How I Spend My Time At Home: Cooking!

I love food.  I like the smell, texture, look and taste.  I love to eat.  Luckily, I also love to cook.  Some people are surprised that I cook full meals for "just me" but to me, it's generally not a chore.  If I'm feeling too lazy to cook, I don't.  Most of the time, though, I cook.

As you look through these plates you might be thinking "Dear heavens, does this woman make mac and cheese every day?"  No, but when I make a pan of it, it lasts for several meals. 

Here are some recent examples:

I confess, this isn't something I made.  My neighbor, who is from southern India, regularly brings me delicious food.  Last year she fed me every single day of Ramadan so I could try the special food she makes for the holiday.  She described this dish as Indian gruel - sort of Indian comfort food.  It was delicious.

Another meal I didn't exactly cook.  In December, 2017, my friend Heidi had major surgery in NOLA (New Orleans, if you're not from these parts).  I was her rescue squirrel. As she recuperated (and I relaxed) in the hotel post-surgery, I foraged at the nearby fancy grocery store and put together this plate of goodness.  Calories do not count when surgery is involved.  Or ever, apparently, given my diet recently.

Ah, a meal I actually prepared in my kitchen.  With the help of Fresh Market.  Roasted asparagus, leftover 4 cheese macaroni, kale salad and crab cakes that had trouble coming out of the pan.  Looks shaky but was delicious.  And it had kale so must be low cal and healthy!

I can't always count on my Indian neighbor to provide me with food.  I made Butter Chicken.  It was as good as any I've had in a restaurant.  

I took shortcuts to make the curry.  I got this spice blend from a nearby Indian store.  And, instead of starting with raw chicken, I just use white meat from a Sam's rotisserie chicken. I also use canned pureed tomatoes instead of doing my own.  I grate my own ginger and garlic but you could save even more time by buying prepared.  The recipe, btw, is on the spice packet box.  Adjust the heat by how much spice you use.  The recipe makes it spicy.

Here's an easy dinner - and one of my favorites.  Crab cakes, seafood salad (from Publix), avocado and mango - both drizzled with pineapple white balsamic vinegar.

I was in a cooking mood.  Steamed green beans, 4 cheese macaroni pie and slow-roasted country style pork ribs with carrots, onions, garlic and a mango-chile sauce.

Fresh from the oven - 4 cheese macaroni pie (ricotta, cambozola, cheddar, parmesan) with some jalapeno for a bit of a kick and a key lime pie.

Clearly I like this meal, since I have it a lot.  Mac and cheese, crab cake, seafood salad and a salad of grape tomatoes, asparagus and avocado with a lemon/jalapeno vinaigrette.

This was both quick and delicious.  Shrimp sauteed with a bit of butter, lots of butter and asparagus along with a spinach salad with leftover 3 bean salad tossed on top.

I did not make this dinner.  Nor did I eat it.  It was dinner my first night in the Italian hospital.  Plain rice and plain boiled potatoes.  I tried to explain that my stomach was fine, it was my leg that had the problem.

Another go-to meal.  Chicken thigh with an orange glaze, steamed carrots, zucchini casserole and Kraft mac and cheese.  The last was because I was too lazy to make real mac and cheese.

Breakfast - homemade biscuits, bacon and homemade blueberry jelly.