Productively Unproductive

For everything I did yesterday, I don't have a lot to show for it. Today will be much the same, I'm afraid. I had a nice breakfast with Sue. When Mike and I were adhering to the Cooking Light Diet, the diet introduced us to Avocado Toast. And now...it seems Avocado Toast is a dish of great popularity. One of the restaurants we frequent for breakfast is the nearby Biscuits. The last time I was at Biscuits, they had one menu choice of Avocado Toast. Now, they've expanded their menu to include four different variations on the theme. Here's a little snip of their menu, showing you all the ways you can have this dish:

At home, Mike and I usually have the plain version, made with just one egg...and to be clear, the egg should be served atop the toast, and not to the side, as Biscuits did it. Yesterday, I branched out and had the "Fiesta" version, which was spicy without knocking my head off. Our farmers give us a lot of spicy peppers in our CSA shares this time of year, and so I might create my own version of this, just for variety. The "Greek" version doesn't sound that good to me, but the "BLT" version has some promise. To make things easy on myself, I get the little "guacamole mini" packets. They can be found in the produce section of most grocery stores.

The packages in our grocery store come in boxes of six. When Mike and I are traveling, it's our go-to breakfast for days on the road because it's quick and easy, and doesn't make a lot of dirty dishes. When I sat down here, I didn't think I was going to go on such an expansive tour of breakfast food, but I knew you would find this endlessly fascinating. You're welcome.

As for the rest of the day, I found myself tired yesterday...I'm not sure why. Possibly because I can't seem to sleep in past 5:00 a.m. most mornings. We go to bed early, and so it's not as if I'm not getting enough sleep. Nevertheless, I'm ready for a nap around 10:00 a.m., and so diving into salsa canning didn't sound particularly appealing. Still, I wanted to get at those Dresden blocks, and so I did the canning, which took longer to cook down than expected. My yield was 5 pints.

For a batch of salsa, I need five pounds of tomatoes. There were 3-1/2 pounds on our own plants when we returned home from our trip. The farmers provided the additional 1-1/2 pounds of Romas in our share this week. Also, they supplied the 3 necessary jalapenos, and the 1 necessary red bell pepper. I still had two onions and garlic left from a previous share, and so I had most of what I needed. The only thing I purchased from the grocery store was a bunch of cilantro, and the jars above are what came of all that.

It was almost 2:00 p.m. by the time I got into the sewing room yesterday. By day's end, I only had two more Dresdens made. These are so tedious and time-consuming, and I'm not even half finished with them. As I've shared with a few of you, I may have found something I dislike even more than paper-piecing.

So here's something for future reference: If I ever make plans to make another quilt featuring Dresdens, please suggest that I have my head examined first. Thank you.

Fortunately, I had dinner in the slow cooker, and so I didn't need to do any more cooking for the day. We got three bell peppers in our CSA share this week. One went into the salsa, and I checked my recipe database for what to do with the other two. I found this recipe I'd made once before, and it is so easy and yummy. You gotta love a dish that can be prepared completely using the microwave oven and a slow cooker. It's a great way to use leftover rice too. One pepper makes a surprisingly filling serving.

I didn't take a picture of my own dish, but here's an image I found on Pinterest. It's a pretty good likeness.

My own recipe is an adaptation from a slow cooker cookbook. It's ready for the slow cooker in just about 20 minutes. It works best if you choose bell peppers that can stand on their own two feet.

Stuffed Bell Peppers with Spicy Corn and Black Beans
adapted from Slow Cooker Revolution, Volume 2
Recipe has been scaled to 2 servings, but can be doubled.

2 (6 oz.) red, orange, or yellow bell peppers
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
3/4 cups shredded Cheddar Jack cheese, divided
1/2 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed
1/2 cup cooked rice
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup jarred tomato salsa
1 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

1. Trim 1/2 inch off top of each pepper, then remove core and seeds. Finely chop pepper tops, discarding stems. Microwave pepper tops, onion, oil, and garlic in large bowl, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup Cheddar Jack, beans, rice, corn, salsa, 1/2 tablespoon cilantro, salt, and pepper. Pack filling evenly into cored peppers.

2. Pour 2/3 cup water into slow cooker. Place stuffed peppers upright in slow cooker. Cover and cook until peppers are tender, 4-5 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high.

3. Sprinkle peppers evenly with remaining 1/4 cup Cheddar Jack, cover and cook until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes. Using tongs and slotted spoon, transfer peppers to serving dish; discard cooking liquid. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 tablespoon cilantro and serve.

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The only other sewing I've done for the past couple of days is to continue on with the second of three snowmen blocks. This one is taking a little longer because of that chain stitch around the wreath. When I finished working on it this morning, I had it this far:

Okay, so today will be much like yesterday, only take out the salsa canning and substitute Spicy Plum Barbecue Sauce. Then, I'll get back to those dastardly Dresdens. I'm hoping I can get more done on them today than yesterday.