I have a dear friend here in town, named Melissa She’s one of the reasons we moved back here actually; to have real friends nearby. Her mom, Sally, also lives in town, and is a lovely woman. Sadly, Sally had a stroke last week. When I asked Melissa if there was anything I could do, or make for them, Melissa mentioned a low-sodium meal would be appreciated, post surgery. So naturally I went into full-on project mode. Research, planning, list making, and orders placed. Yesterday I browned the beef and sausage to make a double batch of bolognese sauce (using all no-salt added canned goods, and adding in a bunch of carrots and zucchini for extra veggies).
This morning I put everything into dueling crockpots, and set them to simmer. I put aside 10 pint containers to freeze for Sally to use as she wishes, and the rest I’m going to use in a Ravioli Lasagna Bake for Sally, and one for Melissa’s household too.
Since oats are especially helpful with cholesterol, on Sunday I’m going to make a double batch of Pumpkin Oat Bread, to freeze for breakfasts, and prep some dry Overnight Oats mixes.
Last up will be a batch of Citrus Herb Tonic, to help with inflammation, after surgery.
I made two of the Ravioli Lasagnas on Saturday morning.
Then I moved onto the pulled pork in the Instant Pot. It did not go great. I have always used a Crockpot, and the pork shoulder Walmart put in my curbside order was huge; 7.8 pounds. I did minimal internet sleuthing, and decided to cut it in half, and treat each half as a separate roast. I tried the recipe as written (cook at high pressure 1 hour), and at first it seemed okay. Pot sealed, came to pressure, and released as expected. But when I went to shred the first half, it simply would NOT shred.
After some additional internet research on larger roasts, I put it back in for another hour under pressure, and it came out okay. Not bad, but not the most amazing one I’ve ever made. Then I cooked the second one for 2 hours. The second one came out great, and when mixed together with the okay first one, it was fine. Bottom line: if an Instant Pot recipe claims that it only takes 1 hour to make pulled pork, they are lying to you. That gave me 5 pints of pulled pork for Sally, a dinner for us on Saturday, and one for us in the freezer.
I was going to make pumpkin oat bread yesterday, but when I was grocery shopping I found a huge tray of chicken breasts on deep sale at Aldi, but they would have to be cooked same day. No problem, my counters were already full of small appliances. I ended up making a batch of French Dip Chicken in the large crockpot. Since it was already hot and ready to go at dinner, I served us some on hoagie rolls, along with some steamed broccoli. They were delicious. Bonus: Ada loved dipping her sandwich in the au jus. And her broccoli. And her blueberries…
That gave me 4 pints of chicken for Sally, and one more for us. I remembered I had printable labels leftover from making Christmas gifts, so I labeled everything before freezing it.
Mental note to self: Water based noodles don’t really work with this. Try egg or egg & ricotta noodles…without salt. Hmm! I bet apple, pear, or plum gnocchi would be good as well.
I had some faux crab to use, so I made a Kani Salad today. It was lovely! Cooling from the cucumber and mango, but with a kick from the Sriracha. I just happened to have everything it called for in the house, and it made enough for a generous lunch today & tomorrow.
A few days ago I also made Alton Brown’s Moo-Less Chocolate Pie. I’ve made it several times over the years, but it’s been awhile. I always forget just how good it is. And no one realizes it’s dairy free. I had a hard time finding silken tofu in town. (I did find it, but it was the shelf stable stuff, and it was a bit expensive. I’m used to being able to find the larger tubs in the refrigerated section of grocery stores.) It was so freakin’ good, that I just went ahead and ordered a case of 12 boxes of the shelf stable stuff to keep on hand for when I want to make it throughout the summer. I thought I had Kahlua, but I was out. So I swapped in some Amaretto and a dash of instant espresso powder. Fantastic swap. I topped it with a non dairy almond butter whipped cream from Aldi.
I melted some chocolate the other day to make a tofu pudding but then realized the tofu had expired, oops. Since then the recipe has vanished so I used yours Jennie. I put it into little jars though, for lunches. It will be good with fruit & crushed nuts.
The rest of today was spend cooking, I feel like I used half the dishes in the whole place!
Quinoa, red rice, chickpea curry, black beans, lentil stew, pinto bean stew, beet soup, pasta sauce, sautéd mushrooms & peppers, a loaf of adventure bread, & the pudding. My feet are aching but I’m walking to the store for wine, I deserve a glass after that food prep marathon!
Your Kani salad combo sounds amazing, especially with the cucumber, mango, and Sriracha balance. That Amaretto and espresso swap in the chocolate pie honestly sounds genius too. I’ve been trying to stay more consistent with balanced meals and routines lately, and BetterMe Business here learn more has some really useful wellness, nutrition, mindfulness, and healthy habit tools that helped me stay more organized with food and energy during busy weeks.
Ada’s camp was canceled today, due to severe thunderstorms in the forecast, so I invited one of her friends over for a playdate. I was going to make the kids crescent dogs, but wanted something fresher and healthier for her mom & I. Since I had fresh Persian cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, parsley, mint and dill, I decided to make tabbouleh. I didn’t have any bulgur, so I substituted farro. It came out so, soooo good! I’m usually unimpressed with tabbouleh, because I find it a bit bland, but this really sings with the bright fresh lemon and chewy grains!
Sadly, just as I finished making it, they had to cancel coming over, in favor of meeting up at the library. But on the upside, now dinner is 90% done.
I forget to get a pic, but I also used up the kale they sent in a risotto. But the new-to-me recipe made so much food, that last night I used the leftovers to make arancini. Labor intensive, but amazing.
I’ve also been trying to clear out some older teas in my cupboard, by making unusual iced teas. This week is Gen Mai Cha, a green tea with toasted rice and popped corn. It’s strange but fascinating cold.
Hmm! I bet apple, pear, or plum gnocchi would be good as well.
