WIAW 189 – Sunlight and Flowers
Well, I told you last week it was warm…
Aren’t they beautiful? Those are not florist flowers – my sister in law picked them from her own yard and came by with them. I understand this is early even by North Carolina standards, and of course, in New York I would be lucky to see full blown daffodils like that at the end of March!
I’m starting to establish a rhythm for our days, here, around what the parents already did. Which days what happens, when we shop, when we visit with family… and when I write posts and work on recipes! (Because that timing had to change… ) A rhythm for each day, as well. I get up and fix everyone’s breakfast, and go on from there…
I finally found corn meal that doesn’t say “May contain wheat” so I made corn muffin mix, and can make my muffins. I’ll probably eat muffins less often than I did, but they’re a nice change. And the protein shake just works, here… It’s fast, it’s easy (and I don’t have to explain why I don’t think one egg is enough for my breakfast.) And of course I had my coffee.
Days tend to be either warm and rainy, or cool and sunny, but I did get one lunch outside! That still feels such a treat. I used to housesit for friends, and I always loved to be able to take a meal out and sit on a deck or porch. I really look forward to doing that in the spring and fall – maybe even breakfast in summer, though we’ll see!
We typically eat a different lunch than the parents do – but one they enjoy is cheese and bread with fruit, which I also like. I didn’t want to eat up all their cheese, so I also had some peanut butter, and of course I ate my rice cakes instead of the bread. (Bit more PB next time, I think…) As usual, I drank water with it.
Well, that was a migraine day. I have fewer, which is good, but they still happen. And even without migraines, there are days when boneless chicken thighs cooked in a can of Rotel are what you need. (I was familiar with Rotel – canned tomatoes with chilies, for those who are not – in New York, but few stores carried it, so I rarely used it.) The parents liked it – Don made a point of telling me how good it was! – so that’s an emergency meal I have up my sleeve… That, cooked brown rice, and steamed broccoli and cauliflower, and we had dinner.
And I finally took a picture of our salad! They really pretty much like the same salad every day – a couple of kinds of lettuce with arugula, carrots, celery, tomatoes, green pepper… I’m varying the add-ins a little – I think some variety is good. No one else likes salad dressing, but I do. Right now I’m just using bottled dressing, but I’ll start making my own eventually.
Pop over and keep Laura and friends company at Jenn’s WIAW party!
those are pretty flowers and i like the cat on the mug hehe. what do you do to make chicken with rotel tomatoes? sounds like a low key recipe!
Thank you! My mom gave me that mug when I had a black cat – both gone many years now, so I cherish the memory! So – chicken in Rotel is indeed about as low key as you get. I had boneless thighs, so I cut them in bite sized pieces (which sometimes works better in our family anyway) and that took the most work. Then I just sauteed the chicken briefly to brown it a touch (and you could even skip that) then added a can of Rotel, and simmered about 10 minutes until the chicken was done. (My father in law really liked it – I am not telling him how easy it was! LOL) I’ve done the same with jarred sauces and such – pasta sauce, an Indian simmer sauce, anything with the seasoning already in it. We all need a few meals that can be thrown together with little thought or effort.