Pass Alongs

It's almost Friday!! And, I know that because this day is getting a little frenetic making sure I have the day's details taken care of before the day is over. A little of this, a little of that, someone needs to be here, someone needs to be there, the entire schedule is off so is anyone actually going to eat dinner at a normal hour ... That kind of day. Good but brain buzz-worthy!

It's exactly this kind of day that makes me thankful to have learned sanity-saving tips from friends along the way. You know the kind of tip: That which saves you time, your brain or both. I've implemented a couple of them today, and I put the thank yous out into the universe for them to receive. In a pay-it-forward kind of way, allow me to share two things I learned this week. If you already knew them, well, my heart was in the right place (and, you already know how behind I am on the basics, so, I'm assuming forgiveness). If you didn't, I hope you can either utilize them or transfer them in another useful way!

Tip Number One: Now, you already know I am totally in love with my recent recipe finding of Fiesta Cauliflower. We make it no less than weekly if not twice. Fortunately, it provides a bounty of leftover, so there's no need to make it more than that. The drag of it was cooking the cauliflower. I would steam a whole head of cauliflower in a pot on the stove, but it took forever (translation: 20-30 minutes, and who wants to be doing that?). Then, on Monday, I had a brilliant, duh-of-an-idea:

Put it in the pressure cooker!

In my defense, the only thing I ever saw a pressure cooker used to do was to cook artichokes. And, as artichokes are, like, the vegetable of the gods, it seemed reasonable in my head to have the best device to cook them even if it's the only thing for which I used it.

And, then there was Monday, and I was not looking forward to cooking the cauliflower until the light bulb went on, and I discovered that the entire thing could be cooked to perfection in 2-3 minutes (4 for this recipe as it gets smashed to smithereens anyway). This was seriously kitchen-life changing!! (Remember those signs I talked about yesterday? I could possibly be wearing Loopy and Dramatic right now ...)

So, good-bye stove top, Hello pressure cooker!! There are all sorts of things you can cook in one. I'm now up to two. No need to rush these things.

Okay, in my second pass-along, I also only recently learned that these two products exist:

I've not yet used the imitation butter, but I saw a couple of recipes that call for it. Now, I have no idea what those recipes are, but when I come back across them, I will have the item on hand. And, isn't it usually the other way around? Just sayin' ...

The caramel extract came from a smoothie recipe. It's the same as the chocolate peanut butter awesomeness I keep drinking, but you are supposed to add a teaspoon of the extract to make it taste something like a Snickers bar. My verdict is that a teaspoon is wayyyyyy too much. It was good but totally and completely overpowered the drink. It smells *exactly* like the caramel used at coffee places, but I don't know how the taste compares because I hate coffee. Perhaps it was so strong because I'm not used to strong drinks of any kind, but it was too much. I made another last night with 1/4 of a teaspoon, and it was divine.

Moral of the story: You can always add, but you can't take it out. Go slow with the extract 'til you know what you're working with!

With that, it's time to reengage in today's to-do's!! I'll check in after the (hopefully it won't rain on my) morning run! See you then ...