Bed Bath and Beyond (I say black hole because it sucks you in under the guise of a "wedding registry"...and then you leave either coveting everything, or owning everything).

The Chop Wizard will bring you to new heights of edible success. Let me introduce:


You place your vegetable on the chopping grid like so (it comes with two grids, one is better for mincing)...


...give it a good healthy whap, and voila!


Perfectly chopped veggies.

Imagine the possibilities!!! Imagine how quickly (and uniformly!) you can prepare vegetable soup (like I am this morning), salsa, salads...the possibilities are endless. Imagine being able to chop onions (even red ones) without looking like you just watched Julia Roberts in Stepmom...again.

I'm not sure if the Amish would use a Chop Wizard (they might...it doesn't need to be plugged in, after all), but they should. It is truly a wonderful-gut tool.

So I'm going to now continue with my morning: my favorite radio station is on, the snow is falling, and I'm making my vegetable soup in the slow-cooker so we can have dinners throughout the weekend. Hopefully I'll have time today to sit down and update again. Talk to you soon!