Wrapping Up and Moving Forward

If you've been following along (NATALIE CAROL AND JACKSON HARRIS!), you know that the last handful of posts were written in part to document whether or not I was able to plan nearly a week's menu and actually stick to it.  Yay!  With a little pre-planning and a crap-load of cooking, it worked!  Yes, there were some amendments along the way, but in essence I managed to create a week of meals that included 16 (!!) new things and culminated with a beautifully basic Sunday dinner of roasted chicken - and string beans with shallots and mashed butternut squash (unbelievably I can't locate this recipe on Food Network), both by my bud, Ina.    

After the preceding week of intense cooking I was ready for something fairly straightforward and easy that Sunday, but since I was on a roll I still wanted to try something new.  The squash was it and it was delicious!!  And who knew you could take a potato peeler to a squash and simply peel it whole in less than 3 minutes?!  I was dubious going into that instruction and was pleasantly surprised as my Kyocera ceramic blade peeler slid down the side of that gourd like it was slicing buttah.  Well, not exactly, but it was SO easy!  BTW - if you don't have one of these peelers, you're working way too hard and spending way too much time peeling - they're amazing and you can get a standard size for 10 bucks.

My experiment was fun, challenging at times, and resulted in some delectable meals.  Not that I'm trying to take all the credit for that - I simply followed the recipes of some amazing cooks and managed not to screw them up.  That alone is cause for celebration.  w00t!