Guest Chef Time!

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Here, as a result of my begging & stalking by popular demand, the inimitable Charlotte of The Great Fitness Experiment.

We all know her. We all love her. We all wanna be her. Enjoy.

I’m Cheap, Easy & Quick

No I’m not a hooker at a blue-light special. I’m talking about the way
I cook. Being a health-minded gal with limited culinary abilities and
three picky toddlers, I’m in a tough position come every evening round
about 5 pm.

Healthy. Cheap. Quick. In that order, those are my three main
priorities when it comes to food. (Notice that “tastes good” didn’t
even make my top 3? Yeah, sadly, so did my family.) It’s hard to
find recipes that do all three things. Sure there are tons of healthy
recipes – with 5,000 exotic, expensive ingredients that take an hour
just to prep. And of course there’s plenty of cheap, quick food a la
McD’s. But all three? Plus yummy?? It’s enough to make this
cooking-disabled momma throw the towel in. Literally. Surprisingly
it didn’t make the soup taste any worse. All Husband said was “Hmm.
Chewy.”
Bring on the Revolution
I grew up with a mom who, like many women of her generation, was
enamored of Stuff In A Box (although in her defense she was also a huge
fan of fresh produce). So consequently when I went to college I ate a
lot of Stuff In A Box. After I got married, I added Frozen Stuff In a
Box to the repertoire. It wasn’t pretty.

After gaining 47 pounds with my first pregnancy, I had had it with the
unhealthy eating. I read every book I could on the subject and
pestered every healthy friend I had and surfed the web like my DSL
connection carried oxygen instead of data.

The problem with most “healthy” recipes that I found was that they were
either too time consuming & expensive or relied too much on processed
crap packaged in a special “healthy” box. (I’m thinking cardboard
probably does have a lot of fiber – too bad it doesn’t apply to what’s
inside as well.) It was then I realized that I was going to have to
learn how to cook. I cried. I screamed at the heavens. I
fainted. And then I got up and made dinner. I tried everything and
sloooowly taught myself how to cook.

Getting Creative
As if it wasn’t enough of a challenge, I am also a vegetarian (shout out
to my girl Ruta Bega and my homie K. Ale!!). So here are my fave
strategies for coming up with something healthy, cheap & quick. Note:
Omnivores – you know I love all you beautiful little freaks! – can just
add meat to most of these dishes or serve it on the side. My husband
and kids are all Omni so I know it works!

Soup: I make a lot of soup. And I make it from scratch. The trick
is to make it in really big batches. Think witch cauldron minus the
snake tongues and beetle butts. I base most of my soups off of beans
and/or lentils and vegetables in a broth base. The variations are
endless. Then I freeze it in little disposable plastic containers
(that I reuse because I’m cheap and, well, I kinda have a soft spot for
the ol’ planet) that hold about 4 servings each.

Salad: On Monday of every week I make a ginormous bowl of salad with a
little lettuce, a lot of spinach and every conceivable veggie I can
throw in. During the week, I’ll pull some of it out and add some
cheese or beans or tomatoes or something else to kick it up. I make my
own dressing by quickly stirring together some olive oil with a flavored
vinegar. It takes me about 30 seconds. If I use my finger to stir
it. What? It’s not like I lick it. Usually.

Bread: Being the health nut that I am (when I said I eat healthy I mean
Healthy – a friend once told me my intestines must look like burnished
steel from all the fiber I eat. I take that as one of the most
wonderful compliments I’ve ever gotten!), I make my own whole wheat
bread. Every Sunday I cook two loaves (despite what you may have heard
bread baking is not that hard and pretty quick) . I leave one out and
put one in the freezer.

I also make big batches of snacks for my kids like homemade granola
bars, whole wheat banana muffins and the like and then put the extras
in… the freezer!

Think Outside the Box
In addition to big batch cooking, my other tip is to make meat, if you
eat it, the side dish and make vegetables your main dish. Veggies are
cheap, healthy and easy to prep: I’ve never met a veggie that didn’t
taste good sautéed in a little olive oil and garlic. (Except you Mr.
Okra. Don’t look at me that way. You know what you did!) Stir fry is
about as quick a meal as they come. And don’t feel bad at all about
buying those pre-cut veggies. Sometimes the time saved is worth the
expense.

Beans, lentils and other legumes are also super cheap, especially if you
buy them dried and not canned, and only require a little overnight
soaking to loosen them up (not unlike some friends I know). Think
quick cooking grains as well, like quinoa & couscous. If you throw in
a cube of bullion with the cooking water everyone will ask what you did
to make it so “fancy.” Then you can go put on your pearls and smile
sweetly and tell them you slaved for hours until you oozed enough sweat
to give it just the right tang – not that they should feel guilty or
anything although you have heard that Nordstrom’s is having a spring
shoe sale. Ahem.

So there you have it – cooking tips from the girl who can’t cook! I’m
assuming that most of you have mad kitch skillz so please leave me your
suggestions and comments.

PS> What? You want a recipe? You actually trust me to give you a
recipe?? Fools! Muwhahahah! Try my Vegetarian Pad Thai or D’s
Special Granola Bars (not special like that, psychos). There. I’m done
with you.

(MizFit note:  links to recipes are in comments area.)

Thanks so much, Charlotte. You, sisterfriend, were already part of the Bumbling Band O’MizFits.

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Comments

  1. Fabulous tips! I’ve been trying to cook more, and I’m already noticing a difference in how I look and feel since I stopped eating all the processed crap. It makes a big difference!

  2. I do the same thing with soups. They’re possibly the easiest, fastest thing to make in bulk. And they freeze really well; I put the extras in glass applesauce or pasta sauce bottles.

  3. Apparently, though, you should not re-heat those frozen soups in the plastic containers you froze them in….bad chemicals are released. (Can’t remember WTF the chemicals are – overload, overload. Bag Lady alert! Tiny Brain Syndrome!)
    Great Tips. Of course, the Bag Lady raises cattle, so must add meat… lean, home-grown, no additives such as hormones or antibiotics, thankyouverymuch!

  4. MizFit – apparently my links for the recipes didn’t come thru. Here’s the granola bars:
    http://thegreatfitnessexperiment.blogspot.com/2008/03/ds-special-granola-bars.html

    Here is the Pad Thai:
    http://thegreatfitnessexperiment.blogspot.com/2008/03/ds-special-granola-bars.html

    Thanks for having me over here for a day and letting me be so long winded!!

    Jen – amen to the processed crap-mood connection!

    Gena – Glad to know I’m not the only soup freak!

    Bag Lady – Eeek! I had no idea about the plastic containers!! I’ll have to try Gena’s glass bottle. And for the record – I would eat meat if I ‘grew’ it myself like you do:)

  5. I wish I could cook – I’m horrible at it – just horrible. If I don’t have a recipee I can’t do it. I need help!!!!!

  6. I’ll send her something special for the Whole Wheat Banana Muffin recipe. Really, I will…..and it won’t have sprinkles.

  7. Miz – oh yes, it was very big in the news in Canada not that long ago – heating plastic in the microwave releases chemicals from the plastic that can contaminate the food. Even covering the dishes with plastic wrap is supposed to be “dangerous” – the chemicals can drip down onto the food. Use glass dishes, and cover with paper towel was the recommendation. The Bag Lady wonders, though, about the paper towel, because, as we all know, paper production includes the use of chlorine and a gazillion other chemicals. When the steam causes the paper towel to sag and touch the food, doesn’t that also cause contamination?
    The Bag Lady is NOT a scientist, just wonders about such things….

  8. I know, BL, and yet I *still* use plastic wrap.

    hath I a death wish?

    lazy?

    who can say 🙂

    (what am I supposed to use? just paper towel?)

    M.

  9. Great post…………I love cooking and eating beans, and almost never cook meat without adding vegetable to the mix. Add a salad, and you’ve got a great one pot meal.

  10. Charlotte ROCKS!!!!!
    So do you, MizFit!
    And ALL you classy ladies!
    I’m gonna make me some soup!

  12. Great tips and love the granola bar recipe! I use a real plate to cover things I “re-heat” as I can then use it again or wash it right away. But, I try to avoid the microwave all together. If its soup or something it goes back into the pan to get warm 🙂

  13. I love the suggestions. My cooking skills are fine . . . when I don’t have a terribly helpful two-year old trying to take over the chopping and cooking (No Mommy! Owie! Hot! I do.). It’s my cooking motivation that tends to suffer when, say, I have no idea how it is possible to get everything done in the next three years much less the next three weeks. But I would love good soup recipes. And the bread recipe. Because I too hate the “easy healthy” cookbooks I’ve been given that require multiple trips to the “so expensive you could pay for a new kitchen” aisle at Whole Foods. And then the recipes aren’t so easy after all.
    (What? My comment is fragmented? Fairly irrelevant? Yeah, well, my toddler has been up half the night for the last three nights, so it’s pretty impressive that I’m using full sentences.)

  14. “We all love her. We all wanna be her!”

    I hear she’s warriorlicious! Must be the cooking.

  15. seriously, after reading this I realize that I am the lamest wife/mom EVER!!! Cooking? You mean people actually cook stuff? From scratch????!!! Ms. Charlotte never ceases to amaze me….and crack me up. (did someone say special muffins?) 🙂

    ok, I promise to try the recipes and hopefully not burn the house down.

  16. there was a fantastic article in la times about the microwave and its many uses. these days, microwaves emit much less radiation than they used to so dont fear it. We use it a lot in culinary school not the plastic wrap thing, but i use it at home for steaming veggies with virtually no clean up. Its great to take to work or school too. just bring a zip and steam bag, frozen shrimp, mixed raw veggies, seasoning, and nuke it and voila, stir fry (without the fry)! http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/dining/02curious.html?ref=dining

  18. Kelly – I’m waiting for your package. Don’t disappoint me:)

    Mallory – I bought one of those fancy “microwave reusable dish covers”. A plate would have been much cheaper (and smarter), lol!

    Dr. J – I would do Warrior Pose with you any day. We could talk Exercise Theory for hours. Until the teacher tells us to shut up;)

    Waif – thanks for the tip. You are my go-to girl for cooking tips!

    Heather – How much do I love you?? You sound exactly like me. My toddlers could keep your toddlers company at o-dark thirty (and then maybe WE could actually get some sleep).

    Workout Mommy – You are the opposite of lame and one of the best mommies I (feel like) I know!! Anyone can cook soup – if I can do it, yours will be fab!

    Alyssa – I’ll cook banana muffins for you if you give me Pilates lessons!!!

  19. Charlotte, couldn’t help laughing when I read those first paragraphs- sounds exactly like myself! The fun thing is, if you just try and mess up often enough sometimes will pop out that also actually tasted good.. Keep up the good work 🙂

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