Comfort in the kitchen

Yesterday was Epiphany here in Sweden which still is a public holiday so everybody is off work, and with taking today off I got a long weekend again. The last one unfortunately until Easter which isn't until the end of April. Good god, 15 weeks of work lies ahead of us...

With that fact in mind and with the snowing coming down in heaps since Wednesday morning I decided it was time for some comfort cooking. Better to be in the kitchen cooking up a storm than looking outside and just getting dressed and thinking that spring is way too far away.

First I started with lasagne. Lasagne is a staple in my freezer and saviour when I'm tired to cook. All sliced up in appropriate pieces it's just one stop in the microwave and then dinner is ready. Besides minced meat I also add carrots, courgettes and mushrooms to the meat sauce. All to make it more filling and getting in your daily greens. The grated cheese on top this time actually became three different cheeses. Cleaning out the fridge at the same time. Cheddar, Parmesan and some Chevre. Needless to say the aroma coming from the oven was just plain lovely.

Despite my promise of no wine and chocolate in January I then decided to make brownies. The weather made me... (Great excuse, right?!) With hardly no butter at home I found a recipe that only called for 100 grams and would make 8 pieces. Perfect. Well, almost... I didn't have pan that was small enough so in the end the batter got spread too thin and got ready a bit too quick and that meant the brownies lost some of their gooeyness. But still, they were delicious and definitely cured my too-much-snow blues.