Tag: cooking

fitness · nutrition

Sam’s cooking plans ?! (I know, right?)

Sam BLeave a comment

Those who’ve been reading the blog for a while know that cooking is not my thing. And if I didn’t like cooking at the start of the pandemic, I really didn’t like it by the end of the pandemic.

I think I’ve finally recovered from all the pandemic cooking. So much cooking! Yes, Sarah did most of it, but really, there was enough to go around. We even had a night shift of adult kids making chocolate chip cookies and banana bread in the middle of the night.

Mostly when it’s my turn to be the week night cook, I use food that comes in meal kits with “mise en place” instructions. I’m a big fan for reasons of end of day decision fatigue, helping to commit to healthy eating, and avoiding food waste. But I’m actually getting tired of making GoodFood dinners every night. Eating out is an alternative, but it is extremely expensive right now.

So I’m rethinking this cooking thing.

My 25 in 2025 list even included learning to make a new vegan main course. 

Next, a friend made a wonderful vegetable dish. She told me the recipe was from this book. I then acquired the book. (I know, who is this person? What happened to Sam?)

All these things came together and I made Potato and Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Olives, Feta and Arugula from the Six Seasons book.

A version of the recipe is here. The recipe has dairy feta, but vegan feta is easy to find. Or you can just leave it out as there’s already a lot going on.

Next, I made a summer salad that a friend was raving about — featuring peaches, grilled corn, and haloumi. Yum! I made this version with pistachios and pickled onions. Yum! Again, there’s vegan haloumi available these days.

As summer turns into fall, I’m thinking about soups and stews. I’m also looking forward to some of our pandemic favourites, like that black pepper tofu dish that all my feminist philosopher friends learned to make, sharing the recipe on social media. I’ve also been craving tofu and cauliflower wings. And simple things like baked potatoes, sweet potato and black bean chili, and apple pies.

Bring on the fall food. I’m ready!

What are your favourite meals to cook in the fall months? Leave recipes and links in the comments below!

advice · fitness · food · habits · motivation · winter

What gets you out of bed?

elan.paulson

I had a hard time getting out of bed Monday morning. Winter weather. Less light. Cold room. Early hour. Big work week ahead. Feeling kind of stiff.

And one great reason to stay in bed: Warm blankets.

I put off rising by scrolling through a few photos from the weekend when my friend, Kimi (who recently travelled to Turkey), made us a great Turkish-style brunch with simple but fresh and delicious foods: simit (a sesame crusted bagel), menemen (an egg and tomato dish), clotted cream and honey, tahini and molasses, cheeses, fruits, Nutella, crusty bread, and Turkish tea. Easy to make, eat with your hands, and enjoy many cute little ramekin dishes! After our feast, she gave me some of our leftovers.

Turkish-style breakfast for two. All the cutlery was placed by me; turns out it was not needed because you are supposed to grab things with your hands or with the crusty bread.

In my bed nest, looking at the photos, I thought: I could make breakfast today. But I almost never make breakfast during the week, even when I work from home.

So that is what I decided to do. Instead of heading straight to my desk with a cup of black coffee sloshing in one hand and store-bought granola in another, I made myself leftover Turkish-style breakfast and a half carafe of tea. A decadent breakfast by my weekday standards.

A smaller but still exciting leftover Turkish-style breakfast for one. Notice the lack of unnecessary cutlery this time.

As I munched, I mused over how I have periodically tried to motivate myself to rise early with exercise: stretching, YouTube dancing, around the block walking. This time last year I was training for a Ho Ho Ho holiday run. But I haven’t loved AM exercise enough to stick with it; plus, for me PM exercise feels good for unwinding from the day.

While I have had many noble starts with early morning exercise, I could not remember the last time I got up early on a weekday intending to eat a great breakfast. But Turkish-style breakfast was awesome: I was fuelled all day (sustained by the caffeine infusion of clove tea).

A carafe of loose black tea in a small bell tea cup.

I share this story as an idea and as permission: if you wake up and you don’t feel motivated by what usually gets you out of bed…try making yourself an awesome and unexpected breakfast.

Toothbrushing, morning stretches, reaching out to a loved one, pet care, awesome breakfast: what gets you jumping out of bed in the morning to face the day?

Elan and Kimi and our tea cheers
covid19 · eating · food · holidays · overeating

What Serving Love Can Look Like

elan.paulson1 Comment

Growing up, no one needed to explain to me what I already seemed to understand: Grandma cooked big meals (especially over the holidays) to show that she loved us, and we ate as much as we could to show her we loved her.

That dynamic worked for me a kid because the food was delicious and I didn’t care about things like portion sizing, calorie counting, bad cholesterol, etc. At the time, I wasn’t fully aware of the complex dynamics involved in eating food and showing affection—which also involves aspects of power, tradition, expectations, guilt, body rights, etc., as other FIFI bloggers have described.

And, as Tracy recently reminded us, how food is offered and received can create much stress in social situations. In turn, these dilemmas focus our attention away from being merry and grateful for eating together in the first place. This is especially true if we are able to feast with loved ones while the pandemic continues.

Soon I am hosting our family’s upcoming holiday meal. While others may be planning how to respond to offerings of food, I am thinking about how I can create a dinner in which everyone feels attended to but not unduly pressured. Here is what I am thinking:

Share the menu in advance, and ask for dish suggestions.

Baked Alaska dessert.
So pretty, but nope. “Baked Alaska at the Oceannaire in San Diego, California” by vxla is licensed under CC BY 2.0

It’s no secret I am planning a menu in advance, so why not share it to let people know what’s for dinner? I’m not doing exotic food theatrics like a on-fire baked Alaska, so I will leave the surprises to the wrapped presents under the tree. I will try to seek favourite dish requests–and put extras on the side–to ensure everyone gets something that accommodates their dietary needs.

Make the traditionals

In one of my favourite Christmas movies, The Ref (1994), Caroline experiments with an off-beat Christmas dinner menu, serving (to her family’s horror and disgust) “roast suckling pig, fresh baked Kringlors in a honey-pecan dipping sauce, seven-day old lutefisk, and lamb gookins.”

While I might enjoy preparing elaborate dishes with strange ingredients, I know my family mostly likes to eat the basics: roast turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Unless I plan on making guests uncomfortable (and eating 16 portions of 8-day old lutefisk afterwards), it’s more realistic to give them what I know they will enjoy.

Plan an outdoor stretch break

“Always be careful walking in snow…” by suzyhazelwood is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Not everyone likes to feel trapped in a place where they can only eat and drink, and I can’t see my family getting into a lively game of charades, so I will remind everyone to bring their warmies for a relaxed winter wonderland walk outside at some point. I will make available extra scarfs, and maybe some travel tea, so this activity will be inviting and comfortable.

Ask once, judge not

I will only ask folks if they want more food ONE TIME. I will not repeat my Grandma’s loving mantra, “Eat eat eat.” I will not take offence to food that is not touched or finished. I will remind myself that people choose what, how, and how much to eat for their own reasons that have nothing to do with my cooking.

I admit this one will be tough for me, but I will remember that paying less attention to other’s plates means I can focus on conversation and fun. (And if folks really don’t like the food, then they should be offering to host dinner next year).

Provide takeaways

My own habit is to overeat so food “doesn’t go to waste,” even if I don’t really want more. But I can avoid waste-guilt all around by making takeaway containers readily available, so folks can eat more when they want. (If I get my act together in time, I can get neat lidded dishes from a second-hand store.)

So, this for this holiday dinner–instead of focusing all of my energy on the food prep and on the eating habits of others–I plan on giving people information, choices, and a little optional exercise to let them know I love them. If they show up and seem to be having a good time, then I know that they love me.

This post is dedicated to my late grandmother, Margaret Stanski, who was a loving person and a wonderful cook.

fitness

Just cook! (And help me out…)

Sam B6 Comments

I’ve written before about my aspirational cook book problem.

I love the idea of cooking healthy food but I find it all a bit overwhelming.

And now Yoni Freedhoff comes along and validates my feelings. He suggests that maybe we should separate out “cooking” from “healthy.” Certainly for me I tend to bundle cooking in there as part of the complete life change we all dream about. I know, details differ, person to person. In mine my room is always clean, I’m vegan, I only have dessert on special occasions, I’m never behind on writing projects, and I cook a lot of high quality, healthy, delicious food. (Nat’s cooking posts on Facebook make me jealous.)

Here’s Freedhof’s piece, For Beginners, Maybe Cooking Shouldn’t Be “Healthy”

I can also tell you that many of the folks who don’t cook regularly believe that if they were to start doing so, they’d need to be cooking “healthy” foods.

Why sure, cooking especially healthy meals is a nice aspiration, but if you’re a beginner in the kitchen, why not instead focus on cooking meals that while perhaps not incredibly healthy, are meals that you’re confident that you or your family will enjoy?

The goal really is to gain comfort in the kitchen and/or to gain the trust of your family members that you can cook yummy things.

So if you’re a beginner in the kitchen, maybe cutting your cooking teeth on less healthy meals will encourage you to gain the skills and comfort you’ll need to slowly improve your repertoire, and in so doing make the kitchen a room in which you actually enjoy spending time.

Okay. Okay. Maybe I’ll back off from the healthy bit of my cooking aspirations. Scale back a bit and focus on food that I enjoy.

The last new recipe I followed was this: RAS EL HANOUT ROASTED WHOLE CAULIFLOWER. Yummy!

A spiced, whole roasted head of cauliflower

 

Share your recipes with me. What’s something yummy, vegetarian and easy to make that you recommend to this beginning cook?

fitness

My aspirational cook book problem

Sam B9 Comments

There many ways that Tracy and I are alike. We’re friends, co-bloggers, and longtime colleagues with a slew of shared commitments but we are also very different people. Mostly we both accept that “you do you” idea and let the other go her different ways. I road bike. She runs. That’s just one example but there are many. Also, we don’t generally pine after what the other one has.

But there is one thing that Tracy has that I envy. That’s her love of cooking and her cooking skills. I listen to her stories of cooking as a relaxation thing and I’m jealous.

Me, I appreciate good cooking. I love food. But I have very little patience for making it. Partly that’s a matter of personal history. You try feeding three kids with different tastes for many years and food planning and preparation loses lots of its charm. You try to make something fun, and yummy, and new but really they’d rather have tomato soup and grilled cheese or scrambled eggs or veggie burgers and fries.

For years I’ve had the luxury of complaining about buying groceries. Three teenagers and their friends adds up to a lot of food. There’s all the putting in the cart, bagging it, getting groceries to the car, unloading the car, putting the food away, and then blink, it’s gone. I joke that I may as well ring a bell in the driveway and they could all run out and eat and we could just cut out the putting away part.

Things are a bit better now. Some of the kids are away. Their tastes have broadened and they cook. That’s lovely. Last year when I was teaching late and my daughter would text with me with dinner options I felt I’d truly arrived.

But I still haven’t found a love of cooking in me. I mean, yes, I prepare food. I make salads. I boil pasta. I scramble eggs. But I don’t cook in any serious way. When you’re an academic and you want to know something about a thing, what you do is acquire books about it. That’s been my unsuccessful approach to cooking.

I look at cookbooks and I dream of a better, healthier, more ethical life. I aspire to veganism and if only I cooked, I think, I could do that. (I do pretty well as it is 50-75% of the time and that’s not so bad.) So I buy cookbooks. I read cookbooks. I imagine eating the meals therein. But so far, it’s mostly aspirational. I’ve probably made one recipe out of each book.

This isn’t even the entire shelf of aspirational cookbooks. There are more.

I think cooking from cookbooks is just too big a step for me. Last semester my son tried the GoodFood program where they deliver the ingredients for meals pretty much prepared and the recipes in a giant box. It’s kind of “meet you halfway” home cooking. When he’d had a few weeks I got some free samples and Sarah and I made them. The vegan/vegetarian options were pretty good. But it felt like a luxury, the sort of thing I might spring for on a particularly busy work week when the alternative would be take out.

I’ve also been spending a lot more time in Toronto where the take away choices are pretty amazing.

I might try Tracy’s start small thing and pick one night a week to choose a recipe and make it.

Oh, and no more cook book buying!

How about you? Do you struggle with cooking at home? Love it? Hate it? Why?