The best ever

Trying to find something that suits Mama's taste buds can be a challenge. Her dining experience has been fairly limited in the past few years. Like most of us, she tends to find a "favorite" menu item at a restaurant and order that every or nearly every time she goes to that restaurant. Because of her handicap, her choice of restaurants has been limited by how well the owners understand the Americans with Disabilities Act and provide facilities that support her presence. (The exception is Landry's in Kemah, a dangerous place for someone with a handicap--hey, Landry's, I have pictures!--which Mama dares to enter because of the view and a sad hope that she will be safe.)

Getting her to eat my cooking has been an adventure, but she seems to have weathered it fairly well this year. I am told that she even brags on my cooking to others now. Wow!

Still, I'm never certain what will please her when I enter the kitchen and start throwing things together. Saturday night it was chopped cabbage, sliced onion (halves), and shredded carrots stir-fried in a tad too much canola oil. I tossed in dried chives, dried celery flakes, and dried parsley. Once the vegetables were somewhat tender, I added some Sesame Ginger marinade that I had bought at Kroger along with some leftover steamed veggies (baby carrots, yellow squash, calabacita) and some browned ground beef. I served her a tiny bowl (she really won't eat much), and she allowed that it was "the best ever." I offered a second bowl, and she ate all of that too. I think it was the marinade that gave it some extra flavor, but I now know that the taste appeals.

The marinade didn't add a lot of carbs, maybe 20 to the whole dish, which easily had 4 servings. I will look for other things that might add a different taste to these same old veggies, cuz they will surely show up on the menu again. In one variation or another.