Monday Miscellania

I think it borders on cruelty to drag your ass out of bed at 4:45 on a Monday morning only to get to the Y and have it smell like freshly brewing coffee. Just my humble opinion.

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Oliver's new indoor obsession is the dishwasher. (His outdoor obsession is squirrels.) When you open the door to put in the dirty dishes he's johnny-on-the-spot – licking all the dirty plates and whatever else he can reach, especially licking the door where things have dripped down. Last night after dinner his collar got caught on the bottom rack which was pulled out while we were loading it. We heard a spectacular crashing sound and found him scared out of his mind, dragging the rack, right next to his head, as he tried in vain to escape out the kitchen door. The more he tried to run the more dishes flew out of the rack and onto the ceramic tile floor. The louder it got, the more panicky he became. Luckily, the only thing that broke was a soup bowl. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that the stoneware liner from my brand new 6.5 quart crock pot landed on his foot. . .poor baby. . . good thing his foot cushioned its fall!

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I bought a new crock pot yesterday. I've never been crazy about crock pot cooking. Because I'm gone from about 7:30 in the morning until after 6 in the evening, things cooked in the crock pot have always turned to mush. And, to me, there is nothing worse than sitting down to a meal you've worked hard to prepare and have it be inedible.

Then I read that there are now programmable slow cookers! You tell it how long to cook, either on high or low and then it automatically switches to "keep warm" and stays there until you turn it off! Genius I tell you!

To celebrate I made this soup to break it in. It was very good. Even Ali, who's notoriously picky, liked it. She confided after dinner* that she'd never eaten cabbage and was sure she wouldn't like it but decided to just dive in a give it a try – without whining first! Genius I tell you!

TURKEY WILD RICE SOUP

2 C. cooked turkey (I used local, canned turkey)

8 C. turkey or chicken broth (I used a combination of both)

1 onion, diced

2 carrots, chopped

3 ribs celery, chopped

1 tsp. sage

2 tsp. salt

black pepper

2 T. balsamic vinegar

2/3 C. wild rice (not instant or quick cooking)

1/2 of a small head of cabbage, chopped kind of smallish (I think spinach would also be good if you've convinced yourself you don't like cabbage!)

Combine all in crockpot. Cook on high 4-6 hours, or on low 8-10 hours.

* She confided this as she was loading the stoneware liner into the aforementioned bottom rack of the dishwasher!