Cooking Ahead

There are so many good things about having Vince here soon. One thing I miss terribly is cooking meals ahead for the entire week. I feel so productive on the day I’m cooking and then, during the week, we have nice, homemade meals without having to spend hours in the kitchen. With the planning ahead, I’m able to make good use of all leftovers. I will change things up a bit when he gets here. Trash day is Thursday so I’ll do the cooking on Wednesday so all the gross stuff can go in the trash and get taken away quickly. I will only prep/cook meals for four days, will have at least two meals that will produce leftovers that can be frozen if we don’t eat them, and will plan one day for going out to eat because Vince seems to like to do that and for now, exploring new restaurants in the area will be fun. There’s always something we can pull out of the freezer if I haven’t planned a 7th meal and we need one. And . . have I mentioned . . pizza places deliver here!

One meal each week is always either a roasted chicken, a smoked chicken or something else on the smoker. One meal is almost always something on the grill – steak, chicken, burgers, Italian sausage, etc. So, really, cooking isn’t that big of a deal and on my “cooking day”, it can be as simple as (1) seasoning a chicken to smoke or roast or (2) making hamburger patties (seasoning and shaping) and freezing i we’re not going to use them at the beginning of the week. Sunday is almost always spaghetti and meatballs and leftover steak, roast, chicken . . a little of everything goes into the sauce. When I make meatballs, I make a lot . . like 12 dozen . . and freeze them so even spaghetti and meatballs isn’t too bad to make .. once the meatballs are done.

Today’s Cooking:

Soon I’ll get my second corona virus “jab”. I don’t want to talk about whether it’s the right thing to do. Everyone has to make their own decision. I did it so I will feel more comfortable about seeing Addie. We didn’t move here to stay holed up in the house and never see them. Whether you believe taking the vaccine or not is a very personal decision but I’d rather not have a debate about it here.

I didn’t feel bad at all with the first vaccine. My arm was mildy sore and I only noticed it once when talking to Vince on the phone, Rita was barking, I went into the bedroom to talk to him and leaned up (not so gently) against the door facing with the arm that got the shot and . . ouch! That hurt. The first night, I had to turn over on that arm to get a drink of water and I thought . . this is going to hurt, but it didn’t.

But, I’m anticipating feeling a bit worse with the second one. I hope I don’t but if I do, I want to be ready. For me, being ready means having foods I like that are easy to prepare and having a good supply of Dr. Pepper and fruit juice and . . lots of ice cream.

Sourdough:

This morning I fed the sourdough. This afternoon I’ll mix up the dough for Sourdough English Muffins. Tomorrow I’ll shape those and cook them. Some of them will be for now, some will go into the freezer for later. I’ll also make a loaf of sourdough whole wheat bread tomorrow.

Soups:

Last week (or was it week before) I boiled a chicken, shredded the meat, added it back to the broth and froze it in three separate containers. I can take that out, heat it up, add carrots and celery and wide egg noodles and have homemade chicken noodle soup.

This morning I made White Bean Chicken Chili. The bowl goes into the freezer. The jar goes into the fridge and I’ll eat that soon, whether I’m feeling bad or not. I love that stuff.

Today I’m cooking a steak for my meal and fixing Colcannon instead of a baked potato. I made plenty of extra potatoes so the extra colcannon will become a modified version of Baked Potato Soup.

More Substantial Food:

Wednesday I will make corned beef and cabbage. There will be plenty of that left over. There are meat loaves, cabbage rolls, and gumbo in the freezer .. and probably several other things I’m not remembering.

Snacks:

Of course, I have ice cream and lots of toppings. I have monkey bread in the freezer in the mini loaf pans so all I have to do is take one out, let it thaw and rise, bake it, melt butter, brown sugar and vanilla and pour over it and bake it a bit longer.

This morning I made banana bread with overripe bananas. One mini loaf went into the fridge. Three were wrapped in plastic wrap and placed in the freezer. Once they’re frozen solid, I’ll vacuum seal them (otherwise they’d get smashed) so they’ll also be available for a quick snack. I have several types of cookie dough frozen so all I’d have to do is grab a couple of “balls” and bake them to have fresh cookies.

I could go a long time without having to do any heavy duty cooking. Hoping I don’t feel bad but maybe for a couple of days but I’m ready . . whatever happens, I won’t be hungry.