Okay, blogging about this is going to keep me from blogging about the latest White House scandal. This is probably a good thing at the moment.

I always have the television on quietly in the background as I work. I work from home and the computer and the television are in the same room. The background noise just helps me to concentrate a bit, I guess.

Today, I was listening to my normal fare – local morning news program on a CBS affiliate, The Early Show, Dr. Phil (I have to be sure I am not doing phone calls during this as it makes me laugh a lot of the time), Rachael Ray. I am stopping there as something on the Rachael Ray show peaked my interest. I am a devoted fan of her Food Network shows and also of her 30 minute meal cookbooks.

Today I heard that Rachael is running a 10 ingredient contest. You have to come up with a dish or a menu that uses the following ten ingredients: beef, rosemary, green beans, bacon, mushrooms, puff pastry, blueberrys, ricotta cheese,dried apricots and mint.

I immediately went to RachaelRay.com to see the rules. I thought – yum – beef with rosemary, green beans cooked in bacon renderings with mushrooms and bacon, puff pastry with blueberrys, ricotta cheese,dried apricots and mint. Then, I thought – yum – a chutney from the blueberries, apricots and mint, the beef and bacon braised with rosemary, and the green beans and mushrooms inside the puff pastry. I would just need to figure out where to use the ricotta in this menu.

Anyway, the gist of this all is I think I may enter a cooking contest. Definitely a side of me you didn’t see coming, right?