this morning’s activities included two particular items…
I started a pot of chicken soup as I now have a cold… the aroma permeated the house throughout the day and I was very eager to eat it for supper…
it was very tasty😋…
the other, and more exciting, thing that I did was pick up my Nikon and walk around the house taking pictures of flowers and greenery… can’t even remember when I last used it…
planning to practice with the camera over the next while and see if I can’t improve my photos…
although this one is basically the same as my last camera, I am not doing near as good a job of producing great pictures…
started with rice in the Instant Pot… think I have the process down now…
from there I made Thai Shrimp Soup… it takes a while, mainly because I make shrimp broth as part of the process… I left out the red pepper as I didn’t have any in the crisper… produced 3 containers and a bowl for my dinner… tasted very nice and didn’t miss the red pepper…
after that I made rice pudding… ended up with a bowl for supper and 3 containers for later…
there was a container of rice left and today I heated it up with asparagus and green onions to go along with some roasted chicken…
preparing the rice and using it in something that will be heated later means that the sugars go right through my system… still get the calories, but not the sugars, so this is great for my meal plan…
after yesterday’s odd day, I decided to make some comfort food…
things that have always made us feel good, or remind me of special moments;-)…
the first thing I made was a batch of cornmeal muffins… I’ve never made them before, but the idea of a tasty – bread-type – food sounded good… they were delicious and went well with the Thai Shrimp Soup that I had for lunch…
then I made macaroni and cheese… this has been a family favourite since the girls were small… I packaged it up into containers and will bake it when I want to eat it…
finally I made bacon, mushrooms and croutons… I remember my mom and dad making this for supper… it was usually served on toast, but I’ve adjusted the recipe and add croutons at the end as I don’t usually have bread in the house… the crunch is a perfect accompaniment to the soft bacon and mushrooms…
it really was comforting to spend the day in the kitchen, making these reminders of family times…
I’ve used quite a bit of the leftover rice that I made last week…
so far I’ve made a few things with it… combined some of it with shredded Brussels sprouts; mixed it with shrimp and egg for a lovely fried rice; and combined it with meatballs…
but I am getting a little tired of it, particularly as rice isn’t one of my favourites, lol… I would much rather have potatoes…
but I do love rice pudding;-)… so I did some research and then made some…
I’d had a conversation with a friend about how great my sugar cookies tasted… I’ve made thousands of them over the years, mainly when the girls were in school… I would produce cookies for their classrooms for each and every holiday that occurred…
she suggested I might like to make some for Valentine‘s Day;-)… and also volunteered to lend me a heart-shaped cookie cutter…
I thought I had one so didn’t take her up on the offer…
on Sunday I decided to make them and discovered that I did not have the appropriate cutter…
I went online, found a few different sized heart templates and made a cardboard heart-shaped template…
then I made the recipe and laughed throughout the whole process because it didn’t seem familiar at all…
it took a while as I used a knife to outline each one, but they came out pretty good…
I’d given away all the food colouring and sprinkles a while ago, thinking I wouldn’t need them…
the cookies look rather plain… but taste delicious…
then I had some fun packaging them up for a few gifts…
a few days ago I received my second Advent All Year parcel from my daughter… (here’s the story of the first one)…
in it were a beautiful handmade card; my favourite Raspberry Chocolate bar (including one for my grandson, who also loves it); and a box of bonbons she chose from a recent visit to Soma chocolatemaker… the box had the coolest extra packing paper as she mentioned she would be mailing it…
one thing I’ve learned from her is that great bonbons need to be eaten quickly before they expire… particularly when they are made with only fresh ingredients…
so, every morning I’ve been choosing one and eating it before I have my breakfast…
such a delicious way to start the day when my taste buds aren’t muddied with other flavours…
went out on a shopping expedition today with a friend…
checked out the Fromagerie Bothwell on Provencher… I thought it was just a cheese store, but it isn’t… it has all manner of other locally produced goodies as well… I picked up some De Luca’s pasta sauce, a pepperoni and cheese snack, soft goat cheese, and some of their marble cheese…
from there we went along the street to Chocolatier Constance Popp where I picked up some coconut dark chocolate macaroons (delicious), a sugar-free bar, a coconut and lime bar and finally a Manitobar to send to my daughter… that was fun…
back to St. James to check out Winners/Homesense… found a number of items which had been on my shopping list for a while… a cute little backpack, thermal socks, salt for my grinder, a soap dish, a lemon squeezer and a small container for my bedside table…
for the last few days I haven’t been eating all that well…
not sure exactly why… there is food available, but I’ve been uninterested in eating it…
I’ve been kind of eating out of the fridge… had leftover spaghetti and meat sauce, made fried rice with leftover chicken, spinach and scrambled eggs…
last night I had bacon and mushrooms… it was a meal that we had when I was young… always on toast… I rarely have bread in the house, but last night I tossed some croutons in… it was a perfect addition;-)…
today I made a lovely wonton and mushroom soup for lunch, and roasted chicken with cauliflower, sweet and baby potatoes for supper…
I’ve seen lots of ads for the Instant Pot, but felt that I didn’t need another appliance in the kitchen…
and now that I’m retired I have all day to prepare food…
but… my daughter showed me hers and told me all the things it can do which made me think about it more seriously…
apparently, it could replace my egg cooker (which is currently not working), be a rice cooker (which I’ve wanted), act as a crockpot (which I have, in purple), act as a steamer, sauté things, keep things warm, and even be a sterilizer…
we made salmon (from frozen) and smashed potatoes with spinach in about half an hour… and it was delicious…
we also made white and wild rice with chicken thighs (again from frozen) in about 45 minutes from start of prep to eating…
and mushroom soup, and risotto…
think I just might have to buy one now that I am home…
