Quick & Easy

Hope you had a great August, a nice Labor Day and have begun to enjoy a slight cooling of the weather as I have. My apologies for such a gaping hole on my blog, for, eh, the entire month of August. I travelled abroad for work and while I've been home for well over a month, it's taken me this long to get back to my blog. But alas, I'm here, so let's dig in.

Somehow, since I last wrote in July, our kitchen has been taken over by "Quick & Easy" recipes like chicken noodle casserole, pizza casserole, broiled chicken and how do I make this sound better??? cheeseburger pasta (don't knock it 'til you try it).

Real food supporter that I am, and fresh, local ingredients lover that I am, I just wasn't able to keep every single ball in my life afloat this summer. So the ball that seemed easiest and most necessary to drop was the restaurant-quality-weeknight-dinners-at-home-that-will-inspire-healthy-eating-habits-for-life-in-my-daughter ball. Just like that, I let it go. 

Not surprisingly, my meal-planning stress diminished dramatically (though so did the quality of my recipes). Sure, I still daydream about the next batch of chicken picatta I'll make or the strawberry scones I've been wanting to bake since I did many months ago.  But for now, I've surrendered to the "Quick & Easy" recipes nestled on the back of inspiring things such as Ketchup (don't ask how this happened because I don't know). 

In the time it's taken me to embrace "Quick & Easy" recipes, draft a blog post about it and move on, my schedule has calmed down a bit. It's given me a chance to catch my breath and somehow I've actually found myself puttering around in the kitchen with a smile on my face during my daughter's naps. Since this foodie side of me is re-emerging, I definitely considered keeping this Cheeseburger Pasta post very far away from this blog, but that didn't seem honest. The space on this blog is about opening up my kitchen cabinets and showing you what it means to eat normally. No diets, no gimmicks, no pretending to be someone I'm not. And this summer, sushi class and all, I was not the inspired cook I once was. My weight, energy level and overall well-being were not shattered. Just an image of "blog-worthy" meals. Whatever that means.

But back to our beloved "Cheeseburger Pasta."  The first time I cooked it, I was quite certain that I might not be able to stomach the dish myself, but decided to give it a go simply because I didn't have the energy to cook anything else. Simply out of curiosity, I scooped up a tiny bite out of the pan. "OMG! It's actually kind of good," I think I said out loud. Not gourmet, mind you. But A-OK and oddly satisfying.

Since my last post back in June, I'm embarrassed to say that we've made Cheeseburger Pasta at least three or four times. It's certainly not the most inspired or noteworthy meal in our recipe box, but let's take a look: we use multigrain pasta, which provides a nice amount of fiber, plus we're getting protein from the turkey and calcium from the cheese, plus a big pile of fresh veggies on the side. 

So there you have it. Eat when you're hungry. Cook what you have the energy to cook. And stop beating yourself up about it.  I promise to have more inspired posts coming soon.  

Hugs and happy cooking.

**My cooking photos took a back-seat this summer too, so rather than include an image that logically relates to this post (because I don't have one), I'm sharing a picture of pad thai noodles that I enjoyed during my trip abroad**

**If you're curious about this Cheeseburger Pasta, here is the recipe. Our modifications are: use ground turkey instead of beef, and shredded cheddar cheese instead of "processed cheese spread." I don't even know what that is.**

Comments

[linzey]

I think actually having the time to sit down and eat as a family around the table is important too, even if that means you don't get a gourmet meal! And if it means recipes like Cheeseburger Pasta, well so be it! :) We tend to do a lot of the same, relatively uninspired meals week after week (grilled chicken/rice/veggies; grilled pork/veggies; pasta; grilled cheese/soup; etc) but I think that's what happens when you work full time and have little kids! At least it's relatively healthy, tastes good, and fills your stomach.

[linzey]

Oh, and I think we'll try the Cheeseburger Pasta. It's got to be healthier than the processed/box kind! And looks tasty!