Susan

A picture of cooked beets with a beet stained hand

The Instant Pot makes quick work of beets, but can’t do anything about these Lady Macbeth hands 🙃 #InstantPot

Gratitude for the helpful.

I'm thankful for how many people want to help others.
It's easy to be cynical and think everyone is out for themselves, but when you really open your eyes, there are many people that are just trying to make this world a better place.

I'm thankful for those people.

Love this!

All sound great. When I’ve finished a really good book, I’m often wondering how I can find something that’s similar tone/feel (beyondAmazon’s recs). Especially important when having a tough time and it can be hard to dive into ‘the unknowns’. A resource on ways to go about that would be wonderful !

Oh those were the days! Thank you so much

Me too. Honestly, they were so badly overcooked in young me’s house, that I can’t really blame them ;)

Oh yeah! Bit of extra texture and flavour - cumin, coriander, lime juice powder, nigella, lemon peel & sumac and lots of other tasty stuff. I’m a big fan of these rubs and def wanna get my own sorted now I’m on a serious sprout kick 😊

Roasted Brussels sprouts in a bowl

Testing out more flavour combos for my fave healthy snack.This is Ottolenghi’s Citrus & Spice,my new fave kitchen shortcut (at least til I make my own version!). These lovely roast sprouts take 10 mins in an air fryer.I add a tbsp of water upfront to give a little steam action for starting cooking 🍜

🤣

Nice!

I’m a huge fan too - for me it was Deep Work’ that brought me in.Totally resonated with my poor distracted brain and taught me so much

I do love the super moist texture of chicken in the Instant Pot! A whole chicken gives us 2 here a roast dinner, dark meat for chicken leek and barley soup and this beautiful breast meat for super sandwiches in the week. And not forgetting the base for the best chicken stock 🍜 😋💛

Amazing!

Thanks Tom, very helpful

Ah thanks. I was wondering
Whether to wait til passkeys get more widely adopted but it seems very quiet out there on that?Any thoughts?

Agree. But also things change over time so much. I was early adopter of 2fa. Now trapped feeling slightly worried about so many services linked to phone confirmations but very big job to change everything. I wish I’d logged everything better back then so more fit for the future but who knew 🤷

I used to love my kindle (opinionated eyes too) but now I’m a Kobo
Convert - I can read books for free from our public library on there - no fiddling with conversions. I’m sure this service is on borrowed time, but it’s brilliant! Also, I find I do like that ‘click to turn page’ .The little things 😊

Love this!

Ooh don’t know these .
Thanks

Ah thanks. That’s a really nice thing to say 😊

I started making YouTube vids in my 50s.Why? I believe everyone deserves good food and cooking fun, especially when life gets hard, and I wanted to share what I'd learned from some real tough times. 6 years on, I've learned the best part isn't the cooking at all. It's the community. It always is

Oh I have a long list of amazing books in @thestorygraph.com ! I listen to NYT podcast and recs from friends and get them all in my app as a treasure trove! Just finished The God of the Woods and loved it! What are you reading?

Thanks Sam - good advice for life too!

Totally. I was so distractible and had to really work to get the focus to read fiction again recently. Now it’s like a balm to my brain in the mornings 😊. We need more good storytellers

Love this! I’ve recently given up on my book club as I was getting too many of the “shoulds” . I’ll rejoin when I have more time to read plenty of “wants” and balance with a “should” now and again☺️

an instant pot with a ladle of chicken soup showing veggies and shredded style chicken

I usually cook pearl barley for 10 mins in the Instant Pot before adding in the rest of ingredients for chicken barley soup. I just tried a one pot version but had to cook everything for longer. It worked okay, but the chicken was more 'pulled' than I like for soup. Back to my told method I think 🍜

4. Embracing the idea that dialling a pizza is not a crime. Go easy on yourself. Life can be really hard to bear and we all need to give ourselves a break sometimes.

These things work for me. Maybe your strategies look different? Love to hear what works for you?

3. Creating systems that work when energy is low is essential for those busy seasons. My ‘prepped and ready’ freezer drawer with home cooked soups, stews and home cooked ‘tv dinners’ is my secret weapon for keeping it calm(ish) in the kitchen.

2. Making friends with helpful gadgets (hey there, Instant Pot! ) is one way of keeping on cooking when life is hard. I fell in 💛with Instant Pot for the freedom of 'set and forget'. I don't have to stay and watch pots while food cooks & can get on with chores, care for others or rest a little

1. Finding shortcuts that fit with you and your life. It’s hard to think straight when life goes pear shaped. A list of ‘break in case of emergency’ simple store cupboard meals to turn to can be a real help for your frazzled brain