I enjoy cooking. But have not been in the kitchen as much as I have the past eight months, never in my life have I. My eating has always been a mix of eating out and cooking at a minimum. These days I have embraced my inner kitchen goddess and have learned and implemented a few things to my routine. Hope these may be helpful to you too:
Caramelizing Onions
I usually have an onion or a few on hand but cutting and cooking them got to be a real chore everyday. So now I slice up a few and leave them in the pan with some olive oil for about 20-30 minutes. They can be any kind of onion out there - red, white or yellow. Flip them around and once they’re soft I know they’re right where I want them. If I’m cooking a dish at the moment, I put some aside for eating and the rest go in a ziplock baggie or reusable container and into the freezer. This I do once a week.
Spa Water
One thing I’ve been missing the most is my visits to the spa. Luxuriating in the steam mist and pampering myself with a massage. Then to quench my thirst, reach for a cool glass of water flavored with anything from mint, cucumbers, lemon, strawberries or oranges. Although I’m super tempted to get a massage, since the word is my massage spot is open, I’m holding out for a while.
In the meantime, I’ve decided to fill a pitcher of water everyday with spa water. My favorite combination has been mint, cucumber and lemon. But if I just have two of these ingredients I’m happy. It’s been a small treat that has kept my spirits up.
Vegetable Broth
I heard a radio interview with an author and I wish I could remember her name or the name of the book, it was maybe a year ago I heard it. But she talked about using vegetable scraps and how nutritious skins and roots and the parts we’re accustomed to throwing away were (If I find this information or if anyone knows of this author/book, please let me know and I will update it here.) One part that I did take from this interview was the ability to create broth from the skins, roots and leftovers that usually get composted or thrown out. So I decided to save all the leftover vegetable skins and various parts that are usually thrown away and put them in a large ziplock bag or container which is then kept in the the freezer. Once the bag or container has a good about, I would say about 4-5 cups worth, it’s time to put them in my instapot. It was the first time I ever used my instapot after owning it for maybe eight months or so.
I put about 9 cups of water, some salt, pepper, whole cloves of garlic, cut up a whole onion and dropped in the bagged up leftovers. I placed the instapot on high for about 3-4 hours. When it’s done, I filter out all the old veggies, which go to compost and then pour the clear brown broth into plastic containers, which then all go into the freezer.
At this time, I’ve made about four batches of vegetable broth and I’ve been very pleased. I’ve played around with different ingredients, cinnamon stick once - which gave a very pleasing broth that comforted me. It reminded me of pho broth, which I do love. On occasion I’ve thrown in extra potatoes, dried red pepper, brown sugar or lemon juice. I always look forward to the new creation I get from my vegetable broth.
Then what you do with the broth is entirely up to you. I’ve made soups with bean sprouts, mushrooms and rice. Or I’ve made it a base to a sauce to mix with noodles. Or I’ve cooked a bunch of beans and had a bean and rice soup. Whatever is palatable I’m sure will work.
Hope you’ve enjoyed this, happy cooking.
Cooking is my best hobby