I am having trouble cooking for one. Even when Bob was here, I still cooked too much. I never got over the years when we had a large family and meals were big.
Today I ate taco salad. Yesterday and the day before I ate tacos.
My taco meat is a tube made to serve 8.
Bought at Kwik Trip
I had it in the freezer, so not good to refreeze.
Plated taco salad lunch today….leftover taco meat for next meal.
More salad than taco meat mixture means it goes a long way.
By the end of the taco meat, I will be sick to death of tacos. Right now I’m enjoying my lunches. It helps that I have avocado and tomato to add to my salad.
Cooking for one continues to be a challenge. It is something I have to face each day — or until the day family can congregate together again and I can make something that will serve everyone.
A certain young grandson has a peanut allergy. When Wyatt comes for a visit all peanut products are stored in cabinets.
I read labels so when I bake cookies to share with grandchildren, I do not include anything with even the possibility of peanut contamination. Food labels highlight use of peanuts and if the product is made in a factory where peanuts are put into other products.
Cross-contamination isn’t good for Wyatt. This I learned the last time he and his family visited.
Rachel was making Wyatt a jelly sandwich. She found a jelly in the fridge he didn’t dislike and thought about using it. Then she asked me, “Do you ever put your knife in the jelly after putting peanut butter on your toast?”
“Yes,” was my answer. This is a no-no. We had cross-contaminated the jelly with peanut butter. Even a tiny bit could cause Wyatt a reaction.
I don’t remember what we did about Wyatt’s jelly sandwich that day, maybe we opened a new jar, even so, I’ve been changing my BAD habit ever since.
I still eat peanut butter,
I no longer put my contaminated knife in any other container, especially the jelly,
I use a separate spoon for the jelly or have squeezable jelly for my company to use. The squeezable container doesn’t need a knife.
I am doing this even though no one is visiting me at this time. It is a good habit I want to keep so there will never be any peanut butter mistakes in the future.
Using separate utensils in the jelly jars is something everyone can do. Then if you have company with a peanut allergy you know your jelly is safe to share.
I like to eat bagels but I’ve never made any until today.
A friend bragged about making bagels on FaceBook. It didn’t sound too hard, so I thought I’d give it a try–before I run out of yeast.
I googled bagel recipes and finally found one at home in an old West Bend Automatic Bread & Dough Maker instruction book–this bread maker is long gone, but the recipes are still good.
I mixed these ingredients in my current bread machine as I would a loaf of bread on the dough setting. After it mixed and rose in the machine I continued with the recipe instructions.
Remove dough from pan, place in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and refrigerate 20 minutes.
Remove from refrigerator and place dough on a lightly floured surface. Divide into 8 equal pieces. Punch hole in the center, and form into a bagel shape.
Let rise in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar to water. Reduce heat to a simmer and carefully add 2 to 3 bagels to the hot water. Simmer 2 to 3 minutes on each side (I was more successful with 1 minute simmer on each side, which was suggested in another recipe).
Drain and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake in preheated 400-degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes–times varied for me.
Mine did not all look lovely as the ones from the bakery, but were edible.
I shall try making bagels again, but may play with the recipe. I think splitting the dough into 16 pieces would be better.
If you have a good bagel recipe, please send it my way. You can email me at sunnybook@aol.com. (Also, if you know where I can get yeast, let me know. It’s like buying gold these days, if you can find it.)
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When a twist cap was too hard for me to open, I had Bob there to do the job. Now, I’m on my own.
There’s a V-shaped gizmo in the kitchen to use for tough glass containers, but this won’t help everything.
The other day Rebecca gave me some fruit cups. These make a tasty snack if a person can open them.
I love this mixed fruit. There is just enough for a quick pick-me-up, but I struggled to pull back the opening tab.
I went to open my snack by the sink. For sure when I opened it, juice would spill out.
No matter how hard I struggled, I couldn’t get the plastic to pull back.
I went to Bob’s office and found pliers to pull the packaging back. It slipped on the plastic so didn’t help.
I did eventually get it off with my own fingers and had my snack, but next time I’ll just use a knife to cut the plastic and be done with the struggle.
Those easy-open packages aren’t always so easy, but at least this one gave me something to write about today. (imagine you see me grinning)
I’m not shopping. Rebecca brings me my essentials.
There’s no fresh lettuce in my fridge but I do have a substitute. That would be alfalfa sprouts.
I’m growing these myself. I thought I had my trays spaced so I’d have a fresh one every third day. To my chagrin, I had four trays ready at about the same time, so I have plenty to eat.
Yesterday I had a yearning for a taco salad wrap. I took turkey, avocado, tomato, taco sauce, and tons of sprouts to make my lunch. The taco sauce made it extra special.
Good thing Rebecca left an avocado and tomato for me on her last grocery delivery.
Susan with one batch of alfalfa sprouts.
When the sprouts are grown, I keep them fresh in containers in the refrigerator.
Alfalfa sprouts are my favorite, not radish sprouts, they are too tangy for me at this time. Maybe I’ll try that mix of seeds again later.
So now you see how my garden grows, even with freezing temperatures and snow in Wisconsin.
