Cooking with Love

 

One of my favorite things is to make food whether it be just for me or for friends here for dinner.  I like both the complicated and the uncomplicated recipes.  My mother and grandmother loved to cook. When I lived with my grandmother she would chide me if I didn’t offer to make visitors like my uncles a sandwich.  My young brain thought “they are grown ass men; they can get their own sandwiches” and now while I still agree with that sentiment I do love to welcome people into my home with a good meal. 

My husband’s job changed over the last month and we’ve been able to spend time with friends more in the evening because he’s not in rehearsal every night. I’ve made a handful of great recipes that you might like.

I made this delicious Chicken Korma recipe from Tea for Turmeric a few weeks ago and it was a huge hit.  I’m technically. not a meat eater but if I can find it from a local farm then I’m okay with it. I could have substituted tofu but my husband eats many vegetarian meals for me so I decided to switch it up. He loves Indian food and he liked this dish. I served it with a side of brown rice and some roti bread. 

One night  in January I had some women friends over to play cards and I made this black bean soup from Cookie + Kate with fresh bread. It was delicious and easy and I’ve now made it two more times. I’ve really stepped into the Blue Zones idea of eating beans or lentils as much as I can. The first time I made this I used the 4 cans of beans it calls for but for the second time I actually cooked dried black beans in my slow cooker while I was laboring away at school.  It was worth it to make my own for the recipe but the cans definitely made the recipe quicker. I served this with lots of toppings like avocado, green onions, crumbled feta cheese, blue chips, and sour cream. 

Tonight I made a stir-fry that was very flavorful. I was hungry for tofu and quinoa so I Googled those two ingredients and came up with Sesame Tofu Quinoa Bowl from The Almond Eater.  I swapped the broccoli for cauliflower and adding in edamame. We had broccoli last night with some homemade mac and cheese. Also because I don’t like plastic bags I used a bowl with a lid to marinate the tofu with the Tamari sauce.  It worked out great and we ate with chopsticks in front of the fire while we watched Triangle of Sadness~highly recommend the movie as well!

Good food feeds your soul! Bon Appetit! 

Oh, I forgot dessert! I’m attempting to step away from sugar but sometimes you just need a good dessert to share with friends. This S’more recipe is a perfect winter treat-I served it with a little cup of Bailey’s. 

The good of today

In my last post I shared a pantry list as a way to keep myself organized and I’ve turned it into a checklist, slipped it into a plastic sleeve so I can refer back to it.  So easy. Also I added hummus and onions to the list. Don’t know how I forgot those two essentials.  Here it is; you can edit and make it your own Pantry Checklist.

I follow Dan Buettner on IG and recently read his book The Blue Zones Challenge. I started thinking about my own longevity after my recent heart surgery and even though as a real foods/ vegetarian/flexitarian I feel like I eat pretty healthy. Except I love some sugar in the form of dark chocolate or ice cream.  And I like to think about exercise as just a regular part of the day. I wish our cities were better designed so I could walk to the grocery store but I can walk or bike to work so that’s gonna happen this fall. 

I finished a magnificent book yesterday! The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson was so good that I spent one day reading for 4 hours straight just to finish. It tells the story of Rosalie Iron Wing through several generations so we get her family history as the white man swept across the prairie. The beauty of the story is it relays how important our basic food structure is for today and future generations. The chemicals, fertilizers, and genetically-modified seeds are contribute to the health problems of today. Our rivers flow with these chemicals and the system has created a tragic circle of destruction. Here is an excellent author interview with Kachina Yeager of Milkweed Editions. 

In between reading and cooking I’m watching The Bear on Hulu, Julia on HBO Max; so cooking shows! as well as Only Murders in the Building on Hulu. I don’t give myself very much time to watch as I am working on several organizing projects around the house. I’ve sorted through my cookbooks, deciding which ones still bring me joy. I’ve also gone through the many stacks of books around my house and let quite a few go. Don’t worry there are still stacks, maybe just not as high! I have to have something to show for the summer other than laying around healing. I also started listening to Justin Baldoni’s podcast Man Enough. 

Peace be with you…