Ladies of a Certain Age ~ for those invisible powerful, dynamic, vital women

“I never know what to cook.  I eat out all the time.  I know I don’t eat stuff that is good for me.  I’m afraid I am going to be like my mother and just eat a bowl of cereal for dinner. It’s so hard to cook in the summer when it is hot, so I just snack,” recently stated some of my friends, ladies-of-a-certain-age.

Cooking for you or for you and a spouse or someone else is not fun for many ladies-of-a-certain age.  It’s easy to skip meals or fill up on convenient junk food. Neither of which is good for health, a vital concern for ladies-of-a-certain-age.  I realized I was doing this and also saw the correlation with the many colds I caught.

It occurred to me that there was really no reason I could not continue to cook like I did when I was working, my children were home and I had a husband.  Then, I often cooked a double batch and froze the rest.  Well, that strategy now works for me again, except I just cook a single recipe and freeze the rest.  I put the portions in single serving dishes so it is easy for me to take one out and pop it in the microwave.

Generally, I keep a couple of single serving store bought meals in my freezer.  My favorite brand is Amy’s because I prefer organic, non genetically modified (GMO) food. I find the variety of entrees amazing and very tasty; but, my own frozen single serving dishes always taste better.

In the summer I don’t use the stove and oven much.  I’ve included below some of my entrees and recipes.

Pasta is one of the items I do cook in the summer.  It is the basis for so many of my meals. My beloved aunt Jean taught me years ago that you can cook a whole pound of pasta, drain it, stir in a little olive oil, and freeze what you don’t use.  What a savings of time that is.  I think even our Italian grandmothers would approve if they knew what a freezer was! I use pasta in many dishes I make.  My favorite is old fashioned spaghetti.  When I have extra spaghetti sauce I freeze it.  What a treat it is to pull out a frozen pack of spaghetti and one of sauce and have my favorite meal with little fuss.

By the way, speaking of spaghetti sauce, when I have fresh basil and fresh Italian parsley, I throw some in a plastic bag and freeze them.  These frozen herbs work just fine in sauce.  Often a bunch of herbs is too large for me to use.  I hate to have it go to waste, so I freeze it.  In cooler months, I use frozen herbs in stews and soups.

In the summertime, a staple for me is salad.  I grow my own variety of lettuces and herbs in my garden, but also in a whiskey barrel, which has weather protection on my patio.  I seed in February, August and October.  The lettuces are available from March through June and August through November.

When I don’t have lettuces I have grown, I buy a 5 ounce container of deep green blends. My favorite is Earthbound Farm Organic Kale Italia.

Often I boil four eggs, cool them and use them chopped in salad or for egg salad sandwiches.  I keep a variety of nuts, including pinion nuts, and cheeses on hand.

Below is a summary of dinners I make for myself in the summertime.  I should mention that I have been a vegetarian for over 20 years, so you won’t find any meat or fish in them.  I think it would be easy to add meat to most of them or as a side dish.

• Chef salad with boiled eggs, nuts, and a variety of veggies and herbs. I use olive oil and wine vinegar and garlic salt to flavor
• Pasta salad with a variety of cheeses, veggies and chopped egg.  I use olive oil and wine vinegar and garlic salt to flavor. Farfalla (butterfly) is my favorite shape of pasta to use.
• Salad and sandwiches – cheese or egg salad.  I love to use the demi-baguettes at Sprouts Farmer Market because the regular size is too much and goes to waste.
• Nachos – I like blue corn chips with avocado, black beans (drained from a can) longhorn cheese and salsa. Often I sprinkle them with a ground vegetarian sausage.  I pop the chips, beans, cheese, and sausage in the microwave first to heat them up and melt the cheese.
• Macaroni and cheese with a salad – Annie’s is my favorite brand.
• Panini – In a small frying pan with hot olive oil I brown a couple of cloves of garlic and then pan-sear both halves of a small slender eggplant cut lengthwise.  After removing the eggplant, I had a little more oil to the pan and quickly toast a small baguette cut in half.  On a plate I put the cooked eggplant on top of the baguette along with a slice of tomato and several basil leaves.  Yum!  Sometimes I put a piece of provolone cheese on top of the eggplant while it is cooking.  I briefly cover the pan so the cheese can melt.
• Spaghetti with fresh tomatoes and pinion nuts – In a small frying pan with hot olive oil I brown a couple of cloves of garlic and then add a handful of pinion nuts.  I try not to burn the nuts (they taste good even if they are burnt!)  When the nuts are brown, stir in a packet of organic cherry tomatoes sliced in half, or tomatoes from the garden, some basil and parsley and a flake or two of red chili pepper.  Cover the pan and cook until the tomatoes are done.  Then I add cooked pasta to the pan, stir and cover for five minutes or so.  Oh, my does this taste good!

For dessert I have a scoop or two of ice cream, Alden’s is my favorite brand, topped with sliced fruit.  Peaches are my favorite and the early varieties are almost done in the Grand Valley of Western Colorado where I live now.

Of course, dinner in the summertime or winter would not be complete without a glass or two of red wine.  I generally pour myself a glass when I start cooking and finish it with my meal.

By the way, when I invite a friend or friends to dinner, my food always tastes better.

Boun Appitito!

Copyright – Elizabeth J. Wheeler, July 7, 2016