April 6, 2020 - I hope everyone is managing their quarantine. I know for those who like to be out and about this is a hard time. Please, please just stay home! I know it is tempting to do things that you have been wanting but just stay home. A trip to town to get things except for food and medicine should not be taken now. Staying home and isolating is the way to stop the spread of this nasty virus.
Many are cooking more than usual including myself. This made me realized I have gotten lazy in the cooking department. Hopefully, I will break this bad habit and get back to where I was 40 years ago. During that time, I was a busy mom with a husband and three children on a limited income. My husband Bruce worked at Shelbyville school and payday was monthly. I usually only brought groceries once every 2-3 weeks, so I had to do meal planning to make sure I had enough to feed that hungry bunch.
I am sharing some of my easy to fix meals. As you read this, you will see I don’t have a true recipe; it is 'guess-a-mation.' Amounts can vary to what you and your family like!
Grilled Seasonal Vegetables
1 yellow squash
1 zucchini
1 onion
1 bell pepper
1 carrot
Fresh mushrooms or jar of mushrooms
Slice vegetables thin. While slicing vegetable add about 1 Tablespoon of olive oil to a large skillet to get the skillet hot. Once the skillet is hot, add your cut up vegetables and let them brown some before turning. Add any seasoning you like (such as salt, pepper, garlic, steak seasoning, rosemary, thyme, paprika – whatever you like and/or have in your cabinet). Add a little more olive oil and about 2 teaspoons of butter and continue cooking until desired doneness; I like my vegetables to be a little firm.
This can be eaten with grilled chicken for your protein. Variations: you can also add a potato or sweet potato. Just make sure any veggies you add are sliced thin. If I add sweet potatoes, I put them in first in the hot skillet to let them brown some before adding remainder of my vegetables. Variations for meats: can also use ham, shrimp or smoked sausage.
BBQ Meatballs and Rice
I looked in the freeze and saw a package of frozen meatballs so that is what I am cooking for supper. I don’t have any spaghetti sauce to make spaghetti so I will make BBQ meatballs and rice.
Place 1 cup of BBQ sauce in saucepan and then add 1 cup of water, may need more water if you want mixture to be thinner. May also want to add some Worcestershire sauce to boost flavor or even a little mustard. Once this comes to a boil, add enough meatballs to sauce to feed your family. Cook until meatballs are done; serve over rice. A salad would go well with this meal.
Enjoy and I'll continue to post recipes to help anyone struggling with cooking the same old things during quarantine.
