Knish 2: Electric Boogaloo

After getting up at 4 in the morning, had no problem conking out by 11, but woke up late, close to 9 when B was leaving. Certain upper body muscles are sore, a good thing, I was warmed up for the weights after riding 40 miles yesterday. Took the morning easy, put Edie in the backpack and brought in my road bike to the local shop for a few tweaks. After an hour or so in the playground, Edie had no problem getting to nap while I enjoyed myself in the kitchen.

Kitchen enjoyment rolled on into the evening. As Edie was eating pasta and I was cooking rice and a simple vegetable stir fry, just kinda fell into knish-making, like I didn't have enough going on already. It's nice sometimes to do 5 things at once, and all of them -- dinner, knishes, baby -- all seem to come out well.

TODAY'S COOKING
Pork Loin: Heated up the grill pan, opened the window and gave it 2 minutes on each side, twice, and stuck it with an instant read to be assured of the doneness. Let it go to 135 before putting it in a foil pouch with some held marinade for 10 minutes. Came out pretty perfect, very slightly pink in the middle, juicy as all git-out. One of the rare meals I've made for myself that I'd be happy to pay $25 (plus another $5 for dessert) in a restaurant. Food cost about $12 for this serving, so at 50% food cost that is kinda bad (you should have a 25% food cost or less to really be OK) but I was also paying retail for my inventory...

I wonder if Edie will dig it. Gonna slice it thin for her.

Brown rice & stir fry veg: Added salt to the brown rice in the cooker straight from the box, something I would yell at my students for doing. Came out WAY too salty. Picked up a zucchini, onion and scallion from the local farmers market to add to my CSA Swiss Chard. Despite the salt, ate it and have enough for one more meal. Kinda want to toss it, we'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Cheese knish: While stir frying and cooking rice, saw the lump of knish dough that had to be used or thrown out. B has farmer's cheese, so I looked up a recipe for a basic cheese filling in the Encyclopedia of Jewish Cooking. Very simple, just farmers cheese, cream cheese, egg yolks, vanilla and salt. Lined a loaf pan with the dough and slapped the filling in, covered it up and baked under golden. Innards are a little too moist for my comfort but still pretty good, a good starting point for improvement.

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, 4 tiny pancakes
 I think I need to make some iced tea soon.

PM SNACK: 12pm, health salad, pickle, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, pork loin, 2 small knishes, sauteed spinach, chocolate ice cream, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:15pm, brown rice with stir fried veg, slice of cheese knish, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5