What’s Cooking? [NOT 27/9/21]

27/9/21 brightersideoflife 32
overhead image of several bowls of different soups

Hi, friends!

What’s on the menu this week? As fall advances, are you swapping salads for soups and going back to casseroles, etc?

I made braised green beans and tomatoes with the last of my green beans. And I roasted that kabocha squash and mashed it with some herbs and heavy cream. I’m on the fence with it, it’s a little more pumpkin-ey flavored than I wanted but it’s not bad, just not what I expected. The texture is fucking amazing though!

I haven’t figured out the rest yet this week. Probably salads, stewed lentils, etc. I do have a pork tenderloin that I’ll probably bake with some cauliflower or something.

Any exciting things on the menu this week?

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32 Comments

  1. Leftover (homemade) pizza from the weekend. Soups, because it’s finally inching toward soup/hot pot season. Tons of berries for breakfast. Figue figue figue season is divine!

  4. I’ve had probably close to a month where I haven’t been able to cook more than box pasta, or like quesadillas. I think my cooking is a pretty straightforward reflection of my mental health. I haven’t been doing great lately…

    But tonight I managed to kick my ass into gear and make a big thing of mashed potatoes. I used a little tonight to make my lazy samosas, and I plan to use the rest tomorrow on a lentil shepherds pie. Hopefully I’m able to hang onto this momentum. Motivation has been in extremely short supply lately.

      • He’s doing pretty well. The first week was pretty solidly rough (day 2 was better than day 1, but day 3 backslid), but after that it’s been pretty smooth sailing, with no more drop off meltdowns. I can’t really get many details from him about what he’s doing at school and the teacher isn’t all that talkative either, so I’m a little in the dark, but I hear a few stories and see a few drawings and things at the end of the week.

        I can’t really explain the dark mood I’ve been in and my total lack of motivation to do anything other than survive and provide what Lil needs. I guess that’s how depression goes. I’ve been saying for years that I should find a therapist again, which I should probably actually do at some point.

        • Yeah, that’s how the depression goes. If you aren’t comfortable in these times seeing a therapist, ask your doctor to adjust the levels of your meds. Believe me, they are doing that A LOT during the pandemic.

          • Yeah, my primary care keeps asking me if I’m happy with my antidepressant and I’m like, I don’t know? I don’t know if the meds are really the problem, I’m pretty sure I’m the problem. Meds don’t work miracles. She recommended in the past that I should see a psychiatrist, which I thought might be a good idea. I’ve always seen psychologists and then gotten meds from my primary care, but it might be smart to see someone who is a bit more med focused.

            • @BigDamnHeroes, that’s all understandable, and I certainly don’t have the answer for you.

              I’ve done OK maintaining my meds; Ms. Meme upped hers a bit, and that made a positive impact for her.

              So I’d recommend talking to your primary about it. It’s different for each individual.

  6. I’m going to do a chicken stew in the Instant Pot tomorrow, maybe chili later this week. I had the last of @butcherbakertoiletrymakers’s Hungarian Mushroom Soup from the freezer for lunch. I’m going to need to whip up another batch this weekend.

  7. We’ve successfully made Pad Thai into a fast food dish at home, after figuring out the ingredients to keep on hand by trial-and-error. Tonight, made with scallops and shrimp, with extra scallop brine.

  9. I yanked a turkey I bought last Thanksgiving from the bottom of the freezer. I’ll be grilling most of it and using some of the dark meat for confit for pseudo cassoulet later on.

  10. I ran out of leftover takeout yesterday, so I baked some spam, and then made some instant mashed potatoes.  I’m pretty sure neither of those count as “cooking”, but I didn’t want to leave my apartment to find takeout, and I didn’t want to put any more effort in than that.  Like, I briefly considered box mac&cheese with canned tuna and canned peas added, but that would have been WAY too much work.

    I’ll probably be getting takeout the rest of this week.

      • hmm…

        I generally walk/take public transit to get groceries, so I’m uncertain how frozen items would hold up, so much so that I don’t even really consider them any more.

         

        then again, one of the reasons I tend to like canned food is that it will likely outlast me, and isn’t affected by power outages.  And, while I haven’t had a lot, I’m in California, and a couple rounds of wildfires back, after PG&E (our utility company) was determined to be responsible, we’ve had retributive “preventive” planned outages.  Living in the wealthiest nation is awesome…

  11. I didn’t think I would miss cooking dinner every night but since my daughters left for school I have no motivation to cook.  The wife has been traveling too so I’m pretty much on non healthy liquid diet & leftovers.

  12. welp…my waking up at 6 am on a day off actually turned out to be a good thing this once

    beef stew is on the menu…and i forgot to get the beef out of the freezer last night to let it defrost…sooo…did that just now..should be defrosted by the time i want to start cooking

    theres few things nicer than a good beef stew

    and one of them is the same beef stew reheated the next day

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