Cooking during pandemic

@ihatediabetes. I have my first spaghetti squash the other day and I love it. My diet have not change very much during this pandamic. Eating at home everyday has been a challenge... . I miss going out with friends, and I miss sushi the most. Can't do that at home!!! I get a big box of veggies from my local farm every two weeks delivered to my home courtesy of my daughter. I never know what I'll get so it's always fun to find recipes for these veggies. Last week I got Japanese baby turnip so I made a nabe stew with that and other veggies and tofu. My children and friends miss In and Out burgers. Fir those of you who are lucky enough to have In and Out, you'll know what I mean. Not that I eat a lot of that, but it's what I can't have that makes me want it. I lost weight during this pandamic, some of my friends too. My daughter said it's because we don't eat out, as restaurants use butter and goodness know what else to make the food taste so good. I was just talking to my neighbor on our walk, masked and safe distance, that we need to go to In and Out drive through... Yummmmm

I have noticed that this place called Raising Canes always has a crowded drive thru. I don't go there but I think it's like In and Out Burger in California. My sleep medicine doctor also said that I lost 4 kilos since I was last there. I told him that I think the scale is probably broken. But he just said, "Let's take it" or something like that. I think it's true that restaurants food is higher calorie than what people cook at home.

Cooking during the pandemic has drawn me to use my slow cooker more. It was a great way to cook without heating up the house in the summer. I'm looking forward to trying some soup recipes now that fall is here. Anyone else a fan of the slow cooker?

I don’t enjoy cooking. Years ago I was enthusiastic, but lost interest because my family has very narrow menu interests. Pretty much meat and starch. Not much interest in vegetables. I surprise myself now by making an effort to cook nice meals. Life is boring now and we don’t eat out. We are four- two adult children live with us. We keep an eye out for sales on good beef and pork. I love fish- they won’t touch it. I try to vary the starchy side dishes too. Mashed, baked, scalloped, au gratin potatoes. Rice, pasta etc. At times my daughter and I try to avoid carbs and use the riced cauliflower or zucchini noodles. Works well with meat sauce.
We have succeeded staying away from cakes- but there is also ice cream always! And dark chocolate. Saturday’s my daughter and I celebrate with a glass of Prosecco.
This was a lengthy post from someone who does not like cooking.

I do like to cook, and am lucky that there are a lot of things my family will eat. Our biggest issue is dealing with assorted food allergies, which means almost everything is made from scratch. If I am going to be out & about, or busy in sewing room or garden, I use the slow cooker. When it is warm I use it on our enclosed porch to keep heat out of the kitchen.

But when I am home, I love simmering great pots of soup or chili on the stovetop in a cast iron dutch oven. Monday I made enough chili for 4 meals - 2 to eat, 2 to freeze. Tomorrow it will be ham & bean or split pea soup - we're still discussing. Again there will be 4 meals.
The ham bone is in the freezer from 2 weeks ago - we will have had a half dozen different ham meals since, baked ham & scalloped potatoes, grilled ham & baked sweet potato, Monte Cristo sandwiches, hot ham & cheese on buns (on our trip), fried ham with eggs, and today will be cubed ham & potatoes au gratin - all served with fruit & vegetables on the side. I know it may sound like a lot of sodium, but I have been very careful how I season the sides & serving sizes.

I must admit I am very tired of not being able to say "Let's call my sister/brother and meet at _____ for dinner.
Sue

@sueinmn. Wow, you are making me hungry! I use my slow cooker mainly for soups. Cooking for one is more difficult than cooking for a crowd. Usually recipes are for 8 servings and it's hard to scale down. One of my favorites is the Tuscan bean soup. Simple ingredients but healthy. I usually make enough to freeze one or two servings or share some with my neighbor. Before the pandamic I seldom have canned food, now I find myself with cans of beans and tomatoes, salmon, sardines etc. I think I have enough to last me till end of 2021!

Yes, I am quite the fan of my slow cooker. I use it for pork and chicken recipes, roasts, soups and beans. Although it takes longer, I love that I can "set it and forget it" and the results are always tender and flavorful.

Mmmm- Tuscan bean soup. I need to add it to my list for this winter, one of our favorites.
I also need to make a pot of baked beans to stock the freezer for sausage meals. Next week we will be taking a "road trip" to our favorite sausage maker to stock up on blood, potato & Polish sausage before the snow flies. Have to remember to get some homemade jerky for son-in-law & me.
Sue

I don't use a slow cooker. But I have a rice cooker with a porridge setting. I use my rice cooker to make porridge at night and we eat it in the morning. I use rolled oats, oat bran, steel cut oats, and multigrain cereal. It's basically 2 cups of anything mixed together with 5 and 1/2 cups of water. I think any grain combination would make wonderful porridge in the morning. I think I could put sunflower seeds and raisins too. I started to buy oat bran in bulk for my porridge. It makes the porridge milky white plus adds a lot of fiber but not so many calories. Oat bran plus rolled oats makes the whole grain. I add in some steel cut oats because they add some chewiness to the porridge.

@ihatediabetes. I have used the rice cooker too to make porridge. Instead of water, I used almond milk. But it makes so much porridge. I now just cook a cup on the stove top, but I cut up an apple into tiny pieces and cook it with the oatmeal. Just change it up a little. I like steelcut more than regular rolled oat. I top it with blueberries and chopped walnut sometimes.