She's in the kitchen

I'm waiting for the oven to heat up so I can bake the three loaves of white-but-now-part-whole-wheat bread, using my yummy, local, stone-ground whole-wheat flour from the food co-op. I want good bread, so I'm making some!

Once the counters are clear, I'll put together a Mexican casserole, layering my homemade southwestern rice from the freezer, black beans and their broth that I made yesterday (maybe I'll puree some to take the place of refried beans, hmmm), and plenty of tortilla chip pieces (we have a lot, after our homemade guacamole and salsa fest a couple of weeks ago!). I'll top it with chip pieces and a sprinkling of Cheddar, and stash it in the fridge until it goes in the oven later.

Since the kiddos often, yet unpredictably, turn up their noses at these mixed-up foods, I will make cornbread too -- using my local, stone-ground cornmeal from the co-op!

I'm really glad I decided to make black beans yesterday. We had them over rice cooked with some diced kielbasa, and now I have a great stash of delicious meal bases in the fridge. Hehehe.

My husband is probably in shock; I've barely wanted to cook all summer...

UPDATE: 'Cause I hate cheese and cream sauces (my deprived husband doctors up his portions) and am happy to skip their fat content as well, my casseroles depend on broth or tomato sauce to be moist, flavorful, and stick together as they should. The casserole wasn't moist enough 'cause I grabbed the ultra-spicy little can of "salsa fresca" sauce rather than the sort-of-spicy; my mistake. I used a bit, diluted with black bean broth, but... "eh." The grownups liked the casserole well enough, but, as predicted, the kids weren't thrilled. The cornbread was an all-around winner, though. My guideline is: if you're going to serve an experiment or a non-family favorite for dinner, serve something they love along with it. Homemade bread (even biscuits or cornbread) always works.