A hit and a terrible, miserable miss.

Well, the mood is somber here in Indiana tonight. It's true, the Colts lost. Apparently it was kind of a big deal to some folks around these parts.

I guess it's sad.

But even more tragic was my failed attempt at Tzaziki sauce with pita. "World's Best", huh?

I don't think so.

It has 6 ingredients and requires no skill other than pushing the button on the food processor. I even bought the Greek yogurt and bled my cucumbers.

I don't think it's really called "bleeding", but that's what I'm calling it. (And now I'm grossing myself out.)

My point is, I did exactly what they told me to do, and it turned out super runny. So I added an extra cup of yogurt, so sue me. I thought it would thicken it up. Turns out all it did was make it too yogurty.

The biggest problem of all? The grainy texture.

I'm no Greek heiress, but I know tzaziki wasn't intended to be granular.

I just hate taking a snack to a Super Bowl party when I know it's a little nasty. If you're going to do Ethnic food, you'd probably better do it right. I'm taking it all as a sign that Super Bowl parties are better suited to trans-fattier foods.

At least I had my Farmers' Market Greek olives. They were really there for me when I needed them.


In other news, Oatmeal Brulee with Ginger Cream.

I stumbled on this recipe a couple of months ago whilst sitting in the waiting room at the chiropractor's office. I'm prone to kricks.

The recipe was in Taste of Home magazine. Remember that one? Oh, I used to be a big fan. Not so much, these days. It's a little casseroley for me and the kitchens were always decorated with checkerboard sheep and pigs.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

So anyway, I found this recipe and I'm not typically drawn to breakfast foods and all, but I found myself having that dilemma where I wanted to secretly tear the page out and hide it in my pocketbook.

Luckily, a shrewd Amish woman had her eye on me, and I was once again spared from my own, sinful desires.

I Googled it when I got home.

I'll be honest - it had me at "Brulee".

This wasn't a super quick recipe, but I find more and more that I embrace the process of cooking.

These are the ingredients for the ginger cream, which I prepped on Friday night.

A word on fresh ginger: Do not be afraid of it. I remember, long ago, thinking fresh ginger was intimidating. It's really not, and it's cheap. I think you'll remember that I forked over something in the neighborhood of $0.15 for this piece. The taste of ground ginger does not even begin to compare to fresh, as is the case with garlic, but we can talk about that spicy broad another time.

To peel the ginger, just scrape a spoon down the sides.

Those knobby bits can be cantankerous, so I just slice them right off.

Then, a lop off a thin piece of the ginger and rub it on my wrists and behind my ears and for the rest of the evening, I take little, happy sniffs.

The orange zest in today's recipe is brought to you by the Microplane.

Here's the sauce, all cooked up and strained. It smelled like ginger and oranges and syrup.

What's the red bubbling up from the edges, you ask?

Well, that's the raspberries hidden beneath the oatmeal.

Have I made you a believer yet?

This definitely falls under the "dessert breakfast" category, but I figure it was a worthy splurge and healthier than a bag of Krispy Kremes, fo shizz.

Cory and I loved it.

The kids were underwhelmed, but you'll have that.

Is this too much information? Does it gross you out? I know.

I just thought it was somehow quite lovely. I'm swoony about raspberries, that way.

Happy Monday, friends.

*Note: I left the dried cherries and dried apricots out of this recipe. It honestly seemed like overkill to me and I'm not mentioning any names, but one of my kids doesn't like "chunks" in his oatmeal.