Wednesday, September 3, 2014

I am eating leftover panzanella for lunch.  It is like summer in a bowl.  It makes me happy.

I know you are thinking I'm crazy.  Leftover panzanella?  Isn't it all soggy and gross?

No.  I mix it by the bowl full.  All of the ingredients (tomato mixture, dressing, and bread) are stored separately and I mix the amount I want about ten minutes before eating.  By letting it sit for ten minutes the bread cubes soak up the dressing and get all lovely, but not too soggy.  Hubby even took some to work for lunch today, just with all of the parts packed separately in an extra large container.  (Last time I packed it in a normal size container and he didn't have enough room to do the mixing!  Lesson learned!)

In case you are wondering I make my panzanella based on the America's Test Kitchen recipe.  It is no longer on their website, unless you are a member, but I did find the recipe on Two Blue Lemons as well!

It is a good thing that the panzanella is making me happy, because otherwise I am not having a good day.  The Moose is not feeling well today.  It is just his usual digestive issues, but I always feel sorry for him and worry.  I ran out of makeup remover last night (how does that even happen?), but forgot to bring my list for Target today when I went to pick Babygirl up from school so we had to go back home to get my list before we could actually go to Target...  And I tried a new method of cleaning my microwave filters that was rather disastrous.

This morning I saw that one of my friends had pinned a method of cleaning vent hood filters.  I read it and it sounded pretty easy, boiling water and baking soda, and since my vent filters needed cleaning I thought I would give it a try.  I cleaned up the kitchen, then got out my stock pot and started boiling some water.  When the water came to a boil I added the baking soda, slowly at first, then I just dumped the second 1/4 cup in.  My water level was several inches below the top of the pan, so it was safe for me to do this.  The baking soda does make the water boil up vigorously and splash, so be very careful when adding it.  After the baking soda was in the pot I dropped both my vent filters in the water.  It boiled for a couple of minutes and the water got really disgusting just like the pictures in the article.

At this point I decided it would be a good idea to flip my filters over.  I flipped them and pushed them down with the spatula I used to flip them, which caused the pot to boil over!  Not only was there disgusting water all over my stove that I had just cleaned this morning (I know, I did things backwards!) but it also put out the burner!  I have terrible allergies, especially this time of year, so I cannot smell much right now.  The burner was probably out for at least a minute before I noticed!  Eek!

At this point I had a greasy disgusting pot full of yuck, a messy stove top (again!), and a daughter to go pick up!  I put the pot on the back of the stove and went to go get Babygirl.  If I had been smart and just dumped the pot before leaving I probably would not have had further problems, but...

I came home and my filters were still sitting in the greasy disgusting water, but now they were black!  I figured ok, I'll just boil them again and see if that helps.  After boiling them again I discovered that my filters now have holes in them!

My new filters are on their way.  If you tried this and didn't follow the instructions they are available at amazon as well as several appliance repair websites.  I think the cleaning method itself would not be a problem if I had only done the initial quick boil, but since I'm not good that...

Dress: Max Studio; Necklace: J Crew; Shoes: Charles David