intuitive cooking...

i've been experimenting with recipes for a few years now.  i also pay attention to how my favorite cooks do things.  i've watched my mom make her awesome thanksgiving dinner, magalotti make roast chicken and steak with blue cheese and basil leaves.  carol has introduced me to the world of grains,  veggies and all things pickled.  pinterest has been a windfall of recipes.  fellow bloggers have taught me how to roast beets and bake crispy tofu.

so now i'm experimenting more.  cooking by intuition.  winging things a bit.  it's fun.  and i'm ok to throw out a meal and order pizza.  it helps that my husband is game to try new foods prepared in different ways.

this morning i took some kale i bought (and didn't know what to do with), the leaves from a bunch of beets, and i threw them into the crockpot with some frozen roasted chicken, chopped cipolini onions, some red pepper flakes, a spoon full of brown sugar, and a dash of liquid smoke.  they turned out great!  but they stunk the house up, and weren't as good left over.  next time i'll get a real smoked turkey leg and do it right.

this is "refrigerator oatmeal".  i didn't invent it.  i found recipes for it on pinterest.  i never really followed the recipes, i just throw it together and it's good.  i use an old mason jar and pour in some steel cut oats, then add vanilla almond (or soy) milk, some splenda, and then fruit, seasonings, raisins, etc... my favorite it chopped up apple with pumpkin spice.  it's best heated up in small portions.

this is my strangest "salad".  roasted beets, crumbled blue cheese and walnuts, as usual.  but i roasted the beets with sea salt and they turned out way too salty.  so i chopped up a pear to balance the salt, and WOW, it's good.  i know it sounds weird, but it's quite good.

today's lesson learned:  kosher salt is good, himalayan pink salt is best, and sea salt is super salty.