Senior Citizen Cooking Tip

Like so many other things that change with age and Alzheimer's -- my cooking is COMPLETELY different than it once was.

I really don't make "meals" anymore. John has a constantly diminishing list of things he will eat. Right now, it's oatmeal, blueberry pancakes, watermelon, spaghetti, Salted Nut Rolls, green peppers, and dill pickles.

This morning, he got something out of the frig. As he was eating it, he said, "this is good, but I don't know what it is."  (I told him it was an apple, and it's good to try new things.)

We go out to eat almost every day and when I do cook, I usually make two different meals.

So -- my senior citizen cooking tip is about spaghetti.  John likes buttered spaghetti (with parmasen cheese)...but I'm on WW -- so I avoid spaghetti AND butter...

Today, I was doing a pesto tutorial for Ronda and Dean, so I made a big pot of spaghetti.  I sent some of it home with them for their giant batch of pesto. Then, I froze the rest of it in small batches. 

Trust me -- YOU SHOULD DO THIS....

Cook a huge pot of spaghetti (to al dente). 

Drain it, then quickly put it in ice water to stop the cooking.

Put a two-portion amount into a quart ziplock bag.

HERE'S THE MOST IMPORTANT THING -- spread the spaghetti FLAT inside the bag. That way, it will thaw VERY quickly.

When John is ready for lunch -- I get a bag of spaghetti out of the freezer, break off a single portion (which is easy, because it's a thin layer) nuke it for 1 minute -- and BOOM -- it's a meal.