Sunday, October 4, 2020

A lovely Sunday

 The weather has dropped to 80, the air quality is 50 (healthy-ish, for those of you who don't regularly follow), which means we can be outside safely again. Woohoo! It's a beautiful day & I'm sitting outside, enjoying the cooler temperatures.

I got up this morning & met a friend for a socially distanced (with masks) 7 mile hike. It was great to catch up, and we got our hike in before the weather got too warm. I also did a 5k (virtual) race for work yesterday, and put up a reasonable time, given the heat, smoke & the foolishly hilly route I chose. 

I forgot to customize my produce box a week back, so really need to make it a priority to use up the ingredients I ended up with. So far, I've used 1 1/2 onions, a package of mushrooms, a bunch of carrots, and the remainder in the celery to form the base of a red sauce with meat. I also found a 1/2 full can of tomato paste & a pizza marinara side dipping sauce that went in, so I'm feeling good about "using things up".

I still have:

  • Beets
  • Whole carrots
  • Asparagus
  • Parsley
  • Brussel sprouts
I think I'll roast the carrots & beets. I'll pan saute the brussel sprouts tonight with dinner, and steam the asparagus tomorrow. That just leaves the dreaded parsley. Particularly ironic, since we have a plant (the seeds we bought were marked as "cilantro", so we have a huge parsley bush in the yard anyway. I'll give that one some thought. 

For the menu this week, it's looking like:

  • Friday - Nick made butter chicken with couscous & parmesan zucchini coins
  • Saturday - I used an Uber Eats $20 promo to get the boys a pizza, while M & I did a date night
  • Sunday - Nick is making chicken shwarma bowls. Depending on how those turn out, we may also have the spaghetti sauce of pasta. (I've learned to always have a backup plan, when a 13 year old is doing the cooking.)
  • Monday - roasted veggies, asparagus & kebabs (freezer)
  • Tuesday - pasta & meat sauce
  • Wednesday - finish off the roasted veggies, asparagus & kebabs
  • Thursday - chicken arugula salad
  • Friday - TBD
What else is on my to do list for the day? I'm going to be hard pressed to move out of my chair by the pool, but I do need to get a few things done:
  • Calendar review for the week ahead
  • Set workout schedule for the week, based on meetings
  • Roast veggies
  • Figure out how to use parsley
  • Package up & freeze the pumpkin muffins I made this morning. I tried this recipe & it was fantastic. Highly recommend
  • Laundry
  • Dishes
  • Vacuum
  • Clean kitchen
  • Clean bathrooms (the boys help, but supervision/quality checks are needed)
  • Call my parents
That's what's happening in our world. Hope you are all having a lovely day. 

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for the reminder, I've been wanting to make pumpkin muffins to use up my one can of pumpkin I picked up ages ago. I need to poke around for a keto version so I can use almond flour for it.

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  2. Parsley (and cilantro) can be frozen to be used at a later stage. Just crush the parsley in a blender. Then place small amounts in an ice cube tray. Cover with water and freeze. I normally remove cubes from tray and place in a ziploc bag to freeze again. It's nice to just pull an ice cube when I make stews or soups.

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  3. I am not a huge fan of pumpkin but these were a game changer for me. Plus they are tasty enough that everyone else can/will enjoy them too! https://gimmedelicious.com/keto-pumpkin-cream-cheese-muffins/

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  4. Sorry the first post was supposed to be replying to Revanche.
    I keep hoping the fires will be contained and the air quality will improve quickly. I take parsley, wash and dry it the put it in a class container and snip it with kitchen shears until it is finely chopped. It goes into a freezer bag until I am ready to use it and it pretty much just flakes off into whatever I am cooking. I keep the same bag in the freezer all the time because I always have leftover parsley so it is a figurative revolving door of freeze, use. add more, freeze ,use.

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  5. I have frozen parsley also with great results. I do what Ms. Goose does.

    Your menu this week has me salivating. I am going to try the butter chicken this week. YUM!

    The pumpkin muffins look scrumptious. I am wondering if I could sub almond flour for the regular flour. I may try it.
    Thanks for the recipe.

    ReplyDelete