Food Thoughts

 Notice that this is not food for thought but thoughts about food. 

This afternoon Winona IT, who Grace Village has used for a few years now, brought a little freezer of Igloo ice cream as a free treat for the Grace Village residents and staff. They did this last year as well.

They had about a dozen flavors. Usually, I would go with chocolate, but the name of this ice cream intrigued me: This Just Got Serious.

It was good, but the chocolate flavor was not very strong. Since we have a hot spell right now with temps in the 80s, the ice cream was a welcome snack.

After going to the bank, I stopped at Martin's to pick up a few things. I used to buy a slice of strawberry pie this time of year from Richard's restaurant, but they closed down a few years ago. I saw in their ad that Martin's had strawberry pie. Pretty pricey, but it will just be a one-time splurge to enjoy strawberry pie again.

I placed a Home Chef order which arrived today. I plan to eat the salmon tonight, the stuffed meatloaf tomorrow. I do not always see things on the weekly menu that interest me, but these two did.

This week has been super busy. Once the choir concert is over on the 20th, things will slow down a bit. I am looking forward to a less-busy schedule.

Home Chef Once Again

 Though I don't order meals from Home Chef regularly because of the cost (the heavy shipping charge really boosts the bill), in the past few months it was the meal choices that didn't interest me. Finally, this past Thursday a box arrived with ingredients for two meals and a lunch that could be microwaved in 3 minutes.

I didn't take photos of the food. The lunch was a bit weird. It was an Oriental chicken dish of chicken thigh, sweet potato noodles, edamame, and the label said roasted vegetables. When I looked at the ingredients list, I saw red pepper but the container also had purple stuff that I did not see listed. Maybe some kind of cabbage? It made many of the other ingredients purple. I have never eaten purple chicken before.

 I wanted to see if one container would be enough for 2 people for a light lunch. I had ordered two containers; but we could have easily shared. To order the lunches, you have to reach the required minimum dollar amount Home Chef has established to place an order. Mostly, that means adding lunch to dinner choices. We may add lunch to our dinner orders in the future, but probably not the Oriental chicken. 

A Creole spice packet was included with the trout to sprinkle on before cooking in a frying pan. It was a tasty addition. My shallot sauce only vaguely looked like the picture. It was more a tan color than white. It was also greasy. The instructions said to let it cool and add a teaspoon of cold water to reduce the greasiness. Didn't really work.

 The meal was flavorful as the mashed potatoes had mayonnaise and cheese added. Since trout is not readily available in my grocery stores, I would probably order this again. It did not come with any vegetable so I cooked some carrots. 

The pork chops were good but nothing special. My husband said the sauce reminded him of stroganoff. Probably would look for something else to order. 

I get tired of meal planning sometimes. At least with Home Chef there are many options, except I am picky.

My amaryllis had 4 blooms on the first stem. About the time the first bloom was shriveling up a bit, the second stem tried to open. It was crowded next to the already-blooming stem. I cut off the drying bloom, and now there is room for the next stem's blooms. I check the progress each day with joyful anticipation. A nice touch to a new year. 

Margaret

 I haven't posted for a while because I haven't had much to share. I have done so much reading and playing games on my Galaxy tablet the past few weeks, I decided last night to do something different: color an autumn picture.

 I will have some nerve root block injections this Thursday (the 29th) at L5, a level lower than the last injections. Though I had less leg pain, the back and buttocks pain did not get better with the L4 injections. We will see what L5 tells us. The lessening of pain in my thighs is starting to disappear. Now the left leg again has a stabbing pain at times. It has been a little over a month since the L4 injections.

When my husband and I took over the supervision of the Grace Village library in February 2012, Margaret was already working there. I went to her funeral today. She was 101 when she died. I had not kept in contact with her for several years, especially when she moved to healthcare and the pandemic shut out visitors. I think I sent her one card, but I didn't try calling as she could not hear well enough on the phone. She had a wonderful smile and laugh; several people mentioned that about her today. I wish I had made more efforts to send her cards and notes so she could have had more smiles.

People shared memories. One woman had been a child living next-door to Margaret and her husband and eventually 4 boys. Her missionary parents in Argentina shared a building that had been divided into two apartments. Margaret became "Aunt Margaret" in her eyes.

Margaret was 90 years old when I met her, heading for her 91st birthday in about 3 months. She was an avid reader and sharp as a tack. I observed some aspects of her personality that were not shared today.

 She was spunky. While most of the retirement residents would not use the library stepstool, Margaret shelved books on the top shelves regularly. I watched closely the first time I saw her doing that. She carefully placed each foot firmly on the stool and just as carefully placed them on the floor when she was done. I had no qualms about her activity. When she reached age 95 or 96, I suggested she leave the high shelving to me. She also did not have the strength at that time to shove books around on the shelves to make more room. I am trying to remember when the two of us had a chat and decided she no longer had the stamina for that kind of work. She was 96 I think.

 She had been typing the book spine labels; unfortunately, the typewriter part that allowed one to roll the sheet of labels into the platen broke off. Grace Village could find no replacement part to fix the typewriter nor repair service for such an old machine; we were forced to generate labels using the computer. Margaret was pretty sure she didn't want to use the computer. I think she was almost 97 when she "retired".

She sat next to me in the alto section of the choir. Our director did not have a strong voice; many singers could not hear her announcement by title of moving on to a different piece. I knew that was a problem for Margaret. I would pull out the piece and show her. She sang on-key most of the time though her hearing gradually got worse; finally, she recognized that she could no longer participate in vocal and chime choir because of her profound hearing loss. It was a sad day.

She was not shy about sharing her opinion on any suggested changes to the library. I forget what my husband suggested, but she dug in her heels and said no. Of course, unless the changes directly affected her, she knew she had to accept them. She was not in charge.

 She chided me once for weeding out some old book-of-the-month-club books. I had placed the withdrawn books on the give-and-take table. She had taken them to reread. These were mostly published in the 1940's and 1950's, and I doubt most people were familiar with the authors (I wasn't). But she considered them treasures. We had to make more shelf space, and these seemed good candidates, not only because they were old (but not classics), but the print was very small. I was surprised she could read such fine print. Her hearing might not be good, but her eyes still worked great.

One time when I mentioned to her that I was taking a book over to Assisted Living for Kathryn (the fellow missionary she knew in Argentina), she confided to me that she and her husband tried to avoid eating at Kathryn's place while missionaries because Kathryn wasn't a very good cook. Today several people mentioned how Margaret was excellent at feeding crowds of people tasty food. Probably Kathryn's cooking was passable but not up to the standards of Margaret at least not in Margaret's opinion.

Speaking of cooking, my husband at my request helped me with the preparation of the two Home Chef meals we received Thursday. They were considered "oven-ready" but did require washing produce, adding seasonings and making sauces. He did a good job. I haven't been ordering many because of the expense, but I kept my membership because if I have surgery these might be do-able for him. 

Home Chef Round 2

 

I did my second Home Chef order this week. It arrived on Thursday early in the morning. You have to order at least 2 dishes. I would be more favorably inclined to using the service if you could order only one meal at a time.

 

 My choices were Mushroom Smothered Tri-Tip Beef, a Fast and Fresh item, and Teriyaki Salmon with Mushroom Fried Rice, a 15-Minute Meal Kit. I changed my preferences so I would see recipes with less work. 

Again all of the packaging was not eco-friendly. Many of the containers could be opened easily but they should tell you to have scissors on hand. That was the only way to open the meat packages.

I did appreciate that the salmon and the beef were not only in their own plastic pouches but were packed separately from the other ingredients which came in a large plastic pouch each.

I made the tri-tip beef first. It could be cooked in the oven or in the microwave. I chose microwave. It had its own cooking "pan" that was divided into two compartments.

The mushrooms came sliced this time. It was mostly taking things from the packaging in the order specified. 

The instruction cards always start out telling the cook to rinse any fresh produce. This time it also said to pat dry the spinach.

I put the potatoes in one half of the pan, the mushrooms in the other.

Then I covered the potatoes with the spinach that I had rinsed and patted dry. 

One ingredient they tell you to have on hand is olive oil; I needed to add that to the mushrooms. Covered the pan with a moist paper towel and nuked.

While that cooked, I unwrapped the pre-cooked beef and drained though there was hardly any liquid to drain.

Finally I added the meat to the mushrooms and topped with cornstarch (in packet), demi-glace (in a packet), and two tablespoons of water. Stirred it all up. Added the garlic herb butter (in its own little packet) to the top of the spinach. Nuked again and then thoroughly stirred the spinach into the potatoes. It took about 10 minutes from start to plating.

It cost $9.99 per serving, a bit more than average because of the beef. Tasty and easy though I found myself reaching for my water glass often; a lot of sodium in the ingredients.

The next night I cooked the teriyaki salmon (15 minute meal kit).

This time I had to slice the mushrooms. The card said cremini but these were definitely baby bellas (it even said it on the package).

The other thing I found different from the ingredient list was there were two packets of the umami seasoning (1 gram each). However when I measured the seasoning with a teaspoon it needed both packets to equal that. 

I washed and sliced the mushrooms.

Cooked the salmon pieces flesh-side down in a non-stick pan in olive oil as instructed.

When I tried to turn the salmon over, I used tongs which is what was pictured though not stated in the photo. One of the slabs stuck and broke apart.

While the salmon cooked, I microwaved the rice in its pouch. Then in a large non-stick skillet I placed the mushrooms in olive oil and browned. Lastly, I added the nuked rice to the skillet along with red pepper flakes (in a packet), the umami seasoning (in two packets), and the peas. After cooking for a few minutes, half of the teriyaki glaze (in a bottle) was stirred in. 

Once plated, the rest of the teriyaki glaze was drizzled over the salmon. 

I should have dispersed the pepper flakes better; I had a few spicy bites when eating the rice. I also found myself thirsty even though I did not add the pinch of salt to the mushrooms nor the salmon. 

$8.99 per serving plus $13.99 shipping (for both meals together). 

I will probably unsubscribe from the service in a few months. I used up my credits from the gift card. These faster easier meals were more to my liking, but too salty and too expensive for my budget. 

Home Chef

 

The calendar still says spring, but we had some snow overnight and around 9 a.m. this morning. Enough that I had to brush the back window of my car after physical therapy.

One of my husband's friends received from his two daughters a gift of Home Chef meals. Since he isn't paying for them, price isn't a consideration. He and his wife really like the meals. As part of Home Chef's promos they allow the member to give away a $35 gift card. (They also receive a $35 credit on their account if someone uses the card to sign up.)

After looking over the Home Chef web site I wasn't sure I really wanted to use the card. I had to set up an account with a credit card to even select the meals. The requirements are at least two meals per order. The shipping charge is $13.99 added to the order. That right there makes the whole program less desirable. The default is weekly delivery. However, you can skip weeks. I am going to try one order a month for a few months.

We received our first order Wednesday.

We were gone when it was delivered. My husband brought it inside when he got home before me. There is some foam insulation and 2-3 cold packs. My husband took the items inside the box and put them in the refrigerator so I did not see how they were packed inside the box. When I got home I removed the potatoes; when I looked over the recipe/menu card I saw that it said to keep the potatoes at room temp once they arrive. It also says to prepare within 5 days for the two meals I ordered.

My first impression is that this product is not eco-friendly. They say that you can thaw the cold packs and pour out the stuff inside so you can recycle the plastic. We have a recycle center across town, but nothing as part of our trash pickup. The foam is marked that it was made from recycled water bottles; however, I know our recycle center does not accept foam.

For the most part any seasonings, sauces, liquids, etc. are wrapped in portioned out amounts in individual containers. Even the white wine was in a plastic pouch.

This makes it easy for cooking, but again lots of "wrapping" to discard. 

The recipe cards are very detailed. They give the grams of fat, sodium, etc. They mention anything that might be a dietary problem such as milk, gluten, nuts. You can see those details before ordering.

 They automatically select two dishes for you, but you can edit and change to other choices. Scrolling down week by week it appears there is quite a bit of variety. They tell you to have salt, pepper, cooking spray, baking pan, skillet and olive oil on hand.

The first meal I prepared was the white wine chicken scallopini. There was quite a bit of chopping. The chicken had to be pounded really thin. This meal was graded as intermediate hardness. There wasn't anything difficult for me, but it did take effort and time. It was quite tasty but we felt kind of salty. 

The glazed meatloaf was graded easy. I had to slice the potatoes and green onions; mix the ingredients for the meatloaves; mix up the glaze mixture. All of the amounts are pre-measured. The beef had garlic salt, some of the onions, panko, and ricotta cheese added to it. They suggested adding more salt and some pepper. After our experience with the first meal, I did not add any more salt. I see on the ingredients details they list the amount of sodium for each serving as over 1500 grams.

I would make the meatloaf again using my own products. It was moist and delicious.

They provide you a notebook to store the recipe "cards". One problem in re-creating the meatloaves would be that the amounts are listed as grams not tablespoons/teaspoons.

The base cost per serving is $6.99 to over $14.00. You can change the protein so if you choose steak for example the serving will cost more. Add to that the delivery charge of $13.99 and it adds up. It is not like going to a restaurant because besides doing the cooking, you have to wash the utensils and pans and mixing bowls, etc.

I have changed our preference setting to Fast and Easy for the next order. I am ordering for April 28th. When the meals are shipped you get an email telling you that it will be delivered by the end of the day. I was counting on this for dinner but did have something else if it had arrived late evening. It came a little after 1 p.m. according to the tracker. 

I might try this once a month for a few months. My husband's friend got his credit for referring. His situation is different since he isn't paying the costs and his wife is having some cognitive difficulties so having a step-by-step meal prep that he can help her with solves some difficulties for them. You do have to be proactive and look over the choices they make for you by Friday mid-day; also request to skip a week or it will automatically come and your credit card will be charged. 

I have seen Home Chef kits at Kroger; that might be a more thrifty way since there is no delivery charge. However, the choices are quite limited at my Kroger store.

The meatloaf meal was for a family of 4 so we have half to warm up and eat tomorrow night. We'll see how well the left-overs keep quality.