Cooking Time

It's hard to eat right when you work full-time, something I've re-discovered since being back on the job in the last month. 

Okay, it's not hard like getting up at 6 a.m. to run every morning (who are those people?) or—heaven forbid—getting kids ready for school, but still. Packing a healthy lunch every day and then coming home and making a satisfying dinner and THEN doing dishes can be a challenge. Thankfully, I enjoy cooking a whole lot more than cleaning and my freezer doesn't really work, so I can't succumb to the frozen-dinner trap that many people fall into. Plus, I think I overdid that stuff as a teenager prone to eating pizza pops, sausage rolls, and French onion soup microwaved from frozen (shudder). 

Almost two weeks ago, I went to a lecture by Mark Bittman, my culinary hero, who just came out with a new book called Food Matters. I haven't gotten around to reading the factual part of his the book yet, but a lot of it was summed up in the talk: eat significantly less meat, consume whole grains and fruits and veg, stop relying on packaged/processed foods, learn how to cook, try new things. It's stuff that's almost redundant because of the Michael Pollan/"locavore"/healthy living mentality that's become so popular (for good reason). But Bittman puts a practical spin on it by providing recipes and making suggestions for adjusting your diet. 

I've tried two delicious things so far, an apple cinnamon multi-grain bread pudding and a tweaked traditional caesar salad with a dressing much more acidic than creamy—far superior, in my opinion. Caesar salad has been bastardized just about everywhere. 

Every once in awhile, I need a kick of food inspiration and Bittman comes to the rescue once again. Okay, I promise to stop rhapsodizing, but one last thing. As much as I love going out to eat for lunch or dinner, it does make me satisfied to make what I eat. And it makes me proudly pronounce, "I won't fall for you, sucker" to all those ads for soups named after colours, frozen bagel and cream cheese roll-ups (really?!), and rice pilafs that come served from a "chef" out of a microwave oven. Bah.