Hello, loyal three readers! I took a little detour for a couple of weeks to jump a couple of headache hurdles and then run a marathon (a real one, not a metaphorical one :)). The race was planned; the migraines were not! But on the plus side, I’m so glad the headaches came a few days before the marathon … I’m just not sure I could have covered 26.2 miles with a throbbing noggin as WELL as throbbing legs!
The first couple of weeks after a big race like that always send me into fits of laziness, where the sofa becomes my new best friend and the cat welcomes a new bedmate once the sun comes up. (When I’m training, I’m up well before the sun and off to the gym!) Though I’ve been dutifully making dinner most nights – and taking photos of each meal, too! – I’ve been a slouch, clearly, in the blogging department. But now I’m back on the wagon – in my writing as well as my training!
And what better way to come back into the blogosphere than with one of my new favorite meals, veggie paella?
I believe I haven’t yet espoused the love I have for my new Le Creuset, which, while certainly a splurge, is quickly becoming one of my favorite kitchen additions. (And truly, it wasn’t really a splurge at all, as I paid for it via a gift card! Oh, I do love a free trip to the cooking store.) Now, the last time I made paella in the French oven, it did not go quite as planned. Oh, sure, it ended up tasting just fine, but it took so long to cook that I finally had to give up, leave the meal in LeeLee’s capable hands, and storm off to my bowling league, where I ate a sad old tired grilled-cheese sandwich so I wouldn’t faint there on Lane 34. I did have some when I got home from bowling, and ate on it all week for lunch, but still. It was not the triumphant Le Creuset arrival I had anticipated!
Tonight, though, changed all that.
See, the problem I had last time (I think) was that I didn’t let the paella mixture come to a hearty boil. I let it bubble up a little, sure, but I didn’t really let it get going before I put it in the oven. So therefore, the rice took forever to cook, sending me into fits of despair each time I opened the oven and popped the lid (I know, not a wise idea either, but I was in A State) and put my teeth on another little hard pellet of grain. This time, I let the paella really get moving before I put the dish in the oven – and within 25 minutes, dinner was ready!
As I write this, it’s all I can do not to sneak back into the kitchen while LeeLee is at a meeting and have another spoonful of paella out of his lunch portion for tomorrow (because I certainly wouldn’t want to steal from myself!). It was really that good. If I do say so myself. And I feel like I can brag a little this time around, because last time’s turned out so very poorly in the cooking portion.
This time, however, the veggie shrimp and chicken simply popped with a saffronny goodness, the peas plumped up, the yellow bell pepper and garlic and onion all nice and golden. All hail the Le Creuset!
No stats today because, to be honest, I have misplaced my grocery receipt. The climb back from post-marathon laziness is steep!
:)