Scenes from the weekend

 I’m pretty lucky I think. I own my home outright, so I don’t have to worry about a mortgage payment.I do still have to work, at least for another year or two. But, because I own my home, and because my boss approved it, I can work a four day work week and enjoy a  three day weekend, every weekend. Before the pandemic, I was out and about for most of the weekend. These days I’m seldom out and about. Most of the time I am at home. 

Being home means I have time to cook and bake and most weekends that’s exactly what I’m doing. This weekend was no exception.

 

Friday I made a delicious breakfast of roasted sweet potatoes, mashed avocado and sunny-side up eggs. Lunch was a delicious salad made with farro, spinach, chickpeas, cucumbers and feta cheese. Dinner? Lentil soup with celery, onions, carrots and tomatoes. 

Saturday was more baking, less cooking. I made a Polenta Apricot Pudding cake and a pan of Polenta Honey cake. I also took half a tube of sugar cookie dough, added some chopped pistachios and dried cherries and attempted to bake cookie sticks. The sticks spread so I have oblong cookies instead. Not as attractive as I had pictured in my head, but still delicious. 

The Honey polenta cake I use for one of my favorite snacks. I grill the cake and then top it with sliced, fresh pears, Greek yogurt and a drizzle of honey. 

Yesterday I made breakfast for dinner in the form of a delicious pumpkin oatmeal. It’s a recipe from Aarti Sequeira. I caught it on an episode of her show "Aarti Party". The recipe turned out well, super easy to make and worth looking up and trying. I hadn't realized Indian cooking used so many spices that I know and love. I have earmarked several recipes I want to try. Watch this space for Indian recipes in the future!  

The last cooking for the weekend I did was just a little bit ago. I roasted some Brussels sprouts with a little salt, pepper and olive oil. I love roasted veggies of all kinds. I often roast some and use them as meal prep. Last week it was carrots. My dinner this morning was homefries made with red potatoes cooked in a cast iron pan with onions, green pepper and some chopped bacon. Then, to go with the homefries, I sautéed some shallots, tossed in some spinach and then added a couple of beaten eggs and cooked that all together.Topped with a few pieces of feta cheese. Not very pretty, but quite satisfying. Some red grapefruit was perfect for cutting the richness of the dish. 

 

And that was pretty much my weekend. Did a little cooking. Cleaned up the mess made doing said cooking. Repeated the whole thing again. Very relaxing. Very peaceful. Also very productive because most things I cook or bake make multiple servings, and I freeze the extra into portions for my meals at work. It's a "win-win" situation. 

Wow! Where have you been all my life, Almond Leche Flan?!?!

When I first saw the  Have the Cake challenge for April I had my doubts. Flan??? I have lived a very sheltered life (Hah!) and didn't know what "flan" was, what went in it, how to make it, nada. No clue. So, I read several of the recipes that Jen of pieces of me posted and thought "I can do this". And,  I did. :)


I chose the flan recipe Almond Leche Flan. (I'm too lazy to type all that when I can just post a link...hope that's okay!)It was the word almond that grabbed me. I love almonds and use them whenever I can. I eat almonds almost every day in my yogurt. And, use them in biscotti, cookies, cakes...you get the idea. So, Almond flan it was. Though I did consider the coconut version that Jen made, but figured I would try a different one.  I had everything I needed in the cupboard and fridge to put this together. I decided to make it last night, after dinner and after I had baked a batch of Chocolate Almond Biscotti (which were delicious I might add). I ended up staying up until about 2:00 this morning. Between baking and cooling, and making the caramel twice because it seized up the first time. :}

This was really easy to put together, other than the caramel making part, and I seem to have trouble making caramel right the first time. Last time I had to make caramel for something (I think it was a Double Crusted Caramel Apple Pie) I had to make it twice. Gotta' figure out what I do wrong the first time so I don't have to throw the first batch into the trash.


I mixed the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks and almond extract very carefully, trying not to get any air into the mixture. I used a fine mesh sieve to pour the liquid into the prepared dish. The prepared dish was an 8" cake pan that I had poured the caramel into the bottom of and left on a burner set to low to keep warm until the flan mixture was ready to pour into it.


I also did the towel in the bottom of a roasting pan half filled with water method. I thought about skipping it, but was afraid it might not turn out and by now it was going on 11 at night and I didn't want to have invested all that time and have to redo everything the next day.


Baked the flan for the 50 minutes called for in the recipe and pulled it from the oven to cool. I unmolded it after a couple of hours and it looked perfect! I was so thrilled! I wanted to try it right then and there, but it recommends refrigerating it for 8 hours so I showed some self-control and went to bed. With my kitchen in shambles. From making dinner, then biscotti, and then the flan.  I don't often do that, leave my kitchen looking like this....

but, I was really tired by 2ish and just wanted to get to bed. Figured I would deal with the mess today. Which I did and now my kitchen looks like this...

much better. :)


Tried the flan for breakfast.  Whhhaaaat?! There's eggs in it. And, eggs are a breakfast food. :)  It was unbelievable! I don't think I have ever tasted anything as silky smooth or as creamy before. The almond flavor hits you first, and then the sweetness of the caramel slips into the mix and...oh my! I actually closed my eyes and moaned a little as I tasted the first bite. It is definitely a "savor in your mouth" kind of dessert. I don't know if the hubby will like it or not. It might be too creamy, too light for him. He is more a cake/cookie man. But, I will try and update later once he tries it. I kind of hope he doesn't like it. Then it will all be for me! Maw hahahaha! Oh, sorry. Got carried away. :}