Sunday December 5th! My How Time Flies.
8 weeks of working begins with this day. I can not imagine a better position for me at this time in my life, and I am very excited about the preliminary work I have begun. I'll update more when there is more to update.
I hereby switch the focus of my blog back towards Nutrition, this time in practice!
My new living situation has opened my eyes to some very scary facts about my generation. There is a huge disconnect with the kitchen. The kitchen is a place where activities often occur, but rarely cooking. That rare cooking experience is white pasta boiled and covered in commercial tomato sauce. Maybe brownies. Once even some barbecued ribs.
The rest of the meals are invariably ordered from the restaurants in town. Great for the economy, Terrible for their bank accounts and the health of their bodies.
These kids don't know how to cook healthy meals that will satisfy them, and they don't even know how to purchase at the grocery store.
Most of my meals contain almost all of the same ingredients, however, they can be prepared in so many different flavor styles that it can mimic all the classic favorites we grew up on.
I resent recipe-writing because of its limiting factor. My recipes are often open-ended, more suggestions and ideas than a science experiement which should be copied exactly each time.
I base my judgements on my skill as a cook by the amount of food that is eaten, and the positive reaction of my pickiest of advisors.
Seeing as it is Sunday Morning at 9 am, and I am the only one awake, I will talk about Breakfast here, and make it later when I have others to share it with me.
As a veganist (my brand-new made-up word that means, Someone who Believes in Veganism, even if they don't always "follow all the rules") I have found it difficult to satisfy my needs for breakfast on weekdays.
Weekday mornings I need coffee, extra strong, and something warm and savory that fills me up and makes me feel good. I can't eat sweets in the morning, peanut butter weirds me out until noon, and I need it to be ready quickly and easily. I don't cook before work.
That is why I love Weekends so much. I sleep in just a little, and can take my time to prepare my favorite breakfast just the way I like it.
M y F a v o r i t e B r e a k f a s t
The concept here is simple. Root Vegetables Roasted with Protein!
In the house I am always sure to have White Potatoes and Yams. Most of the time breakfast includes both of these chopped into small chunks tossed in oil, salt, pepper, chile powder, old bay, and herbs.
I like lots of pepper, fresh ground. This week I still have some leftover root vegetables from thanksgiving I didn't use up. Golden Beets, Red Beets, Rutabegas, Sunchokes. You can use carrots, parsnips, turnips. Anything you like. The more different kinds you use, the more variety of nutrients.
Into a bowl, while those are roasting, chop up some mushrooms, onions, green peppers if you like, mince some garlic, and throw in some drained, rinsed beans of your choice. My favorite is back beans, or even better a mixture of more than one! I usually will sautee these ingredients to warm them and then throw them on top of the root veggies--once they are cooked through.
How do you know when the root veggies are cooked through? You stick a fork in one and taste it! Figure it out yourself!
ALTERNATIVES!
Sometimes I get really ambitious on Sunday mornings. That's when I whip out my shredder and fill a bowl of shreds of potatoes and yams. I heat up a centimeter of oil in a skillet and use a fork to make mini potato pancakes, about 6 or so in the skillet at a time. Once they are crispy brown on the bottom, I flip them and press them flat. If you try to press the uncooked side, it often sticks to the utensil and makes a mess.
Also, you are supposed to use a towel to press the shreds dry before cooking them. I bet you this would make it go faster, possibly better, but I have to admit...I never remember to do this step and it always tastes good to me anyway.
When I make potato pancakes, I like to cook lentils and mix the other veggies into that. A friend once made this version for me, and now it just seems the right way to eat potato pancakes.
This is also a great meal with scrambled eggs, if you're into that.
If you feed plenty of people each meal, it makes sense to buy packages of mushrooms and whole peppers and onions. But if you are only feeding yourself or one other person, sometimes buying whole vegetables and packages is far too much and produce is left to rot before you eat it.
One trick to combat that is to purchase small amounts of vegetables at a time using the grocery store salad bar. I started doing this to purchase spinach because I never used all the spinach in the pre-filled packages before they went slicky icky black. Weighing next to nothing, I pay far less than the packages.
