Last night I got home and walked into the kitchen. I was getting myself a snack, when I heard Andrew at the door. When I opened it, Andrew and Corelyn walked in with bags of presents for Christmas, and a six-pack of beer.

“Are you guys coming over?” I asked

“Yes, we are,” said Corelyn

“Did I know you were coming over?” I returned

“Well…no.” Corelyn and I proceeded to eat our snack while Andrew and Jeff got settled in front of the TV to watch the Patriots v. Colts game.

Then Corelyn and I decided that we should make Indian food for dinner.

And that’s where the trouble began. Corelyn wanted to attempt aloo gobi. I wanted to attempt chicken tikki masala. And I had a puff pastry that absolutely needed to be used. Immediately. (Slash I had it for six months and was SO SICK of it being in my fridge.)

Corelyn wanted to make Aloo Gobi. So we attempted this recipe.  It involved us making our own garam masala.

Meanwhile, I wanted Tikka Masala. We didn’t have any cream, so I used yogurt and milk. It was fine.

These were the spices we used for garam masala. Pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, garlic pepper, and nutmeg. It was a bit spicy.

I wanted to make samosas with the puff pastry. We had extra potatoes, and Corelyn told me she had a can of peas. More garam masala, and squished it all together.

Delicious. Kind of like this.

Garam masala here.

More Aloo Gobi.

Cooking Tikka Masala after 40 minutes in the fridge!

Fried samosas. Delicious.

These were the boys watching football. It was very funny.

This is the mint sauce that Corelyn made. Without which I would not been to eat ANYTHING we made. It was VERY VERY spicy. But so good. A long, epic cooking night, four recipes, and three days of leftovers.

This morning, Jennie and I arranged to meet at 9 AM for breakfast before she went off to work. Since we had approximately one million vegetables from her grocery shopping trip the day before, we decided a nice veggie-egg scramble would go perfectly with the leftover rosemary bread. We were right!

Here’s a look at the gorgeous rosemary bread waiting to be devoured:

A close up look. Notice the crumbled baked on gorgonzola!!

We chopped up some onion, red pepper, and cherry tomatoes to go in the egg scramble. Between the two of us we managed to purchase about 12 onions in the last week so we’re using them every opportunity we get.

Here’s the egg mixture all ready to start cooking in the skillet. We sauteed the onions first, then added everything else..

Take a closer look…

Early into the cooking process I smelled something burning. On the burner behind the cast iron full of egg/veggie scramble the bread was resting covered by a red kitchen towel. I plucked the towel off the stove, and sure enough, The edge that had been nearest the front burner was aflame. I announced “We’ve got fire.” in an oddly calm tone, folded the flame so it was tucked inside the rest of the towel and dropped it on the tile floor for stomping. Voila, no more fire! I must say, I impressed even myself with my quick thinking and calm demeanor. 🙂 But enough about me, take a look at the poor kitchen towel’s remains!

As Jennie describes it, it was a wee fire. Really a firelet, actually. Jeff didn’t even wake up there was so little commotion.

So there you have it. We have learned once again that Sunday mornings are a magical time when delicious things are made. We have also learned that when we cook pre-coffee, we tend to set things aflame. A small price to pay, I think…

Yesterday Jeff and I headed to Trader Joe’s, and unsupervised, I bought a stalk of Brussel sprouts for $2.50. Now, some may think that is a great deal, and it is. But I did this despite the fact that we already had Brussels, and a myriad of other vegetables that we were attempting to get rid of.

When Corelyn and Becca arrived for dinner, I think they were shocked at my absurd purchase, but we will eat them, and so they eventually ceased eye-rolling.

Becca came bearing a spaghetti squash. I was intrigued, and attempted to help her cut if open by placing Corelyn’s butcher knife in the middle of the squash, and using the garlic press to hammer down the knife through said squash. It was very successful, and no one cut themselves (which is more than I can say for tonight’s Indian adventure– more on that later.)

Meanwhile, I was laying out Rosemary Onion bread — divine. I must say, Pioneer Woman is one of the only woman in which I follow the entire recipe step by step. The other is Ina. (God bless Ina and her butter.)

We also had green beans, so we put those and the Brussels on to boil together. I threw some heirloom cherry tomatoes on in some olive oil to fry, and later added the green beans and Brussels, along with some cumin.

Once the spaghetti squash was done, Corelyn scraped it out of the skin.

This is Rebecca getting impatient…te he he.

I tried to help…but I think I only ended up stuffing my face.

Red pepper pesto and pasta sauce, for the spaghetti squash. Best. dinner. ever.

This week, since last week was so crazy, we decided to not go to the Farmer’s market. Although this slightly broke my heart, I knew we didn’t really NEED to go. Today my friend Lauren called to tell me that she got to go to the farmer she has a share at and literally walk around and pick anything she wanted. My green envy is seeping through my bones, so I thought I’d remind myself of what is to come this Sunday…

Thursday night is date night for me and Andrew, and since we exist on a budget of essentially zero dollars/week that means we will be dining at home a la Corelyn. so what will I make? Good question. I have a couple ideas…

Things I know I have in the kitchen:

• canned white meat chicken (good for adding to pasta)
• lemons
• onion
• 1-1/2 tomatoes
• white wine
• fresh basil
• milk
• butter
• pasta
• broccoli

Things I think Jennie might have:

• cream
• parmesan cheese

So, I have several options–all of which are variations on basically the same theme, but here’s what I’m thinking.

1. Lemon, white wine pasta with tomatoes, chicken and basil

2. I could go to the store and get sour cream to make this Or perhaps try to make it with regular cream…

3. Chicken alfredo with fresh tomatoes and basil on top (using Jennie’s parmesan cheese with my milk, butter and flour to make an alfredo sauce)

Option 1 is probably the least fattening, while options 2 and 3 are far from low-fat but potentially delicious. hmm…choices.

I’ll keep you posted.