No time to cook.

                                      (Saturday, Feb.4, 2012, Grants Pass, Or. Oregon Old Time Fiddlers)

Plan on having non-cooking days, Yes, not just days when you have no time or energy to cook, but days when cooking is the last thing on your mind.  Sure, you can go and pick up food, or heat up leftovers.  If you make your pantry work for you, you never have to go hungry,

This is what I stock in my refrigerator:
~eggs
~hard cheeses
~soft cheeses
~ricotta
~cottage cheese
~sour cream
~milk
~whipping cream
~fruit, citrus fruit
~yogurt
~carrots,celery,jicama
~ green onions, red onions, ginger, garlic
~salad greens and cabbage, kale, broccoli, spinach
~philo dough
~refrigerated biscuits\
~a jar of sundried tomatoes
~a jar of pickles
~a jar of pickled vegetables. My favorite, pickled eggplant. The recipe is on the sidebar*


In my freezer:

~individual fish fillets
~individual chops, cutlets of lamb, pork, chicken, beef, turkey
~fruit and berries
~sausages
~ground patties of above meats
~vegetables

In my pantry:

Cereals, and oatmeal in both forms.
Spices and dried herbs.
Oils and variety of vinegar.
Flour, plain and whole wheat, garbanzo flour, almond flour.
Sugar, honey, maple syrup
Ketchup, mayo, mustard.
Soy sauce, other Asian -inspired sauces.
Cans of tomatoes, and tomato paste.
Cans of beans, many varieties
Cous-cous.
Tabbouleh.
Pasta.
Rice, arborio, jasmine, basmati.
Bouillon cubes
Tins of sardines, kipper snacks, salmon, anchovies.




In a couple of minutes, I can whip up an omelette, a salad, a cheese plate, a yogurt and fruit bowl, a dip for crudites,  a tart, without turning on the stove, just opening my refrigerator for a minute.

To be good at anything, you need to plan ahead. To survive, you have to be inventive.

If you get inspired to cook something new, first check your stock to see if you already have some of the ingredients.

You'll be surprised!

When you are sick of cooking...

When I was a working professional, with a hungry family, I had to be very organized and prepared for days when cooking was out of the question.
Did I pick up food at the take=out places? Yes.
Did I have choices? Yes.

The point is we always have choices. It is just how much energy we are willing to expend to prepare healthy meals.  Even now when I'm retired and have lots of time, I get sick of cooking and planning meals for us two.  I get tired of the same foods; and I get tired of my responsibilities.

So, I do as my ancestors did. I forage.  In the refrigerator. In the freezer. In the pantry. In the garden. Even here on this deck.  Let's do this together, forage on this deck.
Notice lettuces, strawberries, possible tomatoes.
A salad is born.

A can of sardines, or tuna, layered with a slice of cucumber or pickle, on toasted points or saltines, and we  now have a complete meal.  Frozen bananas whirled in the blender with milk or coconut milk, a dash of lavender or almond extract, and dessert is born.
The trick is to think like a hungry paleo woman, foraging,  tasting roots and canes and fruit and adding these to the larder.

Yesterday, I picked some spinach and tender shoots of fava beans to saute and serve with canned beans.
I learned from Jamie Oliver that fava beans leaves are edible! Who knew?
What have you created in your foraging mood?