I’ve got bad habits.

So do you.

But this is about me, as things almost always are. See, there’s one bad habit.

Here’s a few more:

I stack the recycling on the bench in the garage until cereal boxes, empty bean tins and maple syrup jugs are toppling over onto the floor rather than taking them out to the recycling can on the side of the house.  Hey, it’s raining.

I flip over the towels in the guest bathroom instead of washing them.  It’s Target’s fault for making them reversible.

Sometimes, and it pains me to admit this, I use tissue in the bathroom rather than taking the last few squares off the toilet paper roll.  If I used the toilet paper, I’d obligate myself to getting a new roll.  Not to mention recycling the empty cardboard tube (aka balancing it on all the other stuff piled on the garage bench).  Plus, the tissue box is right there.

None of those habits seem that bad, though, because they are born of sheer laziness.

Truly bad habits are born of selfishness.

I’ve got those too.

Like when I go to Chipotle, get a “family” bag of chips for the group, dump them all out, inspect them like a forensic scientist, choose the five or six chips with the most deliciously limey salt on them and then put the rest back for everyone else.

Jerk.

Or when we get fresh strawberries from the market and while slicing them up, I pick out the sweetest, ripest berry and eat it straight away myself.

Selfish, selfish jerk.

I’ll try to find a way to make it up to you.

See.

Salt & Lime Tortilla Chips with Strawberry Avocado Salsa

Serves 4

Print this recipe!

For the Chips:

• 4 corn tortillas, cut into wedges
• 1 lime, juiced
• 2 T. oil for brushing (olive oil, coconut, etc.)
• coarsely ground sea salt

For the Strawberry Avocado Salsa:

from Cooking Light.com

• 1 c. finely chopped strawberries
• 1/4 c. finely chopped, peeled avocado
• 2 T. finely chopped red onion
• 2 T. chopped, fresh cilantro
• 1/2 t. lime zest
• 2 T. fresh lime juice
• 2 t. finely chopped, seeded jalapeno
• 1/4 t. sugar

For the chips, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brush one side of each tortilla wedge with oil and place, oil side down, on a baking sheet.

Brush the top of each wedge with oil and generously squeeze with lime juice.

Be even more generous with the salt, sprinkling it directly on each wedge.

That one down, there?  That one’s mine.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until chips are crisp and just starting to brown.

For the salsa, place all ingredients in a medium bowl and gently stir to combine.  Serve immediately.

I think I just developed another bad habit.

You know, the one where I make a recipe at 10 a.m. intending it to act as a first course to dinner and then eat most of it before lunch?

Yeah, that one.

Luckily, it’s just the beginning of strawberry season, and I can make more.

Come on over.

I’ll let you have first pick of the chips.

And the guest bathroom is all ready for you.

It’s hot!

We’ve had record temps here in the Pacific Northwest for the last week.

You aren’t getting any complaints from me, though.

I dig walking to the gym instead of circling the parking lot in the rain for the closest spot to the door.  You know you do it too.

I dig pouring Pea Daddy the tiniest cup of coffee in the morning and the putting the rest in a jar in the fridge for a mid-afternoon iced coffee.  I need it more than he does.

I dig tank tops and exercising my right to bare arms.

I dig that The Bachelorette starts tonight and I’m over my self-imposed ban on trashy reality TV. (That has nothing to do with the heat or anything else relevant to this post, but is intended to inform Pea Daddy of my absolute control of  the TV between 9:30 and 11 p.m. tonight.)

You know what else I dig?

Eating banana splits for breakfast.

And I totally dig anything on a stick.

Banana Splits on a Stick

Inspired by this Pinterest find

Makes 6 pops

Print this recipe!

• 3 large bananas, cut in half
• 6 popsicle or lollipop sticks
• One 6 oz. container strawberry Greek yogurt*
• 1/4 c. chopped nuts
• 1/3 c. chocolate chips or chunks

*For a dairy-free option, try So Delicious Coconut Strawberry Greek Yogurt.  For an extra protein boost, stir in a tablespoon or so of your favorite vanilla protein powder.

Insert a stick in the center base of each banana half.

Using a mini-spatula or pastry brush, paint on yogurt.  Sprinkle on nuts and chocolate chunks or chips.

Transfer banana pops to a plate that has been lined with waxed paper and place plate in the freezer for 45 minutes or longer.

Remove and enjoy!

We love goodies like these that I can always say “yes” to.

Afterschool snack? Sure.

Dessert?  Help yourself.

Breakfast?  Don’t mind if I do.

And if you happen to be challenged in the front teeth department, there’s an easy solution for that.

Just slice, top and pop ‘em straight in.

If you got a problem, yo, I’ll solve it.

But not until after breakfast.

There was a small casualty today.

It’s pretty much expected when I am trying too hard to do too much that something’s gotta give.

Something besides just trading out the color of headband I wore to the gym and considering that “getting ready.”  Or shaving with a squirt of Pea Daddy’s shaving cream and a dry razor.

Ouch.

I chaperoned Gigi’s field trip to the Oregon Garden today, but I was prepared.

I got up extra early to pack lunches, go to the gym, make breakfast and even get dinner started before we headed out.

Thanks for not pointing out that getting up fifteen minutes earlier would have meant time to make myself more presentable.  I knew I liked you for a reason.

The field trip was a success.

I made it home just in time to pack lunches for tomorrow.  To bandage my deep wound suffered from going off the trail to admire a coniferous tree.  To pop the lens back into the sunglasses I dropped on the asphalt (everyone gasped until I raised a hand and shouted, “Dollar Tree!  Dollar Tree!”).

I even found time to finish making dinner and photograph it to share with you, and then it was right back to the school to pick up Gigi.

And then I realized I what I forgot.

Pineapple.

Hey, at least it wasn’t a kid.

It’s a long drive back to the Oregon Garden.

And dinner’s ready.

Teriyaki Chickpea Stirfry

Serves 2-4

Print this recipe!

Teriyaki Marinade:

• 1/4 c. soy sauce, tamari or aminos
• 2 T. water
• 1/4 c. pineapple or orange juice
• 1 T. rice wine vinegar
• 1 T. maple syrup or honey
• 1 t. sesame oil
• 1 t. sesame seeds
• 1/2 t. minced ginger
• 1/2 t. minced garlic

• One 14 oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 carrot, sliced
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 c. broccoli florets
• 1 c. pineapple tidbits (optional)
• 2-4 c. steamed rice
• 1/4 c. roasted peanuts, almonds or cashews

Prepare marinade by whisking together soy sauce, tamari or aminos, water, juice, vinegar, maple syrup or honey, sesame oil, sesame seeds, ginger and garlic.

Add chickpeas and allow to marinate for several hours or overnight.

Lightly coat a large skillet or wok with cooking spray or a spritz of oil and place over medium high heat.  Stir fry carrot, celery and broccoli until slightly tender and then add chickpeas and marinade to pan.  Continue to cook until sauce comes to a low boil.

Allow to cook for 8-10 minutes or until sauce is slightly reduced.

Add pineapple, if you remember, and cook for another minute.

Serve over hot rice and top with peanuts, almonds or cashews.

I know my family.

They will notice something is missing.

Funny, they don’t notice that I’m walking around with one lens in my sunglasses, a massive puncture wound in my leg or broccoli in my teeth.

Or at least if they do, they don’t say anything.

I knew I liked them for a reason.

I like birthdays.

Last night I was in heaven as I sat on the couch in my free Alaskan Airlines t-shirt and washed out, grey boxer shorts with my recently pampered feet on the coffee table.  I’d just done the unthinkably torturous act of  rewinding and rewatching my favorite performances on Idol twice.  There was a slice of cake on my left, a slice of “can’t complain because it’s not his birthday” husband on my right.

It was then that I knew how hard today would be.

No “Happy Birthday” would play when I scanned my membership card at the gym.

No one would pretend to look the other way when I licked the syrup from my breakfast plate, used up all the hot water in the shower and pretended to lose my tweezers, razor and dental floss.

No one would immediately surrender when I reminded them, “Hey, it’s Mommy’s birthday” during a dispute over whose turn it was to play Angry Birds.  Seriously, it was my turn.

But I still have an inbox full of sweet messages from you, my tweezers are mysteriously still missing and there’s half of this in my fridge.

Thank you.

My heart has never been fuller, my eyebrows have never been hairier and seriously, carrot cake has never been this spectacular.

Spectacular Carrot Cake

Makes 1 9-inch cake

Print this recipe!

• 1 lb. of carrots, peeled and cut into 1-2 in. chunks
• 3 c. almond flour
• 1 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1 t. salt
• 2 t. cinnamon
• 1/2 t. nutmeg
• 1/4 t. ground ginger
• 1/3 c. maple syrup
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 3 organic eggs or egg-replacer equivalent
• 2 t. vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1 c. organic or non-dairy cream cheese
• 1/4 c. organic butter or vegan margarine
• 1/4 c. maple syrup
• pinch of salt
• 1 t. vanilla extract

*This cake is gluten-free, grain-free and free of refined sugars.  Rather than modifying this recipe to use flour, you can find a more traditional carrot cake recipe here.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease two 9-in. cake pans and set aside.

Place carrots in a pot or in a microwave-safe bowl filled with about a 1/2 c. of water.  Steam carrots until soft, approximately 10 minutes.  Using a food processor or high speed blender, puree carrots, along with remaining cooking water, until completely smooth.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine almond flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.

In a smaller bowl, beat together maple syrup, olive oil, egg or egg replacer and vanilla.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and combine.  Fold in pureed carrots.

Divide batter evenly between the two cake pans.

Bake for 28-32 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean.

Allow cakes to cool in pan for at least 30 minutes before carefully transferring to a cooling rack.

For frosting, beat together cream cheese, butter or margarine, maple syrup, salt and vanilla.  This recipe will yield enough to frost just the top and the middle of the cakes, so double it if you want to frost the sides too.

Or eat more than a spoonful.

Okay two.

Use half of the remaining frosting to frost the first layer of cake.

Top with the second cake.

And frost with remaining frosting.

I grated a little extra nutmeg on top because I love nutmeg more than any person should.

And because I love you more than any person should, I cut into my birthday cake at 10 a.m. to show you how great it is.

Only for you.

No other reason.

Some may frown upon eating cake for second breakfast.  Especially the day after your birthday.

Those are probably the same people who want you return to self-grooming, putting on clothing that you didn’t elicit while signing up for a credit card and only watching amateur karaoke performances once.

But I bet if you give them a slice of leftover birthday cake, they’ll get over it real fast.

At least, I hope so.

Do you remember My Big Fat Greek Wedding?  Me neither.

But I do remember the Greek father’s go-to remedy for everything.

Got a zit?  Got a rash?  Got poison ivy?

“Put some Windex on it!”

Well, my sourdough starter has become my Windex.

Want some pizza?  Want some pancakes?  Want some muffins?

“Put some sourdough starter in it!”

Sure, I’m excited about the health benefits for us about incorporating sourdough in our diets, but mostly I’m just excited that by adding my starter, my recipe is halfway done.

I just don’t tell anyone.  Especially anyone named Lulu who thinks she doesn’t like “our-say ough-day.”  I’m not lying to her, at least not in the same way she lied to me today when I asked what a very obvious noise was after her now daily lunch of bean burritos and she says, “A horn.”   I’m sure.

But the sourdough starter for me is like a continuous shortcut.  And I like shortcuts.

And shortcakes.  Which is why our Easter celebration featured sourdough strawberry shortcake.  I just kept it from my guests that their dessert had been fermenting on my counter for the last month.  Funny how that little bit of information is an appetite killer.

So when Pea Daddy said last weekend that he wanted some donuts, you know what my answer was.

No, not “Do you want me to draw you a map to Krispy Kreme?”

It was, of course, “I’ll put some sourdough starter in it.”

Secret Sourdough Donuts

Makes approximately 18 donuts

Print this recipe!

Step 1 (night before):

• 1 c. sourdough starter
• 1/3 c. maple syrup
• 1 c. white whole wheat flour
• 2/3 c. non-dairy or organic milk
• 1/3 c. extra-virgin olive oil

Step 2 (day of baking):

• 1 organic egg or “flax egg” (1 T. ground flax seed + 3 T. water, whisked)
• 1/2 t. salt
• 2 t. baking powder
• 3/4 t. freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 t. cinnamon
• 1 t. vanilla extract

Glaze:

• 1/2 c. non-dairy chocolate chips
• 2 t. coconut oil
• natural sprinkles (i.e. Let’s Do Sprinkelz) or chopped nuts, optional

The night before you want your donuts, combine starter, maple syrup, flour, milk and olive oil in a large bowl.

Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature overnight and up to 24 hours.

Before

After

When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Using an electric mixer, beat in egg or flax “egg,” salt, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla.

Spoon batter into a greased donut pan and bake for 20-22 minutes, until donuts are golden and set.

For glaze, melt together (using a double boiler or microwave) chocolate and coconut oil.  Dip donuts in chocolate and top with sprinkles or nuts, if using.

Though the donuts have a slight tang, it is barely noticeable, especially when covered in chocolate.

The natural yeast in the batter makes for a very fluffy, airy donut, sort of like a delicious hybrid between a cake donut and a raised donut.

But what if you don’t have a sourdough starter?

Start one!

Buy one!

Beg for one!  (You’d be surprised.  Your local bakery or supermarket is probably willing to give you a cupful of starter from back in their kitchen if you ask very nicely.)

What if you don’t have a donut pan?

Make muffins!

I used this same recipe to make blueberry muffins by mixing in two cups of berries into the batter and baking at 375 degrees for 25-27 minutes.

I left out the berries and baked this same recipe in a jumbo muffin tin for 22-24 minutes for my strawberry shortcakes.

This recipe is totally adaptable and totally forgiving.

Which is more than I can say for Lulu, who happily gobbled two “our-say ough-day” muffins for breakfast.

And nary a horn could be heard.

***********

Other donut recipes (that don’t require a sourdough starter):

Smoked Sea Salt Kissed Maple Donuts

Apple Cider Donuts

S’mores Donuts

Chocolate Raspberry Donuts

Pumpkin Protein Donuts with Chocolate Drizzle

Chocolate Glazed Cake Donuts

Where were you at 9:54 a.m. today?  Did you hear a faint “Whoohoo!” coming from the West coast?

(If you heard “Whoohoo!” at 3:02 p.m., it was Lulu.  She found a black bean from her lunch burrito up her sleeve.  Jackpot.)

My yelp came when I was driving our crew over to a friend’s house for a visit and heard on the radio the results of a recent study that found that 33 is the happiest age for most people.

I’m 33.  For one more month.  Apparently it’s all downhill from here.

It makes total sense to me, though.

By 33, you’ve gone through your awkward stage, your I have to do something really spectacular to make mom and dad proud stage, your I’m a complete loser if I don’t have plans for Saturday night stage.

You learn to love the skin your in because you can see it starting to sag.

You learn to love your mom and dad because it takes your breath away to imagine a day when they won’t be here.

You learn to love Saturday nights because you don’t have anywhere you have to be.

You’re done apologizing for who you will never be and you surround yourself with friends who love you for, and sometimes even in spite of, who you really are.

Someone who throws her clothes in the dryer with a damp towel and fabric softener instead of getting out an iron.

Someone who blubbers and texts her mom during American Idol.  After. Every. Performance.

Someone whose house always smells like stanky roasted vegetables, but who is always willing to share.

And hopes you won’t mind if I double-dip.

Nutty Cauliflower Wings with Buffalo BBQ Sauce

Serves 2-4

Print this recipe!

• 1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
• 2 T. nut or seed butter (i.e. almond, cashew or sunflower seed butter)
• 1 T. soy sauce, tamari or Braggs amino acids
• 1 t. lemon juice
• 3 T. water
• stevia or maple syrup to taste (optional)
• 1 t. minced ginger or 1/2 t. dried ginger
• 1/2 t. minced garlic or 1/4 t. garlic powder
• 2 T. chopped nuts or seeds (i.e. almonds, cashews or sunflower seeds)
• chopped parsley or cilantro for garnish (optional)

Buffalo Barbecue Sauce:

• 1/4 c. organic ketchup
• 2 t. soy sauce, tamari or Braggs amino acids
• 1 t. organic Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 t. liquid smoke
• 1/2 t. Dijon mustard
• stevia or maple syrup to taste
• sriracha to taste

Preheat your broiler.

In a large bowl, combine nut butter, soy sauce, tamari or Braggs, lemon juice, water, sweetener (if using), ginger and garlic.

Add cauliflower florets and toss to coat.

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray or lightly mist with oil.  Spread cauliflower on baking sheet.

Broil for 7 to 10 minutes, turning halfway through.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine ketchup, soy sauce, tamari or Braggs amino acids, Worchestershire, liquid smoke, mustard, sweetener and sriracha.

Top cauliflower with nuts or seeds and chopped basil or cilantro, if using, and serve with buffalo barbecue sauce.

Oh.

My.

Peas.

That’s right I said it.  About a vegetable.

I’m not sorry.

Spicy, salty and sweet, these “wings” make no apologies for what they aren’t.

And know and accept exactly what they are.

And what they are is delicious.

Whoohoo!

What a week.

I need a nap.

Our Spring Break has been full of:

a) morning chess games.  We’re super loose on the rules and the dress code.

b) frightening field trips.  When and why did my children become terrified of the carousel?

c) afternoon crafts.  Watercolors today.  Peep wreaths tomorrow.

d) grooming.  Gigi’s toes in essie’s mink muffs.

e) healthy snacks.  Ants on a log, cut for those missing front teeth, and super soft whole grain sandwich bread stuck under the broiler with raw cheddar.

f) good books.  I’m entranced with this book and its premise.  And I’m spending my free moments searching for farmland to buy.

g) scary movies.  First The Hunger Games, then African Cats.  Which also could have been called The Hunger Games.

h) homemade ice cream.  Our version of this recipe.  Clearly they hate it.

i) new apps.

Yes!  There’s a new Peas and Thank You app available for free here and on iTunes!

The app features definitions for all of our favorite pantry ingredients as well as a helpful shopping list, our Twitter feed and a handful of recipeas that will be updated with new recipeas regularly.

Enjoy the app.

Enjoy some ice cream, a good book and a nap.

Enjoy the rest of your Spring Break.

I sure plan to.

Have I dragged this out for you enough?

Truth be told, I rarely go through rounds and rounds of testing when it comes to recipes.  I’ve been pretty lucky, because I usually get things right the first time.  Not so with the sourdough.  My poor family choked down some pretty awful bread last week.  But I think I’ve finally got it down.

Let’s first discuss what’s so great about sourdough:

1.  It’s delicious.  Especially hot out of the oven with a generous pat of butter/Earth Balance/my face.

2.  The “souring” of the dough breaks down some of the gluten and phytates in your flour, making sourdough bread more digestible for those with gluten sensitivities (not Celiac) and removing anti-nutrients.

3.  It lasts longer.  If, and I do mean if, your loaf lasts beyond the first few hours after you pull it from your oven, sourdough bread doesn’t mold as quickly as other breads as the fermentation acts as a natural preservative.

4.  It’s delicious.  It was worth repeating.

When I first learned you could make your own sourdough starter, I was scared.  I didn’t want to invest the time in “growing” something that would either completely flop or grow some mold and bacteria that didn’t belong in my bread.  I toyed with buying my own whole wheat sourdough starter here, but then finally sucked it up and took the plunge on making my own.

I hope you will too.

Whole Wheat Sourdough Starter

adapted from Breadtopia.com

Print this recipe!

• ~1 1/4 c. white whole wheat flour*, divided
• 1/4 c. + 2 T. unsweetened pineapple juice (liquid drained from unsweetened canned pineapple)
• 1/4 c. + 1 T. purified water

*other types of flour will work fine, including regular whole wheat flour, unbleached all-purpose flour, spelt, etc.

Day One:

AM:  Put 3 1/2 T. of flour and 1/4 c. of pineapple juice into a jar or container and stir until combined.  Place a lid or cover on container and set at room temperature.

PM:  Remove lid, stir starter and replace lid.

Day Two:

AM:  Remove lid, stir starter and replace lid.

PM:  Remove lid, stir starter and replace lid.

Day Three:

AM:  Remove lid, add 2 tablespoons of flour and 2 tablespoons of pineapple juice, stir starter and replace lid.

PM:  Remove lid, stir starter and replace lid.  You may start to notice some faint bubbling and a slightly sour smell at this point.

Day Four:

AM:  Remove lid, stir starter and replace lid.

PM:  Remove lid, stir starter and replace lid.

Day Five:

AM:  Remove lid, add 5 tablespoons of flour and 3 tablespoons of purified water, stir starter and replace lid.

PM:  Remove lid, stir starter and replace lid.

Day Six:

AM:  Transfer your starter to a larger jar or container.  Add 1/2 c. flour and 2 tablespoons of water.  Within an hour or two, your starter should be very bubbly and sour smelling.  Cover with lid again.

PM:  Your starter is ready to use or move to the refrigerator for future use.

Helpful tips and starter maintenance:

• One of the best things I did when creating my starter was to draw up a feeding schedule for myself and post it on our dry-erase board.  This reminded me of what to do and when to do it.  And it also reminded me to pick up some new dry-erase pens.

• You may want to buy bottled, purified water when first creating your starter.  I’ve been using tap water to continue to feed mine, but you should probably play it safe with the initial starter.
• Once your starter has come to life, you can keep it in the fridge and “feed” it once a week or more.  At each feeding, I add:

1/3 cup of water and 1/2 cup of flour

• I always remove my starter from the fridge about 24 hours before I want to bake a loaf of bread. (So if you plan to bake right away with your starter after making it, don’t bother moving it until the fridge until after you’ve baked a loaf.)  My goal is to feed my starter 2-3 times at room temperature (using the amounts in bold above) before using it.  I will feed it every 8 hours until I’m ready to bake.
• It’s pretty hard to kill your starter.  Some people are able to go longer than a week in the fridge without feeding it and are still able to bring it back to life to bake with it.
• Your starter should be floured-colored for it’s life.  If something dark or funky starts to accumulate on top of your starter, just pour or scrape it off and keep going.  This never happened to me, but if it does, it’s not going to kill you. (Easy for me to say, right?)
• Most bread recipes require approximately 1 cup of starter, so once you start accumulating more than that through multiple feedings and are able to keep up with your own family’s demands, feel free to gift a cup of starter to a friend or relative with feeding instructions.  And if anyone who lives near me wants some of my starter, let me know, I’ve got plenty!
• You can make delicious bread with your starter, but you can also make muffins, pancakes and even coffee cake, and they all have the health benefits of being made with sourdough.

Got that?

I’ll give you a day or so to digest all that information and ask any questions before I give you the ultimate sourdough bread recipe.

Meanwhile, I’m going to feed my starter.

And my face.

Can I give you a little encouragement today?

That’s all this post is.

Well, encouragement and a massive tease for the next recipe that’s coming at you.

The message, though, aside from “come back in a day or two for a really, really delicious recipe” is to never doubt your ability to get what you want through creativity.

Especially when it comes to feeding your kids (or other loved ones) healthy food.

You know how I’ve been on that ”make everything from scratch” kick?  It’s still going strong.  I haven’t bought a cookie, cracker, carton of ice cream or loaf of bread for my family in about three weeks.  I assure you, getting them to eat the homemade ice cream isn’t an issue.  And the bread hasn’t been either.

Until today, when Lulu asked for a bagel and cream cheese for lunch.

We don’t have bagels.

I was tempted to carve my super soft whole wheat sandwich bread into a circle with a whole in it.  But then I got a better idea, using the homemade sourdough baguette we nearly demolished at dinner Saturday night (spoiler alert).

There are two additional loaves of this in my oven right now and I assure you, it’s so good and so easy and will make you feel like a hero.

But it’s no bagel.

You know what’s better to a four year-old than a big hunk of dough with a hole in the middle?

A butterfly with a pickle in the middle of it.

I grabbed my Lunch Punch and made two wings with a slice of baguette for each, saving the extra to toast up for croutons for our salad tonight.

Or, more likely, for me to eat while making our salad tonight.  One of the two.

Then I smeared each “wing” with some cream cheese.

I added a pickle for a body (naturally), some carrot antennae and a few blueberry spots.

Lunch was served.

But how it would go over was anyone’s guess.

I win.

If you want to get ready for that sourdough starter and bread recipe, go get yourself some whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour or unbleached organic flour (whatever flour you want to use for your sourdough) and a can of pineapple rings or chunks.

Don’t bother picking me up any bagels while you’re there.  We’re good.

My right eye won’t stop twitching today and it’s driving me insane.

True insanity, according to Einstein is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

He’s right.

I continuously flush hundreds of hours of my life down the drain watching The Bachelor expecting that it will strengthen my belief in long-lasting love and in the ability of women to develop genuine friendships with each other.  Heh heh.  I can’t even keep a straight face with that one.

I continuously drink moderately caffeinated beverages past 2 p.m., meaning I will have restless sleep and eerily vivid dreams about winemakers in their late 20s who part their hair down the middle.  No wonder I’m twitchy.

I continuously buy spaghetti squash even though it will sit on my counter for six months untouched because I find it a) tasteless and b) extremely hazardous and tedious to try to hack open, cook and eat.

And yet, I down my fraudulently labelled “decaf” and suffer the consequences.  Excuse any mistakes in this post.  It’s like I’m typing via strobe light here.

Despite those consequences, time and time again, I buy that blasted squash.

I have a feeling you might too.

Even in my semi-conscious, twitchy state, I’ve managed to come up with a way for you and I to use that squash and regain some valuable counter space in our kitchen.

You’d be crazy not to like that.

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Makes 6 servings

Print this recipe!

• 1 large spaghetti squash (approximately 7-8 c. of squash strands)
• 2 c. marinara sauce
• 2 t. dried oregano
• 2 t. dried basil
• 1/2 c. non-dairy (i.e. Tofutti)  or organic cream cheese
• 1/4 c. nutritional yeast or grated organic Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 c. lightly steamed broccoli florets
• 1 c. non-dairy (i.e. Daiya) or organic mozzarella cheese, shredded
• fresh basil for garnish (optional)

You can bake your spaghetti squash in the oven per these instructions, but here’s a quick how-to if you want to do it in the microwave:

Do your best not to try to lose a finger while cutting your squash in two lengthwise.

I insert the blade an inch or two into the squash and then force the blade away from me while exerting some force.  I do this all the way around, up to, but not including the stem, and then I essentially “crack” the squash open.

Using a large spoon, scoop the seeds and guts from the squash.

Brush the cut side of the squash with olive oil and place it face down in a microwave safe dish that has a fitted lid.

Microwave for 10-12 minutes, until the squash has softened and you can do this with a fork.

That wasn’t so bad.

For the casserole, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large saucepan, combine marinara sauce, oregano, basil, cream cheese and nutritional yeast or Parmesan.  Heat over low to medium heat until cream cheese has melted into the sauce.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add spaghetti squash and broccoli to the saucepan and toss to coat evenly.

Transfer mixture to a large casserole dish (2 qt. or larger) that has been lightly spritzed with olive oil or cooking spray.

Top casserole with grated cheese and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

To brown the top of the casserole, you can switch the oven over to the broil setting for the last several minutes.

Garnish with fresh basil, if desired.

Crazy fast.

Crazy easy.

Crazy good.

I may be insane, but I plan to do this again.

And you know what that makes me?

A virtual Einstein.

TV viewing choices aside.