Thursday Thoughts: March 13, 2025

Thursday Thoughts: March 13, 2025

Sometimes my brain just gets tired of thinking “what to fix for dinner”.

I love to experiment so always have some new recipes each week, but if I have some items on hand, I can always throw something together.

I’m also what I call a lazy cook. I prep everything that I can and use it for meals during the week. I wash and cut up lots of veggies, squash, bell peppers, carrots, onion, head lettuce, and baby spinach as an idea.

These become my big salads with chicken and veggies, my stir-frys, my small salads to go with a pizza, my baked potatoes topped with veggies in cheese sauce. Well, the choices are endless. What I don’t use, except for lettuce, goes into the freezer for more stir-frys, soups, quiches, etc.

Here’s my weekend prep:

Firstly, I’m very picky about my produce. So if something looks limp or ugly at the store, I improvise with a different veggie. Anyway, the ones below are my favs.

After shopping:

Wash and cut:
3 or 4 yellow squash in bite-size pieces
3 or 4 zucchini in bite-sized pieces
3 or 4 sweet bell peppers (whatever colors are nice). I vary the colors. It’s good to mix them.
3 or 4 big carrots, wash and peel then cut in carrot stick size for eating with dip.
1 medium onion, peeled and cut in a large dice.
2 heads of iceberg lettuce, not torn or cut. I pull the leaves apart but don’t tear, it will rust from a tear or a knife. After drying in spinner, I wrap tightly in plastic bags making sure all air is out before closing.
Boil 6 hard-boiled eggs, cool and peel and refrigerate.
1 bag of baby spinach (spin dry and store in plastic bag with paper towels)


Tell me some of your “get-ahead” ideas. I can use them. Remember? My brain gets tired 🙂

Thursday Thoughts: March 6, 2025

Thursday Thoughts: March 6, 2025

A couple of weeks ago, my older child turned 25!  To celebrate, we got together with my in-laws to have brunch.  While there, I had the most amazing breakfast, which is what leads me to today’s question: what is your favorite breakfast food?

Mine has always been French toast. I don’t know why, but any chance I get, this is what I order.  It’s always so warm, so comforting, and a little bit sweet, which is how I like my breakfast.  I know, it’s weird, but here we are.

So, when I saw cannoli French toast on the menu, I immediately knew what I had to have it.  It came out looking like a small loaf of bread, topped with a mixture of ricotta and mascarpone cheese, pistachios, and chocolate pearls (shoutout to the molecular gastronomy being used here).  Also, maple syrup, but I figured that syrup was rather superfluous when you considered everything else already on this massive meal.

I have to say, it is the best thing I have ever eaten for breakfast.  And that’s even considering the carrot cake pancakes I once had that came with cream cheese frosting.  Yeah, those were good, but this French toast was out of this world.

Of course, when I’m cooking for myself, I tend to take a much simpler approach.  Omelets are a good go-to as they’re quick, easy, and filling.  Waffles are also quick and easy and give you leftovers.  Hint: toss the leftovers into the toaster or toaster oven the next day to crisp them up.  So good.

I’ll also not ever turn down the old standbys – bacon, eggs (sunny-side up, thanks), toast of all kinds, pancakes, and yes, even oatmeal.  I really do love oatmeal, which has gotten me some strange looks over the years.  But it just hits the spot.  Even better is that it’s super customizable, too.  Add your favorite sweetener – brown sugar, honey, maple syrup – and then go crazy.  The possibilities are endless with fruit, nuts, nut butters, you name it.  Oatmeal is a big, blank canvas waiting to be used.  Kind of like an omelet, but better.

So, now that I’ve made myself hungry, what are your favorite breakfast foods?  Is there a restaurant near you that makes something unique that you can’t resist?  I’m curious to see what you’re all into, especially if you’re from outside the US.  Global cuisine is an interest of mine and I always find it interested to see what other countries and cultures eat regularly.

Thursday Thoughts: February 27, 2025

Welcome to Thursday Thoughts.  A place for you to read what I’m thinking about and add your own thoughts into the mix (please comment… I hate to hang out here alone!).

Today, I’m thinking about kitchen gadgets.

I love to cook; it’s one of my favorite past times, to be honest.  Finding new recipes to feed the one remaining kid I have at home is a weekly challenge that I eagerly accept.  I’m also prone to falling into the trap of wanting–and sometimes buying–cutesy kitchen gadgets.  My favorite one, however, is one that was given to me: a vampire garlic crusher.  It’s ridiculous, but I love it and use it whenever I need to mash up a clove or two.  And considering I have Romanian garlic growing in my yard right now, this summer ought to be fun.

When I stumbled across this fun quiz, I knew I had to take it.

Ever wonder what clever kitchen gadget you are?  Now you can find out, here.

My result didn’t surprise me much and it did make me laugh, so that’s a bonus.

I mean, I do love me some pizza.

What about you?  Do you have any fun or silly kitchen gadgets you love?  Take the quiz in the link above and let us know your results in the comments.  I’m excited to see what other crazy things are out there to potentially add to my kitchen.