Cure for the Doldrums

[cjsmith]

1. Rest/recuperate/be slothful, until I bounce back a little
2. PHYSICAL EXERCISE: this is key for me
3. Random fun things to do

So I went swimming this morning. I found a GREAT way to make it into a workout more suited to my body: legs only! Use that dang kickboard for the whole routine! Granted, I don't want to do that every day. The great thing about swimming is you can use the upper body too. But today it was a fun treat. My heart rate even increased. I'm impressed.

I think I'm almost ready for the fast lane, legs only.

Then I came home and started some beef stew in the crock pot. I set the meat to defrost yesterday, and it was ready by the time I came home from the Y. (No screwing up this time: the meat SAYS on the PACKAGE, "stew".) I opened up the Joy of Cooking and looked at a variety of stew recipes. I had pretty much all the ingredients for one of them. (Thank you ambar for the herbs! I had no bay in the house before I got that package from you.) The only thing I was missing was potatoes. So I decided I'd skip the potatoes and eat it with something starchy.

That smelled delicious by the time I was ready to close the lid on it. Man, I like crockpot cooking. If you ignore that first BBQ brisket goof, stuff I've made comes out... at least edible, and it can be really really easy.

And it's not even ten yet! Wheee!

Comments

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Crock pot cooking has to be easy - I do it. ;-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It's great! I'm so glad I bought that thing!

[msmichelle.livejournal.com]

What a delightful day!
I really like crockpot cooking too. On my next attempt at going back to work post baby, I plan to be more organized and crock-cooking is part of the plan.

I have a BBQ beef brisket recipe at home that I crokpot and it turns out pretty well. It uses salsa/brown sugar/worstershire, etc. I've only had to crack the cover open a bit to thicken the sauce a bit. The meat is always tender. If you'd like to see it, lemme know. (I have your mom's fondue recipe still saved for a rainy day--just been too lazy to go beyond swiss...plus, I'm not using wine in much these days....soon though!)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

The thing I like the most about crockpot cooking, I think, is the fact you can set it up in the morning. When you get home from a grumpymaking day, food is READY. That's definitely my style. This "come home after working for a long time and then COOK" idea will never ever fly with me.

The BBQ brisket recipe was great - my problem was I picked the only thing the store had with the word "brisket" stamped on it, and that turned out to be corned beef. OOPS. :-)

[airporter.livejournal.com]

Silly physical no foot stress exercise: imaginary inverted cycling.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Imaginary exercises are the best! ;-)

[airporter.livejournal.com]

Well, I think so anyway.

[ambar.livejournal.com]

Mmm, crockpot. Mmm, stew.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I made a goof though: the freezer is full! I better eat all the stew (or defrost something else and exchange it for the stew) pretty soon. :-O