Why am I Baking?

There are some VERY unnatural things happening in the zipperhead kitchen.

See? That’s flour on my phone. I’ve been baking…… By choice. Y’all know I am not a baker. It just isn’t my thing, but I’ve had some crazy cravings lately.

I’ve made banana bread and biscuits in the last two days. I just don’t know who I am anymore. I’m blaming a recent invasion causing my body to temporarily belong to another being. I am merely a host. That’s ok though, even though I’m an “advanced maternal age”, (my doctor’s words, not mine) I’m ready. Besides, the little guy needs someone to play with, and there are just so many Legos I can take.

Morning sickness and fatigue aside, there is one major difference between this pregnancy and my last one. Ok, a couple. One is that this time, I am GF and CF. The other is, I can make what ever I’m craving. I read an article the other day about how chefs are better at life and one of the reasons is that they can make what ever they want for dinner or a snack. I read this after I had whipped some cream bc I wanted strawberries and cream. I know, whipping cream is not a major achievement, however, would you take the time to do it? Or just buy some? I also made banana bread and chex mix that day. No wonder I’m tired!

I’ve also been craving biscuits, hollandaise, and fruit. Lots of fruit. I can’t have hollandaise because apparently runny undercooked egg yolks are bad for developing babies. I had to find an alternative, and luckily, I mentioned my woe to Stephanie, and she mentioned avocado hollandaise. I did some reading on it, and she sent me a recipe, all the while, I was drooling and and had a deep need inside me to make this. I now know why. It was amazing!

This was our dinner last night, the plating is pretty bad because I wasn’t sure how the hollandaise would mix with the glazed carrots, by the way, it was just fine.

The sad little flat biscuit in the back? Just ignore him. He was delicious, but I think the yeast was was dead, they did not rise at all. I’m still working on those. The glazed carrots were good, but just standard carrots in butter and sugar with salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. We were out of honey and I sliced them like that because I was in a hurry to eat and I wanted them to cook fast. What I’m saying is, I’ll cook something pretty next time. They were an after thought.

The meat was a beef shank that I braised by browning then throwing an onion, a few carrots, some celery, and some garlic.

Put enough liquid to just cover the vegetables, (here, the liquid was water and some left over Bordeaux) put the meat on top of everything, cover, and cook over a low heat for a very long time. This meat is tough, and full of connective tissue, but if you cook it low and slow it will be delicious.

The hollandaise comes together really fast. In a blender add an avocado, the juice and zest of one lemon, about 1/2 a cup of hot almost boiling water, and blend it up until smooth. While the blender is going, drizzle in olive oil, about 1/8 cup or so. I wanted to do the backstroke in this stuff. Actually, I bet this would be pretty good for my hair. Maybe I’ll try that with the leftovers that I don’t eat.

By the way, I knew something was up when Tazzi got all snugly with me a few weeks ago….

There is a look of dread in her eyes. She knows another little person to climb on her, and pull her hair is coming.
She is two for two. A friend suggested I call her E.P. Tazzi. I think I’ll just have to give her some extra love.