Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Cooking

I must say finding the time to blog about food does not seem to be my thing.
I love to cook, well, some days I don't love it, but I know how to do it.
I find this time of year a good soup is always in order.
Soup and stews are easy to make and not think about until you need some dinner.
Then, if you are lucky, you will have soup for the next day.
I find that I just cook.
There is not always planning involved.
The plan seems to come from what I have on hand.
I keep a well stocked pantry for a few reasons.
One, I hate to shop.
Two, I live 25 minutes from a store so I don't shop often and it is better to have things on hand.
Three, I know how to squeeze an onion.
In other words, if you have onions, garlic, celery and some peppers you have a start to a meal.
Add some meat and protein and you are on your way.

I keep two refrigerators and a freezer along with that pantry.
I freeze red peppers and make Thia and Pesto from herbs to pull out of the freezer as well.
I buy a quarter of a grass fed beef when I need to and then I buy local pork and lamb.
I buy Chicken and Seafood when it is on sale and freeze.
When I plan for the week of cooking, I go shopping in my reserve of pantry and freezer.

When in the mood I bake bread.

So- do I follow recipes?
Some nights I do.
Others nights I chop up the onions, garlic and whatever else suites me, then I pull out frozen red pepper and add herbs.
Then I toss over rice or pasta or leafy greens.
I may find a recipe I want to follow.
But it is not really rocket science to throw food together.
You just have to want to.
So the deal we worked out here is I cook and he cleans.
I make the meals and he does the clean up.
Not a bad deal for him or me.
So for tonight- well what to do with those chicken breast.