She Thoght It Was Meat!

Success! Mom thought the stroganoff was beef! She had no idea--she called to thank me and tell me how absolutely delicious the stroganoff was--in fact, it was the first of the three choices she picked last night to eat. She was flabbergasted when I told her. It was the best stroganoff I've ever made if I do say so.

This time I used seitan in addition to the TVP as the protein base. I chopped it up in bite size pieces about the same size as beef tips. The seitan is amazingly similar to beef in consistency, dense and chewy. Once the consistency is there, the key is in the flavoring.

So, the food drop off was a success and mom has about 14 to 16 main meals. Here is the final meal list:

Pot roast with gravy, carrots and onions, and mashed potatoes
Stroganoff with brown rice and steamed green beans
Roasted chicken, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts with raisins and pecans
Chicken/vegetable soup
Two cheese spinach frittata
Tuna salad

I didn't have time to make the parslyed parsnips or the tillapia. I'll start with those two next time.

No Time

Time is now the biggest issue. I do not have normal or consistent hours on my job, and often, I don't know even 24 hours in advance when I'm going to have to work. So for this week, as of yesterday, I did not know I would be working a 12-hour day today! I'm revamping my plans even as I work.

As a result, I will be modifying my menu. One idea I had was to make vegetarian stroganoff instead of beef--I don't have time to go to the grocery store today. They are nearly identical in flavor and my version is much healthier to eat. It's a no-brainer. :)

I made tuna salad for mom as I made it for myself at lunch today.

Recipe
Simple Tuna Salad
1 can tuna in water
White balsamic vinegar
Mayo
chopped onion
chopped hard boiled egg, 2 per can of tuna
S&P to taste

Mom doesn't like pepper so I hold the pepper for her. Sometimes, I also splash a little fresh lemon or lime at the end of mixing to taste. It's a delicious extra layer of flavor!

Hard boiled eggs tip from Martha:
If you are chopping hard boiled eggs for a recipe, instead of peeling them (which is sometimes impossible!), cool them and CUT THEM IN HALF WITH A KNIFE! Then you can scoop out the egg and chop it up.

No more worries about difficult to peel eggs! Magic!

Gearing Up

Looks like Thursday is the target delivery day. Theoretically, that gives me one more day of prep, but realistically, I have a full work schedule, so it's going to be a sprint to the finish, I can just smell it.

I'm thinking I will do batches this time. The pot roast is finished—I'm told by my lucky taster it's fantastic. :)

I'm thinking I will do the chicken soup and the chicken dinner today. I'm thinking I will package things as I finish instead of doing all the packaging at once—that is quite a task all by itself.

I used a different method of cooking my halibut last night: I actually cooked it in the garlic lemon marinade—it was incredible. I might use this technique on the chicken for mom today.

Stay tuned.

Back to the Kitchen

It's time to cook for mom again! She's had a series of guests the past several weeks and hasn't needed new meals. But now she's cleaned out the fridge and is ready for a new batch of delicious food.

The first entre I have decided upon is pot roast. I'm using Tyler Florence's recipe with a few changes of my own. I'm going to use some red wine and vegetable stock instead of water and the fresh herbs I have on hand in my garden right now: thyme, oregano, and marjoram. This meal will also include the carrots, celery, onion, and mushrooms that are cooked with the roast.

In addition, this week I will be making:
Parsleyed parsnips, sauteed and steamed (new technique!)
Roasted sweet potatoes
Frittata, probably spinach
Beef stronganoff
Chicken/vegetable soup
Lemon garlic chicken breasts
Tillapia (if there's time)

I'm targeting Wednesday or Thursday as food drop-off day downtown, depending on my work schedule.

Mission Accomplished

Delivery complete. Mission Accomplished.

Mom lives about 70 miles from me. In good traffic, it takes about 90 minutes to drive there. I got home from delivering at 11 last night. Whew! It was such a good feeling.

Mom is thrilled to have a whole new batch of food. And I got to see the look on her face as I revealed each dish. Priceless. :)

Here is the actual menu:

Sweet and sour cabbage soup

*Meatloaf w/carmelized onion marmalade/mashed potatoes/roasted acorn squash
*Asian grilled shrimp/brown rice pilaf/grilled asparagus
*Roasted pork chops with spiced apples/roasted parsnips, carrots, and potato medley
*Grilled lemon garlic chicken/sliced sweet potatoes/steamed green beans with crispy garlic slices and pine nuts

egg salad

I didn't have time to make a frittata this week. As it was, the entire cooking process took eight hours. The trip took four hours (one hour to visit with mom). I'm trying to pay attention to time so that I can become more efficient.

My goal is to produce the most exciting food for mom in the most time economical way. I don't want to sacrifice the wow! factor for mom to take less time. The wow! factor makes it fun for me too.

For me, this is an expression of love, shared with my mom. It is also an act of creativity that allows me the freedom to spontaneously create something out of nothing. I LOVE this! it's the light in my life, the best day in my week. I'm aware every time I cook for mom that I'm lucky to have this time; it's a luxury.