Intense

I swear I do more cooking now than I did back when there were seven of us in the house.  Sheesh.  Well maybe that's not so surprising when one has three dogs and a parrot and is nutty enough to cook for all of them.  To say nothing of the gluten-free thing and not eating out.  So not being the most comfortable cook in a kitchen I find cooking marathons pretty intense.  Satisfying in their own way, but exhausting too. 

Today was "Chop" day.  A marathon if there ever was one!  But since it's been eleven months since the last Chop day I guess I shouldn't complain!  I washed out my trusty Chop bin and in went quinoa, flaxseed, coconut, peas, black-eyed peas, beans, corn, cooked popcorn kernels, lentils, pumpkin, various peppers, purple cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli rabe, cilantro, parsley, carrots, carrot tops, rutabaga, pasta, sweet potato, and what-have-you.  I was contemplating going out to get more but when the bin got this full I figured I should stop.  After all, Charlie's not very big!

Two spoonfuls per snack bag.  (takes FOREVER)

With a little help from Charlie.  :-)

And of course the ever-hopeful Maisy.

Done!  Whew.

Which translates to 196 snack bags.

I reused some of the large freezer bags and they were marked 12-8-10.  Lets hope this batch lasts just as long!  Last job before the grand clean-up is to pop it all into the freezer.

Well.  Maybe not.  Hmmmmmm.

What a mess I make.  But it's all cleaned up, the dishwasher is on and a pile put out in the compost.   The bin has been washed in my ridiculously small sink and now I can move on to something else.  :-)

Maybe I should consider having lunch before supper time.  Hmmmmmm.