Meals

I'm at work and taking a little break to eat my lunch, so I thought I'd take the time to post what's been on my mind to write for weeks. I've been asked several times to provide recommendations or suggestions for meals. I figure this will be an ongoing and sizeable project, but a great place to start is just to share what we're eating now. Then over time I can just add to the list and add recipes and such, and we'll see what it turns into.

My lunch today is probably similar to what many Americans are eating today -- a turkey sandwich (Thanksgiving leftovers!) . I have a turkey sandwich dressed with homemade cranberry sauce on homemade wheat bread. It is very good. And it was a fast meal -- the turkey and cranberry sauce were already made (and neither of those were difficult; the turkey was just roasted in the oven -- and turned out really good -- and the cranberry sauce was very easy to make, too. I actually ended up making two batches this Thanksgiving, which was my first time ever). I make bread on a regular basis, too, but it's also easy, since the bread machine does all the work. I paired my sandwich with some celery sticks and fresh fruit, and it makes a great lunch!

Today is my long day at school, so I've also brought supper, which is leftovers from Sunday lunch. I made a type of white chili/turkey soup. It's good -- not "incredible!" but good -- and definitely a "do over." I soaked a package of navy beans over night Saturday night. Then Sunday morning I drained and rinsed the beans and put them in the crockpot, adding a chopped onion, a can of green chilis, a bay leaf and some chili powder and red pepper, and turkey broth with turkey bits (from boiling the leftover turkey carcass from Thanksgiving). I might try great northern beans next time rather than navy beans, and I might also add some green bell pepper if I have it; I didn't have any yesterday. I also thought about adding some barley. I let it cook while we were at church; when we got home, I added salt (I've read to add your salt at the end rather than while cooking your beans, because it keeps them from getting soft), and we paired it with some cornbread (already made from the weekend) and had a good lunch, with seconds and leftovers.

Yesterday afternoon I made some "orange juice pancakes" (I use orange juice in the recipe rather than water, and add spices like nutmeg and cinnamon and cloves, mmm!) which made a nice snack and had plenty leftover to enjoy this week. I had one with my breakfast this morning -- which also included a big bowl of banana oatmeal. We eat oatmeal almost every morning for breakfast, and really enjoy it. Buy the old-fashioned, natural oats. Put them on to soak the night before, or even longer is better (when I'm doing really well, I put the next day's oatmeal on to soak when we finish breakfast -- but this hasn't happened lately. I've only managed to get them ready before going to bed). Just like with your beans, soaking makes your grains easier to digest and better for you. All seeds -- beans, grains, etc. benefit from soaking before we eat them. But that's a different subject for another post, another day. I add a little bit of whey from my yogurt (the runny stuff that separates from the solid yogurt) to my soaking water when I have it; when I don't have yogurt, I use a little bit of apple cider vinegar (1 tsp or so) -- this helps the soaking process. Then the next morning, turn on the heat, I usually add some honey and some salt (maybe 1 Tbsp honey and 1/2-1 tsp salt) and let the oats cook for a few minutes, then add some fruit (today, a banana, sliced -- some days apples w/ cinnamon, or peaches, or blueberries -- or some days just plain) and I usually add a little bit of fresh goat's milk (when I have it available) at this step, too. Let it cook another minute or two, and then enjoy! We eat it almost every day and still love it. I think it will be a while before we're tired of oatmeal. Oatmeal is very good for you, too. Some days we'll also have boiled or scrambled eggs with our oatmeal -- sometimes we'll add salsa or sauteed bell peppers and onions to our scrambled eggs, which we enjoy. Some days we'll have some extra fruit or a slice of bread with jam or honey, and sometimes pancakes.

In the summer, we ate a lot of salads and fresh fruits and vegetables; I really didn't do a lot of cooking other than making my bread. This winter I am cooking more, but doing a lot of soups (with cornbread, most of the time), and beans and rice, and steamed vegetables, and baked sweet potatoes. I cooked and froze several pumpkins that I've made some dishes with (I talked about that in an earlier post, I think). The other day I made a Harvest Beef Stew that turned out really good. I'll make it again someday. We try to eat greens (turnip, mustard, or collard) a few times each week; we get two meals out of each bunch. So one meal we enjoy and have eaten often is a baked sweet potato with greens and cornbread. Mmm, good Southern cooking!

Alright, I've written long enough and need to get back to work. I have many things to get done over the next few days! I'll write again when I can.