Cooking away the gray.

I’m an Oregonian. After green, gray is our other (unofficial) state color. A few days ago, it snizzled. Yup. That’s not a typo. That’s a new weather designation that can only happen in Oregon. It’s a snow + drizzle = snizzle.

Here, we walk in the rain without umbrellas. We wear gray to match the weather. And I throw at my wheel no matter how cold it gets in the garage. So, you can imagine, that if yesterday was too cold and gray and dismal for studio work, it was bad. Really bad.
What did I do? Cooked and Baked. I guess if I can’t play with clay, I play with food. I used what I had on hand and left over (just like in the studio) to make Lamb Rice Soup and Banana Chocolate Chip Coconut Cake.

For the soup: Slices of red onion, garlic and carrots were sautéed in olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano and basil and beef broth added and left to simmer. Leftover cooked lamb was cut into cubes and put in about an hour later along with the cooked left over rice. I served the soup with topped with spinach leaves and feta cheese and Rosemary bread toasted.

For the cake: 1 ¾ cups of whole wheat pastry flour, 1 cup of brown sugar, 1/3 cup rolled oats, 1 teaspoon baking soda, a pinch of salt, Saigon cinnamon and nutmeg were put in the mixer then ½ cup melted butter, 1 egg, 2 medium over ripe bananas smashed were added and mixed together. Then, add 1 cup chocolate chips and ½ cup flaked coconut. Pour into a greased round cake pan and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

It was a delicious dinner. But best of all, it warmed us all up inside and out on a very gray day.