On Dinner

[omorka]

This whole not-cooking-regularly thing is really pissing me off.

On workdays, I rarely get to cook because I don't get to leave work until 5:00 or 5:30 (having gotten there at 7:00 am) and am usually too wiped to get my ass together and boil water. But I am acutely conscious that eating out constantly is one of the reasons I'm heavier than I should be - it's very hard to get food that both tastes decent and is reasonably healthy out. Moreover, and perhaps more important, it's a part of my kitchen-witchery that the process of preparing food is extremely important to me, to the point of being a spiritual practice.

At the moment, I'm making a meal that isn't really homemade, even though I'm cooking it here at the apartment. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (from an IQF bag) marinated all day in store-bought Italian dressing, grilled on the little indoor grill pan, with pasta dressed with Middle Market pesto. Pretty much all store-bought and thrown together. And yet, I feel much better about it than any other meal I've eaten this week.

There's a tray of pre-cut stir-fry vegetables in the refrigerator - also from Middle Market - that will become another not-really-homemade meal either tomorrow or Saturday. Again, I feel really bad about using storeboughts and precuts - but it's better than eating out again.

Comments

[krystiegoddess.livejournal.com]

Storebought & precut are necessary with the lifestyles we lead . . . Generally once I get into the swing of things at school I can plan a menu for about 4 of the 5 days of the week & prep as much ahead of time (on Sunday afternoon/evening) as I can, then prep the rest of it the night before so all I have to do is throw stuff together. Many times it becomes a case of "if it isn't in the crock pot or if it doesn't all go in a 13x9x2 pan & bake for 30 minutes it doesn't happen," but any food fixed in the kitchen and causing the family to sit down together for even a brief period of time is magic.

and once it starts cooling off, the crock pot is my friend.

the bag-salad at the grocery store is also my friend.

there's always sauce from a jar

[binaryathena.livejournal.com]

with your own additions, like fresh 'shrooms, and better herb balance + pasta --
or throw in some ricotta and other cheeses, turn it into a casserole and pop in the oven to melt together while you have salad and a glass of wine..

so don't stress to much over the pre-packs, if you are adding your own energy to the meal. and it is better than restaurant food.

and I, too, am waiting for the weather to cool down, so my crock pot recipes can emerge

[omorka.livejournal.com]

Right with you there on the bagged salad.

I have a book of what are supposed to be 20-minute recipes - in my hands, since I'm not a lighting-fast veggie chopper, they tend to be more like 30 minutes each. I tried to work on some that I liked over summer, and found a few, but . . . mostly they are meant for someone who likes bell pepper far more than I do. And they tend to call for instant rice, which makes me instinctively recoil . . . still, the idea seems preferable to another Chinese buffet.

I just bought two books of crock-pot recipes from Semi-Cost; I'll have to see if any of them come out decently.

Part of the problem is that the Spouse generally won't eat meals that don't have meat in them. :/ I'd be perfectly happy with vegetarian fare three days out of five, and it's generally pretty fast.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

This is why we like to do big Pots O' Stuff (chili, chicken soup, fettucine alfredo, jambalaya, black bean soup, etc.) and freeze them in individual-serving sizes. It makes eating healthier and more economical when we don't have time to cook a meal from scratch.

[omorka.livejournal.com]

If I had a chest freezer, or space to put one, I'd be with you on that, too. Unfortunately, we're pressed for space as it is, and so is our freezer comparment. (One of the things I'll be looking for when we finally get around to buying a house is a space to put a small chest freezer.)