Catching Up
...what I've been doing while still sick
...what I've been doing while still sick
I am glad to report that I seem to be over the flu. I am building up my strength slowly---more slowly than I'd like. But patience is a virtue the Lord keeps teaching me in different ways.
I was not able to go to the stores where I shop without getting sick until last Friday. I had felt well for two days. My husband and I went to the grocery store south of us one afternoon and barely made it through the store I felt so ill. Happily, I did well this time unless you count the blisters I got walking too much in too many stores, too quickly. We didn't need much since my husband had just done most of the shopping for us a couple days earlier. But the lists I gave him were short and only what we absolutely needed. Friday I fun-shopped for things for St. Patrick's Day meals and a few gift items and other things we needed.
Regarding cooking, I have been trying to conserve my energy, cook healthful meals, and without much work. I managed to create leftovers from leftovers, freezer freebie meals and a couple of special dishes.
Below is a taco salad using leftovers from a chicken, black beans and rice dinner with sour cream and salsa mixed for a dressing.
These below are what I made with a surplus of our eggs and some winter squash that needed to be used up.
Squash pudding with cinnamon-----essentially it is your favorite pumpkin pie recipe without a crust.
I made two, froze one and made a several-night dinner pan with some potatoes that needed to be used, a little mozzarella cheese, more eggs and leftover asparagus on the bottom right. This last dish was served the night it was made, as a side with chicken and asparagus, served the next night as the main dish with a Mexican salsa sauce and a big salad, throughout the week it was also served as an occasional breakfast.
The eggs in the old coffee tin were from our hens that day.
For our larger midday St. Patrick's Day meal I made Guinness Beef Stew: beef cubed, one onion chunky-cut, one turnip, a couple handfuls of organic small carrots, Brussels Sprouts, quartered large mushrooms, celery leaves and three small stalks, cooked in Guinness beer, water, a touch of soy sauce (subbed for the Worcestershire sauce) Costco's Organic Salt-Free Spice. This slow-cooked all night in my 7 quart crockpot. I left out the potatoes and instead made Colcannon----a mixture of mashed potatoes, milk or cream and chopped raw organic kale wilted by mixing it into the hot potatoes and served with butter. It was delicious! I saved some of the cooked potato pieces out to make Potatoes O'Brien with our own garden bell peppers in the freezer and organic onions. Served with our organic eggs and local natural sausage. But I think we are too full tonight and will have that tomorrow for a breakfast dinner!
So, this week I cooked three meals and refashioned them into several meals and we had one meal after I was in town all afternoon from our natural food store----Calmata Olive Rolls, Lemon Chicken Basil Salad served on the cut rolls with the store's Brocoli, Bacon, Red Onion and Sunflower Seed Salad, and on the side sliced Bubbies fermented pickles (did you know that pickles were not originally made with vinegar but fermented as sauerkraut is----best pickles on earth without all the bad stuff too!) on the side with a small pile of Organic tortilla chips, with a small vegan brownie a piece and a tall glass of Outrageous Ginger Ale.
It was an easy and fun week. A good one in which to recuperate from my long bout with the flu.
I love to cook for St. Patrick's Day. My husband's father was half Irish, half British and he loved the day. We celebrate it in honor of him/family tradition and in remembrance and celebration of history of who St. Patrick (the evangelist) really was. Google him! Quite a story!
Hope you have had a good week and maybe enjoyed some Irish dishes today. It's fun to try new foods.
I was not able to go to the stores where I shop without getting sick until last Friday. I had felt well for two days. My husband and I went to the grocery store south of us one afternoon and barely made it through the store I felt so ill. Happily, I did well this time unless you count the blisters I got walking too much in too many stores, too quickly. We didn't need much since my husband had just done most of the shopping for us a couple days earlier. But the lists I gave him were short and only what we absolutely needed. Friday I fun-shopped for things for St. Patrick's Day meals and a few gift items and other things we needed.
Regarding cooking, I have been trying to conserve my energy, cook healthful meals, and without much work. I managed to create leftovers from leftovers, freezer freebie meals and a couple of special dishes.
Below is a taco salad using leftovers from a chicken, black beans and rice dinner with sour cream and salsa mixed for a dressing.
Squash pudding with cinnamon-----essentially it is your favorite pumpkin pie recipe without a crust.
I made two, froze one and made a several-night dinner pan with some potatoes that needed to be used, a little mozzarella cheese, more eggs and leftover asparagus on the bottom right. This last dish was served the night it was made, as a side with chicken and asparagus, served the next night as the main dish with a Mexican salsa sauce and a big salad, throughout the week it was also served as an occasional breakfast.
The eggs in the old coffee tin were from our hens that day.
Earlier in the week I baked chicken tenders with leftover Asian green beans, mushrooms and onions in a homemade cream sauce for dinner. Later in the week I stove-top cooked boneless chicken thighs with mushrooms and onions and steamed the last of the asparagus. That night, after dinner I combined these two dishes into a small lasagna pan and put it in the freezer for a freebie dinner or two.
Last week instead of tossing the over-ripe bananas in the freezer, peels and all like I usually do. I made a banana cake I had tried and loved years ago. I had a little more banana than the recipe called for so I increased the recipe by half again making three cake layers. The recipe is from The Better Homes and Gardens (red checkered) Cookbook----Banana Cake. I substituted wholesome ingredients for things we do not eat. We ate one off and on for a few days as a dessert, often with organic, plain Greek yogurt and raw nuts and seeds. Yesterday I got the two other layers out to thaw. I made the cake in the picture below for tonight. The frosting is peanut butter (the natural kind, salt-free---just peanuts) mixed with cream cheese, local honey, organic agave, organic coconut oil, butter. I love peanut butter on bananas so that was the taste I was going for. I just kept mixing until I got the right texture, amount of sweetness and the taste I wanted. Then I topped it with chopped pecans and organic dark chocolate chips. Can't wait to try it.
Last week instead of tossing the over-ripe bananas in the freezer, peels and all like I usually do. I made a banana cake I had tried and loved years ago. I had a little more banana than the recipe called for so I increased the recipe by half again making three cake layers. The recipe is from The Better Homes and Gardens (red checkered) Cookbook----Banana Cake. I substituted wholesome ingredients for things we do not eat. We ate one off and on for a few days as a dessert, often with organic, plain Greek yogurt and raw nuts and seeds. Yesterday I got the two other layers out to thaw. I made the cake in the picture below for tonight. The frosting is peanut butter (the natural kind, salt-free---just peanuts) mixed with cream cheese, local honey, organic agave, organic coconut oil, butter. I love peanut butter on bananas so that was the taste I was going for. I just kept mixing until I got the right texture, amount of sweetness and the taste I wanted. Then I topped it with chopped pecans and organic dark chocolate chips. Can't wait to try it.
So, this week I cooked three meals and refashioned them into several meals and we had one meal after I was in town all afternoon from our natural food store----Calmata Olive Rolls, Lemon Chicken Basil Salad served on the cut rolls with the store's Brocoli, Bacon, Red Onion and Sunflower Seed Salad, and on the side sliced Bubbies fermented pickles (did you know that pickles were not originally made with vinegar but fermented as sauerkraut is----best pickles on earth without all the bad stuff too!) on the side with a small pile of Organic tortilla chips, with a small vegan brownie a piece and a tall glass of Outrageous Ginger Ale.
It was an easy and fun week. A good one in which to recuperate from my long bout with the flu.
I love to cook for St. Patrick's Day. My husband's father was half Irish, half British and he loved the day. We celebrate it in honor of him/family tradition and in remembrance and celebration of history of who St. Patrick (the evangelist) really was. Google him! Quite a story!
Hope you have had a good week and maybe enjoyed some Irish dishes today. It's fun to try new foods.
Kathi~
