Heather Solos's Blog, page 10

Baked Potatoes

Fellow blogger and brand new mom Julieann asked, “How do you make your baked potatoes?”

Yes, we are heading way back into the archives, blowing off the dust, and freshening up an old post. Baked potatoes are a favorite around Home-Ec 101. Why? Well, we’re heading back to the basics in the kitchen and baked potatoes are about as basic as you get. Yet, they still can make a great side or a standalone meal when you just don’t feel like putting in a lot of work.

First, turn your oven, or toaster oven if you’re only cooking one or two, on to 400℉.

Then give your potatoes a quick, thorough scrub in the sink.

Give them a good look over and use a paring knife to remove any small eyes or blemishes.

Place your potatoes on a baking sheet.

Give each potato a quick poke with a fork.

Then brush your potatoes with a thin layer of olive oil and then give them a good sprinkling of kosher salt. (The oil helps the salt stick to the potato. Science.)

Then into the oven, the potatoes go. Where they will bake at 400℉ for one hour.

Extremely large potatoes may take longer, small ones may be done more quickly, check by poking with a fork or squeezing. Please use a tea or dish towel if you have tender fingers.

That’s the easy part, right?

Now comes the difficult part choosing how to top your steaming hot potato. Above, we’ve got:

Your classic, sour cream and bacon, shredded cheese, sour cream, and green onions, continuing clockwise, we’ve got a chili cheese potato with sour cream and chives. Finally, one of my favorites is to steam broccoli and use a cheese sauce. It’s nice and easy and great for those nights when you’re trying to go meatless.

What cheese sauce you ask? Well, you can go with this basic cheese sauce, which is based on a quick roux, if you are working alone. OR if you have “helpers” let me introduce you to my latest secret weapon. I currently have a very picky pre-schooler who only wants to subsist on Kraft mac and always “WANTS TO HELP” and sometimes I just cannot. Give this stuff a try: Hoosier Hill’s Big Daddy Mac Mix. Hand the kid 1/3 cup of the mix + 1/3 cup of milk in a jar with a TIGHT lid and let them shake the heck out of it while you melt 4 TBSP of butter. Pro-Tip go ahead and write that ratio down, the writing on the jar is not made for human eyes: 1/3 cup mix, 1/3 cup milk, and 4TBSP butter.

Our British friends, I’m told love baked beans on their potatoes, but maybe someone is pulling my leg.

Whatever you choose, take a butter knife and slit the potato lengthwise nearly to the bottom, but not quite. You want the skin on the bottom to keep any runny toppings from escaping. Then squeeze each end toward the center to force the slit you just created to open. Fill your potato with the toppings of your choice, admire your handiwork, and dig in.

Menu Monday 2022 Week 6

*Warning, incoming novel*

We have been on the struggle bus and related to that, so was this website. There was a significant technical issue that I had to sort out and I didn’t have the capacity to deal with it alone. Thank goodness for good friends and good help. I want to thank Michael and David; as of last weekend, we’re no longer crashing anytime anyone uses the search or when I log in to try to post something.

To understand what was going on, in general, you need a little bit of backstory. In the early fall, when we had COVID, three of us lost our sense of taste and smell. While it came back completely for my son, it only mostly came back for my daughter and me.

We’ve been dealing with what’s called parosmia, or distorted smell, for months, and it is obnoxious. For a few months, I would randomly smell urine. With two dogs, a two-year-old and a three-year-old in the house, do you know how fun that game was?

Zero fun. No stars, do not recommend.

Red wine? It tasted as though I had just brushed my teeth. How rude.

Ginger? Roadkill on a hot day.

Oh, and pre-COVID, when I went into a Thai restaurant, I would usually have to argue that yes, I really did mean Thai hot. Now? A Wendy’s spicy chicken sandwich makes my eyes water, so it’s a medium at the very most.

All of that is to say, my love of cooking died. I can’t trust my palate, my appetite isn’t good, and one of my biggest joys has been taken from me. I’m pretty sure this is temporary as most of the worst stuff has abated; ginger tastes like ginger again, and red wine is ok, but my favorites aren’t really my favorites anymore, and I haven’t found new favorites.

Cooking was always my most significant contribution to our large household, outside of work, of course. With eight people, that is A LOT of planning and thinking about food, not even counting the cooking itself. And every day, all of this was just subtly reminding me that food was no longer a source of joy. (This wasn’t something I knew consciously, it was just slowly dragging me down.)

About three weeks ago, I was trying to figure out ways to want to eat even without being hungry—It’s hard to have energy if you aren’t eating much. While researching, I learned that there is a thing called habituation. It’s this concept that while preparing food, you imagine food repeatedly. When this happens, it’s no longer new and exciting and therefore less rewarding when you sit down to eat. If you have ever noticed that food made by someone else seems to taste better, this is why. Pile on depression and an appetite suppressing migraine medication, and who would want to eat?

For years, we have said that we’re a team, so now we are working together to get through this. Everyone is now regularly pitching in with dinner planning and prep, depending on their schedules, except the preschoolers, of course. When a person is in charge of a meal, they are in charge of the meal. They have to remember to pull the meat to thaw in time, to put the items on the whiteboard for the grocery list, etc.

The difference in mental load after two weeks is mind-boggling. Ray and I are doing projects around the house that we’ve been procrastinating on for months. I’m eating nearly a healthy amount. (Babysteps)

I share all this as a reminder that we’re all doing our best, and our best looks different at different times. For the past few months, our best has looked like the bare minimum, but everyone was fed, had clean clothes, made it to school, work, and doctors appointments, but that was it. Because that’s what we could manage. Now, as a family, we’re getting it together and are capable of a lot more, including some fun things.

So here is week three of our collaborative family menu plan. If you would like a free printable to help you plan your menu and shopping list, here you go. If you need help with learning how to menu plan, we’ve got a series on that.

Monday – Ray Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, broccoliTuesday – leftoversWednesday – me Dilled salmon,creamed spinach, couscous (I’m skipping the cranberry, might be adding cucumber, we’ll see)Thursday – Ellie Biscuits and sausage gravy, fruitFriday – Ray + Heather Burrito bowlsSaturday – Luke French Toast, fruitSunday – Aidan smoked wings, baked potatoes, salad (The link is for the rub recipe, we may document the smoking process this weekend, time and energy will tell)

I hope you have an excellent week. Onward.

The Great Dish Assignment and Do you Know Where People Will Sit?

Heather says:

I hope you had a great weekend. 

First things first, if you are serving turkey, your turkey needs to be thawing now. 

When you wake up on Thursday morning, check your turkey before unwrapping it to ensure it has fully thawed if it hasn’t, use the tips in this post on what to do if your turkey is still frozen.

The holiday craziness kicks off in two weeks, and one day, how is your planning coming along?

So far in our Countdown to Turkey Day we have:
Decided when and whereCleared the dining room table. Is it still clear? Do you have extensions you’ll need? If not clear and searchCreated our Menu Plan and shopping listBegun working on getting the house company ready by paying attention to daily / weekly choresStarted making sure the house if company ready, if anyone is coming. (Have you double checked with anyone you’ve invited).

With your expected headcount in mind, take a look around and decide if you’re going to need more chairs and place settings. If you plan on renting these items, start calling today. If you’re borrowing from friends or family, now would be an excellent time to confirm your plan.

Today, depending on how your house and kitchen are organized may be simple or a pretty exploratory dive into your storage.

Grab your Thanksgiving menu plan and, at the very least, your mental inventory of serving-ware. If you have moved, held a yard sale, or gone on a donating / purging binge, I recommend that you lay eyes on each piece you plan to use.

Next to each menu item, assign a serving dish AND the appropriate serving utensil.

Do not forget your cranberry sauce, gravy, butter, and if you put out crudites or antipasti before the meal, don’t forget those items need a dish, too.

If you find yourself short on serving-ware—get some now.

Click this picture for more information!

If you have lots of storage in your home, check out your local thrift stores for cookware; you still have a little bit of time to find a bargain. If storage is at a premium, go ahead and use disposable/ recyclable roasting pans. Just be careful with this option if you are sitting at a table and passing dishes rather than serving from a buffet. You don’t want Grandma to end up with a lap full of cornbread dressing.

Got it? One dish for each item + one serving utensil. Never assume you have these items.

While you’re thinking about it, do you have enough storage containers for the leftovers?

See, we’re getting there with this year’s Thanksgiving preparation. You’ve got this.

How are your plans coming along?

Send your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

Countdown to Turkey Day Plan the Menu – For Real Now

Let’s make sure everyone is on the same page. We’ve found the dining room table and figured out who is coming. (and you did ask them to come, right?), we have made a soft menu plan. Also, if you’re anything like me, you may need to put away all the stuff that has already found its way back to that recently cleared table. While you’re at it, you may want to plan to spend a few extra minutes on the guest bathroom this Thursday—one week out. A good cleaning now will prevent panic on the 25th.

Check your toilet paper stash while you are at it

Ok, today we’re doing another pen and paper exercise.  Try to contain your excitement.

It’s time to start figuring out the final Thanksgiving menu.

Real quick, I want to apologize if you received last week’s email, clicked through and got an error. This site is having issues. It’s getting a bit up there, in website years 14.5 and I need to do some serious technical work but it needs to wait until after next week. Hopefully, some duct tape will hold her together until then.

Do you have your Thanksgiving Menu Printable? Grab it and get your guest list because to plan your menu thoroughly, you need to know how many people are dining and have a rough idea of their usual appetite. The list below accounts for “average people,” whoever they are.

If you are serving teenagers or other relatives you already know have healthy appetites increase the estimates as needed.

(You know who you are. Quit acting innocent. I’m on team Indulge. We’re all friends here.)

Additionally, I increase the dessert estimate just because it’s a holiday, for Pete’s sake. These estimates work best for a formal Thanksgiving meal where everyone sits down, and eventually, people get tired of passing items.

If you’re serving your Thanksgiving dinner buffet style, definitely increase the gravy. I don’t know what it is about a buffet that makes people go nuts on the gravy, but that’s life—plan for it.

So get your soft menu, find the recipes that go with the menu and figure out if you’re going to need to double or triple any recipes for the Thanksgiving dinner you’re hosting.

Once you have that, it’s time to put together your shopping list.

I use a Google Spreadsheet to create my shopping list. The top row or header cells each get a recipe. Below the recipe title, I include the URL to find it again later if I lose it. Underneath that? I list the ingredients. ALL of the ingredients, and yes, that includes the spices.

I then scroll partway down the page and begin making sections of the grocery store: Produce, Canned Goods, Spices, etc. Starting with the first recipe, I start placing items on the shopping list by the grocery store section.

Do this carefully, and you can consolidate items, salt – one canister had better be enough, but butter? Are you sure if you’ve used butter in 6 recipes that one pound is enough? Be sure to keep an eye on that and do things like butter 1lb x 2, apples x 6 etc.

Once you have your grocery list, you can then shop your pantry, and this is VERY important, slap labels on the things that no one is allowed to eat before next Thursday.

When I was doing this week’s grocery order, I took some time to check for what some people may be looking for. Walmart has almost no StoveTop Stuffing or pre-made bread cubes etc., to make your stuffing or dressing. Do not panic. It’s pretty simple to make your own. This recipe for apple, sage and cranberry dressing is easily adaptable. You can leave out any one of the ingredients you don’t like and still end up with a nice dressing/stuffing. You can make the stale bread/toasted bread very easily. Just buy the cheapest white and wheat bread you can find. If you live in a dry area, leave it out, loosely covered, where no animals can get to it overnight. If you live in a humid place, you can lightly toast it in the oven the night before and place it in a sealed container.

It’s easy and won’t take long.

Serving estimates for holiday meals:
Whole turkey* – 1lb turkey for each guest up to a 14lb bird. Anything larger, estimate 3/4lb per person. (The skeleton of the turkey weighs less proportionally in large birds).Bone-in turkey breast – 2/3 lb per personBoneless turkey breast – 1/2 lb per personDressing aka Stuffing aka Filling – 3/4 cup per guest, unless you serve the andouille sausage and shrimp cornbread dressing which is particularly awesome. Then go for 1 cup, same goes for the apple, cranberry, sage dressing.Gravy – 1/3 cup per person go 2/3rds cup per for buffet styleMashed potatoes – 1lb of potatoes for every 2 guests if you are serving two kinds (roasted and mashed) estimate 1lb for every 3 – 4 guestsCranberry relish / sauce – 1lb of berries for every 5 people who actually like cranberry sauce.Vegetables, including sweet potatoes and roasted potatoes – 1/2 cup per person of each type, unless you’re making the brussels sprouts with bacon recipe, go ahead and call that a cup, too. Last year, people were getting a bit testy about there not being enough. Of brussels sprouts? YES, Brussels Sprouts of awesome and win.Rolls – 2 per guest minimumRice – 1/2 cup per person -happy Michael?Risotto – 1/2 cup per personMacaroni and Cheese – 1/2 cup per personDessert – 1 – 2 servings per guest

Some of the very dedicated choose to serve both turkey and ham. In that case, estimate one pound of ham for every four or five people and 3/4 lb of turkey.

*If you love leftovers, as I do, increase your turkey estimate by 50%.

Tell me, Home Eccers, what’s going on your Thanksgiving dinner menu?

The Pandemic Countdown to Turkey Day: The Soft Menu Plan-Redux

Last year I did not think I would simply be revising this post for the Countdown to Turkey Day, but here we are. Just like last year, things are not what they were and not everything is going to be smooth sailing for everyone.

Personally, we’re ok. It will be a smaller dinner here, my older kids will be at their dad’s. It’ll be fine, they’ll tear up the leftovers when they get back.

I will be sticking to my usual menu:

smoked turkeycornbread dressing with andouille sausagetraditional dressingmashed potatoes with gravycollard greenscranberriespecan pie

Like last year we’ll take a quick peek back at the way we were and chuckle at how young and naive we were back then. Oh, what sweet summer, children we were. So young, so carefree, and full of hope, and in my case, so few children—there were three and my stepdaughter back then. Oh, and I had just started working for FeedBlitz. Can you believe you’ve been putting up with me for eight nine years, Phil?

It still amuses me, a full year later how different things are. I was in Walmart yesterday—Don’t judge, are you buying for eight?—and there’s no hurricane on the way, but judging by the shelves you wouldn’t know it.

Don’t wait until the last minute to try to get that can of pumpkin. Do not underestimate people’s drive to recreate Grandma’s pumpkin pie. I don’t expect the stores to be bare, but I do know that numbers are climbing and disruptions are happening.

Oh, and if you want chocolate graham crackers for a pie crust, forget about it. I’ve looked. It’s not happening. Well, it’s not happening unless you want to sell an organ or something.

This year, I’m not going to suggest trying to come up with the perfect, traditional Thanksgiving menu. I want you to think about how you will make this Thanksgiving a special day in its own way. If trying to make a turkey with all the trimmings will feel like too much work or if it will make you too sad, don’t do it. Traditions will still be there when we are ready for them.

Here is the link to the Thanksgiving menu planner. I hope you find it useful to plan your Thanksgiving dinner. 2021

Onward!

The Pandemic Countdown to Turkey Day: The Soft Menu Plan

Last year I did not think I would simply be revising this post for the Countdown to Turkey Day, but here we are. Just like last year, things are not what they were and not everything is going to be smooth sailing for everyone.

Personally, we’re ok. It will be a smaller dinner here, my older kids will be at their dad’s. It’ll be fine, they’ll tear up the leftovers when they get back. It’ll be a little quieter than normal and that’s alright. It has been a very busy fall and we could certainly use some downtime.

I will be sticking to my usual menu:

smoked turkeycornbread dressing with andouille sausagedressing with sage and apple (you can omit the apple if you prefer not to have a mix of savory and sweet)sweet potatoesmashed potatoes and gravy (that is a recipe for beef gravy, the technique is the same for turkey, you just swap out the drippings/stock)collard greenspecan pieand maybe peanut butter pie

. This is the menu planner we’ve been using since 2012; maybe you’ll still find it useful to sketch out an idea of what you wish you could have for Thanksgiving, what’s practical, and the compromise.

Onward!

Thanksgiving, Let’s Get Ready

Today starts Countdown to Turkey Day 2021. Did you know that we’re counting down to our 14th Turkey Day together?

A lot of things have changed. There are different faces around the table, some are new and some are no longer with us. Also, most of us did not expect to be spending a second Thanksgiving taking COVID into consideration, but here we are and we will make the best of it.

Today’s jobs? Well, you have three, since we’re doing a condensed version. Decide when and where Thanksgiving Dinner will happen. (If you’re hosting it at someone else’s place you may want to should check with them first. Most of the tasks that fall on the hosting side of Thanksgiving will inevitably assume that you are doing so in your own home, or a place you feel comfortable enough to clean. There’s only so much I can one-size-fits-all.)

About that guest list.

Who do you want to invite?

Who do you have to invite?

Under normal circumstances, I would also ask you to consider who in your circle of acquaintances that may not have close friends or family in the area and extend an invitation to your home. Unfortunately, like last year, we have to take into consideration vulnerability, vaccination status etc before extending invitations. IF it is possible and safe, an invitation may mean more than you will ever know.

I also know that *I* have not been on the ball and that there is not a lot of time to plan—about two and a half weeks—so if you want to extend that invitation, now is the time.

Please remember that if you have to attend a family Thanksgiving, there’s nothing stopping you from hosting a Friendsgiving on another day. I know the calendar says Thanksgiving is on Thursday the 25th, but really, what is stopping you from having a day on Saturday or Sunday? Budget? Have everyone bring their leftovers. As much as I love the food. It’s not the food that makes the memories. (Unless we’re talking about the cornbread dressing, but I digreg.)

While you’re thinking about who may be coming, try to remember if there are any dietary restrictions you’ll need to accommodate. We’ll need that for tomorrow’s assignment.

Things to remember for Thanksgiving 2021:
It’s not going to be perfect, but perfection isn’t the point.This year when planning, have a back up plan for any “specialty” or hard to find item. Give yourself and others more grace.
Here are your assignments:
Figure out what time and where Thanksgiving Dinner will be served.Figure out your tentative guest list and any allergies they may have.Find your dining room table. It’s been a long year. Has it become the catch all for everything? (There’s no judgment. Mine currently has a couple of Halloween costumes, a step-stool, and a potty seat —new, in the box, thank you very much, it’s going to the sitter’s tomorrow morning, I’m actually editing this ahead of time for once)

Are you hosting Thanksgiving this year? Is it your first?

What are you excited to try, what makes you nervous?

Do you wish I’d stop asking questions?

Me, too.

Let’s do this.

Together.

Saturday Sit Down, Go Ahead, Grab a Cup of Coffee

Hey,

This update is going to wander a little bit, it covers a bit of ground, so if it’s anywhere near as cold and dreary as it is here this morning, grab yourself a warm beverage and settle in.

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve last written. I’d say a lot has happened. and that would be semi-accurate. A second round of COVID went through our household, catching those of us who did not get it in that first round, including myself.

My breakthrough case was relatively mild, but I’m still dealing with a few aggravating effects. I lost my sense of smell and taste and while most of that has returned a few things have come back, miswired and I’m quite unhappy as they are (were? ) some of my favorite things. I have no appetite which means getting my energy back is uphill work.

Throw in six kids, getting one ready to go to college next year and this Fall is one hell of a challenge.

I have so many ideas for things I want to do here, but I swear life is just humbling.

Me: Gets all prepped to begin shooting video content for this site. Starts practice recordings…

Life: Heeeere’s Delta. (sub-text no energy, no motivation, no anything for the next couple months)

Me: great. (This was at the end of September)

Monday I will start updating the Countdown to Turkey Day posts so those will be going out. Thanksgiving will be happening. What that will look like for your family, I don’t know.

I do know that If you want a 12 – 14 lb turkey, keep an eye out and buy it as soon as possible. I have read that those may not be easy to find this year.

What I am trying to do is give myself some grace. (How is that actually going, Heather? Don’t ask). What it LOOKS like is going to therapy and reading a lot about neurodivergence and thinking. Thinking about ways to make my life easier and ways to make life easier for those who ask Home-Ec101 for help.

In addition to reading, I’m watching quite a bit of TikTok. That may sound funny to some of you, but I have teenagers and I started to monitor them, as a parent should. The algorithm there is an interesting thing and naturally ended up seeing the part of TikTok known as CleanTok and while some of those videos are soothing in the hypnotic way they go from messy to clean, some of them can be shaming in the way they address things. I don’t care for that. I like the generally supportive ADHD/ASD community that admits they struggle with self-care (cleaning your home and daily maintenance tasks fall under self-care). This community also offers ways they cope with that. This I appreciate

Life is hard enough, I don’t want anyone who comes here to feel judged. If I have ever made any of you feel judged in the past, I’m sorry, it was never my intent.

You may see me start to use words that might be a little unfamiliar like “doom piles” (that’s the pile of clutter that you just can’t face, even if you have the rest of an area clean). That’s just me using the words that people looking for the help and community they need are already using. The help has been here for years:

Feeling Desperate

Dear Home-Ec, I’m Overwhelmed

My Daughter is Feeling Desperate and I Need Help

It just might not have been in a way that could be easily found.

Anyhow, that’s where we’ve been. Buried in getting better, a little at a time. Hoping that I have enough energy and maybe even some appetite to feel like cooking once again. Hoping that ginger and red wine taste good again. Please, please, please.

Onward and upward, we’ve all got this. Please do what you can to all of us help each other climb out of this mess.

Can I Use Automatic Dishwashing Detergent Powder in My Clothes Washer?

Hello,

I have searched online on whether you can use automatic dishwashing machine detergent in a laundry/clothes washer, and the results are all over the place. When I say automatic dishwashing machine detergent, I mean the powder sort and the generic store brand, not the pods, gel or whatever other types are out there.

I know you can use hand dishwashing soap in your laundry/clothes washer with no problem, but I can’t find whether or not it’s safe to use automatic dishwashing powder in my clothes washer.

I would guess, if you did use the automatic dishwashing machine detergent for a laundry/clothes washer, you would use a somewhat limited amount–but I am not even sure about this. Some brands of automatic dishwashing machine detergents have bleach in them. I expect you would not add automatic dishwashing machine detergent to your clothes washer until the water level is full to avoid this bleach negatively affecting clothes colors.

Thank you.

Perplexed in Pinopolis

Dear Perplexed,

You have a great question, and I understand why it is so difficult to “do a quick Google search” for the answer. People use the term dishwasher detergent to mean both the liquid soap you use for handwashing dishes and the much more powerfully caustic powders, gels, and pods used for automatic dishwashers.

We will head back to introductory chemistry class for the answer, and keeping things super simple, I’m going to stick to two main factors for my answer. I also know that you specifically mentioned generic dishwashing powders. I am using name brands in my examples as the data is much easier for me to find, and the generic versions will be very similar as they are often made by the same companies, with perhaps more filler.

First up is pH. Water is generally pretty neutral and around 7 or maybe slightly acidic. The higher the number, the more basic or caustic a chemical is. The soap that you use to clean your hands is around 8.

I looked up Cascade because it’s a widely recognized dishwashing detergent brand and one I regularly use. The pH, according to the material safety and data sheet (MSDS), is 11.0. Now compare that to Tide’s of 8.1 – 8.5 when it’s diluted to 10% solution. Tide is much closer to the pH of what you use to wash your hands. (If you are curious, a material safety and data sheet tells you how to handle and store chemicals safely.)

Not too long ago, I made a very silly mistake. Our teenagers are not the best at remembering to scrape their plates thoroughly, and sometimes the float that allows the dishwasher to drain gets food particles stuck. I’ve learned the trick to dislodging those particles and resetting the dishwasher. (This was after a $150 repair bill where he was in and out of our home in less than five minutes.) I was in a hurry and didn’t think to put gloves on. My hand was in that water for less than a minute, and I had the beginning of a chemical burn. So learn from Heather, and don’t be dumb. Use gloves if you have to stick your hand in your dishwasher’s wash water. That detergent isn’t playing around.

What else has a pH of 11?

Hmm, oh, that would be our good friend sodium hypochlorite or… chlorine bleach. What happens if you soak your clothing in a strong bleach solution? It either wears out very, very quickly or gets holes. (Depending on how thick the material was to start with).

And I just touched on my second reason to not use powdered dishwashing detergent in your clothes washer. Most, if not all, contain sodium hypochlorite. The problem with this isn’t that it has bleach, but that you don’t know the proportions, so it is all guesswork.

I suppose, in an emergency, if you had no laundry detergent available. And if you did not care if your clothing bleached. And if you were very prudent with the amount of detergent you used. And if you dissolved the detergent before adding it to the wash water. You might be able to get your clothing clean. However, this is a whole lost of and ifs. Unless you have stumbled onto a lifetime supply of automatic dishwashing detergent and somehow lack access to laundry detergent, in general, let us just go ahead and file it under “B” for bad idea.

Send your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com

Menu Monday the COVID reset

It has been a long month in our home. Well, it’s been a long eighteen months for everyone, but this month has been especially difficult in our household. Somehow (well, it’s not that big of a mystery if you look at the news) COVID got into our home.

My husband showed symptoms first and he was quickly isolated. I slept on the floor of the little girls room. We delivered supplies and meals to Ray and ensured there was no contact. We were diligent. Masked, scrubbed, disinfected, washed…

Unfortunately, it was too late. When it was time for the six of us in the house to get tested after his positive test, there were three positives and two included our youngest girls. We held on to the hope that the high fevers they had a couple weeks before were COVID and the test had just caught the tail end of the infection.

We were not that lucky. Our teenager had nary a sniffle or even a scratchy throat. The two year old had mild fevers and was just a general joy to be around. (Yes, there was some sarcasm). After a few days, the three year old, started to droop, began getting quite sick and we ended up at the ER twice with her. She’s well on the mend now and should, thankfully have no lasting effects. The COVID infection seemed to set her up for bacterial infections and she’s not as perky as before, but she will get there.

My PCR test came back negative but I had fevers and a terrible headache before the girls got sick.

Who know what that was about.

Our friends and family kept offering, what can we do? I don’t know. I was too overwhelmed to know what to ask for.

Before I felt unwell, I smoked a turkey and made a big batch of turkey soup. I was scared both Ray and I would get sick at the same time and the teens would be in charge of the littles and it would devolve into Lord of the Flies. (My teens are responsible, I just wouldn’t be me without a little over-dramatizing).

Long story short, the mother of my daughter’s best friend messaged me and said, what kind of soup do you want. THAT was a question I could answer. She brought over a batch of chili. We were all on the mend by then, but I was so exhausted that choosing a meal was not even on my radar. Her taking the overwhelming choice of “How can I help?” and breaking it down into a much smaller decision, “What soup would you like?” broke the paralysis.

So there’s a little lesson in there somewhere. Instead of asking what can you do to help. Ask a specific question, it’s much easier on the recipient. I know people want to help and I was trying to do what my therapist says I should and LET people help, I just froze like a deer in headlights every time someone asked. (And that is NO ONE’s fault, don’t you dare take it personally, friends who are reading this).

That chili was a Godsend. I’m tired, just to my bones tired. The leftovers are being eaten right now and I’m planning this week’s menu.

I am grateful that the school district has chosen to go virtual. The numbers here aren’t great and I don’t want anyone in the ER with their family members in pain.

To make this week easier and to preserve MY sanity, it’s Menu Monday Recovery Style.

This means it’s going to look a lot more like a Week one of my Meal planning primer than usual and I don’t care.

Monday (leftovers)Tueday – Turkey pot pie – I saved one of the breasts from the turkey I smoked for this. Caesar salad Also, I’m cheating and using store bought crust.Wednesday – Grilled cheese and tomato Soup. The kids will get normal grilled cheese. I’ve started making mine a little bit fancy. There’s this shredded cheese I’ve been buying in the Hispanic section of the grocery store (I’ll look at the package more closely next time I buy it) It’s a pretty neutral cheese. I use one piece of bacon, and a couple sun dried tomatoes and that shredded cheese on the inside of the sandwich. On the outside, I use the thinnest spread of butter and then some jarred pesto. The soup is more of a maybe if I feel like it. We might just have chips. Thursday – Meatball subs – I made meatballs a month ago and put them in the freezer. I’ll heat them up in the oven. Put them in some marinara. Toast the rolls under the broiler and top them with provoloneFriday – We’re ordering pizza. There’s no football game, due to the school shutdown.Saturday – Smoked Pork Shoulder probably over salad or nachos. Nothing complicated, but I’m not thinking that far ahead right now.Sunday – Smoked Macaroni and Cheese – I got the recipe off of TikTok, I’m excited to try it and I’m going to try to at least get a short video… nothing super professional. We’ll use the rest of the pork with it on sandwiches and probably some green beans

What are you having on your menu this week?

Do you need a printable to help you plan and make your grocery list?

So hopefully, this is the beginning of us getting back into our routines. I’ve needed that for a long, long time. I’ve missed y’all.