I'm such a tart

Well, here it is folks, only 2 days late - Dorie's Chocolate Cream Tart. This recipe was chosen by Kim, of Scrumptious Photography...one of my absolute favorite TWD blogs! Her photos are amazing and very drool worthy.

I know I'm supposed to post on Tuesday, but the week got away from me. I had the dough chilling in the fridge until last night. I was able to finally get some time to make the filling and bake off the crust. My sister-in-law came over and I was really glad to have someone to share this tart with. It's so rich that just a forkful is enough for me. I love the chocolate crust and filling, but I'm not sure if I'll make this again. Oh, it's truly delicious, but just a little too decadent for my tastes.

I'm taking a TWD and blogging pause for the next 2 weeks. Yes, I know - it's sad for me, too! I'm heading off to exotic New Jersey for a work trip and then I turn right around and Alex and I drive down to the Outer Banks for a family wedding. His cousin, Jon, and fiance, Tammy, are getting married next Saturday in Duck, NC and I'm so excited! It's going to be a great time. If I cook anything fun this weekend, I'll be sure to post. If not, I'll be back in 2 weeks!

TWD: Chocolate Cream Tart

It's coming...I promise! The crust is made and just chillin' (literally), waiting for the chocolate cream filling.

We have a winner!

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers: 5
Timestamp: 2009-04-27 15:49:11 UTC

I don't know how to get the image from random.org to show how it selected my number, but it picked lucky #5! So our winner is jesstyler:

jesstyler said...
I love that movie! And what a great idea!!! I'd love to try some Arbonne products - I've never had the pleasure! :)

Jess, I left a comment on your blog. Congrats! I'm going to send her a great bag of Arbonne spa goodies, and in return, Jess has to Pay It Forward on her blog!

Thanks for playing!

Spicy Eggplant Pasta

Summer came early to Baltimore this weekend and it was in the high 80's for two straight days. I love the nice weather, but direct sunlight and I don't get along. I'm as pale as pale can be and I burn at even the mention of sun. In addition to that, one of my medications clearly states on the bottle "Avoid exposure to direct or artificial sunlight..." so, my pale pasty self stayed inside as much as possible (or at least in a lot of shade). Don't worry, I made good use of my Arbonne self-tanner so I don't scare little children when I put on shorts.

I spent my Saturday painting the powder room and singing really off-key versions of Lady Antebellum and Sugarland. I had stripped off the wallpaper a few weeks ago and finally got my butt in gear to prime and paint it. We chose a really nice bright blue, but I think it might be too bright. I went for the Satin finish and it's well...pretty shiny. I think I need to stare at it some more and get used to it. I'll post pics soon.

Then, after working for about 6 hours straight, I thought it would be a brilliant idea to cook dinner. Did I mention it was nearly 90 degrees? And I had been trapped in a tiny bathroom with paint fumes all day? So then I decided to heat up the small kitchen to a scorching 400 degrees. By the time dinner was done, I was a nice lobster-esque shade of red and totally exhausted. My sister-in-law asked if I had been laying outside and gotten some sun. Nope, nothing nearly as fun as that.

But, this dinner was totally worth it! The eggplant sauce is really spicy and hearty and the feta cheese is a cool compliment. I don't normally go for feta, but it makes this dish. The original recipe on WW tells you to grill the veggies, but I just roast them in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. I also recommend cutting them into bite-sized pieces before roasting so that they roast faster and you don't scorch your fingers trying to cut them when they come out of the oven. I changed that part of the instructions. Serve with some crunchy bread and sangria, like we did, and you've got yourselves a great dinner. No painting necessary.

Ingredients:

1 small eggplant, diced

1 red pepper, diced

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 spray cooking spray

3/4 tsp salt, divided

1 medium garlic clove, diced

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1/8 tsp black pepper (I use about 1/4 instead for more spice)

2 TBS fresh basil, minced

2 TBS fresh chives, minced (I didn't have this)

1/2 cup fat-free broth (chicken or veggie)

8 oz whole wheat angel hair pasta, cooked and drained

4 oz crumbled feta cheese

Instructions:

Place eggplant and pepper pieces in a grill basket (or place vegetables on a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil with holes poked in it to allow smoke through). Off heat, coat vegetables with cooking spray; season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Place on grill and cook until lightly browned and tender, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature, and set aside.

OR

You can roast the vegetables if you prefer. Preheat oven to 425ºF. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place vegetables on prepared baking sheet and coat with cooking spray; season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Toss to coat. Roast, until lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.

Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; heat over low-medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add tomatoes and cook until slightly pulpy, about 1 minute more. Stir in vegetables, remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt, red pepper flakes, black pepper, basil, chives and broth; increase heat to medium-high. Cook until broth is slightly reduced and mixture has a sauce consistency, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add pasta and toss to coat. Stir in cheese just before serving. Yields about 1 1/2 cups per serving. 4 points per serving.

Pay it Forward - a give-away!

I never saw this movie, but I love the concept. Pay it forward, give something to make people smile and ask them to pay it forward to someone else...so forth and so on. It's like paying for the toll of the car behind you! Kind of obsolete now that I use my Easy Pass, but the idea is the same.

I was selected by the lovely shoe-goddess Alicia for her Pay It Forward campaign. We're all on pins and needles, waiting for her Twinkle to make an appearance, 3 days past her due date. Check out her awesome blog. If you love shoes, well...you'll just love this.

Anyways, for the Pay It Forward portion of this give-away, I am going to give one lucky winner a choice. You can either pick a batch of homemade cookies (we can decide on the recipe together!) or a goodie bag filled with Arbonne Spa products! Your choice :-) The catch? You have to pay it forward, too! If you're selected, you will have to post a Pay it Forward explanation on your blog and give away something to other readers! See? It's fun for everyone!

To win? Just leave a comment with your choice, cookies or spa goodies, and I'll use a random number generator to pick a winner. Deadline is Friday the 24th at 5PM.

No TWD here...

Sorry friends. The weekend got away from me and I worked until 9:30PM last night. No time to make bread pudding, as much as I really wanted to. I'll be back for the delicious looking chocolate tarts, though!

Chicken with Tomato Mint Salsa

Some people have asked me why I'm on WW since I don't really look like I need to lose weight. Here's the honest to blog truth - left to my own devices, I'm a terrible eater. I'll pick a heavy cheese-loaded carby something over a better-for-me healthy choice and I will eat way more than 1 serving. I never had a good sense of what a proper serving size was. It's not like I grew up in a house with poor eating habits. We actually were pretty healthy as a family! It's just that I got used to a higher metabolism throughout college. All through my early 20's I just ate what I wanted, when I wanted, with little to no consequence. Suddenly, I hit 28 and my body practically changed overnight. Nothing fit. Food and I developed a really bad relationship. I started looking at it as a comfort, like "Oh, I had a bad day. I deserve ice cream" or "I'm bored. I need a snack." Not exactly the healthiest way to see food. And this was hard because I really love to eat! Factor in the Lupron (endo medication) hormone deprivation and I was all out of sorts. So I turned to WW to learn how to have a better relationship with food. I wanted to fix this before it totally grew out of control.

Now, I really understand how to make healthy choices. I always knew that clearly, vegetables are better for me than Cheetos, but it was my mentality of "one time won't hurt" that got in the way because it turned into "all the time." I now know what a proper serving size is and I can stick to it. I can have that slice of pizza if I want it, but I won't have two, and I'll eat vegetables as a side dish instead of french fries. And I am much more confident in the kitchen. Before WW, it was like I was frozen with fear when it came to cooking. How much do I eat? How do I know it's good for me? Is it okay for me to have pasta? Am I going to feel too full after eating this? Now I have a whole arsenal of healthy recipes and I understand easy substitutes for cooking. It's not that I'm denying myself anything, I'm just making choices that are better for me and my health.

I'm still not 100% there yet. I will have days where the old mentality creeps back in and before I know it, I'm snacking on my old favorite trigger foods, without really thinking about what I'm doing, because, ya know, it's just "one time." A stomach-ache later, I regret it and beat myself up about it. Food and guilt don't mix, and that's a slippery slope I don't want to go down! This is a process and a lifestyle change, but it's worth it.

That's where this recipe comes in....

After 6.5 days of super-heavy Passover foods and matzah, I needed to get back on the healthy track. I just felt sluggish and out of sorts. If you just came off the 8-day matzah binge, you know what I mean! I had this recipe bookmarked from a while ago, and decided to give a whirl. It's good, with a few tweaks. I added a lot more mint than it originally calls for and a few more splashes of white wine vinegar. I also let the salsa sit for a while before serving to let the flavors meld.

I made some quinoa to go along with this, but only made enough for Alex to have. I wasn't really in the mood for it, for some reason. Usually I like it, but the smell seemed to put me off. Oh well! The chicken and salsa were really good on their own! However, don't make the mistake I did by putting in a whole onion. Way too much!

Ingredients
2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
1 small jalapeno pepper, cored, seeded and minced (do not touch seeds with bare hands. I used a pair of gloves for this because I've learned this lesson the hard way.)
1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 1/4 tsp table salt, or to taste, divided
1 1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground, or to taste, divided
1 tbsp mint leaves, fresh, chopped
1 spray cooking spray, lemon-flavor recommended (I've never seen this. Do they even make it?)
1 pound uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced
1/2 medium lemon, cut into 4 wedges

Instructions
To prepare salsa, in a small bowl, combine tomatoes, jalapeno, onion, vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper; sprinkle on mint and set aside.
Coat a large heavy-bottomed ridged grill pan with cooking spray; heat over medium-high heat for 1 minute.
Sprinkle chicken with remaining teaspoon each of salt and pepper; place in a single layer on prepared pan. Cook until chicken turns white around edges, about 1 to 2 minutes; flip chicken and grill until chicken is cooked through, about 1 to 2 minutes more.
Arrange chicken in overlapping slices on a serving plate; spoon on salsa and garnish with lemon wedges. Yields about 3 ounces of chicken and 1/2 cup of salsa per serving.

Soup's On!

Wednesday was a cold, gross and rainy day. Perfect for running in and out of the car all around town, doing various errands, right? Eh, not so much. By the time I got home, I was wet and miserable. All I wanted was a huge bowl of hot soup, and I knew exactly which one I would make. I've heard of the WW Zero Points Vegetable soup for a while, but always figured it would just be a weak watery broth with a few floating carrots and celery for color. I mean, come on! Soup is supposed to be hearty and filling! For zero? Riiiight.

Well, I stand corrected. This soup rocks. It's got a really good flavor and the cabbage totally makes the soup. Don't leave it out! And it's really easy to make, too. I just chopped up all the veggies and let it simmer away for 20 minutes while I snuggled on the couch with my recent library treasures and a cup of my favorite English Breakfast.

Even if you're not on WW, I recommend this soup. Just a little something light for lunch or a late dinner if you're like us and get home at 10PM.

Ingredients

6 cups vegetable broth

cooking spray

2-3 carrots, peeled and diced

1 large onion, diced

4 teaspoons garlic (from a jar or substitute four cloves minced garlic)

1/2 cabbage, chopped (or use a bag of slaw, the biggest chunks you can find vs the fine)

1/2 pound frozen green beans (I used fresh and that was just fine)

2 tablespoons tomato paste (might add more next time)

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 large zucchini, diced

Instructions

Spray a Dutch oven or big soup pot with cooking spray and heat on medium high. Add the carrots, onion and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add all the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the zucchini and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the beans are tender. Add the zucchini and cook until the zucchini are tender (about 5-8 minutes). Serve and enjoy!

A Brooklyn Seder

Alex's family has started this great tradition where they do a traveling seder. Sometimes, when the actual seder dates fall in the middle of the week, they can't all get together due to work obligations, so they pick up everything and bring the seder to the child living the furthest away. This year, it was in Brooklyn and his brother Pete hosted the seder. He had about 20 people crammed into his loft and spent at least 4 days cooking beforehand - brisket, matzah ball soup, etc. Everything was delicious! We had so much fun with our plague masks and multiple bottles of wine.



I made Matzah Crack, Coconut Meringues and a new recipe, Tzimmes. In Yiddish, tzimmes means "big fuss" which is actually pretty accurate when I think about all the chopping and peeling that went into this! The result is delicious, but the prep-work is pretty labor intensive. The recipe says it serves 10, but I would say you can stretch one pan of this for about 15-18 people, at least!


Tzimmes


Ingredients
1/2 cup pitted prunes, halved
1/3 cup dried pitted dates, halved
1/3 cup figs, quartered
1/4 cup each dark and golden raisins
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup dried apricots, halved
About 1 cup riesling wine (mixed with a little brandy, if you like), or more if needed
Vegetable oil (for the baking dish)
6 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
6 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
4 Bosc pears, peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions
In a large bowl, combine the prunes, dates, figs, dark and golden raisins, cherries, and apricots. Add the riesling and brandy, if using. Add more wine so the liquid covers the fruits. Set aside for at least 1 hour.
Set the oven at 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Place the carrots, sweet potatoes, and pears in the dish and toss gently.
In a small bowl, stir together the orange juice and honey. Pour the mixture over the vegetables. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Add the dried fruits and their soaking liquid. Toss again.
Bake covered for 1 hour, spooning the cooking juices over the mixture several times. If the pan seems dry, add more orange juice. If the vegetables are not tender, continue cooking up to 1 hour more.

Alex's sister, Mariel, made this amazing sweet potato chocolate torte. These are two things that you wouldn't think go together, but it's so good! It looks like a flourless chocolate torte, but instead of being dense and thick, it's really creamy and velvety. You can't taste the sweet potatoes, but you can tell something is different. I don't have her exact recipe, so I found one online that seems similar. Sorry the picture is so bad!

Chocolate Sweet Potato Torte

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted Passover margarine (or butter)
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
6 large eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes, fresh or canned
1 teaspoon Passover rum extract (Mariel used Grand Marnier, which was so good!)
10 ounces good-quality semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions
In a mixing bowl, cream the unsalted margarine or butter with the 1/3 cup sugar. Blend in the egg yolks, then the mashed sweet potatoes, rum extract (if using), and cooled chocolate.
In another bowl, with clean beaters, whip the egg whites gently until they are a bit foamy. Then add in the salt and whip on a higher speed, slowly dusting in the two tablespoons of sugar to form stiff, glossy (but not dry) peaks.
Fold one third of the egg whites into the sweet potato/chocolate mixture and work them in well to loosen the batter. Then, gently fold in the remaining egg whites, blending well but taking care not to deflate the mixture.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes. The cake rises and looks dry, and slightly cracked on top when done. The middle should be soft but firm. Cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then remove to a wire rack. At this point, the cake can be frozen for up to a month. Even if serving it the same day, chill the cake for an hour or two just to set.

Lots of Passover Recipes

I'm going to let you non-Jews in on a little secret about Passover recipes. When someone says "Oh, I have a great Passover recipe for ________! It's really good!" 9 times out of 10, they really mean "Well, it's good considering the fact that it's for Passover and I wouldn't normally make it this way because it's not really the best way...but for Passover, it's good."

It's really because we experiment for Passover and make things that taste okay, given the fact that we don't really have a choice. My Passover rolls? Great...for Passover. Matzah brei? Good... because we're tired of being really creative and eating leftovers for meals. So the following recipes are good. They taste fine, considering the fact that I can't use regular ingredients. Would I make them during the other 357 days a year? Not a chance.

There are exceptions to this rule, of course. However, before you leave me an angry comment about how your great-grandmother's Passover sponge cake recipe is the greatest ever, ask yourself this: do you make it any other time during the year because it's so good? If so, rock on. You've solved the mystery. If not, it's just another good-tasting Passover recipe that you wouldn't make if you didn't have to. I rest my case. :-)


Passover Rolls

Ingredients

3 TBS sugar (or less if you don't want them sweet)

1 cup Matzah meal

3/4 cup water

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs

1/4 cup oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375

Boil water, oil, sugar and salt together in a medium saucepan. Once it boils, add in Matzah meal, stir well. Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing after each egg. Place spoonfuls on a greased baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes. Taste "good" with jam, cheese, or some deli meat.

Meringue Cookies (okay, these I make during the regular year)

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

3 egg whites

1 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

Options: chocolate chips or shredded coconut

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300. If you are using shredded coconut, toast it first in a dry saucepan until it's light brown and fragrant.

Beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Add the sugar in slowly, beating constantly. Fold in vanilla and optional add-ins. Toasting the coconut beforehand will give it a great nutty flavor! Drop TBS-full of batter onto a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 35-40 minutes, until dry and slightly browned. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.

Helene's Apple Cake

Ingredients

3 eggs, separated

1/2 cup oil (I used applesauce)

1/4 cup OJ

1 cup sugar (maybe less next time?)

1/2 tsp salt

3-4 apples, peeled and thinly sliced

1/2 cup sugar mixed with 1.5 tsp cinnamon

1 cup matzah meal

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375.

Beat egg whites until stiff, set aside. In a large bowl, beat the yolks, oil, and OJ until well combined and really frothy (about 5-7 minutes). Add 1 cup of sugar and mix until well-combined. Mix in matzah meal and salt, then fold in the egg whites.

Pour 1/2 the batter into a greased 8x8 baking dish and spread it out evenly. Top with the apple slices and then sprinkle on 1/2 the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Cover with the remaining batter and sprinkle with the rest of the cinn/sugar mix. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until done. Be careful not to lay the apples on too thickly because they can make the middle of the cake very wet!

Chocolate Toffee Matzah (aka Matzah Crack)

Ingredients

4-5 pieces of regular matzah

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 sticks butter

1 cup chopped chocolate or chocolate chips

Optional toppings (I used coarse kosher salt)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 and cover a baking sheet with foil (makes clean-up much easier!).

Place the matzah in a single layer on the baking sheet, breaking up the pieces to fit if necessary. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and the sugar together over medium heat, stirring constantly. Do NOT leave this alone or it will burn! Once the mixture reaches a boil, continue to cook for an additional 3 minutes, until it's thickened and just starting to pull away from the edges of the pan.

Remove from the heat and pour over the matzah. Spread it out evenly with a spatula so that all the pieces are covered.

Put the pan in the oven and bake it for about 10-13 minutes, watching to make sure it doesn't burn. After 13 minutes or so, the toffee with bubble and turn a darker brown. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with the chocolate. Allow it to sit for about 5 minutes until all the chocolate is softened, and then spread it around with a spatula or knife. Sprinkle on your toppings while it's still warm (I loved it with salt!) and place the pan in the fridge. This helps the chocolate set.

To serve, break the matzah into small pieces and allow it to sit at room temperature. Enjoy!

Operation Baking GALS - Round 7

Sorry for the late post! This round went out April 10th and all of Team Go Terps shipped out delicious baked goodies for our soldier, Steve. He's been stationed in Iraq since October and will be there for at least another year. I hope he gets all the treats and enjoys them! I sent out chocolate chip cookies and a batch of World Peace cookies, just for a little bit of irony.

Here are what some other fantastic Team Go Terps bakers sent out:

• Katie baked oatmeal, peanut butter, chocolate chip cookies and sent a great package of treats
  
  

• Shelly and her coworkers baked chocolate chip bars, peanut butter cookies, chocolate chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, and oatmeal raisin cookies

• Hilary (one of my sorority sisters!) sent out a batch of delicious cookies, and her husband Bryan was happy to help make sure they tasted right.
  
  
• Jess baked peanut butter cookies and chocolate chip cookies, and sent them out with some candy and magazines
  
  
  

• Laura baked one of my favorites - chocolate chip cookies in a chocolate chip cookie!

• Diana made Oatmeal Raisin cookies, Honey Shortbread stars, and homemade granola bars
  
  
  

  Thank you again to all my fantastic baking gals!!!

Passover

I have a love/hate relationship with this holiday. I love the traditions that we follow during the preparation, the seder (more on that later on) and the foods. I love that there are certain things my mom cooks once a year, only for Passover. I love that I have recipes from my Bubbie that are specially labeled as "Kosher for Passover" in my recipe booklet. I love being a part of Alex's family and learning their Passover traditions. And I love that having our own house this year allows us to start our own Passover traditions.

However...all this love is seriously dampened by the extreme hatred I have for many aspects of this holiday. I hate having to change out all my dishes and silverware. I hate having to scrub every inch of my kitchen and worry that I'm not making it Kosher enough. I hate that I have to give up beans and grains for 8 days, especially since we cook with them quite often. I hate matzah. The only people I know that love matzah are non-Jews. Of course, because they don't have to eat it for 8 days straight!

Now that you know what I hate, let me explain what I mean by all that. Passover is a holiday that celebrates the Jews escaping slavery in the land of Egypt. If you've ever seen The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston, well...that's the whole story right there! We were slaves, Moses claimed his birthright and brought us out from under the evil reign of Pharaoh, and then we wandered in the desert for 40 years. When the Jews escaped from Egypt, they had to leave so quickly (lest Pharaoh change his mind) that there wasn't time for the bread to rise. They had to grab it as it was, and eat just that. So, for 8 days, we don't eat any leavened bread. No grains, no rice, no legumes, no corn, no flour...no nuthin'. We also celebrate by having the traditional seder meal for the first two nights. Seder means "order" in Hebrew, and this meal is conducted in a specific way, in a certain order, with a ton of symbolism. It's actually pretty cool! There are certain symbolic foods we eat, such as greens dipped in salt water, that symbolize the tears of the enslaved Jews. We eat a sweet paste made from apples, walnuts, cinnamon and wine called haroset that symbolizes the mortar the Jews had to use to build the pyramids. We also drink 4 cups of wine throughout the night as part of the seder, so there are quite a few tipsy people after the meal is over!

However, before we can even get to that night, we have to prepare our house for Passover. This means that we have to get rid of all chametz, or non-Kosher-for-Passover foods. Some people actually get rid of the food, or "sell" it for the time being, but we just move it off to the side and tape off the cabinet. It's basically like doing Atkins or South Beach for 8 days! Not as easy as you think.
This is a small tiny part of my to-do list for the next few days, so you can see the amount of cleaning that takes place:

Kitchen (All done Monday and Tuesday night)
o Clean out oven
o Change out dishes/silverware
o Wipe out cabinets before putting in Pesach dishes
o Wipe out drawers before changing silverware
o Put away non-KP dishes/silverware in box and set aside
o Move non KP food in pantry to far right side, tape off
o Clean off shelves
o Move non KP food to bottom of fridge
o Clean off shelves and drawers
o Vacuum floor
o Making sure to get under countertops and in corners
o Scrub floor with Swiffer
o Microwave
o Run platter through super hot (sani rinse) dishwasher cycle, along with all other items that we’ll re-use
§ Pyrex, drinking glasses, glass bowls, etc
§ Kitchen-aid mixer attachments and bowl
§ Toaster rack and tray
§ Both utensil crock items (but not crocks. Wash those by hand)
§ All tupperware
o Microwave a bowl of water and lemon juice inside for about 10 minutes to steam, and then scrub clean
o Clean the outside and underneath
o Toaster oven
o Empty the crumbs outside
o Clean toaster with damp cloth inside to get out all crumbs and stuck on pieces
o Wrap clean rack and tray in foil
o Counters
o Scrub clean with Green cleaner, making sure there are NO crumbs
§ Getting in all corners, under appliances, etc.
o Put away flour canister, far right side of pantry
o Clean off electric kettle
o Table
o Scrub clean
o Nothing left on it, no books, mags, boxes, etc.
o Clean off tile counter behind it, too
o Cover with tablecloth for the week

Yeah, so we have a busy few days ahead of us! Poor Alex, he hasn't seen this list yet. I will get to post some special K for P (kosher for passover) recipes in the near future, but for now...the baking will be on hold. No TWD for the next 2 weeks for sure, and maybe for the next 3 depending on how fast I can get my kitchen back together.

Now, if anyone can tell me the best way to scrub an oven without the harsh fumes, that would be great!

Another reason why I love Baltimore

Because of this sign:

Honestly, where else besides Baltimore would you see something like this, hon?

ps - for those of you scratching your heads, thinking, WTF? This is the Flying Spaghetti Monster.