Menus Shmenus

Ever since we moved to New Jersey it's been hard for me to cook. We're temporarily in a furnished apartment with a "fully-stocked" kitchen but the "fully-stocked" aspect is definitely up for argument. Apparently, fully-stocked means 6 place settings, 3 aluminum pans, 1 cookie sheet, 3 plastic slotted spoons, 2 horrid knives, and a few odd Pyrex pieces. So basically, if you're a businessman that eats out every meal but might buy a Hot Pocket or a Hungry Man dinner once in awhile, you'll have everything you need.

Try frying or scrambling an egg without any type of nonstick pan. Very hard. Don't use butter because it will burn before your pan is even warm enough to cook the egg. Don't use oil because the egg will still stick. You have to use a bit of each and the egg will just take longer because the pan has to be much cooler.

Try making T's birthday cake without a mixer, wooden spoon, etc... Instead of hand mixing everything, I made some peanut butter Rice Krispie butterscotch chocolate bars that were a big hit. But I digress, it's annoying to try to plan meals when you have such limited supplies. How did they ever do it before Wusthof, All-Clad, Calphalon, etc... existed?

But this week I sat down today and looked at some of my favorite menu idea websites and came up with a pretty good menu with some good variety: vegetarian chili, whole wheat pancakes, zucchini gratin, Chinese salad. And now here's to hoping I get them all made this week. Wish me luck. And if you've made any fab recipes lately that require minimal kitchen tools and are meat-free, feel free to send them my way.