Creative writing about cooking and love for family

Thoughts On Cooking For My Family

I believe that food is more than just survival, it’s about comfort, love, and bringing people together.

June 13, 2024 Baked Beans, Mac ‘n Cheese, Celery Salad with Green Apple Vinaigrette

Sasha had all four wisdom teeth pulled on Tuesday. Poor girl, she is on soft foods until her jaw heals up. I decided to cook a couple soft foods especially for her. Not the salad, that was for the rest of us.

I really like the recipe I use for baked beans. I did choose dry Great Northern Beans this time and soaked them overnight. The recipe I use has 1/2 cup molasses and 1/4 cup ketchup but that’s all the sweetening in it. I cooked 5 slices of bacon and 1 whole onion, then added the sauce ingredients and 4 cups of broth.

I cooked them 2 1/2 hours in the oven with the lid on, then took the lid off and cooked them another 2 hours or so until the liquid was absorbed.

Not successful. They were delicious but not soft enough for Sasha. Oh well. Next time I’ll use navy beans, more liquid and cook them longer.

The mac ‘n cheese however was a hit. I used extra strong cheddar cheese, a lot of it, gruyere cheese, and elbow macaroni.

I know I made the celery salad a few weeks ago but I wanted sometime tart and crunchy for the rest of us in contrast to the softness of the beans and mac ‘n cheese.

Apollo was VERY happy. He really enjoyed this meal. When I dropped him off for swim team practice I not only got a thank you, but a big hug too. Grin.