Rest day

Today was set for a rest day in the plan and rest I did!  Slept late, real late for me, even with the cat pawing at my neck and screaming in my ear. . . okay, maybe the cat can't scream, but a MEOW right in the ear gets one's attention. . . and the human gets to ignore the cat just for the fun of it.  Watched the news, made pancakes (which involved re-heating ones from last weekend) and watching a couple shows of extreme building (on the new gadget thing my techi-capable hubby bought) of the Alps train tunnel and the Hong Kong airport/tunnels/bridge/metro, then went for a beautiful walk in sunny, warm, midwest. Still no snow and it was just in the 40s today, so a 3+mile walk to a park and back, able to enjoy the beautiful scenery without worry of slowing down my running pace.  Back at home I turned into "Becky Home-ecky Mode": Au Gratin Potatoes and Ham from scratch followed by homemade gelatin and then gingerbread cookies. PLUS I washed the dishes. . . via the dishwasher. Oh, the life! 


Au Gratin Potatoes:   6 or so red potatoes, skin on, sliced in half and run through the food processor, letting gravity push them onto the slicer, so they were thinner slices, 1 red onion (high in antioxidants), run through the food processor and then caramelized in a non-stick skillet, small brick of cheddar cheese and Monterey cheese, half of each shredded via the food processor. The ham was Beeler's ham.  It's raised in my state--the old way, where pigs are able to get into the mud-- has no nitrates/nitrites, no artificial ingredients, no preservatives. Just ham. It's hard to find at our local grocer, as they tend to only carry it during the holidays. Thus, I bought a quarter ham last month, froze it, and used about a third of it for the potato dish.  The rest, sigh, will just have to be eaten by us this week:  ham and eggs for breakfast, ham and cheese sandwiches/quesadillas, veggie soup with ham pieces.  If you've never had plain, good ham, you need to try this stuff. It's awesome, tastes like what pork use to taste like on the farm, not full of these ingredients other companies put in their products.

Gelatin:  Box of knox gelatin package, recipe is on the back. We used frozen concentrate fruit juice (not cocktail, straight juice!).  I added banana and strawberries to mine.

GF Gingerbread cookies:  I used Brer Rabbit molasses and the recipe on the label for gingerbread cookies/ice cream sandwiches. I don't know why someone would need a recipe for ice cream sandwiches. How hard is it to put ice cream between two cookies? 

I'm not sure why, but I only seem to make gingerbread or molasses cookies in the wintertime.  Growing up, we use to eat bread with some butter and top it off with some molasses or sorghum for a snack. I rarely do that any longer.