The Lazy Cook

[cjsmith]

Last weekend I made several batches of different vegetable soups. (Those are convenient campus food, as I can bring them in a thermos without worrying about reheating.) I also made two and a half pounds of chicken breasts simmered in Italian-herbed tomato sauce. None of this took much effort at all.

I ♥ my crock pot.

And this weekend I walked out to my chest freezer and pulled out a week's worth of homemade food that is legal for my current diet. I don't have to go to the grocery store this week if I don't want to. I don't have to cook this week if I don't want to.

I ♥ my deep freezer.

(This is almost like being a normal person who can do things like eat out. Almost.)

Comments

[eveningscribe.livejournal.com]

*Is full on slow-cooked beef stew*

*Gives you the puppy eyes*

Please to be sharing vegetable soups slow-cooked recipes?? KthnxMWAH!

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

:D

I'm finally gonna ask.

[eveningscribe.livejournal.com]

Is that a giant pita bread on top of a bed or is the bed talking and midsentance??

Re: I'm finally gonna ask.

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

mattress pad, though i do enjoy the fact that it looks like the mattress is talking :)

Re: I'm finally gonna ask.

[eveningscribe.livejournal.com]

If your mattress could talk, what would it say?

Re: I'm finally gonna ask.

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

You should be more mattresslike. We live quiet retired lives in the swamp, where we are content to flollop and vollue and regard the wetness in a fairly floopy manner. Some of us are killed, but all of us are called Zem, so we never know which and globbering is thus kept to a minimum. (http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/3550/ad32.htm)

[layer.livejournal.com]

it is clearly time to take my crock pot out of hibernation. especially now that i'm eating meat again.

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

yay crockpots!!! tonight i cleared of some counterspace so i consider using my again w/o burning down the house.

i'm so glad you're at this happy place food-wise. it makes AALLLL the difference in the world, doesn't it?

Cream-of-Something Soup

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I have one true winner so far, and it's a cream-of soup. I'm typing from memory here, so I hope I don't goof anything too badly.

1.5 lb vegetable of your choice, washed and chopped up into chunks
About 1 large onion, chopped
6 Tbsp butter (I often omit this)
1 tsp curry powder
3 cups chicken broth (vegetable would also work)
A big handful of dried basil (fresh if you have it)
1 cup half and half
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Sweat the veggies, onion, and butter for an hour on HIGH. (I often skip this step entirely.)
2. Add everything up to the basil and cook for 6-8 hours on LOW.
3. Blend the resulting lumpy glop using a stick blender or multiple runs through a regular blender. (This recipe is MUCH easier with a stick blender.)
4. Add the half and half and heat it all up again, about 20-30 minutes.
5. Mess with the salt and pepper and enjoy.

So far I've done this with zucchini, asparagus, butternut squash, celery, and tomato (for tomato omit the broth). It freezes well. It keeps well in a thermos for four hours. It's even somewhat filling; there's a lot of fat in half and half.

Got any to share? I'll take anything I can get! :-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

MMMYES. Hey, you using the bread maker at all? Me, I'm still off breads of all kinds entirely, so this is not a hint for returning it -- I'm just hoping you're getting some use out of it.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It sure does. Well, it makes 80% of the difference in the world. Eating something someone ELSE cooks would 1) free up my schedule a bit, 2) give me a lot more flexibility (the ability to eat on campus!!), and 3) let me eat things that taste good. But still. It's way better than five months ago. Besides, this is verrrryyy good for the budget, and boy do I need to be doing things that are good for the budget.

[layer.livejournal.com]

i haven't yet because i went off bread the same time you did, but the good news is i'm allowed back on. i'm hoping to give it a whirl once the move is over. i have so much packing to do...

[lesliepear.livejournal.com]

How are things going with the feet? Any improvement? Any other benefits from the diet/medicine?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Nah, no improvement. There's some questionable hope about some injections I'm getting in the right foot - local anesthetic directly into the nerve, as a desensitization series - but the jury's still out on that.

I do think the diet is healthier for me than the average diet would be. (Too bad. It sure isn't convenient. :-) )