My wife seems to not be interested in blogging about herself, which leaves it to me. I mentioned in the last post that I was turning on the AC because Cate was cooking in the kitchen and that may have led you to wonder what she's cooking.
A little background -- when I met Cate, she basically had about five things she would cook on a regular basis, only one of which ever sees the light of day anymore.
In her defense, I didn't exactly come to the relationship armed with a bunch of recipes or a particular sense of urgency about changing the paradigm. We reminisced the other night -- not overly fondly -- about how we could turn a packet of frozen chicken patties, a couple slices of cheese and a little pasta sauce into two meals. Those weren't exactly fun days.
Even well into this millennium the repertoire hadn't changed a whole lot. We went through periods where we'd try out some new thoughts in the kitchen, but it wasn't until the past year or so that we both really branched out. As I was working on taking some weight off, it required that we re-evaluate everything we do in the kitchen. And thankfully, I've had her support in this process. I can't imagine being able to lose more than 50 pounds without my spouse's support.
But to the point -- it's been an interesting week. Last night Cate made jambalaya, including shrimp (I peeled them and Cate veined them). Using turkey sausage instead of pork made this a nice, low-fat meal. Earlier in the week she made chicken breasts with a cooking sauce and sauted vegetables. Today she threw together a chili that's in the crock pot. And somewhere online she read that you could make a cake from cake mix by using Diet Coke instead of the milk and egg the standard cake box calls for, saving nearly a third of the calories. The kids had a great time putting that together this morning and it's sitting on the counter awaiting dessert tonight.
I have some beef marinating in lemon juice, oregano and the like for the kids to eat tonight.
Many of these are things she won't eat. Some are things the kids won't eat. But it fosters Elizabeth's interest in new tastes and means I have plenty of leftovers to take to work for lunch.
Elizabeth's latest taste adventures include green, red and orange peppers, both raw and cooked, as well as sauteed onions. But never a hamburger. And not jambalaya.
8 comments:
OK I am trying to master this blog business by leaving two comments. I forget now what I was originally going to say about one of my favorite pastimes, cooking. Have you tried panko bread crumbs?? They look like instant potato flakes but make a really nice coating for chicken or fish. Sauted in olive oil of course.
Panko! Those are soooooo perfect for pretty much any white meat, pork included -- breaded chops, so good.
As for mocking up a meal, I think the worst I ever did was faking a marinade with a creamy ceaser dressing and boneless breasts and marinating them overnight before throwing it on the grill for 20 minutes on a side (I think, it's been a while).
But that doesn't discount the "meals" made of ramen noodles and lemonade or just plain ice water. Thankfully I believe those days are officially behind me, but I haven't exactly been eating whimpy myself the last few months.
You really should give sushi a try. I think you'd like the roll I had today.
I should've reported that the Diet Coke cake worked like a charm.
Take a box cake. Combine the mix and one 12-oz. can of Diet Coke. (No eggs, no oil, no milk, no nothin'.) Bake as directed. Eat.
Yum. :)
- Patrick
Elizabeth wants to say for the record that she only likes green peppers cooked, not raw. All the rest is true but Dad should have added that we used confectioner's sugar instead of icing.
Uncle Neil still thinks that she would like shrimp an awful lot if she would just try.
Elizabeth: "Noooooooooooooooooooooo. Okay. Maybe."
Wow, that's one powerful Uncle Neil!
Uncle Ryan thinks so, too. And he could introduce her to a lot of other good food stuff if she's willing to try just one piece.
I recommend "No Pudge Fudge Brownie" mix. It's delicious and has a wonderfully fun name (and a cartoon of a skinny pig on the box).
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