Sorry to say, but this site has been so depressing for a few days. I thought I'd ask an average, everyday question....to make us all feel a little more normal today.
I made Eggplant Lasagna, and my BIL and SIL are coming for dinner. They leave for Cali tomorrow to see their beautiful grand daughter.
Sorry, sometimes we just need some REGULAR conversation.......or at least THIS caregiver does.
Yesterday my daughter and daughter-in-law met with 6 grandkids at a sushi restaurant. We had a blast.
Saturday is when I made the cabbage soup. It was awesome with sauerkraut rye bread from my favorite deli.
The kitchen won't be done tomorrow, so we'll be eating out!
but tonight i had fried chicken livaars. lol. theyre so damn cheap the stores almost pay you to eat em.
my mother taught me two things about combatting inflation. " i ainta payin it, and let em keep it " . shes right. ya let em stick that crap in the dumpster a couple weeks in a row and the price will come down.
squirrel, ( heads and all lol ) will cook down into some pretty b***hing vittles. ( egg noodles, etc )
in my mothers last few months i was stirfrying all kinds of vegs together and she really liked em. potato, onion, and a bag or so of frozen broccoli / cauliflower / carrots. since cut up sausage links was the main flavor i have been known to cut up an apple in the mix..
wish she were here, id fry her up some chicken organs . lol
Tonight a nice hot chili is simmering on the stove for later, and a
hamburger soup. Will add greens to the soup tomorrow.
Has anyone made a chocolate cake with spices like cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, black pepper, and cayenne in it? I grind up an orange, rind and all and add that in too.
Awesome!
G's birthday tomorrow - should make one for him. he loves it.
Tonight pork roast again. The flavours of the marinade are coming out nicely. I couldn't make a regular gravy because of the marinade, so I decided it had to be a sauce, and after thickening it I added a little juice from the cinnamon apples. Just the right touch!
I have to taste my way through when I am cooking. G says he can make a chili just right without tasting, I gotta taste everything and figure out what it needs.
Any more tasters out there?
Speaking of measuring, my dear Coy made a mean vat of turkey soup, and somehow this evolved into a base for matzo ball soup that we had at our family holiday gatherings. He never measured. One year I went around behind him with a clipboard and wrote down everything he put in it, and estimated how much. Within a few years of that he developed dementia. He could still make his soup (with a lot of supervision) because I had that written record for him to follow. And I can still make it. Maybe this year I'll invite one of the (adult) grandkids to help me make it for our holiday party.
I got so tired of never having a good steak anymore (no more nice dinners out for me), so I researched how to buy meat at grocery and make at home.
I buy mostly strip or rib eye, about 1-1 1/2 inch thickness. Allow steak to come to room temp, season well with salt and pepper each side. Sear in tablespoon olive oil in hot skillet, about 1 min each side to get nice brown sear. Put into toaster oven at preheated 375, done in 5 mins for rare/medium rare.
Maybe I just haven't had a good steak in awhile, so my bar is set artificially low, but I'm LOVING the results I get from this easy preparation. :D
Tonight I made basic grilled cheese sandwiches. On the side, I opened up a can of Campbell's tomato soup and added a cup of sour cream, 1/2 cup of water and a tablespoon of spicy curry seasoning. Used McCormick's brand for all the chunks of dehydrated peppers and onions. Let it simmer for awhile and I really enjoyed it. I called it an Indian Tomato Bisque. My husband gave it a thumbs up too and he's a non-curry guy.
I'm still debating what to make on Valentine's Day. We've been together almost 29 years. (Yikes!) I'm thinking maybe a beef fondue with salad and baguette with good butter for sides. Simple sliced pears and cheese for dessert.
My mom's AL is having a dessert and movie event for the ladies. I can't believe the movie they're showing - "The Notebook". Gah! My mom doesn't participate in anything so no worries there. I just imagine a room full of weeping women. "When Harry Met Sally", maybe, but that's just kind of disturbing...Grown men cry over that movie.
when you get to thinking your a good cook try cooking exactly enough to satisfy your family with no leftovers. this is a freaking art form in itself. you have to consider how hungry everyone is then you have to account for the meal being good enough that everyone wants seconds. quite challenging. then when i cook i do it with as few dirty dishes as possible. any idiot can dirty every dish in the kitchen but it takes skill to keep it down to one pan or skillet.
then when youve learned to make moonshine in your pressure canner drop me a line, we should chat. lol
That does sound like a challenge though. I'll have to try it sometime. As for one pan, not for me. I just wash the big stuff as I go along and put the small stuff in the dishwasher. I'm kind of a neat freak with all my ingredients in place, chopped and prepped, before I start cooking and put spices, butter, flour and such away after I use them. Makes clean up a breeze.
I was treated to a pre-Valentine's Day dinner out tonight with my husband and son. ( I refuse to dine out on V Day and New Year's Eve - two worst nights of the year to be at a restaurant in my book.) Had BBQ grilled meatloaf, warm German potato salad and a grilled romaine Caesar salad. Very tasty and enough leftovers for two more meals. Probably shouldn't serve that for tomorrow's dinner. Heh.
Kitchen is still a mess. Ate at an Ethiopian restaurant with my vegetarian DIL. Little hole-the-wall place with very slow service but very tasty food. Brought left-overs home, plus a meal for the painter (my son).
I like eating out, but I can't wait to get back into my kitchen!
my kitchen designs work for me, not the opposite. pantries are doorless and everything visible at a glance. everything from rice, conf suger, beans, spaghetti, all stored in 1 gallon glass jars. all pans and utensils hang from beams. i aint a stranger to the work triangle of a good kitchen is what im sayin.
now, i gotta find something even cheaper to eat than chicken hearts cause if i miss alice cooper for the third year in a row im going to split the earth in half. i can do it to, i live atop north americas most unstable faultline.