Smoothielicious! In the company of food.

 "Unique gifts for that impossible person on your list.", was my draw to the article listing 20 unique gifts for people who have everything. Me! 

  When I began reading the article I just laughed at the first suggestions until I hit on the Aoozi battery-operated blender. "That sounds interesting," I thought. So I brought myself a present. I love it! 

  Why? I can say with a great degree of confidence no one would have thought to buy this gift for me. I am not known to be a big smoothie fan. I am a really good cook with a well-developed culinary repertoire and a vast array of tools. "Why don't you just put the portioned amount into your regular blender?" my daughter laughed. Let me expound!

In the past, I have tried multiple versions of smoothies in my blender. I always have too much and end up refrigerating the leftovers or eventually throwing them away. I make the smoothie, creatively; some fruit, some yogurt some juice. It always blossoms into a delicious creation but how much can one person consume in one seating? In the Aoozi blender, you can only put enough ingredients for one smoothie. My first favorite feature. No leftovers, no guessing how little an apple will puree into. 

  Like any new culinary toy, it took a few tries to get the portions right and adapt recipes to my taste buds. The good news is I did not have to worry if anyone else liked my choice of ingredients. There was only enough for me. No one in my family could say, " Oh the looks good can I have some?" The Aoozi has its own reusable straw and you drink right from the blender. Less cleanup and they even include tools to clean the blender and straw properly.

 These are some of the smoothies I have tried since getting my blender.

I started out with one for breakfast and after a week tried a fruit smoothie for lunch and a vegetable smoothie for dinner.

1: Handful blueberries, 5 raspberries, T. plain greek yogurt, dash honey, few pecans, 2 oz. orange juice and crushed ice. NOTE: had to add a little water too thick.

2: 2 slices of Apple, frozen corn, 2 dried prunes, dash honey, pecans, 2 oz. of orange juice. 2 oz. water,  crushed ice. Note: prunes did not blend well. For lunch, I tried blending my hot chicken soup. I did not like it pureed and would prefer chunky soup.

3: ¼ banana, 2 slices Apples, fresh pineapple, T. yogurt, pecans, honey, leftover acorn squash, [2 oz. orange juice, 2 oz. water, crushed ice.] For dinner I tried, a couple slices of tomato, fresh basil leaves, clove roasted garlic, 6 thin slices of cucumber, leftover roasted carrots, celery with leaves, 2 pc. stewed tomato with juice, 2 oz. water, ground pepper, celery salt, olive oil. Crushed ice. Had to add 2 more oz. water. This concoction gave me bad heartburn, don’t do that again, I laughed.

You get the idea. Have fun creating in the company of food.

Dinner in the day of Covid-19

     We are all quarantined due to the 2020 pandemic and all the restaurants are closed. My pod philosophy has allowed me to eat a nice balanced meal daily. Today I began dinner with a pod of homemade ham and bean soup.  I always love a good bowl of soup on a rainy day but the effort of making a good soup is time-consuming. Once it is made, normally, there is too much to eat in one meal. Anyone agree?
     I am not a big leftover lover. When leftovers sat in my refrigerator they nine times out of ten ended up in the trash. Podding has solved this problem. Podding the leftover soup right after dinner and freezing it assures the freshness remains. Each time I have one of these soup pods it tastes like I just pulled it off the stove, fresh.  One minute in the microwave and it is ready to eat. Note: never microwave in the pod. place in a microwaveable container.  Of course, a pod of fresh parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top doesn't hurt.
      We eat with our eyes as much as our mouths and the presentation of my food is very important. I always put my food on a nice bowl or plate. My dinner tonight was a one-pan meal. I had to cook the pork cutlet. Oh, I'm exhausted! I enjoyed the podded sides of fresh-baked sweet potatoes and broccoli and had a delicious balanced meal, in the company of food.
 

                                                                           

Coming home in the company of food

     Today I came home from a week-long vacation to an empty refrigerator. It was lunchtime, so I was pretty hungry but did not want to go out to the store. I opened my freezer to my stash of pods and found some homemade turkey vegetable soup. I took the frozen pod and ran it under cool water for a few minutes, then put it into a bowl and microwaved it for 30 sec. 
   

     What about dinner? I thought.  So while my soup was defrosting I went through my freezer and found a cod filet, a pod of mashed potatoes, and a pod of fresh asparagus tips. 

     Now the soup was defrosted so I microwaved it for one more minute to heat. I took some podded parmesan cheese and sprinkled the top. Soup with a few crackers was the perfect lunch for a weary traveler. I can worry about stocking the refrigerator tomorrow. It's great to come home to the company of food. 
     

Reuben sandwich made from pods

      Have you ever needed a certain kind of cheese for a recipe and not have it available even though you have all the other ingredients for your meal. Me too! Buy podding has solved this problem. Yes, you can freeze cheese and these airtight pods prevent freezer burn.
     My son in law makes a killer sour kraut that he cans in the summer.  So when  I was in the mood for a Reuben sandwich I but had no Swiss cheese or corned beef I scoured my pods for a solution.
     Although this Reuben may be unconventional it is absolutely delicious. I found pods of carnitas meat and provolone cheese, my favorite dark rye, was in the freezer too.
     When I buy a loaf of one of my favorite bread or rolls I individually wrap each piece and return it to the bag for freezing. This avoids freezer burn and has delicious fresh bread always on hand.
     To make the Reuben I lightly butter the bread and put it butter side down into a skillet. Then I cover the bread with the cheese pieces from the pod. If I have Swiss cheese on hand this would be my first choice but I have used a variety of cheeses and meats to make delicious Reubens.  I turn my skillet on to medium and cover to let the cheese melt. While this is going on I microwave my meat for about 3o seconds, just enough to get it warm. I top one side with the meat and do the same with the sour kraut on the other half. When the cheese is melted I flip the two sides together, carefully, and my Reuben is ready for consumption. I freeze one half because I am a lightweight eater and devour the other half.
     Next time I have a taste for a Reuben there is one in the freezer with my name on it, in the company of food.

Potato pod dilemma

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Lemon chicken in the company of food. 

Today I found a pod of sliced, pre-cooked potatoes in my collection. I have a habit of trying to save lids so I do not mark all the contents unless they would be too hard to identify, like a ratatouille. So the white sliced contents of this pod were a bit of a mystery. They could have been cauliflower or potatoes. Either way, they would go with the lemon chicken I was planning for dinner. When I dumped them into my prep bowl they were definitely potatoes. However, they felt water sogged and I was hesitant to use them. What do I have to lose? A pod of potatoes. 

Potatoes

     I always keep cooked frozen bacon in a ziplock bag in my freezer and so I took a slice and cut it into bite-size pieces and put it in my 350@ oven for ten minutes, in a small cast-iron skillet. I then placed the soggy potatoes slices on top of the bacon and returned it to the oven for five more minutes, while I prepared my chicken. I also chose a pod of asparagus tips for my vegetable.  When I took the potatoes out of the oven the water had disappeared and they had begun to brown on the bottom. I carefully turned over the potatoes and set the pan on top of the stove, sprinkled with some podded grated cheddar, then I sauteed my lemon chicken. 

Chicken breast

     Lemon chicken is so easy. A four-ounce chicken breast, which was wrapped and frozen easily defrosted in some cool water. I lightly tossed it in flour and sauteed one side on a high flame in butter until brown. Then I turned off the stove and squeezed fresh lemon juice over the breast. I do not always have fresh lemon in the house but I do always keep fresh lemon juice in the fridge. 
     Now I place the chicken and potatoes in the oven and cook for another 20 minutes. When the timer goes off  I turn off the oven and place my asparagus pod on my dinner plate and microwave for one minute. Then I place my potatoes and chicken on the plate and enjoy my dinner, lemon chicken, in the company of food. 

Podding leftovers

     There is nothing more fun, for me than going out to dinner with friends who enjoy a variety of foods, like yourself. The unfortunate part is that restaurant meals are so big the average person cannot finish their meal; let alone share tastings with their friends. That is where podding is a great resource.
     My meal of choice was linguine and white clam sauce. There were six people in our party and each ordered something different.  So after sampling the mussels for an appetizer, calamari, and chicken Vesuvio entrees, I barely made a dent in my linguine with white clam sauce. I returned home with my meal and immediately podded three four-ounce portions carefully adding equal clams to each. I still had another serving to make for my dinner the following evening.
    The next day I purchased a pound of fresh shrimp and podded and froze three servings, setting aside the rest for my dinner. I always have homemade garlic butter in my freezer and white or red mini bottles of wine for cooking. I lightly sauteed the shrimp in garlic butter adding some wine for flavor then added my leftover linguine with white clam sauce.  Not having any crusty warm Italian bread for dipping in the sauce was a problem. I solved it with some leftover pesto pizza bread. Creating another delicious entree and podding, in the company of food.
 

Pod crazy in the company of food

     

     How many times have you gone out to dinner and bought home leftovers only to throw them out a week later because they spoiled in the refrigerator? You're not alone! But podding is an excellent solution. Next time you go out to dinner and bring home a to go container consider podding and freezing the food, especially if it is something you really enjoyed. 
     This is Shrimp Al Fredo and it podded into three containers. I have some great ideas for them as another meal paired with different vegetables or a nice fresh tossed salad.

     If I am really lazy one day I can just take out all the pods and have dinner. However, podding is also great for portion control. Imagine, I left the restaurant full. I bought home leftovers which filled three 4oz. pods. My plan, I will take out one pod and add some bigger shrimp and a bit of rue to moisten. This will be plenty of food for a meal with fewer calories than the original entree. 
      One of the things my children mentioned with all my podding of food is the environmental impact of all those pods.
Not to worry. I do not recycle I reuse. Sure I could just throw the plastic in my recycling bin and forget about them. 

But I can't even throw away the to go containers in which my leftovers came home. All my pods and lids, that I did not have to label for recognition, are thrown into a plastic wash tub and washed for reuse when it gets full. 

     I know podding is not for everyone. I too am just learning all the benefits. I am sharing my journey in podding in the company of food as I tweak and experiment.