October 2025 In My Kitchen

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. This past month has been quite stressful. I have been struggling to get some meaningful activities in, of which cooking is one. I had hoped that cooking would be a more regularly-returning activity, but then again I’ve been hoping this for a year already… I doubt it’s ever going to happen…

I cooked two meals during October. The first, a chicken stew, I cooked for myself as well as my fellow clients. I followed the recipe, which instructed me to let the stew simmer for 10-15 minutes. That, my wife said, is not nearly long enough for a stew. She was in fact surprised that I’d included zucchini, as, if that’s simmered as long as a stew should simmer, would be pretty soggy. I do agree with her: the veg was too crunchy for a stew and too soggy for a stir-fry. My fellow residents liked it though.

The other meal, I cooked for just myself and my staff. I, after all, wanted to make a gnocchi dish. Gnocchi can be both cooked and fried, but my wife said it tastes better when fried yet then it’s pretty hard to do in large amounts without burning some gnocchi. Since the staff carelessly canceled meal delivery for five days starting yesterday because the freezer was full of meals, but I did not have enough meals in the freezer to get me through, I decided to prepare the gnocchi yesterday just for myself and my staff. The recipe was vegetarian and included lentils. I don’t care for those so decided to leave those out and use minced meat instead. The recipe included lots of vegetables, including bell pepper, zucchini, eggplant and onions. I’m not a huge fan of eggplant, but included it anyway and it turned out to be quite tasty.

When I ran this picture through Be My Eyes, it recognized the gnocchi as such. I hadn’t expected this.

In addition to cooking these two meals, I did bake a cake once. It was a pretty spontaneous decision to bake the cake. Unfortunately, we didn’t have eggs at the time, so we had to go to another home to get one. This and some other things led to me experiencing mild distress. Unfortunately, the staff who baked the cake with me interpreted this as the activity not having been a success. This made me feel rather off, as it gave me the impression that I’m only allowed to do activities in which I don’t experience distress. The cake was from a store-bought mixture and it wasn’t as good as the Biscoff blondies I’d baked last month, but it was still delicious.

Finally, I made a few smoothies and a bowl of overnight oats. No pictures of these, but to the oats, I added apple, cinnamon, cardamom and clove. That was really good!

Linking this post up with Sherry’s In My Kitchen.

24 thoughts on “October 2025 In My Kitchen”

    1. Thank you so much for your kind comment. I had never heard of gnocchi until a few years ago when my wife prepared it for us (when I was still living with her). I loved it then, so I decided to make it again.

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  4. It’s all about quality not quantity and everything looks delicious! Even if not everything goes according to plan when cooking/baking, we can always enjoy some satisfaction when we have something yummy to eat at the end 🙂

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  5. “I followed the recipe, which instructed me to let the stew simmer for 10-15 minutes.”

    I agree with your wife. That’s not long enough for a stew. IT sounds more like a stir fry.

    IT is difficult to get in the cooking groove at times. the most difficult part for me is sourcing all the ingredients.

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    1. Thanks for commenting. For me, the reason I don’t cook nearly as often as I’d like is the fact that it isn’t in my day schedule and not all staff like cooking as much as I do.

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  6. Great to hear you got to cook and bake a little. The pictures looked delicious! I like to make stew in a slow cooker for about 6 to 8 hours, much longer than 15 minutes. I t is getting cooler and time for food like that. I will also say that the additions you made to the overnight oats sounded delicious! I love spiced up apples – whether it is just a touch of cinnamon or a variety of spices, it is always good! Keep up the good work, Astrid! And I hope November is a better month for you!

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  7. My husband always says the good thing about things not going exactly to plan when you are cooking is that you can still eat it. Hopefully you enjoyed the activities enough to get some satisfaction!

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  8. There are always going to be failures in a kitchen, but also when everything is produced by hand, it seems rare that the same thing turns out exactly the same each time you make it. Good on you for taking the time to cook, not everyone does. A stew cooked long and slow produces lots of flavour., and can give you a few meals.

    Cheers, Pauline (Happy Retirees Kitchen)

    https://happyretireeskitchen.blogspot.com

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  9. That cake looks great! And zucchini in any stew is a good idea, so all in all, November seems like a success! Wishing you happy cooking as the month goes by, take care.

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  12. The chicken stew and gnocchi both look delicious.
    I actually tried gnocchi myself recently, but I’m still not sure how I feel about it.
    It’s a shame the cake-baking left you feeling distressed and that the staff took it as something not to repeat. I think you absolutely should try it again. Sometimes those moments just happen, and it doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth doing.
    Also, let me know if you’re baking Biscoff blondies again. I will be popping over for a sample! 😋

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    1. Thanks for your kind comment. I agree 100% about the baking activity definitely having been worth it. I think the problem is this particular staff hasn’t learned to respond adequately when I’m frustrated yet.

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