Se Hace Camino Al Andar

As a corollary to NaNoWriMo, I am also participating in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). The easy way for me to do this is to write a blog post every day on my progress with NaNoWriMo. So, midnight has come and gone. Here I am, 1 hour and 30 minutes later with 1,704 words under my belt. My goal for each day is 1,666 so I’m pretty happy with myself at the moment. I set a goal and followed through. Sure, it’s not the best writing I’ve ever done but it’s not the worst either. Already, though, I am thinking of revisions.

For one thing, it feels a little too close to real life for me and I will end up changing some details. I used real names without thinking, and I want to change those names. I think it’ll be easier for me to take the novel out of my comfort zone if I distance the characters from people I know in real life.

A pattern has started to take shape in the novel, naturally. I found myself going back and forth in time, from the present to the past. I didn’t intend for this happen but I’m glad it did because it gives me structure and focus. I find myself going back and making sure that things pick up where I left them when  I switch between time periods, as well as making sure there is a obvious segue between time periods.

I found it hard to focus at first but once I gave myself permission to look up from my writing and take a brain break, I found it easier to stay focused on the task at hand, and figure out which direction I wanted the writing to go.

Though technically I have already met my goal for the day, at 1:30am, I am going to try to find time during the day to write some more.

Technorati Tags: NaBloPoMo, NaNoWriMo

Every year, I look at the NaNoWriMo page and say, “maybe this year” but it always ends up being “nah.” My sister once said (not to me!) that I didn’t pursue a career in public policy (the field of my MA) and stuck with teaching because I have no self-confidence. She’s not entirely wrong. A lot of it has to do with plain old comfort. I was comfortable in my teaching job,  and the thought of going out and interviewing for new jobs was nerve-wracking.  One of my biggest shortcomings is that I don’t push myself, very far or very hard. It’s easier to maintain the status quo. In this way, I eked my way to a college degree, to a graduate degree, survived my teaching job and so on.

“They” say 30 is a big year. It so happens that my 30th year coincided with being a mother and I think that was the bigger event. In becoming someone’s mother, I’ve found myself looking back at what I was before I was a mother.  I see all the different paths my life could’ve taken had I chosen to push myself further and harder, but at the same time, would I have met my husband? Would I have my daughter? Maybe yes, maybe no. I’m not excusing myself for being a slacker but I also can’t spend my life looking backwards at what coulda, woulda, shoulda been.

So, midnight. I start a personal challenge. I will push myself to write 50,000 words by November 30th. I don’t know how hard or how far I’ll go but there it is. I’ll be composing my novel on a separate page on this blog, which I may or may not choose to publish, depends on how embarrassing I think it is…

[If you click the NaNoWriMo logo in my sidebar, it'll take you to my user page at NaNoWriMo. If you're signed up for this year, feel free to add me as a buddy, and I'll reciprocate.]

Monday: Baked chicken with apples and fennel, and roasted beets.  We went apple picking yesterday, so any recipe that lets me use up the apples taking over the fridge works for me! This is a recipe from Everyday Food, Nov 09.

Tuesday: Baked ziti with meatballs. I’m trying out a new meatball recipe, using a combination of ground chicken and ground pork.

Wednesday: Stir-fry. Why? I don’t know… Sounds yummy, though!

Thursday: Pizza! My daughter and I actually have a playdate Thursday night that will involve pizza, so this is more for my husband. I’ll be able to prep it, and leave it for him to bake off if he gets home before me. I make my own dough, using a recipe from Everyday Food, and I’ll probably top it with leftover meatballs and veggies.

Friday: Pork tenderloin and squash. I have an acorn squash and two little butternut squashes to use up. Yum. Cinnamon butter will make another appearance!

Get more menu ideas over at Organizing Junkie!

Tonight’s dinner was the result of one accidental supermarket purchase and one impulsive supermarket purchase. Tonight’s dinner was originally supposed to be Butternut Squash Sage Cannelloni, from the November 09 issue of Everyday Food. I accidentally bought no-boil lasagna noodles, so the plan was quickly changed to regular old lasagna, since I wasn’t in the mood to experiment and find out what happens when you boil no-boil noodles.

Now, for the impulse buy. Are you ready for this? Ronnybrook Farms CINNAMON SUGAR BUTTER. Seriously. Please tell me, if you saw that on the shelf, you would not buy it. Ronnybrook Farms butter, by itself, is some of the yummiest and freshest butter you will taste, plus it comes in this really cute, round cup. Put some cinnamon and sugar in there, and I’m yours.

When I brought this butter home, I was thinking toast, in the morning. When I started prepping the squash, I decided to roast it, instead of boiling it, as the EF recipe directed. I spied the cinnamon sugar butter out of the corner of my eye, and hesitated not one second before smearing the flesh of the squash with it. Best decision I ever made.

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Ingredients

Whole wheat lasagna noodles (boil, no-boil, whatever works for you)

container of ricotta cheese

Bechamel Sauce (use whatever recipe you have handy, but you’ll need to have whole milk, flour, butter, onion and fresh sage on hand)

Butternut Squash

Cinnamon Sugar butter, or cinnamon and sugar and butter.

Recipe

1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Cut the butternut squash in half, the long way. Scoop out the seeds and discard.
3. Lay the two halves of the squash, flesh side up, in a baking dish. Season with salt and pepper, and smear some cinnamon sugar butter on there. Drizzle with some olive oil.
4. Roast in the oven, about 30-40 minutes. The flesh should be caramelized and fork-tender.
5. In the meantime, make your bechamel, if it’s not already made. One of the recipes I use for this calls for fresh thyme, and to remove the onion after cooking. I opted to dice the onion, and use fresh sage. I removed the sage leaves and left the onions in the sauce
6. When squash is done, remove from the oven and let cool to the touch. Scoop out flesh, and puree until smooth in a food processor with a little splash of milk or cream. Turn oven down to 400 degrees.
7. In a glass baking dish, build your lasagna layers. Spread some bechamel on the bottom of the pan. Place noodles on top of bechamel. Spread some more bechamel, then on each noodle, put a spoonful of the puree and spread to cover. Add another layer of noodles, placing a spoonful of ricotta cheese on each noodle and spread. Add some more puree and spread to cover. Add another layer of noodles, and alternate next few layers until you run out of ingredients, but the last layer should be bechamel and/or ricotta cheese. Season with salt and pepper as you go, according to taste.
8. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes, until sauce is bubbling and top is browned.
9. Remove from oven and let sit for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Technorati Tags: butternut squash, dinner, lasagna, recipe

Earlier this week, I made a batch of bechamel, using a recipe from the October 09 issue of Everyday Food, with the intention of using it in two different recipes. The first recipe was creamed spinach, and even though I knew I wouldn’t be using the whole batch for the spinach, I added nutmeg to the bechamel anyway, without really thinking about it. Nutmeg and spinach go so well together!

I put the rest of the bechamel away, to be used the next night for tuna noodle casserole. When I made the casserole, I didn’t taste the nutmeg at all and forgot about it. Fast-forward to lunchtime today. I decided to finish off the batch of bechamel since it only keeps for a few days.

One of the best uses for bechamel is baked macaroni and cheese. For a long time, I used my mother’s mac and cheese recipe, in which she used a sort of custard instead of bechamel, beating together eggs and milk, then pouring it over the macaroni before baking. Once you discover the taste difference in using bechamel, it’s hard to go back! (Sorry, mom!) Today, the finished result included a hint of nutmeg, which surprised me… I’d forgotten all about it, after all! Man, what a difference. It took the mac and cheese to whole new level, along with the addition of diced carrots. (I made a mini mac and cheese today… just scoop the macaroni mixture into a greased muffin tin, top each one with some cheese and breadcrumbs, and bake as usual. It’ll probably need ten less minutes than a whole pan.)

Homemade Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Bechamel sauce (If your cookbook doesn’t have a recipe, try this one. Whichever recipe you use, add a dash of nutmeg to it.)

A box of elbow macaroni

2 or 3 carrots, diced

A bag of shredded cheddar cheese (or shred up a block)

Breadcrumbs (I like panko but regular ones work, too)

Butter

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Boil macaroni, and throw in carrots during last minute of cooking.
3. Drain macaroni and carrots, and return to the pot.
4. Stir in bechamel sauce, just enough to coat and then some.
5. Stir in half the cheese.
6. Pour the macaroni mixture into your baking dish.
7. Spread out evenly and top with remaining cheddar cheese.
8. In the microwave, melt 2 or 3 tablespoons of butter. When melted, stir in breadcrumbs and spread breadcrumb mixture over the top of the macaroni.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes (cheese should be melted, breadcrumbs should be browned.)
10. Let rest for ten minutes before serving.

Technorati Tags: bechamel, macaroni and cheese, recipe