Tag: family cooking

Wee Christmas

Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment

We had a wee Christmas. There were just three of us and we spent it together in the kitchen making our Christmas meal. It was fantastic.

I made up a menu a few days before, but we deviated from it a bit. We skipped the creamed spinach crostini, and subbed in homemade butter tarts for dessert.

My hubby got the stove end of the kitchen. He made the mushrooms for the turkey wellington, the stuffing and the potatoes.

My son and I got the prep end of the kitchen. We made the pastry, butter tarts, and the ravioli.

Our blended household has a few duplicated gadgets as a result of the family merger. A pasta maker is one of those items. Mine was languishing unused because I thought I had lost the crank, so we pulled my hubby’s unused one out of the box it had not yet left. As soon as my son saw it he declared that he had my pasta machine crank in a box in his closet, he just hadn’t know what it was. I don’t know which we ended up using. One of the boys will get one when they move out; most likely my son since he loves pasta and shows an interest in cooking.

The ravioli were based on a ravioli Jamie Oliver made in one of his Christmas specials. I made the filling the days before. It consisted of roasted squash and ricotta. [Recipe here]

I was sure we had puff pastry in the freezer but we didn’t and nobody wants to run out for last minute food items on Christmas so we used pie pastry. I had to make it for the butter tarts anyway. It worked OK.

The final meal was really tasty. But the true Christmas win was the great time we had spending hours in the kitchen together.

 

 

 

 

Diet check

Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment

I got a lecture from my doctor a few weeks ago because my vitamin B12 levels have fallen precariously in the past year. I am fairly certain part of that fall has been a recent tendency to neglect my own diet in favour of the family meal.

This is my personal struggle in cooking for my blended family.

I am not, have never been, and am not likely to become a lover of meat. My mother tells me I started rejecting meat around 12 years old. My adult cooking style is meat light (preferably chicken), and egg and dairy full. I love my grains and I love my vegetables, and red meat makes me gag. This is the diet my son has grown up with and prefers.

My husband and step sons are the opposite. They love meat, and would be naturally inclined to skip the veggies. One boy won’t eat eggs at all so I can only have an egg based meal when he’s not home for dinner.

For the past several months, particularly over our very warm summer, I have cooked for the boys and forgotten to compensate for myself. This happened for for numerous reasons – visiting family, vegan dinner guests, and the fact that I find cooking my meat and meat substitutes easier with winter meals.

Vitamin B12 can only be found in animal products. So I need to get back in the habit of preparing something for myself when the boys get their pork or beef.

Below is a meal plan for a week that I think will get me back on track.

Monday:

  • Meatballs, green salad, mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables (carrots, parsnips and beets).
  • Add a poached egg for me.

 

Tuesday:

  • Roasted parsnip soup.
  • Grilled chicken sandwiches on flatbread.

 

Wednesday:

  • Sundried tomato, chicken and green bean linguine.
  • Roasted grape and mixed greens salad.
  • Cheese toast.

 

Thursday:

  • Red beans and rice with chorizo, and a green salad.
  • Poached egg on top for me.

 

Friday:

  • Stir fried chicken and vegetables (onion, pepper, celery, carrot, broccoli, pea pods).
  • Served on fried rice.

 

Saturday:

  • Chicken pot pie (whatever veggies are in the fridge – onion, peas, broccoli, carrot, celery…)
  • Green salad.

Sunday:

  • French omelette.
  • Fried potatoes.
  • Grated carrot salad with honey lemon dressing.
  • Grain toast.

 

Hopefully this gets me back on track.