FUN Food Prep

I don't really like to cook.

I like to READ about cooking.

I like to WATCH videos about cooking.

I like to THINK about cooking.

But I don't actually like to cook.

It's the prep work.

I just don't have the attention span

necessary to do, say, cinnamon rolls.

I made them once.

They were fantastic.

Good thing,

cuz that memory has to last my family,

well, for eternity.

LOL

My rule of thumb is it has to go from

concept to table in 20 minutes

or its a non-starter for me.

That's why I love my air fryer 

and pressure cooker.

I can get it started and then walk away.

However,

I'm going out of town again this weekend.

And Rod really needs more in the fridge

than... nothing.

So...

This morning I decided to make some stuff.

I was watching a food blogger I like,

a young Mom of 4.

And she uses this nifty little gadget.

Looked like fun, it was on sale, and I had

a gift card for Bed Bath and Beyond,

so I picked it up.

And then it sat on my kitchen shelf for...

maybe a year. And a half.

Or six months.

Who remembers.

Anyhow, as I started chopping veggies this morning,

(I HATE chopping ANYTHING!)

My knife skills are laughable.

And standing in one spot on my tile floors

hurts my back after... one green pepper.

(ha! Not really, but it sounded good...)

I bought a new little rug to stand on.

Beau commandeered it.

Anytime I'm in the kitchen, he plops himself 

down right there on the little rug

"the Lady" obviously purchased for HIM.

Whatever.

I happened to glance over and see my gadget!

Eureka!

I didn't take any pictures "mid-chopping"

because frankly I was having too much fun.

You just lay your, whatever, I did tri colored peppers,

that little onion you see up there, and a bunch of celery.

Lay it on the metal grid, close the lid and

give it a good sharp WHACK with your palm.

VERY SATISFYING!

(And SUPER noisy! Beau actually moved 

to the living room!)

(I WIN!!)

That's three large colored peppers.

They were on sale at the organic market when

Kyle and I were there Wednesday.

He needed fancy soap.

I needed more Mrs. Meyers cleaner.

And I bought some lemon essential oil to put

in my magnesium gel. That stuff works like magic

on sore / stiff muscles (I'm working out again)

but smells like something DIED.

I'm going to see if I can at least get it to smell

like a LEMON died. 

Hahahahaha

(I think mine got old - I bought a new bottle

and it only faintly smells, I'm going to put

in some lemon and see if I can hide the smell.)

Anyhow.

The peppers were on sale and looked

so pretty! So I bought them.

And Kyle got himself a lemon basil plant,

and also a little mint plant.

They are in his bedroom for now,

making it smell AMAZING.

Back to the peppers.

Don't they look lovely?

And all uniformly chopped!

Cuz that's important.

Ha!

I made up a cream sauce - mayo,

apple cider vinegar, stevia sweetener, onion and garlic powders,

and a couple tsp of dried parsley.

Next came the celery and onions.

And then a box of Dreamfields elbow macaroni

that I cooked up while I was chopping.

Doesn't that look yummy?

I love this cold pasta salad, especially in the summer.

It's quick and easy and I try to make it

once a week, but chopping the veggies

puts me off so I don't always get it done.

But now, there's NO excuse!

I was having so much fun, I decided to chop up the rest

of the celery (using a smaller grid for tinier pieces)

and then figured why not, and did my apples

on that thing too! Made a big batch of

my other favorite. Trim Healthy Waldorf Salad. 

Green apple, celery, a tiny bit of walnuts

mixed into fat free cottage cheese.

Makes a big batch that I just keep in the fridge

for lunches or snacks.

It makes a cottage cheese tub full, plus

enough for one serving.

But I already had my breakfast cooking,

and since the apple is a carb and my breakfast

was a fat (farm fresh eggs, turkey bacon and okra

in the air fryer) the two don't go together,

so it's chilling in the fridge waiting to be eaten

as a snack in 3 hours.

Plus I have a nice little baggie started of stuff

to toss in my next pressure cooker batch of

beef bone broth.

(Or chicken, whichever bones I have first...)

Onion skin is FULL of flavor and vitamin C.

I wouldn't EAT it, but it does wonders for

broth / stock making.

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In other news.

Can you believe this was FIVE YEARS AGO?

That was such a fun time together!