Easy is good!

I am disabled with Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis.  As such, one of my many life mottos is, “Easy is good!”  I struggle with weakness and fatigue so I try to make life simple.  With that being said, welcome to In the Kitchen with MS -- Makeit Simple!  And this could apply to ANYone, really…Moms, seniors, any one who’s busy and doesn’t have a lot of time for fixing meals.

I always loved to cook, however I no longer cook the way I used to.  I look for recipes that are fast and easy, and prefer ones I can make in a crock pot or casserole dish.  I like a “medium-size” recipe that will yield about four servings.  That way, I have leftovers (which I LOVE!) and/or extra helpings that I can freeze for later.

Some additional “helps” that I do--when I get a LOT veggies and am not going to use them immediately, I try to freeze each in their own baggies.  This works with almost anything—onion, green peppers (green, red and hot ones!), broccoli, cauliflower, etc.  Whenever I need them for cooking, they’re right in the freezer.  Same with ground beef.  Either I make hamburger patties and freeze them, or I brown the burger in pieces and freeze that to use in chili, soups or casseroles.

I also like to make up my own recipes.  When I can, I go gluten-free.  (I feel better when I cut out the gluten, MS-wise.  By the way, this appears to be helping a LOT of MSers.  Gluten-free!).  One evening I made, what I call, Chicken Veggie Pasta.

Made gluten-free pasta.  Sautéed garlic in olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan, then threw in some hunks of chicken to warm up.  (Made the chicken in the crock pot the night before.)  In another small pan, par-boiled a crook-neck squash, drained, cut in pieces and added them to the chicken. Cut up a tomato.  Added a handful of cooled, cooked black beans.  Grated Parmesan.  Threw it all together in the pan with the garlic chicken, covered, cooked on low until hot.  Then, poured this on top of the pasta.  Pretty tasty.  Even for being (GASP!) gluten-free.