I hate to admit it, but I have become sort of house-wifey in some ways. Cooking is one example. In general, I love to cook, and get all sorts of ideas from wandering the aisles of the grocery store. I also LOVE to grocery shop (and I mean that!), because I like food and feel creative looking at the endless possibilities of things to make. It is fun to go out to eat, but only because I like to taste things and think about what is in them in the hopes of replicating that recipe at home.
As much as I love to cook, I don’t care for following recipes. I am distressed by food waste,(hence the compost, hence the chickens, hence the less packaging), and I try to manage our household to make the most use out of what we have. I am not the type to go out and shop for specific things for just one recipe. I struggle with recipes that tell you to use a quarter cup of onions when you are going to end up cutting the whole onion. And no way am I using just half the can of tomatoes! What will happen to the other half of that can? In general, I make vast quantities of food, often freezing the left overs for another day or tweaking the ingredients. In our house you find squash and chard for dinner day one, beef burritos day two, and squash, beef & chard enchiladas day three.
Here is a good website on trying to avoid food waste.
The truth is that I sort of hate following directions anyway, so recipes and cookbooks are used mostly as loose recommendations around here. Even so, I still occasionally need a loose recommendation just to keep cooking foods that are interesting and to break out of my cuisine rut. Here is a “loose recommendation” that turned out SOOOOO GOOD, even with me making it sort of following the recipe! The kids loved it, it is pretty healthy, and I had most of the ingredients (and the ones that I didn’t have were easily substituted out). I recommend it highly, especially served with rice. Super good.
West African Peanut Soup
Ingredients:
1 cup cooked, skinless, chicken breast, diced
2/3 cup onion, diced
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 cups reduced sodium, fat free chicken broth
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can stewed tomatoes
1/2 cup reduced-fat peanut butter
Directions:
1. In a large pot, sauté onion in sesame oil until translucent; add garlic
and chicken and stir to heat through.
2. Add seasonings and sauté 1 minute longer.
3. Add broth, paste, tomatoes, and peanut butter. Stir until well
combined.
4. Heat over medium heat until hot but not boiling.
5. Serve immediately.
6. Refrigerate leftovers within 2-3 hours.
7 Comments, Comment or Ping
That sounds delicious! I love curry!
Liking to cook makes you house-wifey? I would much rather be my house-wifey self than like some of my friends who get take-out every meal, costing their family fortunes and putting who knows what into their bodies. Or am I misunderstanding?
I am very un-house-wifey in lots of ways, though. Like I hate to clean. But no matter if we can afford it or not I feel too guilty hiring someone. I need to take the attitude that I’m helping someone else to make a living, right?
January 20th, 2010
p.s. I also cook without recipes all the time. And if I have extras (like I decide I don’t want to use up a whole onion) then I chop it up and stick it in the freezer. I do the same if I have anything that needs to be used up and I don’t want to use it yet. Eventually I make a big huge soup or stew with all my frozen veggies!
p.p.s. Despite not cooking with recipes, I own about a zillion cookbooks. I should get rid of a bunch!
January 20th, 2010
Perhaps I made house-wifey sound bad. Yeah, I guess I did. I guess it is easy to look down on the idea of a “housewife” and yet, those values, caring for others, cooking good food, managing a house budget, and creating an environment of beauty and comfort are all so important to me. So I suppose I will have to examine what it is about “housewife” that freaks me out and that I disparage, because that doesn’t make a lot of sense considering what I do. If more of us were able to be house wives and house husbands, our society would probably be a whole lot better off. Anyway, what I meant to express is that I care about a lot of things that I didn’t not so long ago and it surprises me (over and over again). And when I am surprised, I think, “Wow! I am so 1950s! Where is my apron?”
January 20th, 2010
Was it you that brought the stuffed squash to the Christmas party? Anyway, that was the BEST squash that I have had. If it was you, and I suspect it was because I am sure that you blogged about it before, maybe you could blog about it again and put the recipe up on the site… or submit it to Parmeter recipes on Ben’s site.
January 21st, 2010
Why yes! It was my squash. I love that stuff too. It is pretty easy. I will do a look about for that one.
January 21st, 2010
What do you do with the rest of the chicken?
Too bad I don’t eat chicken and we can’t get peanut butter here. Sounds delicious.
January 22nd, 2010
Ingrid, Ingrid, put those half onions in a baggie in the refrigerator and use them next time. When you refrigerate onions, they lose their ability to make you cry. Honest. Try it.
January 26th, 2010
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