The cook is in the kitchen!

Mondays are usually a "me" day since Anders is in school in the morning. My day to clean up from the weekend, put things (i.e., toys) away, and run personal errands. However Anders has been pretty sick since early Sunday morning and so I've kept him home today with his high fever & stuffy nose. He's very lethargic too, rare for him, so I'm indulging him with some Disney while he lolls on the couch.

But, despite getting a total of about 4 hours of sleep since Saturday night, I am raring to go! It's a beautiful hot morning and I'm in the mood to get stuff DONE. So after I buzzed through my chores I turned my attention to the produce I have lingering around the house: some almost-too-ripe bananas; a bunch of tomatoes & scotch bonnet peppers; some plums & blackberries*. I'm making roasted banana ice cream using a cool new ice cream recipe that doesn't use a custard so no slaving over a stove praying that your egg yolks don't curdle. Then I threw together a plum & blackberry crisp. I can't wait to have this for dessert with some whipped cream. And then the kids can eat it for breakfast. And finally I made a humongous batch of salsa using green scotch bonnets from our garden. They've got a little more intensity than jalapeno, but a fruitier, crisper taste than if they were totally red/orange-ripe. I've never made salsa before, but this stuff BLOWS AWAY the jarred stuff. I can't wait to have it with some tortillas & guacamole for lunch. Or on quesadillas for dinner. Or as a side with some jerk pork later this week. Or as part of a seven-layer salad for Memorial Day. Or on a late night bunch of nachos with pepper jack. Yum yum.

Definitely got the creative cooking juices flowing today!

*Plums & blackberries being the odd man out in our fridge. Watermelon, cherries, cantaloupe, and blueberries are eaten almost as fast as I can unpack & wash them.