A Taste of Greatness.

Edit: For some reason, there's a whole bunch of space between the lines that are italicized. I'm trying to fix it, so bear with me. Don't elephant with me, though.

So much time, so little to post. Wait, scratch that, reverse it.

I painted something for my grandparents that I rather like, although there are elements of it that I wish had turned out better. Maybe if I let it sit around a while longer it will magically right itself. It's probably not that responsible, though. Anyways, here's a painting of our mountains and a pretty accurate color of the sky.

It's 11"x14", so midway between small and decently sized. 

I'm particularly proud of the detail on the mountains. /paintbrush flex

It is much more difficult to sign something while using a brush.

H. thinks that one day, many years from now, my great-grandchildren will take a piece of my artwork to Antiques Roadshow to have it appraised. The ones signed Anna could be worth $300k, while the ones signed Chuck could be worth $50k, because there will be an abundance of the latter. Or the other way around. As for me, I'm fine with anything above fi-dolla (that canvas was $1, which means 400% profit what what?)

As I'm writing this, I'm consuming the end-all be-all in fruit delicacies. Applesauce, people. Homemade gold. I kind of want to get some more of these apples H. doesn't like just to make more of this super-duper sauce.

These are 250 ml jars (approximately 8.45 oz.) filled with dreams.

Here's the recipe I followed, which is super calculated and exact in all things. Also, a good recipe deserves a good name.

Rooty Tooty Fresh 'n Fruity Applesauce
- 5-6 apples 
- a couple squirts of lemon juice
- a smidge of sugar (no more than a 1/4 c.)
- a pinch of cinnamon

Peel apples, core, and cut into manageable slices. Put slices into a mixing bowl, and sprinkle lemon juice, cinnamon, and sugar onto apples. Mix together. Place contents in a pot, cover, and cook on low heat for 1 hour. When slices are easily destructible, either mash or blend, then store. 

Lemon juice cuts down on the richness of the applesauce, and also prevents the apple mush from getting very brown. I added very little sugar to the mix, and it turned out wonderful. It was probably closer to an 1/8 c., but depending on your apples you might need to add more. A teensy bit of cinnamon since H. is very sensitive about these things, and you're off! The interwebs said to use a potato masher to grind up the apples, but I'm much more advanced (lazy) so I used our Ninja blender. Pulsed those apples a couple of times, and BAM. Perfect applesauce. I did this while they were still piping hot, which I might not do next time. I don't want to stress out our Ninja with scalding hot apples.

Last night I made BLT Pasta. The recipe called for a pound of pasta, but there was no way the ratio of bacon, spinach and arugula, and onions to pasta was going to be any good. So I only used 3/4 lb., and went with the rest of the recipe.

Bacon for dinner? Yes, please.

BLT Pasta
- 3/4 lb. fun-shaped pasta
- 12 slices bacon, chopped
- 1 decent sized onion, diced
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 10 oz. spinach / arugula
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- grated Parmesan cheese, for topping
- croutons (optional)

Boil water for pasta, and heat pan for bacon. Start bacon once the pan is hot enough, and remove to a plate with a paper towel. Leave bacon fat in after each batch. Once water is boiling, add pasta. 

While bacon and pasta cook, dice the onion, halve the cherry tomatoes, and roughly cut the spinach/arugula into quarters. Once all of the bacon is cooked, remove some fat* and cook the onions and garlic in the remaining bacon fat. Chop the bacon into quarters. After onion has softened, lightly wilt the greens. Salt and pepper to taste.

Strain pasta, add a little butter, salt, garlic powder for taste. 

In a large bowl, mix everything together (including the tomatoes), and serve with Parmesan and croutons on top. 

* I used turkey bacon instead of the real deal. The brand that I bought gave off little excess fat, so I only took out a small amount before adding in the onions. The onions soak up all of that exquisite bacon flavor, and are the second best part of the meal (next to the actual bacon).

I didn't use the croutons - I forgot, and after thinking about it I don't think this meal needs any extra flavor or carbs. Also, our garlic was a little green on the inside, and didn't quite cook all the way through, so there were a few spicy moments during my meal. H. didn't notice at all, which goes to show he'll eat anything with bacon in it. Actually, he probably did notice and thought I put creole seasoning in it.

I will say that since there isn't any sauce element in this dish, I thought that it would be a little on the dry side. I was going to add a little more olive oil to the finished product, but thought better of it, and I didn't notice once I got started eating. If you want a more saucy pasta, I would recommend adding a bit of the starchy pasta water to the onion-spinach-garlic mix. But that's just a theory.

And while I'm modifying this recipe to pieces, I might as well add that next time I'm cooking the pasta in chicken broth. You know I'm flava flava-licious.

So there you have it. Step One in my 14-Day New Recipe Program. I found a website that has a slew of recipes that I'm dying to try (no really, I'm starving). The only catch is that the website has a membership service, and for now I'm on the 14-day free trial. I've cancelled the automatic steal-your-money membership, and have started saving some of the more interesting recipes. Tomorrow morning, we are having pigs in a blanket.

Now tell me that doesn't look divine.

H. requested that instead of hot dogs, we use bratwursts. That led to the idea of bratwursts for dinner tonight. I don't think I could have said yes fast enough.

Until the next post, I'm Chuck, signing off. Be kind to one another and eat your vegetables.