Caramelizing your dreams... Delicious.

I made a delicious meal the other day - if I may say so myself. I recently rented a cookbook from the library (A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen) and found a recipe for the slow-cooking, caramelized onions. This recipe required me to open up a bottle of wine (thank you, online directions!) which I completed successfully.
After slicing the onions, you cook them for a few minutes (until soft) in butter or olive oil, then add white wine to the pan and let the onions simmer for about 30 minutes. Then, the lid comes off and you stir constantly so that the "brown goo" (book's words!) gets incorporated into the onions for another 25-30 minutes. Sorry that there are no measurements, but that's not really my cooking style. I mean, who really wants to clean out a half-cup, and a whole-cup, and a teaspoon... when estimations rarely* mess up?
*Note: ALWAYS measure baking powder and baking soda. ALWAYS. Or it's gross.

There's the browning onions. Cooking these onions meant I had to use them, so my next thought was "What can I eat these with?" So I cooked up some Giant Eagle tri-color tortellini, red bell pepper, and broccolini. That's a real vegetable! When the tortellini was almost done, I put the veggies into the water to steam them.

I paired it with white sauce from More with Less (yes, you knew that was coming...) which is just some melted better, some flour (really, measurements here just make it thinner/ thicker. I think it's 2 T of each?) After that gets all clumpy (yum?), you add in 1 c milk (ooor you add in some dry milk powder and water without measuring and just spend the rest of the cook time trying to fix the consistency) and I also added in some cheese and the caramelized onions to make the pasta sauce. I broiled bread with butter and garlic powder for garlic toast, as you can see in the background.

And it was delicious. Sprinkled with parmesan.

You might be asking yourself, "Julie, why are you doing this food thing? You are not as good at photographing, much less cooking, as Bakerella, Joy the Baker, Technicolor-Kitchen ... (insert other good ones in the comments!) And you don't really redeem yourself with the so-called "writing skills" either."

To you, I say ... "So what?"

Just kidding. To you, I say - there's a metaphor behind this one! Sometimes, you have a great idea - something you really want (like caramelized onions). And you can daydream about caramelized onions, but there are some logistical things you have to think through first. Such as, what does "dry white wine" mean? Answer: cheapest wine at Giant Eagle. And "What time is okay to buy wine on a Monday morning since they don't sell it on Sunday evenings?" Answer: At least 8:40 am! Beyond the logistics, there are accompaniments. I started with my idea of the gooey, sweet, brown onions, and compiled a healthy(-ish) meal. I needed a grain, some vegetables... And I wanted it all to taste good together.

It was an analogy for this dream of forming a community/ household that's intentional about forming relationships with each other and with the community around. I've got a few conversations scheduled with pastors to start the conversation, but I'd love to hear more thoughts. I've got the dream - and it has the potential to be better than caramelized onions. I do need to think through the logistics (set it up as a 501-3c? Contracts?) and through accompaniments, like what it would look like. Some of you have started to send met other programs - keep doing it! I'm welcoming knowledge, advice, anything but a "this is stupid and onions give you bad breath anyway." (Time to quit the metaphor? Fine.)

My mother and I are enjoying each other's company and cooking a pre-Thanksgiving dinner tonight, including:
Butternut Squash with Mustard Vinaigrette
Stuffed Turkey Rolls with Cranberry
And for dessert... This. That's right. I did it.