The Keatley Household Does Not Live by Bread Alone~for this week, anyway

I realized this morning when I woke up thinking of what I'd have for breakfast that I've gone a little more crazy than usual. I am pretty sure it has to do with the fact that we have no bread or flour in our house at the moment. Some people love to eat sweets while others crave salty or even fatty foods~ for me it is definitely bread! I don't think I've ever met a bread I didn't like, so this week has been really interesting. I know the kids are thinking this is "interesting" (or "what do you mean we don't have any bread- what am I going to do???) too as they are having to be way more creative than usual. We do have a few other starchy items in the house, so I have been making use of pasta and rice as well as some Scottish oatmeal that's been sitting patiently in the cupboard waiting to be used.

This morning's repast was simple but made me feel like someone was giving me a big hug. I cooked up the aforementioned Scottish oatmeal, using 1/2 & 1/2 instead of water and adding 2 cinnamon sticks, a couple pieces of candied ginger, a few allspice berries and 1/2 of a vanilla bean. Once the milk was almost boiling, I strained out the chunky spices and added the oatmeal. 7 minutes and an occasional stir later, I was in oatmeal bliss. I then went over the top by spooning some King Kelly orange marmalade (bought at Winco but made where I grew up in California) and a little bit of brown sugar. It just got better as everyone was sleeping still, so I got to sit and watch a couple episodes of Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie- my new second favorite culinary-type show after Alton Brown! There are three seasons of shows you can watch on the internet~ be sure to watch the one on Italian home cooks, my numero uno favorite!

I was trying to figure out what to do for dinner when I remembered a recipe I had for zucchini rice gratin. The lead-in even said it would be satisfying for dinner with just a large green salad. This sounded perfect until I realized~ much to my horror (and Brian & Mary's amusement) that we were actually out of zucchini! I looked in everywhere I thought it could be, but alas, no zucchini was to be found. Thankfully, I did find a couple of summer squash, so I was able to make the gratin after all. It now sits on my counter waiting (patiently, like the oatmeal) to be dug into with a large spoon so as not to miss one bit of squashy, ricey, cheesy yumminess!

I also will wait patiently (but not on the counter) to see what else I can come up with this week while we live without the staff of life. When I do take my next bite of bread goodness, I plan on making it worth my while...now to decide what kind it will be.