Stir frying with no stirring and no frying!

I know, a stupid title but the alternative was "who needs a wok when a cookie sheet will do?" and that sounds equally as stupid. 

Some nights you just want a voice to call to you, to say "open the oven at 7:38 and the meal will be done" but that never happens.  (It never happens to me, maybe it does to some of you out there?)  Some nights you want to really cook a meal and sometimes that does happen.  And some nights you really want a pizza and a small salad (teacup size) but you know that isn't going to be good for your belly or for your arteries, and besides, you have convinced yourself to wait until Monday night and then order that pizza.

So you are faced with tonight and since you have been cooking for the past three or four or five  nights and not very successfully, you are tired of cooking but you know you should do something with those veggies in the not-so-crisp crisper, especially if that pizza becomes a real (not virtual) dinner tomorrow night. You could stir-fry them, of course, but what a mess it makes of the stovetop and the smoke it creates from the hot frying pan and what a pain.

Therefore we have the cookie sheet version: I cut all the veggies into similar size pieces. Wilting red pepper, two golf-ball size potatoes, a small half of a sweet potato, a quarter of a winter squash, some asparagus that I left in bigger pieces.  Put them onto the cookie sheet, tossed with some olive oil, salt, pepper, tiny bit of garlic powder, some spices of Provence, put them into a hot oven for about 12 minutes. Took it out, stirred, and then put 2 large handfuls of spinach on top, sprinkled a little olive oil and some salt on top of that and back into the oven for about 3 minutes. That's it. Took it out, stirred all of it together and let it sit for about 5 minutes.  It was fucking beautifully awesome and delicious. With a couple of slices of cold roasted pork tenderloin (protein!) that was dinner, with some nice wine.  One sheet pan, one spatula, no splatters on my stovetop. YAY.  Next time I will perhaps add some lemon zest and/or a squeeze of lemon juice.  Or not.

I want to talk about the stupidity of Daylight Savings Time but it can wait until another day.  Or maybe not wait, let's get it out right now!  The good thing is the darkness in the morning when I walk the dog.  The  not good thing is the everlasting sun in the afternoon.  I like it when it gets dark at a normal time, like around 7:30. Or even 5:05 in December, I love that! I do not like the days to bleed on for hours, and bleed they will through June when the sun doesn't set until almost midnight (it seems) and people are all cheery and out and making noise until way past bedtime. 

One perk, besides walking the dog in the dark, is that the darkness is a great cover for stealthy covert actions and thus it is much easier to steal Meyer lemons when the sun is still hiding under the horizon.  But soon those days of purloined lemons will be gone. Starting today, I am gathering at least two each morning. Simply because it is possible. 

Again, good night all. I leave you with a creepy photo from 
Paris.  Cardboard cutouts. 

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