blue artichoke

Old Blue Artichoke
Went to the cupboard
To get her poor hubby a snack,
When she got there
The cupboard was bare
So the poor little hubby had none.

Doesn't have quite the same charm, but is almost true. I made a lasagna today that used up lots of little tidbits: chicken tenders, jar of basil pesto, tub of cream cheese, bag of frozen mozzarella cheese, box of lasagna noodles and some homemade marinara (I still have some marinara left). Woo-whee! I love using things up; I get a rush of satisfaction and self-righteousness. Gentleman Caller, on the other hand, looks into the bare cupboards with despair. No options! All that food and nothing to eat! I have, though, kept his part of the cupboard stocked with a variety of crackers, peanut butter, nuts and some rice cakes that have probably calcified into stone by now. I am, however, to the point where I will soon need to buy a few ingredients to use up what I have left. For example, I have a jar of shredded ginger. I don't like ginger, but Gentleman Caller does. So, I'll make a Chinese chicken salad or an Asian tuna salad for him, but I'll have to buy chicken or tuna to do so. With a handful of new ingredients, I can can achieve bare pantrydom!

Banana Bread #5, Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread
Recipe from Cooking Light. This is not a traditional banana bread, because you melt chocolate chips and stir the melted chocolate into half of the batter, then alternate dropping the batters into the loaf pan and swirl it all together with a knife. Great fun! And messy too! But the bread looks really nice, is moist and dense and tastes quite sweet. Toasted, with some peanut butter, turns breakfast into dessert.

Dinner last night: leftover maple-balsamic pork tenderloin and polenta
Dinner tonight: Slow Food Charcuterie party (details tomorrow)