Sofrito revelation

Spent the morning doing laundry, cooking rice n' beans, developing the Thanksgiving menu for the school and cuddling with Lil' E. Went out to lunch in Soho with Y, then met up with B after work and walked home.

BREAKFAST: 9am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese and sable, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH 1: 12:45pm, sofrito rice & beans, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
I've thrown around the word 'sofrito' but really haven't gone whole hog on it. I've cooked some of the ingredients of this Spanish cooking base together (onion, bell pepper, garlic, cilantro) but didn't take the last step. I noticed an old jar of commerical sofrito in the fridge at school....and it is a paste, not chunky. Hmmmm.

So I minced and softened a large sweet onion in olive oil, added minced red bell pepper and a wallop of minced garlic. All till almost mushy, hit it with a little wine and cooked off the booze. That all went into a blender with a large handful of cilantro and blended to a paste. BAM! Sofrito. Brown shortgrain rice, 2 cans of black beans, water, bay leaves, salt and a pinch of red pepper into the rice cooker, along with all the slightly-grean sofrito paste.

After an hour of cooking, I ate a small ball and....wow. I usually don't surprise myself, but this is really good, better than rice and beans cooked with chicken stock....maybe not salt pork and pork fat, but a big big flavor.

PM SNACK: 2:15pm, pumpkin donut, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH 2: 3:15pm, sesame noodles, large spinach salad, hijiki soy patty, some frozen vanilla yogurt, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
At Dojo with Y and Edie.

DINNER: 8:30pm, Stouffer's french bread pizza, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Not the healthiest, but the alternate was much worse. I was cooking another batch of shortbread cookies -- I've gotten a lot of positive feedback from everyone who tried them, so wanted to make them again, but with a little bit more attention. But I knew if I was hungry, when they came out a large number would disappear down my maw. The only quick and easy thing I could make while on cookie duty were the frozen pizzas.

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, 4 small wedges of fresh short bread