April 20, 2022

Easter is in the rear-view mirror, we’ve passed the halfway mark of April, and new-growth shoots are popping up in my front flower beds. And on just this past Monday, two days ago, we were treated to an encore performance by Mother Nature of her winter pageantry.

I was determined that nothing M.N. could send my way was going to get me upset; I had seen the weather report and knew what might be headed our way. But I held firmly to the knowledge that, Monday being a day that was in the latter half of April, whatever pollen fell from the sky that day would not last long.

Of course, I couldn’t avoid getting glimpses of the outside world. I wasn’t at all surprised to look out and see a blizzard in progress. My joints had already alerted me to the fact that stuff was happening in the great out of doors. Enough of that.

Last week, I decided to try out a new recipe. One of the evenings I’d fallen down a rabbit hole on YouTube, and I discovered a recipe made with apples that was similar to an apple pie, but the translation of it included the word “invisible”. It didn’t take a lot of thinking on my part, since there was a video and you could see the dessert, to understand that what was invisible was the “pie crust.”

Long story short, the “dough” was more like a cake batter, but one that didn’t necessarily rise to the occasion. The apples weren’t in slices so much as they were in strips—rendered in the video via use of a vegetable peeler, and by me using one side of my grater. I followed the directions carefully, especially taking great care in the mixing of the dough and the apples, done very gently and slowly so as not to break the strips. Then adding it all, spoon by spoon, to the spring form pan, and patting it down after each spoonful so the apples would lay flat.

The recipe was European and contained a lot less sugar than what would have been called for in a regular North American dessert. It turned out well, presenting a “slice of pie” that showed many layers, and everyone here really enjoyed it.

I’ve gotten into the habit lately of trying out new recipes on a fairly regular basis. I believe that the part of my brain I use for cooking is a different part from what I use for writing, and I want to do whatever I can to keep my cooking brain working well.

I do have the need to feel useful. That feeling can be hard to come by when the body protests most movements and stamina is nothing but a fond memory. One of the things I can still do well most of the time is cook. Producing supper is not something that I do every day, however. I likely could, if I had to. But anymore, none of us eats a great deal, and if I do too much cooking in a short period of time, we end up with left-over food overload.

We had a roast of beef last Thursday, and then we enjoyed a bone-in ham for Easter Sunday. I tend to make more than one veggie with supper, because sometimes our daughter opts to have only those for her evening meal. She does that usually on a day when she’s had eggs for breakfast. Also, with one exception, the veggies I put on the table are either cooked from fresh or if not, then from frozen. The only exception? They both love creamed corn, and I haven’t tried to make that myself yet, so that comes from a can.

One thing that I make sure to do is to keep an eye on what all we have in our fridge. We own a plethora of containers and we’re not afraid to use zipper-type plastic bags to store food in, either. Many has been the occasion when we’ve been preparing several salads either to serve here or take elsewhere, when we’ve put them in those flexible, can fit in almost any available space bags.

There’s an inside joke in this family. Everyone knows there’s nothing I hate more than to throw out perfectly good food. In years past, when our food budget was small, I became a master at using left over ingredients to make something totally different and serve it for supper the next day.

That skill was honed because there was time when no one wanted to just reheat and eat the supper from the day before. So, left over roast beef became either hot roast beef sandwiches, or shepherd’s pie, or a meat, rice, and veggie casserole (and that works for all types of meat). Left over roast pork might become chow mien, or cold sliced pork, served with pan fried potatoes and gravy. Left over chicken—well, the kids liked chicken a la king, but David never has. There were very few times I made things he didn’t like and got away with it when I did so because there were four of us and one of him.

But now our daughter is vegetarian, and is a grandmother herself, so there are no kids to put first. I will digress long enough to say, I really miss chicken a la king.

Part of our left over ham from Easter has already been turned into a spread for sandwiches which we call ham and pickle. (put ham and a few sweet cucumber pickle pieces and a bit of onion through the food processor. Put into a bowl, add mayo and mix.) Some of the rest of the left over ham will be used in a breakfast in the next day or two.

And as for all the rest? Well, that’s where the family joke comes in. You see, they all know that I refuse to throw out perfectly good food.

However, food that’s been neatly stored in the fridge and not eaten and subsequently begins to go bad? Well, that, my friends, is a whole other matter.

 

Love,

Morgan

http://www.morganashbury.com

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury