Wednesday
Shera's Simple and Savory Black Bean Soup!
Was fabulous. My only complaint--and I much say I was complaining very loudly--was that I used all the black beans I had in the house (3 cans) and it only made enough to barely feed me and the kids. But the soup was so yummy that I would not have minded having lots of leftovers--so clearly this is a dish I will make from dry beans next time!
Served with sour cream on top, and corn tortilla chips on the side. (Just so you know, we actually do not eat a lot of chips around here! But twice now I have bought them at Costco and the bags are just so huge that we end up eating them almost frantically before they get stale--think I will go back to the smaller bags, even if they are a little more expensive, esp. our favorites: no salt added organic blue corn chips from Trader Joe's! Much better to eat the good stuff and just not eat so much of it.)
For "dessert" made another smoothie: using up the leftover frozen peaches and home canned cherries, blended with ice.
Oh, and a few more thoughts about the soup:
--since I am trying to add more raw into my diet, I wonder how it would taste if the salsa was not cooked, esp. when I am already paying extra for the fresh salsa.
--the salsa was delicious, and had a predominant fresh cilantro flavor. So if I make my own "salsa" for this recipe, I think I will dice fresh tomato and onion and add fresh cilantro at the end--I noticed the lovely cilantro flavor was greatly reduced by the cooking too.
--I used veggie broth, but use "Better Than Bullion" brand, which is more flavorful and others, and has less salt and no msg.
--SO I think next time I will try cooking the beans in broth, and then adding the salsa fresh and pureeing half of the beans/salsa and adding it back to the pot, and just warming through, to preserve more fresh nutrients. . .
Oh, and I had dinner on the table really early that day--we had been at the beach and then did some errands and they were all sunburnt (bad mommy!) and tired and Smiley did not get a nap, so I hustled that super quick soup and had them in bed by 7:30 and they were so tired they did not argue when I said no talking and went right to sleep!
Thursday
Made pasta--"wagon wheel" shaped--I mixed with organic canned diced tomato, sliced black olive, lots of parmesean, dried basil and oregano and pepper. Served with organic applesauce on the side. This meal was begging for a steamed green veggie or a salad on the side, but we had friends over late (like they came over at 4) and so I was rushing to make dinner--I think the kids were leaving the table at 8:45, and that is just not right.
Sigh.
BUT I SO did not feel like making dinner last night, and I have to admit I would not have cooked if it were not for knowing I would have to fess up here! (I probably would have fed the kids bread and cheese and raw veggies--even though that is what they had for lunch! And I hate repeating foods in one day--seems to scream "I'm a bad mommy and don't care!" even if the food itself is fairly healthy.) So, thank you for the accountability--it really does matter at this point.
As I served dinner last night, I was thinking you might like to hear one of my ideas for saving handwashing dishes: whenever we are having smoothies, applesauce, Great-grandma's home canned fruit, ice-cream, etc. for dessert, we just put the fruit into our kids' milk glasses after they finish the milk. Incentive for the kid to drink the milk, and you can rinse the cup or not,if what you are putting into it is compatible with a few drops of milk, and using the cup makes at least three fewer dishes to wash.
I personally don't like my applesauce or fruit getting mixed up with incompatible foods like tomato sauce and other things in my dinner bowl, so I prefer to use my cup!
Two more dinners down. Only about, oh, a million left to go. . . ; )
Actually, I could not resist just now trying to figure out approximately how many dinners I have left to cook, if DH lives until about 85, which is about the norm for his family life-span, and I found the number surprisingly heartening: 16, 425.
Hey, it's better than a million!!!
On The Road - Oh My!
2 months ago
We always add the cilantro at the end, into each bowl, so the flavor isn't watered down. Same for Indian food.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of meals when you look at it that way!! Wow. It would be interesting to calculate how much time you will spend cooking those meals!
ReplyDeleteThat number doesn't seem bad!
ReplyDeleteI checked ours and it looks like our husbands are almost the same age - I have 16,790 :)
I'm going to go with the theory that robotic chefs will become affordable options in 15 years, though. That takes me down to 5,475. And it makes me smile just a little bit more ;)
Stacy
Stacy
(Sorry about the double signature. I apparently have a multiple personality issue today and both wanted to speak)
ReplyDelete(Stacy. And Stacy?)
Hey, Stacy, you were leaving a comment on my blog just when I was leaving a comment on yours! Like ships in the night--or naptime. : )
ReplyDeleteI like your reasoning. I could have deducted a lot of those dinners in the equasion knowing I will surely get lazier as I get older, but thought the number was just an approximation anyway.
And it was nice to have the realization that I hope DH lives that long, which made me hope I get to make that many dinners for him. : )
Scottish Twins--interesting to calculate time spent, but way, way too overwhelming for me this week! (Cause, you know, it would be a lot bigger than 16,000--and that's just DINNERS, let's not even talk about breakfast lunch and snacks!!!!!) : )
sometimes it is better to not keep track of time or to figure stuff out -- just do it. When we were refinishing all the oak trim on the first floor, I kept track of my time to scrap the paint off of one side of one doorway. It took me 8 hours. I decided not to keep track of anymore. After seeing the dr. last week and learning that my triglycerides were sky high, we are trying to cut carbs out of our diet as much as possible -- that leaves meat and veggies:) So we are eating lots of salads and grilling out. Be fore warned -- can't wait until I see you.
ReplyDelete