A way to cook pasta in the summer

I know I've not been posting for a loooooong while but it's been a hectic time here. I've sold my home, moved and have been working to get my life on an even keel since the death of my husband almost a year ago.

Now that I've moved to a rental apartment with no air conditioning, I figured that I'd share my method for cooking pasta in the height of summer.

Basically, you start cooking your pasta the regular way as described on the side of the package, but here is the trick.... after about 2-5 minutes of bringing the water back to a boil, turn the water OFF and let the pasta sit just a little longer than it says in the directions or until you reach the doneness that you like. That's it, you then treat the pasta the way you'd usually do.

I like this method just for the reason that you don't have the stove element on longer than needed, thereby keeping your home cooler and you can save electricity or gas. (I know this because I've done this trick on both types of stoves)

It's also a great method for cooking pasta for summer salads as it takes a little less time for the pasta to cool in the fridge.

My Adventure with Smoothies

Late in my mom's illness, there came a time when she wasn't very hungry so I started making smoothies for her. At the time there wasn't as much information out there on making them so I was making them by-guess-and-by-golly.

Most of the recipes I found online at the time wanted you to use a juicer and mom didn't have one, all we had was a blender. The strangest recipe I read was for Carnation Instant Breakfast (strawberry) and beer (ew!). I was having to make do with what we had so most of the smoothies I was making had to use vanilla flavoured Ensure or the occasional Carnation Instant Breakfast as a base. This tended to make the smoothies too sweet for mom and she got bored with them. I was running out of ideas on what to put in them so they wouldn't be as sweet. Mind you, I had come up with a smoothie that mom did like that she claimed tasted like a creamsicle. The strange thing was that there was no orange in it! I had made it with mangos and vanilla Ensure but I was unable to reproduce it because I wasn't writing down what was in it.

I had remembered that one of mom's nurses had mentioned making what she called "steak shakes" by basically blending what was for dinner with broth but here it was again, mom's taste buds were off, and she didn't like the smell or taste of meat also she didn't want to eat "baby food". That made this idea a no go.

Nowadays, there are more options out there and I would be making smoothies differently. First off, I would not be stuck with having to use just Ensure or Instant Breakfast as a liquid base. I'd go and get some unflavoured protein powder, hemp hearts or chia seeds for the protein part of the smoothie (I was already adding yoghurt and silken tofu to them). I'd also be adding greens to the smoothie. Admittedly this would involve some extra prep (who wants celery strings in their drink?) but at least the smoothie wouldn't be too sweet. I'd also try freezing broth (like the mineral broth recipe) into ice cubes so that the smoothie could be more savory. (I have no idea how this would taste but I just might try it as an experiment on myself). 

Some of the other things I'd be doing differently is writing down what I was putting in the smoothies, freezing any leftover smoothies in freezer bags and labeling them as to what was in them. The reason for this is that I think that the smoothies would be easier to get out of the bags rather than from tupperware which was a problem I discovered for myself. Also with the bags being labeled you would know how to make it again if the concoction you come up with proves to be a favorite. 

This infographic is a good beginning on how to make smoothies. Have fun and experiment.

Enjoy!

From: simplysmoothierecipes.com

How I Used Pinterest as a Caregiver

Pinterest is one of those sites that I find to be addictive to me. I can spend hours and hours looking at the site and pinning and repinning stuff.  Pinterest is a free site to join and it is basically a place where you can put links to stuff that you're interested in instead of creating tonnes of bookmarks, printing out stuff or clipping out magazine articles. It's kind of like a electronic corkboard for your ideas. 

Picture: posterize/freedigitalphotos.net

There are pages/categories (boards) there for caregiving (for caregiving and other specific things you have to enter it into the search bar) women's fashion, food and drink, fitness, home decor, quotes and much much more. I've been keeping all of my pins on one board but you can set up different categories for whatever interests you  for example, "my style" or "dinner ideas" or however you want to title your boards. 

As a caregiver I was using (and still use) Pinterest to find slow cooker, snack and freezer recipes, fangirl stuff (I love Doctor Who!), inspirational quotes, organizational tips, homemade cleaning and beauty products and ideas on fashion as I couldn't get out to buy new clothes. I was doing this because I was running out of ideas on what to cook for my husband and I and I was also beginning to suffer from caregiver burnout (although I didn't know it).

I was getting so fatigued that I started on Pinterest by looking to make mealtimes easier for me. I liked the fact that in the food and drink category you can find foods that are vegetarian, gluten free, paleo diet, "skinny" foods, slow cooker recipes, snack ideas, freezer meals and more. I'm all for making my life easier, especially when I'm tired and don't want to think about cooking, which is why I like all the slow cooker recipes and  freezer meal ideas such as the recipe I tweaked for slow cooker "roast" chicken. In fact, I still look in this category for meal ideas when I have no idea what to eat.

I continued to browse and found ideas on how to organize the fridge so that my husband could easily find something to eat when I wasn't there or I was asleep. I also found ideas that helped me tidy and decorate so that the husband was comfortable and our home looked nice (well, most of the time). The Women's fashion category helped me figure out what I had in my closet and how to organize it so I could find nice outfits to wear. Looking at the quotes kept me inspired so I could keep on going.

All in all I've found Pinterest to be a great inspirational site and very useful but I must say very addictive to me.

How do you use Pinterest as a caregiver?

Mediterranean Diet Infographic

The Mediterranean Diet Meal Plan infographic

An Unusual Salad Recipe

This is a quick and easy salad that I created with stuff I had on hand. I was wanting to make a pear and blue cheese salad but didn't have all of the ingredients. I've made it for my mom and husband who don't like pears and they liked it (although it wouldn't be their first choice.) This is a good side salad with chicken or pork and is good for picnics and potlucks. 

I will let you know that all amounts are approximate as I usually eyeball and taste to get it right. 

Pear and Tomato Salad

1-2 Anjou or other firm pears (You can use Asian pears but not Bartlett's)
2-3 Tomatoes
1 Small Red Onion
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1/4 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) or other mild tasting vinegar such as rice vinegar
1-2 Cloves finely chopped garlic
1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano
Pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon ground Black Pepper 
1/4 Cup Crumbled Feta Cheese

In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix olive oil, ACV, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper to make a simple vinaigrette dressing. Let sit to allow flavours to develop.

Chop pears, onions and tomatoes into a rough dice and place into a bowl. The proportions of the onions, tomatoes and pears should be roughly equal but I usually use a little less pear because of the hubby.

Crumble feta and vinaigrette over top and mix gently. 

Serve chilled.

Options: Replace pear with watermelon. Can be garnished with walnuts for crunch.

Quick Tip

Courtesy of James Barker/freedigitalphotos.net

Buying frozen, fully-cooked, peeled shrimp may cost a little more, but they are quick and easy to use in salads and other recipes when you are just too tired to take the time to peel and cook them. Their only disadvantages are that they tend to be higher in salt, reheating them can make them tough and you can't marinate them for too long.

Proportions on My Plate

I just watched the documentary  "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" about this Australian gentleman named Joe Cross who decided to go on a 2 month juice fast. His goal was to get himself off his medications, particularly prednisone for chronic urticaria, and get himself healthier. 

What he was saying about his lifestyle choices kinda struck a note with me. Even though I'm an holistic practitioner, there are times when my diet is just awful - too many refined foods, meats and just plain junk (I do like my pizzas and take-out chinese food) . Even I tend to lean towards the typical western diet with its emphasis on meat and potatoes over veggies.

So today I've decided that the husband and I are going to be eating more of a Mediterranean/Vegetarian diet (even though he doesn't know it yet) with it's emphasis on fruits, veggies, legumes, lean proteins such as fish and nuts.(I can just hear the husband going "ugg, rabbit food").  Now I'm not going to be doing a juice fast (mostly because I don't have a juicer) but what the movie was saying about the proportions that the Western diet has in regards to a typical plate being 1/2 protein, 1/4 refined carbohydrate and 1/4 of over cooked vegetable just reminded me that this is what I've been doing for the last couple of months. 

One of the first steps I'm going to be doing is changing the proportions on my plate with 1/2 being raw or lightly cooked vegetables/fruit, 1/4 complex carbohydrate and 1/4 protein. This is going to be a fairly simple change and I'm hoping that it's going to help with my energy and skin problems. I also know that this is going to take longer than doing a juice fast but every little bit helps. Now I'm off to look through my cookbooks and get my shopping list together.

Quick Tip

Use a muffin tin or mini muffin tin to make meatloaf, quickbreads or even breakfast egg dishes. This makes them easy to transport for lunches or snacks and the smaller size makes it more likely that the person will eat everything. I did this for my mom while she was undergoing chemo with banana bread and she'd eat 3 mini muffins while she was there. My husband is more likely to eat 2 meatloaf muffins than to eat a slice and I like the fact I can dump them into a container and take them for lunch.