I’m calling this #1 because I haven’t done this type of post in a while, I’ve forgotten when the last time was, so I can’t search for it! But yeah, recipe blogging can be a pain sometimes. Love to do it, but don’t have all the time to edit, use the plugin so the recipe displays “properly”, etc., etc. I figure this should work too. This was how we used to do it, before all the plugins came.

Went to Mass at 9. It was the first real cold day of the season, ugh, and we wore our coats, or at least my 91-year-old mom and I did. But off mine went as soon as we got to our pew, and my cardigan too before the First Reading. By the time we got out it was perfect fall weather. Not too hot, not too cold.

I had enough time to laze around a bit after Mass and say hi to my plants (hubby and I dug up the amaryllis and potted it up the night before the predicted freeze). Parsley! Cilantro! Lettuce! The kale and collard greens seem to be finally recovering from the bugs. I’ll try to plant more after we get back from vacay, and of course there’s the garlic that needs planting. Perhaps I’ll do that first week of Nov.

For lunch, I decided to put the rest of the uncooked salmon (which we ate Friday and Saturday, it was a big fillet, which I pan-fried and served with my cheater’s teriyaki-sesame sauce) into a soup.

I started out by sauteing onions and carrots, julienned ginger, and when those were fragrant and limp I added a whole can of coconut milk. Some fish sauce to taste. I should have added a jalapeno but I didn’t think of it till just now. While I put it on high to bring to a boil, I ran outside to grab some of the cilantro (first harvest of the season!). And while I was chopping the cilantro, I plopped the salmon pieces in (might have been a pound and a half, which I cut into 2 inch pieces) and took the heat down to a simmer. A few minutes, then I added the last of the spinach (from the big 1-pound box from Costco), and the cilantro, and some lime juice. Gave everything a stir and turned the heat off. It’s like tom kha gai.

I forgot. Before I started on the soup, I marinated some boneless skinless chicken breasts (which I pounded to an even 1/3-inch) in some Spanish olive oil, coarse sea salt, balsamic vinegar, and a bit of honey. Let it stand while I made the soup and preheated the grill/griddle, and then put the chicken on while I took the leftovers out of the fridge and heated them. Five minutes on each side, then let them rest while I called the fam.

Dessert was strawberries, which were frozen, and which I had taken out to defrost for my breakfast quinoa, then changed my mind last minute and didn’t eat it till lunch. Salt brings out the sweetness. And that red juice that pools at the bottom, glorious.

For dinner we had leftovers. But I did try this recipe from Thug Kitchen, which I will not share because it was not yummy. It’s a sauce made from steamed cauliflower, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, miso paste, and salt and pepper to taste. Somewhat similar to the sauce that I invented for our family’s mac and cheese (since most of us can’t have gluten or dairy), except I like my recipe better. I’d share it except it changes every time I make it. :/

Pasta was from Kaizen. Great concept, but none of us like the stuff. We’re eating it so it doesn’t go to waste.

And that’s it. I’ve got a roast in the oven that will cook overnight, so Nino can have it for his lunch box. Oh wait, and Yena and I made some lumpia in rice paper and cooked it in the air fryer (a freebie that the seminarian brought home). Yena says the rice paper is stale, but I didn’t notice it. It was okay. Would have been better with some shrimp in it, but hubby can’t have shrimp anyway.

Nighty-night!