Betty Crocker Reincarnated

This is not to suggest I think I am as good a cook as Betty Crocker ever was, but merely to make a note of how much I have been cooking lately. I seem to go through phases where I am inspired to take up the spatula and then am once again satisfied with whatever I can pick up at my neighbourhood convenience store.

Currently, my efforts belong to the inspired category. I blame it on the chocolate devil's food cake I made a couple of weeks ago. Actually, to be precise, it was 3 chocolate devil's food cakes. I have a small oven, and a smaller pan, which means I didn't trust the cake not to rise up over the edge of my pan should I pour all the batter in. Thus I ended up with 3 chocolate cakes. The next weekend, I baked brownies. Or 3 brownie cakes/pies.

Somewhere in between all the chocolate came a salad with grilled chicken (the chicken cooked up with sundried tomatoes) and a simple balsamic vinagreitte. This was accompanied by a Moroccan vegetable stew over couscous. Half of which has ended up in the freezer in advance of when the inspiration leaves me.

Quesadillas (for lack of a better word) were next -- tortilla shells piled high with freshly cut up peppers, olives, tomatoes and buried under torrents of cheese. I even made a scrambled egg wrap last weekend with what was left of the tortillas, vegetables grilled in some lemon pepper and other spices.

A mexican-style casserole has also made it into the mix -- as well as the freezer. Kidney beans, pinto beans, tomatoes, olives, green peppers, ground beef grilled in taco seasonings, tomato sauce, salsa, cheese, paprika, chili powder...

The other night, stuffed peppers. Filled to overflowing with grilled vegetables in an olive oil and red wine vinaigrette mixed with green peppercorns, oregano, rosemary and more, blended with couscous and feta cheese. As good as they were, I found I liked my stuffing more than the whole peppers and fixed up some more of the vegetables last night to bury my remaining stuffing in. I don't think this will make it into the freezer.

I blame the original inspiration to cook on a friend's mother. When visiting New Zealand, I and a friend were invited to stay with Henley's family over Christmas, and the things that Mary whipped up were fantastic. Just watching her throw a few ingredients together that turned into these gorgeous but simple meals were what started it all. I can't say the inspiration is constant though, as my fascination seems to wax and wane in correlation to what other things I am currently interested in. Presently, cooking is holding forth.

Sometimes I am frightened by my domestic tendencies.