Wednesday, January 17, 2018

This and That

Although he tried, HeWho just couldn't be sick enough. I did cater to him while he sneezed and coughed. I gently laid an afghan across his legs as he napped and brought healthy soups to soothe his throat. I dosed out medicines and brought them to him.

He tired after two days of such treatment and went back to his old routine of McDonalds in the morning and his appetite never failed. He longed for food that would scratch his throat, like French fries and pizzas. That was enough to convince me that he was never really sick with my ailment.

I ventured out to hit the clearance racks and stumbled upon the bargain of the century. Everyone knows how much I love a good bargain. Although my body type does not lend itself well to the pants labeled as leggings (I am fluffy), I still was not discouraged from checking out the clearance.

Leggings make great long-johns! Even those with Santa and the reindeer splattered all over them. Yes, I scored some for a mere 25 cents a pair! Yes, Santa grows quite fat and jolly as he spreads across my thighs and derriere. But they work great to insulate my body on these frigid days.

The instant pot (appliance, not medication) has been featuring in my daily life. I found a couple of ribeyes in my freezer. HeWho wanted "a good steak" when asked about his preference for supper. When I asked about grilling them he looked at me like I had lost my mind. Grilling is the preferred method, you know.

I mean, just because the temperature is in the negative, does this mean we sacrifice the flavor of an expensive cut of meat? I hit my Pinterest button and conducted a search.

Did you know that you can cook ribeyes in the instant pot? Unlike a regular crock pot, the instant pot has a saute function for browning. After this is done you add liquid and use the pressure function to finish the steak. I used beef broth, with a dash of red wine and added a couple cloves of garlic (good for healing colds).

It was good, although not nearly as tender as I thought it would be. I only ate about a quarter of mine, but HeWho polished his off (after telling me that it would have been better grilled). This left me in the kitchen cleaning up and wondering what to do with all that broth. Everyone knows that in addition to loving a bargain, I hate waste.

I poured the broth into the Chinese soup container and had just about a quart. I chopped up the remains of my steak and dumped that in. The next day I added a handful of barley and some fresh carrots, some chopped onion and ........ made the best soup I have had in a long time! Sometimes I amaze myself with my culinary talents.

Today is bone chilling cold again, although rumors of a thaw and some 50 degree weather for the weekend have me longing to go outside. I still have all the Christmas décor up outside. I will remove it this weekend. Just not worth being miserable and cold to get it all down right now.

I am not looking forward to the thaw, as this will reveal how many pipes have burst. HeWho will be busy capping them off and running back and forth to the hardware store. Even though I have advised him to always buy enough for three and keep it stocked. He tried that once and after fixing one pipe, he lost the other two and had to go buy more. I give up ....... 

5 comments:

Joanne Noragon said...

Our anticipated forty degrees will not be enough for moi.

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

Yeah we grill steak also the best way to cook it, men act sicker then they are and it is annoying, I often think if Tim was in as much pain as I am in each day he would be complaining a lot more then I do

Val said...

So this time, your instant pot led to soup! You're making good use of it. And at 25 cents, Hick himself would have bought those leggings, and would be wearing them around under his $1 Goodwill jeans.

Linda O'Connell said...

Those 25 cent leggings could become $2.50 shorts in summer to be sold in your store. Think of the profit. HeWho likes things that scratch his throat? My guy says his mom gave him burnt toast to scratch his sore throats. UGH! You have certainly been ambitious with cooking etc.

ellen abbott said...

three days of sleet and now today rain.