A Happy Meal not on McDonald’s menu

It began simply enough. A need for food. Dinner.

Rather, breakfast.

You see, I’m too often guilty of not eating during the day due to lack of interest or appetite and then scrounging in the evening for whatever’s quick and reasonably nutritious. Peanut butter, quesadilla, a couple handfuls of the Kirkland tortilla chips from Costco that I love, a can of soup, an egg with a slice of Dave’s Killer Bread — sadly, these comprise most of my meals.

My aversion to the kitchen is no reflection on my feeling about cooking. I love to cook. Love it. It’s the kitchen. It’s bad juju in the kitchen.

More than that, I’ve just not been able to shake the images of all that rat product, turds, hair, urine and smell introduced in the room when the landlords were pretending to deal with the rats in the ceiling many months ago. Even though I’ve scrubbed that kitchen immaculately, that nightmare … {shudder} remains. Afterward, cooking all but ceased completely. I scrape by.

After an overdue jog around the park yesterday, I decided to do something kind for myself. Cook a nutritious and pleasing meal.

Wasn’t as easy as it sounds, I’ll admit that. The pickins’ are pretty pitiful. I scrounged. Then inspiration struck!

My favorite vegetable is spinach. I looove spinach. When I was a girl and my mother gave me and my sister the choice of any foods we wanted on our birthdays, mine was always: pigs in a blanket (hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls) and spinach. To this day, that remains my favorite b-day meal.

Fresh spinach is preferable — Costco’s beautiful baby spinach is to die for! — yet I won’t turn down frozen.

So from these:

the makings for a white sauce

I created a simple white sauce: 1 tablespoon butter … 1 tablespoon flour … over heat stirred into a roux … 1/2 cup of diluted half-and-half … a generous sprinkle of nutmeg … a pinch of sea salt and black pepper

That half gallon of half-and-half btw? About $2.50 at Costco. It’s half that price for a pint in markets.

Then from the freezer:

frozen spinach. I'll take it.

about half the bag = half a pound added to the sauce. Since it reduces significantly, I kept adding (also utilizing the ice as additional liquid) until it achieved the perfect consistency of creamed spinach.

Then:

homegrown from Judy

Eggs. I absolutely love eggs! And they love me. Two. From Judy’s backyard chickens. Cooked in a smidge of butter to sunny-side-up perfection. Runny yolks rock!

None of this was planned. It just unfolded serendipitiously.

My Happy Meal:

My Happy Meal

Until the Attack of the Flatware:

Unhappy Meal

The meal was perfection! The rabbit pulled outta the hat! And deeeeeeeelish!

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