{"id":1464,"date":"2013-07-24T20:42:55","date_gmt":"2013-07-25T03:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.therowdybaker.com\/?p=1464"},"modified":"2013-07-24T20:42:55","modified_gmt":"2013-07-25T03:42:55","slug":"wednesday-whine-why-id-rather-be-baking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.therowdybaker.com\/?p=1464","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday Whine (Why I’d rather be baking!)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Blog5<\/a>I am sick and tired of cooking. No, that’s not right. I don’t mind the act of cooking – what I really hate is cleaning up after myself.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see. I got married when I was 18, so even if you only figure one meal a day (and believe me, that\u2019s a very<\/em> conservative number) and throw in a handful of breakfasts, that\u2019s 15,000 meals. Fifteen.Freakin\u2019.Thousand!<\/p>\n

It was 96 degrees here today, so I planned a simple chicken salad. Here\u2019s how that worked out:<\/p>\n

I baked a loaf of sourdough rye bread in the morning.
\n\u2022 One small bowl for the \u201csponge\u201d
\n\u2022 One mixing bowl and dough hook
\n\u2022 Two measuring cups, 2 measuring spoons
\n\u2022 One large bowl for letting the dough rise
\n\u2022 One bread pan
\n\u2022 One lasagna pan to add steam to the oven
\n\u2022 One serrated knife to cut the bread
\n\u2022 One bread board
\n\u2022 Oh, and one butter knife!<\/p>\n

Boiled and deboned a chicken. Couldn\u2019t waste the broth, so added veggies and cooked it down to put in the freezer. I have a sick dog, so I also cooked some rice using some of the broth and added chicken and cottage cheese.
\n\u2022 One large stock pot
\n\u2022 One cutting board and knife for the veggies
\n\u2022 One small pan for the rice
\n\u2022 One measuring cup and spoon
\n\u2022 One bowl for the dog food mixture
\n\u2022 One strainer for the broth<\/p>\n

Made the salad.
\n\u2022 One knife for the lettuce (I know. I cut instead of properly tearing the lettuce. Don\u2019t judge!)
\n\u2022 One strainer to wash the lettuce
\n\u2022 One peeler for the cucumber
\n\u2022 One cutting board for the cucumber, Kalamata olives, tomatoes, and green onions
\n\u2022 One grater for the fresh Parmesan cheese
\n\u2022 One salad bowl and salad tongs<\/p>\n

Made croutons, using the rye bread
\n\u2022 One knife
\n\u2022 One cutting board
\n\u2022 One small bowl for tossing the bread cubes in oil and seasonings
\n\u2022 One cast iron skillet for cooking the croutons.\"Blog5<\/a><\/p>\n

Made dressing
\n\u2022 One small bowl
\n\u2022 One whisk<\/p>\n

Add two dinner plates, forks, and wine<\/del> water glasses. Do you see why my kitchen is never spotless? If I could just be \u201cnormal\u201d and buy a pre-cooked chicken, some salad greens, a bottle of dressing, and a bag of croutons my life would be so much simpler. But I can\u2019t DO that. Well\u2026occasionally I\u2019ll break down and go the easy route, but I save money this way and make sure we don\u2019t eat ingredients that I can\u2019t pronounce.<\/p>\n

But the real bitch of this is, even though everything tastes great, it\u2019s just another meal.<\/p>\n

Baking is even messier, but the reward is something that is covered with chocolate, or filled with maple cream, or bursting with raisins. Baking is a joy.<\/p>\n

Sometimes I cook because it\u2019s fun, but mostly I cook because I must. And since I don\u2019t have a maid to clean up behind me, I spend a lot of time doing dishes that never end. Tonight was #15,001.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s what wine is for.\"Blog5<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am sick and tired of cooking. No, that’s not right. I don’t mind the act of cooking – what I really hate is cleaning up after myself. Let\u2019s see. I got married when I was 18, so even if … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wednesday-whine"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t