Found Time

Should I? Shouldn't I? Who would even read this? Don't I have enough to do without writing a blog? I don't even really know what a blog is. So why am I even writing this at all?

Short answer: because the sandwich that is on my plate is so incredibly delicious and last-minute, and easy and healthy and delicious that I have to keep stopping to write this to eat each soft, nutty, lemony, spinachy, proscuittoy, crunchy, doughy, veggie bite. And now I have to lick the plate. I doubt the chefs on food network lick their plates, but I do when no one's around. (OK, ask the guys, I do even when people are around....)

OK - refocus. So why write anything? I am surrounded by amazing people none of whom have "enough" time to do everything they want. So if yummy food on July 2 is what I can do today to share a tiny little talent that I have, then so be it.

Sunday I found myself with LITERALLY some FOUND TIME. Like I had a chance to go to the grocery store, buy food in advance, cut it up into portions, wash it, make stuff, and leave it in my fridge for the week. And it has been the BEST eating week from a simplicity point of view. I come home, things are there, ready, cooked, eaten and then I HAVE A LIFE after it's over.

Grocery Ingredients and Sunday Prep:

Sweet Potato (farmstand)
Onion (farmstand)
Asparagus (farmstand)
Organic Cottage Cheese (50%) off ($4.40)
Skim Mozzarella ($5.69)
Whole grain whole wheat lasagna sheets ($2.14)
Chicken Thighs $10.15
Pork Rib-Eye ($4.09)
Napa Cabbage ($2.49)
Cauliflower ($2.79)
Proscuitto ($4.59)

OK, I'll stop with the list-making... but you get the gist. My point is that there were a lot of building blocks here. Good, healthy whole wheat bread for both breakfasts on the run, or even dinner tonight. Eggs. Lemons. Canned things and pantry items like chick peas, and spices.

Lasagna took the longest. I cut up and sauteed an onion and some garlic in 1 tbsp of olive oil. I dumped a can of tomatoes in the pan and grabbed some fresh herbs from my garden. 5 min. Truth be told, a shake of "italian spice" would have done just fine if you don't have any. I added cayenne pepper ( as I do to almost everything I eat) and that was it. Layer sauce, noodle, sauce, cottage cheese garlic herb layer, noodle, sauce, mozzarella cheese, spinach, noodle, top off with sauce. 10 minutes, tops. And it smells amazing. No meat, yummy melty cheese and lots of healthy veggies, plus whole grain pasta. If my son was home, I probably would have pureed the spinach into a blender with the sauce so I could sneak lots of greens in! Put in fridge.

Soup was easy. Sauteed the other half of the onion in olive oil, peeled and cubed the sweet potato, added that when I was done, moved it around in the hot pan for 5 minutes, added 4 cups of water, some cinnamon, some allspice, some salt and some pepper. Poured the whole thing in the blender - slowly hit the buttons going faster (it's like a food video game) eventually up to puree with a LARGE cloth on top, and the detachable thingy on the blender cracked to let the heat escape. Why is it that pureeing hot stuff can literally blast the top of the blender into the stratosphere? Plus it can burn you? WHY? I have no idea - just be careful, and don't do too much at one time. Poured into 4 plastic things and topped with chopped peanuts from pantry. 10 minutes.

Cauliflower was next - took florets off, divided into three portions - one for Indian thing, two for later... I had no idea what I was going to do with them on Sunday, but at least they were washed and ready for action. 2 minutes, maybe three.

Asparagus - Washed them, snapped off lower woody part, divided into the containers. 1 minute.

Pork - Put on cutting board, cut into 1 inch strips, put in plastic bag. 2 minutes.

Chicken - Took 6 portions of thighs, put in 3 plastic bags, with 2 each. Put Indian Tandoori spice on one, and matched it with cauliflower portion. Thought of chick peas being good, got and opened the can, rinsed the starchy stuff off, added to storage container. Added 1 tbsp olive oil, more tandoori spice, turmeric, and cayenne) Closed lid. 5 minutes.

Went to see "the Hangover". Did NOT get nachos :)

Monday: Came home 5:15. I have to leave for bootcamp at 5:35. Put apron on over work clothes, turned pan on, dumped pork into pan with some olive oil, chopped some garlic, chopped three stalks of celery into cool-looking pieces, realized the carrots I bought had gone bad. Decided to work in cabbage and to make rice before bootcamp. No time. 5:25 Cut up cabbage, and decided to have the stir fry over cabbage slaw instead. Thought of peanut butter. Added PB to Magic Bullet, grabbed soy sauce, sesame oil, some water, some lime juice, hot sauce and blended. Yum. 5:30 Added soy sauce to pan (the wetness "deglazed" the brown bits from the meat, added sesame oil to pan, added salt. Took off the heat. Grabbed a bowl - cut up napa cabbage really fine, tossed it with peanut dressing. Cold, crunchy on the plate. Added pork celery thing - hot over cold. 5:35 This was so incredibly good that I licked the plate and first thought of writing a blog. Left the rest for Bill, left for bootcamp at 5:42. Was disappointed that he ate the whole thing - was hoping for leftovers but no such luck.

Tuesday: Baby night is going to be at Greg's - they're ordering pizza. White crust, pepperoni, cheese, probably chips too. 5:20 Where is that Indian thing? Turn on pan, dump chicken thighs in 1 tsp of olive oil. Smells amazing when tandoori hits the oil. Chicken slowly browns. Dumped cauliflower chick pea portions in. Sizzle! Then too much sizzle, so I added water. Yes! Chicken chick pea cauliflower thing makes yummy sauce - added juice of lemon for freshness. 5:35 - pour into bowls. We picked up the pizza at 6, but I only had one slice instead of 6, since I was full of good legumes, veggies and lean chicken. Score!

Wednesday: I am still sore from bootcamp. AND I have the day off, so I suddenly feel like barbecued sausages on a bun with a fake beer, because I hate real beer. Went to Zehrs, found BLUE MENU sausages with only 10g fat instead of the usual 25-30. Bought whole grain whole wheat hot dog buns too. After bootcamp, I am HUNGRY! 6:15 - heated sausages in a pan. Put in bun, with mustard. I should probably eat veggies too... Dump cauliflower into bowl, microwave for 4 minutes - now soft. Added asparagus, cooked until tender. Put on plate. Hot dog is gone by now. Added grainy mustard to pan, pour in some fake beer. Shake in some flour to thicken it - added a bit of milk. Added two chopped up Babybel cheeses. Smells like a delicious fondue. Poured over veggies. Thought again that I should write a blog because it dawned on me that most of the time while I am eating, I really had no idea what I would be eating 40 minutes earlier.... I just grab stuff, adapt to what is there, what I feel like, how much time I have, who I have to feed, and how healthy I should be making dinner.

Thursday: propose the "crazy" idea of writing a blog to Marissa. She says she'll read it. Good enough for me. 5:00 - hungry. Put proscuitto in a pan to crisp it, and was going to add chicken, lemon, spinach and lemon. Grab chicken thighs, open bag, YUCK! close bag, garbage...Now what? Proscuitto in hot pan goes pink, then a beautiful crispy rust colour. Grab healthy bread - pile bread with spinach. Think of making a BLT except that I don't really want a T tonight, even though they're right there and ripe. It's my mouth, so no T. Just B and S, instead of L. Interesting, did I have a BS sandwich? Anyway.... I suppose it's a PS sandwich since I used proscuitto. Yep - that sounds better. Hot proscuitto over spinach. Wilts it slightly. Lots of browned bits on bottom of pan - grab lemon. Lemon juice lifts bits into a gorgeous "sauce", but there is not enough. Added a bit of water. Poured sauce over bread slice. Grabbed knife, and heard the beautiful crackle sound of crisp proscuitto, through soft bread, and crunchy, lemony spinach. Sat down at computer to check email. Took bite of sandwich.


Decided it was worth it to start blog.