It’s sausage week

I feel like I’m on a meat-themed version of Great British Bake-Off every time I enter the kitchen, imagining Sue Perkins announcing “It’s sausage week.”

Actually I’m just eating a lot of sausages.

Back in November, I attended a charcuterie event with mixed results. It was a lovely evening, but I struggled with various things—the noise and light, even though it was a relatively quiet event with gentle lighting; and various shoulder-related struggles.

The same crew recently hosted a sausage-making class, which I had wanted to attend for ages and quietly campaigned for, so when it was announced in January I had to get a ticket. I anticipated with a mixture of excitement—because surely I’d be better by late February, right?—and dread that it would be overwhelming and lead to more regression.

Happy to say I got through it! No candles this time, hooray. And no loud clappers. And no sling for me to contend with! We worked in groups of two, and most people were very focused on kneading their meat and filling their casings, so not too much “hubbub.”

And, I came home with sausages! Guess what I’ve been eating every day this week (paired with various Odd Bunch veg).

Maple-5-spice sausage with enoki mushrooms and sesame-miso dressing

Bratwurst with rutabaga “fries”

Chorizo with guacamole, roasted tomato salsa, and corn chips

Toulouse sausage with green salad

The rutabaga fries were not bad! It’s definitely one of those what-do-I-do-with-this vegetables, but other than being annoying to peel, pretty easy to prepare this way.

Rutabaga Oven “Fries”

Ingredients:

1 rutabaga
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika

Directions:

Cut the rutabaga in half. This is the hardest part! To say this thing is sturdy would be an understatement. 

Once you have two halves that will sit flat and not roll around, it gets easier. Cut each half into slices, about ⅜” to ½” thick. Peel each of these using a paring knife (It’s much easier to peel the individual slices than the whole thing, and you’ll need a proper knife, not a peeler). 

Once peeled, cut each slice into sticks about ⅜” to ½” wide.

Toss with oil to coat. Season with salt and paprika and toss again to coat evenly.

Arrange in a single, well-spaced layer on a baking sheet (I did a half-recipe to start, and needed a full-sized sheet). 

Bake at 425° f for 35 minutes. Just enough time to make a bit of salad and cook a sausage!

Odd Bunch recipe: Sweet Potato, Kale, and White Bean soup

Last week’s box contained sweet potatoes and kale, so this was the obvious choice.

January is soup weather

Sweet Potato, Kale, and White Bean Soup

Ingredients:

½ cup dried cannellini or other white bean
2 sprigs rosemary
1 small onion, diced
2 sweet potatoes, diced
1 head garlic
olive oil
salt & pepper
1 bunch kale, chopped
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Directions:

Put beans, rosemary, and onion in a dutch oven and cover with water. Leave overnight.

Combine potatoes and garlic in a baking dish. Toss to coat with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Roast 1 hour at 350°F for one hour.

At the same time, simmer beans for one hour, adding chopped kale for the last 5 minutes.

Drain beans, discarding rosemary., and return to dutch oven. Add the stock.

Mash the potatoes and garlic, add to the dutch oven with everything else.

Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.

What my day looks like

There’s a lot going on.

Floor work for core strength (to help with balance) (I do some of these with my eyes closed to practise proprioception safely). Exercises for my shoulder. Cognitive exercises to improve my processing speed and memory. Sub-symptom threshold cardio for concussion. Sensory integration exercises. Stretching before bed as part of my better sleep hygiene routine (also good for shoulder mobility). Symptom journalling. Cooking and feeding myself (I’m supposed to avoid processed foods, so cooking from scratch, but can’t go to a grocery store without sensory overload, can’t carry much anyway, and can’t manage heavy cookware—you can bet I exploit my kid for stuff like putting the cast iron Dutch oven in and out of the oven for me when they’re around) (I also make my kid do laundry when they visit) a variety of nutritious foods rich in protein, choline, omega-3 fatty acids, and lots of cruciferous veg (which never seem to be in my Odd Bunch box). And of course there supplements for all the things I might be missing. 

Supplements and my daily checklist 

You might think, “What’s the big deal, you must have loads of time since you barely leave the house.” Yes and no. It’s true I barely leave the house. But I also go to bed early and still struggle to get up in the morning (which reminds me, I’m supposed to be starting CBT for insomnia). So, fewer hours in the day, and I’m working at reduced capacity for all of them. 

Occasionally I remember some of the things I ought to be getting done but am not, and feel further paralysed by my lack of productivity. Vicious circle! Maybe I’ll set myself an ambitious goal, like getting the dishes done before my kid comes home on Friday, just so I can say,  “Look, I did something!”

Odd Bunch recipe: stuffed spaghetti squash

Part of the reasoning behind getting a veg box—aside from the obvious being unable to carry stuff or go shopping easily—is to challenge myself to eat a more varied diet instead of falling back on old standbys.

Spaghetti squash is something I enjoy when I have it, but rarely think of buying for whatever reason. In the past I’ve mainly done basic things like the classic roast, scoop, toss with garlic butter and goat cheese. Not having any goat cheese, I thought I’d look at recipes. I found one that used a couple of things I had on hand—Italian sausage, cherry tomatoes—and a couple of things I didn’t, notably kale. But, I did have broccoli. Close enough, right? It also was for a much larger number of people than I or my ingredients were suited for. So, I borrowed the inspiration, and made up my own thing.

Stuffed spaghetti squash

Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash
1 tbs olive oil
1 Italian sausage
1 broccoli crown
10 cherry tomatoes
Parmesan cheese 

Directions:

Cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Brush with olive oil and place cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake 35 minutes at 400°F.

Meanwhile, crumble the sausage and brown the meat in a pan. 

Cut the broccoli into florets and add to the pan. Add a bit of olive oil if it seems dry. Sauté a few minutes.

Slice the tomatoes in half and add to the pan. Pour ¼ cup of water in the pan and simmer until the water is mostly gone and the tomatoes have softened.

Flip over the roasted squash halves, fill the cavities with the sausage mixture, and sprinkle grated parmesan cheese over top. Return to the oven for 10 minutes to melt the cheese and make sure everything is hot through.

Survival tips: the veg box

So back in ye olden days (a couple months ago) I used to do my grocery shopping on foot. Kiddo and I would walk to the store on Sunday afternoon with four canvas bags (one for each shoulder) and load up. Shopping this way saves money and reduces impulse purchases because at a certain point you realise, “If the basket is getting too heavy to carry around the store, imagine what this will feel like walking home.” When kiddo moved away for school, my grocery shops got somewhat more random (the kid being the one with the muscles and particularity about food) and I would grab things on my way to and fro, or see what looked interesting at the greengrocer. 

Now of course I’m not going anywhere or carrying anything, so I decided to investigate getting a veg box delivered, like we used to back in the pandemic.

The one we used to get is no more, sadly. We used to get the Good Food Box, a social enterprise run by Foodshare. They no longer do that. So, I investigated other options: the ones that popped up when I was searching for the Good Food Box, the ones whose trucks I see driving around town, etc. 

Eventually, I ended up at Odd Bunch. I love it!

The Odd Bunch box for one

Firstly, it was the only service I came across that had a box for one. Other sample boxes started at two people, and although I thought about seeing if I could get it delivered only every second week (which we did with the Good Food Box), seeing sample box contents made me think, “No way am I gonna get through that many potatoes.” It’s a very reasonable size for a single!

It’s also fantastic value. I did the math last week, just to see, while I was ordering some groceries from Voilà (coffee filters, gallon of milk) and the savings are amazing:

4.99	1 acorn Squash
2.49	3 Local Cippolini Onions
4.99	15 Local Brussels Sprouts
3.98	2 Local Sweet Potatoes
2.99	1 bunch Radish
3.47	3 Local Pears
3.99	Cherry Tomatoes
2.58	2 cobs Fresh Corn
7.99	1 Fresh Pineapple
2.99	1 eggplant
TOTAL: $40.46 at Voilà

Fully a 50% saving!

Mind you, I am still finding it something of a challenge to get through the whole thing, but I think as much as anything that’s because I have a reduced appetite due to not going anywhere or doing anything. Right now my mouth is on fire from trying to finish off a whole fresh pineapple. But, I was never a pineapple eater before, so if nothing else it has introduced variety into my diet, as well as fibre!