Seasonal Sundays (Week 16) Mid April

Isn't Apr simply the loveliest of months? A tease, perhaps, but for seasonal cooks, there's something particular virtually switching dorsum as well as forth betwixt the changing seasons. So many favorite recipes to part today, including what I made for my hubby afterward he had dental surgery.

Skip Straight to the Good Stuff

Welcome to Seasonal Sundays ...

A twelvemonth agone this week, I mused hither on Seasonal Sundays, "What volition life hold back similar a twelvemonth from now?"

A calendar week agone today, nosotros asked ourselves what nosotros did for Easter final year. Odd? No memories, non a unmarried one. Or maybe non so odd? It was simply half dozen weeks into lockdown.

I checked my telephone for clues. April's photos are rife amongst now-poignant shots peering through windows, me, my husband, fifty-fifty the dog.

It's like shooting fish in a barrel to forget how much doubt nosotros faced then, how lilliputian nosotros knew, how furiously nosotros washed our hands as well as wiped downwardly everything, fifty-fifty the mail.

But hither nosotros are inward 2021, living lives which a twelvemonth agone nosotros couldn't fifty-fifty get down to imagine.

Perhaps i big 2020 Lesson is that fifty-fifty without a pandemic, nosotros tin dream, nosotros tin hope, nosotros tin conception but all the most heartfelt dreams, hopes as well as plans cannot let on what life volition live similar a twelvemonth from now.

In the words of Little R, the younger of the 12-year onetime twin grandsons, "♥ We volition live able to hug you lot inward ii weeks as well as 4 days! ♥"

Now that, nosotros shall remember. And I daresay the boyzz volition likewise ...

About the Photo By Popular Request, a Little Insight into the Top Image: Our "rescue" crabapple tree flare-up into bloom this week. Who rescues crabapple trees? Me! One year, I was deep-pruning an overgrown, unwieldy as well as unsightly butterfly bush, exclusively to abide by deep within ... crabapple blossoms??? Somehow a crabapple within had survived, barely but nevertheless trying. Out amongst the butterfly bush! Ever since, our rescue crabapple turns so pretty virtually this fourth dimension inward April, no fruit to utter of yet but I create already fantasize virtually crab-apple pickles, a favorite amid my Canadian family. We nevertheless await blossoms on the Old Pear Tree inward the acre across the way, so named every bit it's the final remnant of a fruit orchard: nosotros fearfulness the blossoms were nicked past times ii nights of hard frost this week. Come fall, the local deer as well as other critters volition live most disappointed: no blossoms, no fruit.

PICK ONE

Pick One is for those of us overwhelmed past times life's unending choices. If that resonates, as well as so banking concern jibe out this i recipe as well as and so telephone band it a day. It's i that I intend could brand the most difference, the i I promise volition teach a regular inward your kitchen, every bit it is inward mine.

"Perfect recipe. Baked for xxx minutes afterward reducing temperature to 350." Matt's Mom
THE RECIPE Perfect All-Rhubarb Pie A summertime masterpiece.

"After Easter dinner, it is your skinny chicken soup for the week. I usage the high-protein noodles from Barilla, industrial plant great." Kathleen
Has anyone else discovered high-protein noodles? Barilla is 10g of poly peptide for a two-ounce (dried) serving, which is great. I did pick upward a box but haven't used them yet. They're a chip pricey compared to regular pasta as well as I'm annoyed that the bundle size dropped from xvi ounces to 14-something. Oh well, #FirstWorldProblem.
THE RECIPE My Chicken Noodle Soup The agency I brand it, meaty as well as noodle-y amongst simply a few noodles.

"Just came to nation give cheers you lot for this article -- you lot were 100% correct the 3hr baked white patato on 350 oiled a chip was past times far the best baked potatoes I've e'er made inward xxx years. Something so simple, takes such lilliputian effort, as well as simply takes a chip to a greater extent than time." Mo
ANOTHER TAKE Microwave Baked Potato

Oh Joy: Major Dental Surgery

My hubby Jerry had dental operate done on Thursday. He's fast recovering but is relegated to soft food: he's non supposed to seize amongst teeth or chew for ii whole weeks. In addition, no spicy food, as well as no spices, either.

What did nosotros conduct hold for dinner the nighttime earlier surgery? Steak, of course, for my meat-loving guy.

But this is a novel culinary challenge for us both, keeping him inward plenty calories as well as poly peptide without meat.

We're exclusively 3 days inward but here's what has worked so far. It'll live obvious that I was nevertheless cleaning out the refrigerator afterward Easter!

No hot (temperature) nutrient for 24 hours; could usage a straw (not everyone can); rattling sensitive to cold
Jello Cups were soothing inward texture as well as temperature but it was hard to navigate amongst a spoon
Protein Smoothies amongst banana, full-fat greek yogurt, whole milk, peanut butter as well as hemp hearts; no ice, simply mutual frigidness ingredients
Ham & Potato Soup Smoothie was a huge hit, a savory smoothie made amongst leftover baked white patato amongst the peel left on, minced ham, leftover sauce from mac n cheese plus whole milk. Puréed nutrient didn't appeal to him but a smoothie? This was genuinely quite delicious!
Soupy Creamed Hard-Cooked Egg I thickened milk amongst to a greater extent than leftover mac n cheese sauce plus roughly extra melted cheese, as well as so stirred inward roughly finely diced cooked egg. I added a pocket-size splash of Worcestershire for roughly savory flavor. Also rattling good!

Still sensitive to hot as well as cold, nevertheless needs soft food
Soft Eggs These French Scrambled Eggs were like shooting fish in a barrel for him, fifty-fifty on simply the 2nd day. I diced light-green onion, cooked asparagus as well as mini tomatoes into bits gently cooked until rattling soft, as well as so gently cooked the eggs, so rattling tender. Again, a hit.
Cream of Wheat Boy it's been forever since I've had cream of wheat! We both ate this upward ... his was topped amongst tiny bits of butter as well as a sprinkle of raw sugar.
Ham (Flavor) & Beans This was so delicious. The white beans were super soft. Instead of big chunks of carrot as well as celery, I grated the carrots so they were teensy-tiny as well as soft too, skipped the celery which I feared would demand chewing, also skipped the extra ham since that likewise would live to a greater extent than than he should chew. But? Since the beans were slow-cooked amongst a ham bone, fifty-fifty without the meat, in that place was lots of meaty flavor.
Steak & Mini Pasta inward Broth I made a rich beef stock amongst the steak os as well as onion, it was inward the oven at 215F for almost 48 hours. There was roughly meat on the bone, super soft as well as manageable when cutting super small. So I puréed the broth as well as cooked onion, as well as so cooked roughly teentsy-tiny pastina pasta inward the broth as well as stirred inward the meat. Oh he lapped this upward ...

If anyone's been through something simliar, I'd dear to know what worked for you.

If you lot purchase H2O ice cream, brand sure enough it's perfectly smooth, aught chunky, aught chewy. Even lilliputian flakes of chocolate are hard to cope post-surgery.
I can't brand Jello for the life of me. Multi-flavor snack packs for the win!
I was so focused on his meals that I literally forgot to consume myself. Don't allow that occur to you! I should conduct hold meal-prepped for me, non him.

The Dinner Bell

Seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, the dinner bell rings. If we're gonna eat, somebody's gotta cook, roughly nights fuel, roughly nights a feast. Let's arrive good, a welcome cease to our days.

THE RECIPE Mac n Chicken Just mac 'n' cheese amongst chicken, simply mac 'n' cheese amongst protein.
ANOTHER TAKE Sweet Pepper Pasta Skillet Colorful bell peppers inward a calorie-free cream sauce.

THE RECIPE Stir-Fried Shrimp amongst Asparagus or Other Summer Vegetables Tossed inward an addictive sugariness 'n' sour hot sauce.
ANOTHER TAKE

THE RECIPE Homemade Egg McMuffin A solid unit of measurement favorite!
ANOTHER TAKE 15 Favorite Vegetable Recipes, Still Useful After fifteen Years. Here's simply one.
- THE RECIPE How to Roast Peppers inward the Oven
- ANOTHER TAKE How to Roast a Pepper on a Gas Stove
PS Who's noticed? I'm big on "usefulness". See? Best-Ever “Most Useful” Recipes 2002 – Present, simply i recipe per twelvemonth from .

Soups & Salads Especially for April

For seasonal cooks, switching seasons happens gradually, over the course of written report of a few weeks. Here inward the Midwest, it's nevertheless definitely "early spring" so the recipes cross betwixt soups that warm us upward on those chilly days as well as salads that telephone band when it's like shooting fish in a barrel to stretch an outdoor repast into evening. So what sounds practiced depends on the day, yes? That's why I spent a twelvemonth gathering all of A Veggie Venture's best soup as well as salad recipes into easy-to-scan month-by-month collections.

Dig into Seasonal Soup & Salad Recipes for April, so many ideas!

Here's a sample!

THE RECIPE Summer Black-Eyed Pea Salad
ANOTHER TAKE Big Cajun Chopped Salad

Feeding a Sugar-Conscious Sweet Tooth

You too? We're cutting dorsum on sweets without demonizing dessert, commonly amongst smaller batches, smaller servings, shareable desserts or fruit desserts inward improver to limiting frequency. But roughly times?