Just Call Me the Kitchen Clean Up Expert

One of the challenges with cooking most of our meals from scratch is the mess I make doing it.

I am told that I take after my paternal grandma in this regard.  She is known as an exceptional cook and baker but also as a hurricane in the kitchen leaving destruction in her wake.  I think Ian nearly died when he exited his office this afternoon and laid eyes on the disaster Seamus and I had made of the kitchen.  Luckily it was not anything that some dish soap and elbow grease could not fix and the dinner we made was worth the clean up.

We had garlic prime rib soup.  I started the beef broth this morning with the bones and later added chucks of prime rib, pork tenderloin, Brussels sprouts, red cabbage, kale, red potato, sweet potato, carrots, fried onion, basil, oregano, thyme, garlic, salt, pepper, bay leaves, and half a dried cayenne pepper.  It was great.

We also had Johnny Cake made with Grandpa Ed's recipe but using homemade buttermilk and very coarse ground corn meal.  This corn bread received rave reviews and both boys had a second helping.

Seamus and I also made a batch of veggie muffins to put in the freezer.  These are one of our go-to after school snacks.   We cleaned out the fridge for this batch using grated carrot and zucchini and left over cranberry sauce, whole cranberries and an overripe banana.  We added just enough honey to make the cranberries bearable but these muffins are tart and oh so delicious.

Despite our busy afternoon in the kitchen, we still had time for some Halloween fun.  This too was messy but by this point I was an expert in efficient kitchen clean up.

The beginning.

The guts.

The concept.

The execution.

The lighting ceremony.

Prepare to be scared!  The boys named him Mr. Jack Beanstalk and are
convinced that he is the scariest Jack O' Lantern ever to experience Halloween.