An Ode To Potatoes, Plus Fried Potato Soft Tacos

I’ve been giving this some thought, and potatoes kind of get a bad rep.

I know why this is. First, we eat them in fried form too often. French fries are, perhaps, not the greatest argument for why we should eat potatoes. Second, they’re starchy, and for whatever reason, we have been taught to think of starches as not particularly nutritious.

Folks, I am here to tell you that, in moderation (as with literally any other food) potatoes are your friends.

You may recall that a few months ago, I posted about how we are supposed to eat a rainbow of vegetables.  Brown/white vegetables have important nutrients, and 86% of Americans are not taking in the recommended levels of these phytonutrients. In fact, the only veggie/fruit color category we are worse at is blue/purple. What, exactly, are those nutrients? Brown/white fruits and vegetables are high in potassium, magnesium, fiber, vitamin C, vitamin A, and other micro-nutrients (for more on the food science, see here).  Potatoes, in particular, are one of the biggest sources of potassium and vegetable phenolics in the American diet. Russet potatoes (the kind you probably picture when you think of baked potatoes or making mashed potatoes) have just over half the vitamin B6 you need in a day, and almost half the recommended daily amount of potassium. Red potatoes, the kind used in this recipe, are high in potassium, manganese, and vitamin C.

TL;DR: potatoes actually have a lot of nutritional value so let’s learn to use them correctly!

The fried potato soft tacos are actually a lot healthier, then, than you may have initially thought. They’re also not deep-fried, or fried in anything particularly bad for you; for this recipe, you’ll just be sauteeing them in a little olive oil, with a few seasonings, until they crisp up a bit on the outside and are fork tender.

From there, assembly is simple! With your tortilla of choice (I use a mixed flour-corn tortilla baked and sold at my local grocery store–Texas folks, y’all know the HEB tortillas I am talking about) but flour or corn would work fine for these. Warm up your tortillas a little in advance, transfer all of the fillings into said tortilla, and enjoy potato-y taco greatness.

RECIPE (makes 4-6 tacos, or enough or 2 people)

INGREDIENTS

2-3 medium-ish red potatoes, washed and diced

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

6 tortillas, warmed slightly before taco assembly

1/2 an avocado, sliced

1/3 cup shredded cheese blend (look for something with some combination of cheddar, Monterey jack, Asadero, queso quesadilla, and/or Colby jack; you won’t find cheese with all 5 but look for something with 3-4 of them); to make this recipe vegan, simply sub in your favorite vegan-friendly cheese!

Tomatillo salsa or creamy tomatillo sauce, to taste

Olive oil or coconut oil, for frying

DIRECTIONS:

1. Clean and cut up your potatoes, being sure to remove any small eyes or other lumps on the outside.
2. Heat olive or coconut oil in a skillet over medium heat, using just enough to coat the bottom of the pan. When hot, add the potatoes. Sauté potatoes for 2-3 minutes, until they begin to soften slightly. Add in the spices and stir to evenly coat the potatoes.
3. Continue to fry the potatoes, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are golden-brown on the outside and are fork tender, about 10-12 minutes over medium or medium-low heat.
4. Meanwhile, cut up the avocado and warm your tortillas to prepare for taco assembly.
5. Remove the potatoes from heat and stir the cheese directly into the pan of potatoes for about 20-30 seconds, until cheese is melted. Add more cheese if you want the tacos even cheesier! You can also wait to add the cheese, but it won’t melt as well if it’s just in the taco with the hot potatoes.
6. Distribute the cheesy potatoes among the tortillas. Add the avocado along one side, top with salsa, and enjoy!

Faster Than Takeout Veggie Lo Mein

You know those days when you get home and you just want noodles, but that little voice in your brain says, “You can’t just have noodles, you have to at least try for some protein or vegetables or something”, but all you want is noodles?  Or, those days when you get home and you are just craving takeout but the thought of actually ordering and paying for said takeout is deeply undesirable?

This recipe is for those days, friends.

Lo mein is a personal favorite of mine, but one that seems kind of silly to order as takeout when it is so easy to prepare at home. Plus, it’s ready in less time than it would take for me to call in an order, let the restaurant prepare the order, and then go retrieve the order, because my local Chinese takeout place does not deliver. In fact, in the time that it would take me to stare at the menu, waffling on if I really should be getting takeout at all and deciding what I want, I could have made this lo mein.

Just look at that noodle-based, veggie-laden goodness! This recipe also uses edamame, to add just a little extra protein, but you could also easily fry up some tofu and toss it in with the noodles, vegetables, and sauce.

My sauce recipe is based on the one used in The Recipe Critic’s Garlic Beef and Broccoli Lo Mein, which I also really enjoy and highly recommend, but it has a few tweaks. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have-~-and that it proves to be a weeknight hero for you as well!

RECIPE (yields 4 servings)

INGREDIENTS

• 2/3 of a package of lo mein noodles
• 1 large head of broccoli, trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces
• 1/2 red bell pepper, cut into thin slices
• 1/3 shredded/matchstick carrots
• 1 to 1 1/2 cup frozen edamame, thawed
• 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 1/2 T Hoisin sauce
• 1/4 reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1 small squeeze of squeeze ginger (or, approximately 1/4 tsp ground ginger)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp honey
• Pepper, to taste
• Sriracha, to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Prepare lo mein noodles according to package instructions, taking care not to overcook them.
2. In a skillet over medium heat, add a drizzle of olive oil, just enough to coat the bottom. Add in broccoli and sauté about 2 minutes. Add in the carrots and bell peppers and cook an additional 2-3 minutes.  Add in the edamame and cook, stirring, for another 2-3 minutes, until edamame is bright green and broccoli is becoming tender. Add in garlic and cook until fragrant.
3. Combine everything in the ingredient list from brown sugar onward in a small bowl and check taste. If salty, offset with a little bit of water. If too sweet, offset with a little extra hot sauce. If you can’t taste the hoisin as the base flavor, add a little more hoisin.
4. Add the noodles into the pan with the vegetables. Pour the sauce of the noodles and vegetables and toss to coat. Cook an additional minute or two, then remove from heat and garnish with a sprinkle of sesame seeds (optional).

 

Southwestern Sorta-Cobb Salad, and Some Thoughts on Fusion Cuisine

Okay, this summer is flying by. Does anyone else feel that way? I feel this almost crushing panic when I realize how much sooner my deadlines are than I had thought.

I drafted this post shortly after spring break, but never got around to actually posting it. It’s actually for a reason a lot of my posts get stalled: I don’t have good pictures of the food.

I have really only one picture of this salad because I got excited and ate the salad pretty quickly, so you’ll have to forgive the relatively photo-sparse posting.

I had this momentary fleeting fantasy while I was in Costa Rica of what it might be like to open a Latin American/Jewish fusion restaurant. I’m not talking about reinventing the wheel; Jews in Costa Rica, Brazil, Mexico, Buenos Aires, and other Latin American countries have been developing fusion recipes for decades, either combining culinary traditions or taking traditional recipes from their home countries and making them kosher. I’m thinking about things like casados with brisket. Susan Schmidt’s Manischewitz Sangria, Fiesta Latkes, and Chicken Tortilla Kugel. Jamie Keller’s Kosher Feiojado. Or this Matzo Ball Pozole, a Mexican-Jewish mash-up that looks delicious, or these Brisket Empanadas. There’s also this smoked salmon quesadilla, and this article references Mexican-Jewish dishes like pastrami enchiladas, chocolate babka made with Mexican chocolate and cinnamon, and brisket cooked with piloncillo and pasillo.  I won’t be dropping out of grad school to open such a restaurant, but keep an eye on this blog for some posts sharing these kinds of recipes in the future (seriously, how can I say no to a chicken tortilla kugel??).

Now that I’m done rambling about that, let me talk to you about this recipe. Summer is coming, and summer is salad season, because when it’s hot out a lot of the time we want a light, cool meal. So get ready to say hello to your new favorite salad, my southwestern twist on a Cobb salad. It has most of your Cobb salad staples, and then a few things that may not seem like they belong in a Cobb salad but trust me, they do.

INGREDIENTS (yields 2 salads):

1-2 ears of corn (or, 1/2-1 can of corn)

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp garlic salt (or just about 2 shakes of your garlic salt bottle)

1 avocado

5 strips of bacon, cooked

4 hard-boiled eggs, yokes removed

1/4 cup cojita cheese

1 head/heart of romaine, freshly chopped

Green Goddess Dressing (I used store-bought, but if you’re looking to make your own, I recommend Pinch of Yum’s 5-minute Avocado-Cilantro Dressing)

Optional: cherry tomatoes, sliced in half; grilled chicken

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat a heavy-bottomed or cast iron pan or griddle pan. Spray with non-stick spray (I used avocado oil spray for this but you can use any spray you want)
2. Cut the corn off of the cobs directly into the pan. It’s fine if the kernels don’t all separate; in fact having some small clumps is good! Let heat for approx 2-3 minutes, then add in your chili powder, cumin, and garlic salt, and stir to spread the spices evenly. Continue cooking until corn is tender and some pieces are starting to char. Remove corn from pan.
3. Cut up your bacon into small strips. Cut up your egg into smaller pieces or slices of egg as well, and slice the avocado. About a quarter of an avocado per salad is probably fine, but you can use more if you prefer/don’t want to deal with leftover avocado. Combine all ingredients and top with dressing of choice, then portion into two separate salads. NOTE: if you want to eat one salad and leave the second as leftovers, this salad does keep well while combined, but remember to leave the dressing off the half you’re not eating same-day!

 

How to Deal with Food When You Don’t Really Want to Eat

Note: THIS IS NOT A POST ABOUT COOKING. Not really. There is no secret recipe lurking towards the bottom. If you are in this just for the food, I totally respect that, and you should check back soon. This post is about understanding your core foods, your “safe” foods, if you will, for when your body doesn’t seem to really want anything.

CW: Eating Disorders. I don’t have an eating disorder, but again, this post is about dealing with having no appetite/desire to eat.

I have been meaning to post recipes, wanting to post recipes, on here for weeks. I had all these ideas about what I was going to cook and share with y’all. But I kept running into the same problem, over and over:

I didn’t really want to cook. And there was nothing I really wanted to eat.

It wasn’t that I was trying not to eat. I wanted to want to eat. But when mealtime rolled around, I wasn’t hungry. I could maybe get myself to eat, but not the kinds of foods I usually make. The foods I usually make use combinations of flavors and textures that make for a more complex (and usually, more delightful) food experience for me. But I couldn’t do it.

On top of that, I didn’t really want to cook. This is extra surprising for me because I love cooking. Cooking is stress relief for me. It gives me a chance to step away from schoolwork and just focus on this very important aspect of my self care. But I’ve been stressed (and probably a little depressed) and unmotivated-~-which, again, is very common in grad school.

Source: Hyperbole and a Half

And this is not something that could be solved with cheese and a little food pampering. Believe me, I tried. I have tried wielding cheese in several forms to motivate myself (nachos, quesadillas, apples and cheddar, brie and crackers) and nothing has worked.

I’ve been through this before, though. And I know that it will, eventually, pass. And in the meantime, the strategy is basically this: identify the foods my body is on board with even when it thinks it isn’t hungry.

Have you ever done this? If not, it’s actually not a bad thought exercise. Which foods bring you joy? Which foods bring you comfort? Which do you not actually need any motivation or appetite to eat because they’re just kind of there and your body will accept them? What forms of foods work for you in these situations?

For me, it basically comes down to a few staples:

1. Pasta. It’s good, it’s reliable, and it is very easy to prepare. Even when I’m really out of it, I still try to stick to me 2 food group minimum, so I’ll often try to add in a vegetable; for me, sauteed broccoli often works, or blanching asparagus and adding it to pasta Alfredo is often an easy option.
2. Fried rice. Preferably from the local Chinese takeout place, but I can make it myself. Veggie fried rice or chicken fried rice are usually easy go-to meals, and they offer at least a few food groups to help with the whole “nutritional balance” thing.
3. Green smoothies are a super easy way to get veggies into my system even when I don’t really want to eat the veggies. (Also, they are honestly one of the only ways I will consume kale, because I really do not like kale.)
4. YOGURT. Yogurt is honestly the true MVP of my grad school experience so far. Every time we adjust my anxiety meds, my appetite gets messed up, and yogurt becomes a critical source of nutrition for 1-3 weeks at a time. It requires basically no appetite, and it has protein, calcium, and vitamin D. I’ll be real with you: get the good yogurt. At least reduced fat, preferably whole fat, Greek or Icelandic yogurt. Nonfat yogurt has a lot of hidden sugar. Seriously, go check.
5. Protein shakes-~-a life saver
6. Salads are a good way for me to get at least some vegetables, without getting overwhelmed. The trick, for me, is to not have an overly fancy salad; instead, I like to get a shaved veggie “slaw” (HEB calls it power slaw, the one I eat), pour a bunch of vinaigrette on it, and eat that.
7. Waffles with peanut butter. They take almost no effort, they provide some protein and a starch, and I can follow them up with a fruit or veggie like carrots, strawberries, or bananas.
8. Berries, cherries, or grapes-~-they are easy to snack on and require little motivation.

The other big trick for me is to switch to simpler meals when I meal plan. Fewer flavors overlapping and lower effort meals mean I’m a lot less likely to bail on cooking them or have trouble with them. Here are a few of my recommendations:

1. These Brussels sprouts with eggs and bacon, with or without actually including the bacon
2. This Parmesan crusted chicken with green beans that offers an easy, balanced meal; I sub in diced up potatoes for the tomatoes (I was never a big tomato fan and this way I get a starch and some potassium)
3. This five ingredient chickpea curry, which is easy to make and usually sits well when I eat it
4. This easy lemon chicken and asparagus–you can also just grill or pan-sear some chicken and saute some asparagus with lemon pepper and lemon juice and call it a day
5. Hamburgers with green beans or sweet potato on the side
6. Shakshuka, preferably with a veggie on the side (I like to eat mine over pita or naan)
7. These zucchini fritters with hard-boiled or fried eggs
8. These fruit and yogurt overnight oat parfaits, which I usually eat for breakfast.
9. Macaroni and cheese, maybe with a side salad.
10. This Sweet Potato and Black Bean hash, with or without the eggs

Honestly, this may not work for everyone. Maybe you need to default to favorite foods, no matter how “fancy” or complex they are.  Maybe you need to switch to more new recipes, to keep things interesting.  But the important thing is this: know what you are willing to cook and eat when you don’t particularly want to cook and eat, because no matter how stressed, depressed, anxious, or tired you are, you still need to meet your nutritional needs.

 

 

 

Please Excuse My Absence

Like many of my students, I became victim to the end of the semester. I also had a lot more absence from this site than I expected.

First, the end of this semester was a little extra rough.  Grading piled up, papers became due…if you’re a grad student, you know the deal.  Second, WordPress started having technical difficulties so I was unable to log in to generate new posts.

And, maybe the most frustrating thing of all: the stress (and following head cold) messed with my appetite.  Put simply, I wasn’t really cooking.  I was running on side salads and sugar snap peas and yogurt and scrambled eggs and mac’n’cheese.

I’ll post more on this in the next couple of days…as well as new posts with actual recipes now that I’m finally back to cooking. So stay tuned, and if you have recently crossed the finish line of spring semester: congratulations!

Three Cooking Techniques To Help Keep You Sane During the Semester

I like to cook almost every night. This is known to basically everyone who has ever come into my apartment. But I don’t use the same technique every night, and I get that not everyone has enough time to prep and cook every night. I don’t even have enough time to prep and cook every night! (Hello, evening classes…)

So in this post, I’ll be giving a quick rundown of three general cooking techniques, with links to recipes (and recipe lists) that may help inspire you.

Technique #1: Slow Cooking

I LOVE using my slow-cooker. To be honest, I do not use it enough. Slow cookers are great, especially because you can use “dump dinners”, meaning you put everything into your slow cooker and ignore it. And you can ignore it for the entire day in many cases. Think about that. You put all your ingredients in in the morning and when you get home, dinner is ready. Bonus tip: you can buy slow cooker liners at your grocery store or big box store to cut down on cleanup.

Slow cookers work best for things like stews, chili, and meat that can be cooked for a long time (think carnitas, short ribs, brisket, etc.), but they can also be used for things like lasagna (this is also super helpful in the summer when you do not want to turn on your oven), chowders, and curries.

For reference:

The Kitchn’s 10 Most Popular Slow Cooker Recipes of All Time

A list of “dump dinners” for fall, most of which you can make in a slow cooker; list includes things like veggie lasagna, three bean chili, and General Tso’s chicken.

This list of “dump dinners” for winter, all of which you can make in a slow cooker; list includes things like pork carnitas, eggplant lasagna, and mushroom mac and cheese.

This list of vegetarian slow cooker meals, including lentil butternut squash curry, black bean and pumpkin chili, and a slow cooker barley risotto. (I can personally vouch for both the lentil butternut squash curry and the barley risotto.)

This southwestern brisket and this tangy brisket from Smitten Kitchen

This collection of slow cooker recipes from Pinch of Yum

Bonus tip #2: Crock-pot makes a “lunch crock”, in which you can slowly rewarm soups, stews, chili, meat, etc. Pro tip: the lunch crock is definitely the best way to reheat meatballs. Every member of my family owns one of these, if only because it is the best way to reheat meatballs.

Technique #2: Freezer Meals

Freezer meals are one of the best ways to meal prep, provided you actually have some freezer space. Set aside some time on a weekend to prepare these recipes, throw them in the freezer, and you’re ready to go for an easy-to-cook (or simply heat) weeknight meal. I do this with things like meatballs and taco meat, but you can also prepare stir fry ingredients, stew ingredients, etc. Some of these freezer meals can even go directly into your slow cooker. Think of it as Prep Day You doing Cooking Day You a big favor.

For reference:

This list of actually good freezer meals from Pinch of Yum

This collection of 25 freezer-friendly meals from the Kitchn

This list of vegetarian freezer meals so that you can plan your meatless Mondays in advance

This list of make-ahead freezer meals for when things are just really busy

This shrimp stir fry freezer pack and these freezer chicken enchiladas from Damn Delicious (check out her list of freezer-friendly recipes here)

Technique #3: Sheet Pan Meals

I recently introduced my mom to the concept of sheet pan meals and she loved it. I honestly wish this concept had been on her radar when I was growing up. The beauty of the sheet pan meal is twofold: first, there is only one pan, which means there is minimal cleanup, and second, once you put everything on the pan, you can ignore it while it cooks in the oven and go about other things you need to do like cleaning, reading, calling your parents, etc. I use sheet pan recipes all the time, and just got my sister a cookbook specifically dedicated to sheet pan dinners. They are super convenient and a great way to get a solid meal made with relatively little active effort.

For reference:

This list of vegetarian sheet pan dinners (because vegetarian cooking should be easy, too!)

This list of easy, time-saving sheet pan recipes, including a sheet pan shrimp boil, honey sesame tofu with green beans, and balsamic chicken and veggies.

Wasabi salmon with bok choy from Bon Appetite

Sheet pan shrimp fajitas from The Blond Cook

Sheet pan tofu and veggie bowls with ginger peanut sauce from She Likes Food

Sheet pan sausage and veggies from Chelsea’s Messy Apron

Garlic-Parmesan chicken tenders with green beans and cherry tomatoes from Cooking Classy

Baked chicken Parmesan from Gimme Some Oven

Brussels Sprouts, Bacon and Eggs from Damn Delicious (leave out the bacon to make it vegetarian; also, this is one of my favorite easy dinners)

Don’t let a lack of time during the week keep you from eating tasty and healthy food. Planning ahead and using techniques like these can save you time and make your life a lot easier, so take advantage of the many many recipes out there and go cook!

 

Smitten Kitchen’s Burrata and Lentils, and I am Feeling the Grad School Slog

Before I even started graduate school, I knew this: there would come a point when I would want to quit.

I knew this because almost everyone who goes through a PhD program thinks about quitting at some point-~-and, in fact, about 50% of doctoral students drop out of their graduate programs. The biggest reasons are time management problems, conflicts with supervisors, feeling burned out or exhausted, problems with writing up the dissertation, loss of interest in research, and feeling isolated. Graduate school comes with a particular brand of loneliness: you are working independently, all of your graduate school friends are also working independently and are as isolated and overworked as you, and your non-grad student friends may not understand what you’re dealing with, especially because graduate school is fundamentally different from college and the experience is frequently misunderstood.

I’m not even at the point where I want to quit. I genuinely do care about my master’s thesis and I genuinely like the topic I am developing for my dissertation. Thus far, (most of) my advisors have been helpful and supportive. But grad school has a way of making you feel incredibly not special. I am not saying that I need to actively feel special all the time. I am fine with that, actually. What I mean is that graduate school makes you feel actively not special. It’s the difference between not hearing something positive and actively hearing something negative. You are constantly hearing about how much you don’t know, and how incredibly bad your job prospects are, and how you need to be publishing more than ever, and how nothing you are working on is actually ready to go to a journal, and all of this is happening while you are being rejected for fellowships and rejected from journals and struggling to deal with low grad student stipends and graduation feels so freaking far away. And you don’t have to want to quit to recognize that you are exhausted, burned out, and frustrated.

By now, at least half of you have skipped ahead to get to the recipe and honestly, that’s fine, that is totally fair. But if you haven’t skipped ahead and have stuck with me through this little rant, let me say: if you are a doctoral student who is feeling this, you are not alone at all. What you are feeling is very, very common, and as one of my advisors pointed out, the feelings of frustration and dread will (probably) pass, so keep your eyes on the prize. Or, it is equally valid to quit if that is what you need to do for your mental health or your career.

All of that is to say that sometimes we do need to hear that we are special or at least just deserving of something good, even if we have to say it ourselves. And sometimes treating yourself to food that feels a little fancier is a good way to make yourself feel a little special, or a little better. At least, it does for me: it is a way for me to tell myself that I deserve fancy food (by which I almost always mean “fancier cheese”). And even if that isn’t how your brain works, this recipe involves burrata, which means it will for sure bring you joy.

If you are not familiar, burrata is a type of cheese that is like fresh mozzarella on the outside and creamy ricotta on the inside. It is a little more expensive, so bear in mind that you can use half a ball of burrata for each portion and stretch that cheese purchase a little more if you want.

This recipe is super easy to pull off and makes a delicious and filling vegetarian meal. Just be sure to cook the lentils completely and to give yourself time to saute your onion and zucchini.

RECIPE:

LENTILS
1 1/2 cups dried lentils de puy* or other small green lentils
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium zucchinis (about 6 ounces each), diced
1 small or 1/2 medium onion, diced
Leaves from 3 fresh sprigs thyme
2 small or 1 large garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
BASIL VINAIGRETTE
1 1/4 cups fresh basil leaves
2 teaspoons smooth Dijon mustard, plus more to taste
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons red or white wine vinegar
6 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

ASSEMBLY                                                                                                                                               2 large balls of burrata (or 4 smaller ones)**, at room temperature
Sea salt and more black pepper
A few small basil leaves for garnish

*Lentils de Puy are Deb Perelman’s recommendation, and I just want to second this because I had made this recipe before with regular green lentils and they just were not as good. Lentils de Puy hold their shape a lot better and have a different texture, and if you’re not sure if you like lentils, they are a great type to start with. You can usually find them in the grocery store (esp if you live near a nicer grocery store like a Central Market or a Whole Foods), or you can order them online.

**You can also opt to cut your large burrata balls in half in order to stretch the container so that it covers 4 servings since burrata isn’t cheap, but be sure to only cut them when you are ready to eat so that you don’t lose out on ricotta-like filling spilling out

The original recipe, complete with Deb Perelman’s advice and commentary, can be found here.

Skillet Pork and Corn

How is it already the end of February??

Source: imgur.com

The whole “time flying” thing is kind of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s almost March, which means Spring Break will be soon, and that is always exciting because 1) I won’t have class or TA duties and 2) I can just sit around reading books FOR FUN instead of reading about inequality and health. But on the flip side, it’s almost March and I have written about 3 pages of my master’s thesis so…that’s sub-optimal.

I’m going to set all that aside for a minute, though, to talk about this skillet pork and corn dish, because if you’ve already got spring or summer on your mind, this dish may be just what you need.

I honestly thought I had bookmarked a recipe for skillet pork and corn. It is listed in my “to be cooked” list, which (along with my meal inventory list and a couple of cookbooks) is what I draw from to make my meal plans. But when I added it to this week’s meal plan and went to look it up so I could put the ingredients on Anna’s and my grocery lists, I could not find the recipe. So I thought through what I had thought a skillet pork and corn recipe should be, and that is what I am sharing here.

I talk about meal planning a bunch, and outline some basics on it here and here. But I don’t often share my meal plans on this blog, in part because I don’t have the ability to share the recipes for everything I am making. However, this is part of my meal plan this week, since a few folks have mentioned they are curious about how these meal plans come together and I did recently talk about making meals work together:

• Baked Falafel with cabbage slaw and salad (dinner+lunch the next day)
• Butternut Squash and Mushroom Enchiladas (dinner+2 lunches)
• Hamburgers with zucchini fritters (with the extra enchiladas for lunch the next day)
• Skillet Pork and Corn (dinner+lunch the next day)

There is no other pork in the meal plan, because as a rule, I do not like for any one protein source to be the center of more than 4 meals. (Also, I don’t know how to do very much with pork.) There is a mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals, but every meal has vegetables either as the main or as a side. There are no vegetable-less meals on here (the skillet pork and corn has bell peppers and corn and was served with a side salad).

But anyway, less about meal planning for now and more about this meal! Because I don’t know how to do very much with pork, we don’t eat it very often, which means it is a nice thing to occasionally throw into our diets. This recipe feels very summer-y to me, with everything cooked on the stove top (no oven needed) and the corn and cilantro…but I decided to go ahead and make it in winter using canned corn instead of fresh corn. It doesn’t roast in the pan the same way, but it is still good. If you can get hold of fresh corn, that’s even better.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb thin-cut pork loin
• 1 can of corn, OR 2-3 ears fresh corn
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 handful fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp cumin
• Salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat a skillet over medium heat and coat the bottom with olive or vegetable oil
2. Add the pork to the pan. While the pork cooks, cut into bite-size pieces
3. When pork is nearly done, add in the bell pepper and corn. Season with the cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper, and cook for 3-4 minutes.
4. Stir in the cilantro and cook for an additional 30-60 seconds. Enjoy!

Makes 3-4 servings

 

Meal Planning Part 3: Diversifying Your Diet and Making Meals Work Together

It has been a loooooong time since I just talked about meal planning, but it is something I get asked about a fair bit, especially in my off-line life. I still plan out all the meals I am going to make in a week in advance, but I have gotten a little more sophisticated about it as I have gotten better at it and learned to cook more things. Also, I cook for 2 people now instead of just one, which has shifted how portions work a little bit.

As a reminder, this is my own approach to meal-planning. There are plenty of other ways to approach planning meals, and lots of resources online, so if the way I describe here doesn’t work for you, but you still want to meal plan, then definitely go forth and research!

I previously shared some meal-planning basics and tips on using batch-cooking and leftovers for lunch as strategies in a meal plan. As a recap, since it has been a while, here are some fundamentals:

• Plan for as many meals as you can. I plan for all of my lunches and dinners, and then buy general breakfast foods like cereal, oats, yogurt, etc.
• The meal plan is what decides goes on the grocery list. This keeps you focused at the store so you don’t buy random things. It ensures you end up with the right ingredients for the meals you want to make without missing anything key, and it will hopefully reduce food waste.
• Every meal needs to have at MINIMUM 2 food groups, but should ideally have at least 3. This means protein, vegetables, and grains. Realistically, you may have some meals that have just protein and veggies or grains and veggies, but try not to let this be the norm.
• Plan for vegetables. If you are making something that does not necessarily feature vegetables, plan for veggies as a side dish and write out which veggies those will be.
• Use a variety of protein sources. Don’t let yourself just rely on 2 things, try to use 3 or 4 different protein sources if you can. Remember, there are lots of plant-based protein sources like beans, lentils, chickpeas, and tofu, which are extremely healthy and relatively inexpensive.
• Think about how your meals fit together. If you are buying a vegetable that can only be bought in a bunch (e.g., leeks) or in a larger portion than you necessarily need (e.g. an eggplant, esp if you are cooking for one), think about how you can include two meals that will use those ingredients (but try to space them out so you won’t get bored).
• Limit the pasta. Many of us have grown accustomed to pasta as a fall-back because it is easy, cheap, and cooks quickly. Don’t fall into this trap. Use other grains such as brown rice, wild rice, quinoa, rice noodles, couscous, barley, bulgur, and farro to help mix it up and add other nutrients to your diet.
• Try to include at least 1 new recipe per week, especially if you are still trying to expand your cooking knowledge/skills. This will reduce boredom and force you to learn new recipes. It is okay if you don’t do this every single week, but try to throw in a few new recipes a month, just to keep things interesting.

One of the things I emphasize in those rules is diversifying what you eat. You can see this especially in my tips about grains and proteins: use a variety so that you don’t get bored and get a greater range of nutrients. While you definitely don’t need to adopt them, these are my personal rules for food diversification in my own meal plans:

1. No more than 4 meals using the same protein source
2. No more than 4 meals including pasta
3. At least 1 red/purple vegetable per week
4. At least 1 yellow/orange vegetable per week

Those rules challenge me at times, but in a good way. There are certain proteins I find I always use, like tofu and chicken and ground beef, and some I use with reasonable regularity, like eggs, shrimp and chickpeas. But there are others, like lamb, pork, turkey, lentils, black beans, and fish, which I use much less regularly. Making meal plans with these rules forces me, when I’m about halfway through, to ask myself “What haven’t I used yet?” and then try to work something else into the meal plan.

These rules also help me think through whether I am getting a balanced variety of vegetables and limits the amount of pasta I eat. But implementing all of these rules, and having balance without a lot of waste (keeping in mind that extra meat does get frozen and worked into later meal plans), takes planning, and thinking about how all of these things work together.

In previous posts, I talked about using batch cooking and leftovers for lunch as strategies in the meal plan. I don’t batch cook as much anymore (although sometimes I do, if it’s something that I can easily freeze and cannot easily make in a smaller portion, like lasagna, enchiladas, chili, or breakfast tacos), but I am still a huge proponent of leftovers for lunch.

That being said, sometimes you can’t have leftovers for lunch, because what you are making (e.g., eggs) does not make for good leftovers. And along with my efforts to keep my meal plan diverse, this strategy means I need to think about my meal plan as a whole, and how different meals might work together.  If I am making something with eggs, like an omelette or a hash served with eggs, or I am making something like a hamburger, which does not yield leftovers, I have two options: I can use something else in the meal plan to produce an extra lunch, or I can plan on making sandwiches or salads for lunch. But if I am making sandwiches or salads, I usually can’t buy ingredients for just one sandwich or salad, which means I need to plan for two lunches without corresponding dinners.

If that feels complicated, don’t panic. Here are a few sample meal plans with explanations of how to make this work:

• Sweet potato hash with black beans (leave out the eggs) (dinner and lunch)
• Tofu stir fry with sugar snap peas and green beans with brown rice or quinoa (dinner and lunch)
• Spinach and mushroom lasagna (dinner and two lunches)
• Shrimp and vermicelli in red curry sauce (dinner and lunch)
• Homemade veggie pizza (dinner and lunch)
• Hamburger and zucchini fries (plus leftover lasagna for lunch)
• Honey lemon chicken and broccoli with brown rice(dinner and lunch)

In this sample meal plan, I have included a hamburger, which will mean no leftovers for the next day. But I also know that the lasagna will yield an extra portion (or really, 2 portions, since this meal plan is for two people), meaning I can eat it for a third meal-~-lunch the day after the hamburger. This means that I need to be sure to cook the lasagna before I am going to need those leftovers; I can’t change up the order in a way that puts the burger before the lasagna. Everything else is pretty self-contained, though, so it can be moved around. (It also follows all of the rules I laid out earlier in this post: lots of different protein sources and different colors of vegetables, with limited use of pasta.)

Here’s another example:

• Shakshuka and green beans (dinner)
• Red pepper fettuccine with shrimp (dinner and lunch)
• Baked falafel and salad (dinner and lunch)
• Mussels in Spicy Red Sauce and sauteed broccoli (dinner)
• Asparagus with chorizo and croutons (dinner and lunch)
• Chicken fajitas (dinner and lunch)
• Crispy Tofu Pad Thai (dinner and lunch)
• Sandwiches (2 lunches)

In this sample meal plan, both the shakshuka (which is eggs poached in spicy tomato sauce) and the mussels (which are also cooked in a spicy tomato sauce, coincidentally) won’t result in leftovers, which means there are two days which will need something else for lunch. I use sandwiches here, but you could just as easily include salads, or these homemade instant noodle cups, or wraps, whatever works for you.

The point is, I am planning for a week, not just one night at a time. The meal plan becomes a puzzle that I am trying to fit together, where I need to figure out 14 meals: 7 lunches and 7 dinners.

You can definitely throw in there a “TBD” as long as you have things in your kitchen that you can turn into a meal or two, and you can definitely include meals that you plan to eat out. I usually include “1 meal-takeout (leftovers for lunch)” or “1 dinner out, Wednesday” so that I know I need to plan a lunch for Thursday, just as examples.

Hopefully this helps some folks who are trying to get into meal planning or set New Year’s Resolutions about learning to cook or eating better! In the spirit of providing examples, I’ll try to make sure I share partial meal plans periodically, along with links to recipes that are available online. Happy cooking!

 

Curried Lentils and Butternut Squash

So, maybe it’s cold where you are. Maybe it’s not that cold but you’re just craving something warm and cozy-feeling for dinner. Or maybe you just really want something you can throw in a pot for 30 minutes and end up with a hearty, healthy meal. Whichever of those scenarios describes you, I got you. This recipe will be your friend.

I had been iffy about lentils for a while, but it turned out that I was really just iffy about green lentils. RED lentils, on the other hand, are great. They’re a great source of lean protein, and they can be easily seasoned to taste great. There are plenty of things you can do with red lentils, including vegan Sloppy Joes, Masoor Dal, and red lentil soup. I also use them in my vegetarian skillet pot pie, although you can use green lentils for that recipe.

Now, I know that picture may not be entirely selling you on this meal, and I get that. I do. But you have to understand: lentils photograph TERRIBLY. They do! They’re like your friend’s boyfriend who looks terrible in photos but your friend assures you is super cute in real life. Give them a chance and they will come through for you. (And, don’t be like me and accidentally make your lentils overly soupy! These photos are not the best rendering of this recipe but I didn’t really have time to re-make the recipe just to get better photos.)

Let’s get to the good stuff:

INGREDIENTS:

1 bag cubed butternut squash

2 cups baby spinach

3/4 cup dried red lentils

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 T butter***

1 1/2 T red curry paste

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp ginger paste

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

rice, for serving (optional)

***to make this recipe vegan, simply substitute olive oil or coconut oil for the butter!

Recipe yields 4 servings

DIRECTIONS

Heat a 2-qt skillet over medium heat. Melt the butter (or coat the bottom in oil) and add the garlic. Saute until fragrant and add the ginger. Cook for another 30 seconds and then add the lentils. Cook the lentils for 1-2 minutes, then add the butternut squash, broth, and coconut milk. Bring to a low boil. Whisk in the curry paste and spices. Reduce heat and simmer for 30-40 minutes, until lentils and butternut squash are tender. Stir in the baby spinach and serve over rice.