A bowl full of yum

Doesn't that make you want to dive mouth first into the bowl?

I woke up with a sudden urge to cook today.

It could also be that I remembered that we had ground turkey, salmon fillets, and chicken thighs that had been patiently waiting in the fridge all week, but I find it hard to believe I can be that practical within minutes of waking up.

So I just puttered around the kitchen, using the ground turkey, lots of seasonings, and some broccoli slaw to make inside-out dumplings -- it's just the fillings you might use in Asian dumplings, made into a meatball. Then I marinated the salmon in soy sauce, lime juice, ginger, scallions, and sesame oil. I baked that and when I took the salmon out from the oven, managed to set off our hypersensitive smoke-alarm near the kitchen. I'm sure the hubby enjoyed being woken up that way!

My grumbling tummy soon reminded me that while it was great I was making all this food, I needed to put some of it in my body. So as I nibbled a couple of the inside-out dumplings, I remembered we had some fruit in the fridge that needed to be eaten.

Okay fine, here's the truth. I was a piggie yesterday and and ate a ton, so this was my way of making amends with my guilt.

How can you not want to eat this, healthy or not? Just look at the beautiful colors -- the deep red of the strawberries, the vibrant blue of the blueberries, and the sunny goldenness of the apricot.

Suddenly it seems like spring and summer have made their into my kitchen on this cold January morning.