Meals

The pandemic changed a lot of things. One of the first was how I shopped for groceries and cooked meals. At the beginning, I agreed to make dinner and occasionally breakfast. Never lunch. That was also the agreement when husband retired. The schedule worked well for a while.

But the pandemic kept going and our schedule changed some. We stayed up a little later and got up a little later. Breakfast became closer to a brunch most days and dinner was when we were hungry, usually not later than 7:30 pm.

And the pandemic kept going. We ate when we were hungry, not breakfast, lunch or dinner. This week I've moved to meal 1 and meal 2. Meal 1 is now around noon and meal 2 is about 7.

Meal 1 on Saturday for me was a piece of the goat cheese tart with a poached egg on top. Highly recommend! Husband had tart before a photography job.

Meal 2 on Saturday was a deconstructed taco. I based it on this recipe, but did not make the shells, we used chips. I also added black beans and scallions to the meat mixture.

After the meat, it was create your own bowl. Cheese, tomato, green salsa, sour cream, red and green cabbage slaw, chips.

So good and we had leftovers. Since we've moved to meal 1 and meal 2, husband is a little more flexible with meal 1. He is not overly tied to traditional breakfast foods. Yay!

Sunday meal 1 was quesadillas with all the leftovers. Plus avocado for me. Flour tortillas with meat/bean/cheese filling. So very good!

Meal 2 Sunday pork piccata, noodles and broccoli. Easy and delicious. I used pork tenderloin pounded into medallions.

Monday was fun shopping day. I needed to go to Cake Art for cooking class supplies. I wanted to go early in case I needed to order anything missing. But I got everything, and more. We're making peppermint bark, krispy treats and strawberry fondue.

Home after shopping for meal 1. Husband did a tomato cream cheese bagel, I had a bagel and poached eggs. Time to relax. Made sure to soak some dried beans for dinner Monday.

Monday was a meatless meal. I soaked royal corona beans from Rancho Gordo Sunday overnight. Monday about 2, I started simmering them and let them simmer about 3 hours. I then used this recipe as a base. I did not use sausage but they were delicious. Garlic bread on the side.

Tuesday was a relaxing day for me. I went downstairs to read, nap, relax while husband did some cleaning.

Meal 2 was fish pie and was good. I used cod and pretty much followed the recipe, did not peel the potatoes. Next time I'll use more garlic and maybe some lemon zest in the sauce for a little more flavor. But still good!

Before and after and yes, it did bubble over so foil was a good choice.

Husband had a LOT of dishes to do. I used many pots and bowls.

Some days are messier than others.