I think — *THINK* — my life is about to return to normal just a smidge. I survived the chaos at work, and Godwilling I will have some peace and quiet this coming weekend in the form of a three-day weekend (I did not have a three-day weekend like many of the rest of you. I’ve only had two days off this entire month).
One of the goals as part of my New Year’s Mantra (ahem, kindness) was to treat my body more kindly. I’ve wanted to do more cooking for myself, and I don’t mean sticking a Weight Watchers meal in the microwave. I want to know what ingredients are going into my meals, and I want those ingredients to be as fresh as possible.
Before work knocked me off my rocker, the Modern Love Machine and I were trying out a week of new recipes courtesy of an old issue of Real Simple. The magazine did an article on a month’s worth of new recipes complete with grocery shopping lists. Here’s Week One, Week Two, Week Three and Week Four.
We made it through four days, and let me tell you these recipes are AWESOME. The hardest part was finding all the fresh veggies at my woefully understocked Kroger. The cooking was simple. Easy directions and every recipe took no longer than 30 minutes as best as I can remember. Everything was tasty, and the MLM and I edited a few of the recipes to add our own touch (like substituting the brown rice I had in the pantry for the white rice that was called for). The cooking methods seem healthy enough: mostly sauteing in olive oil or baking in the oven. And if you need to edit portion size, it’s not hard to cut most of the recipes in half.
Now, go forth and cook.
After reading Pollan's new book, I went on a cooking revamp. Thanks for the links! I found great recipes!! 🙂
I loooove the recipes in Real Simple. I've made some good stuff out of there.
Cooking Light/My Recipes website is also a fantastic place to find recipes. You can do a recipe search with the Quick/Easy category search checked for simple delish meals.
Oh cool! I will have to check this out. Our dinners have consisted of salads with varied protein sources for the past month or so.
i love cooking recipes from real simple, they are usually so tasty and quite easy.
I'm SO glad to hear you're doing this. Sure, it's going to be healthier and more cost-effective, but more importantly I think it's a great way to regroup at the end of a busy work day.
One of the best things about my second marriage is how much my husband and I enjoy cooking together. We talk as we cook, we're working with our hands rather than just our minds (as we do all day at work), and we're collaborating in the creation of something satisfying and delicious. It's good on so many levels. Keep it up!