Cooking at Home

Ever since the pandemic came around we rarely go to restaurants. We used to go out for lunch at least once a week and usually out for dinner on Sunday evenings. Now we cook at home almost all of the time, but do still order pickup at fewer and fewer restaurants. It seems like our own cooking just tastes better. There are two Greek and one Persian place that we like the most. So we now have a few recipes that we really like and rotate them around. One of them is a green pepper bake, another is a shrimp casserole. Then there is my mom’s Polish chicken soup and another cabbage soup. And of course my husband, who does most of the cooking, makes wonderful and tasty fish, chicken, and other tomato based soups. Every once in a while the food looks so good I have been taking photos of it. And every once in a while I post a food item on the weekly photo challenge that I belong to - although the last one was of an already made deli sandwich that we got in the grocery store. Like everyone else it’s hard to figure out what to make every day for dinner and we love leftovers! We always pretty much have the same thing for lunch - eggs, bread and fruit. But diner is another story. So I’m always on the look out for easy recipes. And I love casseroles. This week it’s time to rotate the shrimp dish. We just need to get the ingredients. The question is whether to get fresh or frozen shrimp? 

New Recipe - Stuffed Pepper Bake

I used to like having stuffed peppers for dinner. We haven’t made them for quite some time. Then I saw a recipe called stuffed pepper bake and was intrigued by the idea of giving it a go. After all, anything casserole like is good for at least two and sometimes three dinners. So when we went grocery shopping this week we got all of the ingredients. We probably should have stuck with green peppers since that was the taste I was after. But we got one red and one green pepper. Otherwise the four cloves of garlic, Worcestershire sauce, Italian seasonings, onion, grated cheese, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce would add the flavor. We started with a smaller cooking pan and ended up having to use the larger one since all of the ingredients needed to be mixed together first. Our casserole dish wasn’t large enough either so we needed to use another small dish to compensate. In the end it was good enough to eat! Actually the leftovers tasted even better. We probably won’t make it very often but every once in a while it’s a nice option. We actually aren’t much of meat eaters anyway. The recipe called for one pound and it was a bit over. I think I’ll save the recipe anyway.

Balsamic Glazed Chicken

Something has gotten in to us. Every once in a while I find recipes that might be worth trying. I always look for simple things with ingredients and directions that are understood. My husband does all of the cooking and never uses recipes. I can’t cook without them. This week we tried a pork chop dish and yesterday we tried a balsamic glazed chicken item. The first one turned out well with leftovers for another meal - the best part. So we gathered up the ingredients that included balsamic vinegar, basil, and mozzarella cheese - low fat of course. Additionally we bought a big bag of broccoli that we’ve been slowly using up this week. It beats the frozen package kind and is so easy to microwave for four minutes with a bit of low fat cheddar cheese on top. The chicken cooked up quickly in olive oil on the stove top with salt and pepper, then was drizzled with the vinegar and topped with the cheese and tomato and then covered for a couple of minutes. Topped off with the basil, a side of rice, greens and a bit of bread made for a tasty dinner. So we have another meal ready for tonight but this time mashed potatoes might be in order. How could you go wrong? 

Instapot Persian Barley Lentil Soup With Spinach

Unexpectedly we received a surprise in the mail - an instapot with two cookbooks. We aren’t in any hurry - especially lately - to cook things in shorter time. But it would be an interesting experiment. We sorted through the recipes and found a few, but we didn’t have several of the ingredients. We finally got what we needed with the latest grocery delivery and prepared to make the Persian barley lentil soup with spinach last week. My husband is the primary cook in our house and doesn’t follow recipes - he just magically puts things together and dinner is always delicious. Using limes and lime zest is unusual for us. We followed all the instructions and started first with sautéing the onions, carrots and garlic, then added the liquids. The soup was cooked under high pressure for fifteen minutes - which ended up being not quite enough. We put the pot on the stove and cooked the soup another 15 minutes. When it was done, the chopped spinach and cilantro were added. Along side the soup was some yogurt to add in as desired. It was very good - so much so that we made another batch yesterday. However, the results were not as spectacular. There was too much lime this time. Maybe it was the fact that we had already made it once and should have tried something else. In the end it was indeed an interesting process. Maybe spaghetti will be next.