I wanted to talk about something super serious... not eating well. And I am not talking about eating healthy, eating vegan, etc the lectures fit people in life give us. I am talking about eating well. And this includes cooking for yourself and those you love more often then you do. You see, I cook. All the time. In fact I cook most anything I eat. Sometimes, I don't even cook that much, I just prepare. The food you eat should always be creative, whether its the what you make, how you do it, how you prepare it, how easy it is, etc. I never want you to come home and go "I have nothing to eat" when you have a pantry and refrigerator full of possibilities. Just don't do that.
This was my dinner on Tuesday night:
It looks pretty fancy. In fact, it looks like something you've seen on a menu somewhere. Well let me tell you it wasn't difficult and, except for the salmon I purchased that afternoon, everything was something I had in my kitchen already.
Let me explain....
Remember on Saturday when I made breakfast casserole? Well I cheated. Waking up at 5:30am, I did NOT want to dice potatoes. I bought a bag of frozen diced potatoes and used 4 cups of it for my Saturday recipe. This meant I had leftover potatoes. I knew I wanted to cook Salmon Tuesday night for my dinner with my mom because she is a Vegetarian (who sometimes eats fish). But what about the sidedishes?? Here are where the potatoes come in. I took the leftover bag of diced potatoes and thought to myself, what can I make? Remember that pizza I made a few weeks ago with fennel?? Yes... I had a whole fennel bulb left. This is getting interesting...
Trying to make use of what was in my house, I chopped up the fennel into rounds, and then ran my knife through those to make smaller pieces. After melting some butter and olive oil in a pan, I threw in the fennel to tenderize it. Once tender, I tossed in my potatoes. But not only did I toss in my diced white potatoes, I also decided to take half a bag of Trader Joes sweet potato fries, dice them up, and add them to the mix. Perfect. Once everything was well warm and crisped, I added salt, pepper, and rosemary. Easy and done.
Sauteed Salmon was easy too. Butter in a pan. Salmon in hot butter. Salt and pepper on salmon to make a crusty top. Baste the salmon a few times till fully cooked. Done. Oh, and don't forget to squeeze some fresh lemon juice on top of the cooked fish. YUM!
Broccoli. Was frozen from Trader Joes. In fact, Trader Joes has great frozen vegetables. All I did was put the frozen broccoli in the microwave for 2 minutes, drain the water, add some butter, salt and pepper, and then microwave for another 2 minutes. Done.
Bread. You always have to have good bread in the house. Otherwise, what is life worth living for!!!? Well... I'd live for good cheese too... anyways. Bread. Toasted and added butter. Done.
20 minutes, you have a salmon dinner for you and your family that didn't cost you a fortune and tastes delicious. And EVERY NIGHT should be like this Tuesday night. Cooking for yourself if you are resourceful and creative is easy. Trust me, I love to roast a chicken more than anyone. But I work an 8-5pm job and sometimes, I don't have 3 hours for that. Next time you are at the store, grab a roast chicken and then come home and jazz it up a bit. Maybe put some barbeque sauce on it and just stick it in the oven for 10 minutes to warm it up and cook that BBQ sauce in. Have the sides be homemade, the chicken store bought. Like I say... the possibilities are endless.
On that note.... these are the other things that make me happy :)
If you haven't rescued an animal, I suggest you do. Not only will they bring you endless happiness, they will love you that much more. Because they know you saved their life.
Happy Thursday everyone! Its almost Friday :)
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