Munchie Monday: Twice in One Day!!

Do you ever have a day when many things go to the dogs at once?  Saturday was like that.  It was a day when I wanted to get a lot of things done.  The old days of multitasking are long gone, I guess.

The first thing I did was start some apples cooking for applesauce.  They were nice, but slightly soft Pink Ladies.  I found that we had five of them. I cored them, quartered them, and put them in a pan with one cup of water, put on the cover, and turned the burner on.  I set the timer for 5 minutes.  No problem. Looking forward to applesauce.  I also told Dear One that when the timer went off the apples needed to be shut off.

At that I went into the bedroom to strip the bed and get more whites into the washing machine.  I heard the timer begin to ding so I went out to the kitchen.  Dear One was still sitting at his computer, totally oblivious, it seemed to me.  So I walked over and turned off the timer...and went back to the bedroom.  By this time I had noticed my upturned Charlaine Harris book, threw myself down on the  stripped bed with the book and proceeded to read.  For a while.  After some time Dear One came in and told me the apples were still cooking.  OH NO!!!  It must have been 30 minutes by that time. 

I rushed out to the kitchen, discovered he had turned off the stove, but the pan was badly burned.  The apples were not even remotely cooked.  Word to the wise...either Pink Ladies do not mush up for applesauce or they to be sliced much thinner than quarters.  I placed the pan in the sink and filled it with water.  Pan number one in bad shape.

After getting the laundry done, and having brought the Charlaine Harris book to the living room, I did some reading after which we went out for some grocery shopping.  We also went to Dollar Tree to get a replacement plastic cover for plates cooking in the microwave. I had never seen one of those before we got to Oregon, but so cool!  With this cover over plates or cooking food, the top of the microwave avoids splatters.  At lunch time Dear One made his own lunch: some microwaved popcorn which he placed on top of the plastic cover.  When he pulled the popcorn bag out of the microwave, half of the cover came with it!  Well, I got it at the Dollar Tree and wasn't too sad.  Unfortunately, they don't carry them any more...

After putting food away from the grocery trip, I decided that mixed vegetables would be a great accompaniment to supper. I put them in my wonderful mostly-waterless-cookware steamer pan that I had brought with us from Vermont.  I put in plenty of water, covered them, and took the book I had been reading in the living room back to the bedroom since I needed horizontal for a while.  All of a sudden I smelled the vegetables.  Did I ever smell them!  I rushed out to the kitchen, pulled out a bowl since I was certain they had not been burning so long that the burnt taste would get into them, dumped the "good" vegetables into the bowl and set that second burned pan of the day into the sink and filled it with water.

Next morning I got a lot of the black out of them.  This is what they looked like after 24 hours soaking and scrubbing-

This was pretty discouraging.  After pouring in a big slug of white vinegar I refilled the pans with water.

After this second day, the larger pot scrubbed clean with a stainless steel scratcher.  The smaller pan, that was a nice stainless steep pan that was in the apartment when we got her, still needs way more work, so it is soaking again.  Maybe tomorrow I can get it clean.

About the possible burnt flavor...I put on a little butter and salt and pepper and enjoyed the vegetables.  Dear One did not want to try them.  Today I cooked up some quinoa, added the remaining vegetables, some leftover black beans, and some ground up roasted vegetables I had made for a friend but had not gotten there when they were at their freshest.  Mixed in with the quinoa, it made a very nice meal.  Dear One told me they tasted burned.  This from the guy who cannot smell so nothing tastes like anything to him!!!  They did not taste burnt.  At least, not more than a 1 on a scale of 1 to 10.  I had no trouble eating them.

Because he won't eat this, I have my food for the week already to go!  Score!  I may let him make popcorn for himself...without the cover!  Well, probably not. I am not really that mean...but it is to be thought of.