Eating Free Blog

If you missed our last blog talk radio show, we discussed getting back to the basics.  Starting in the kitchen, let’s fight and prevent chronic disease, the obesity epidemic, and the rise of diabetes, hypertension, and depression.  It starts with you, in your kitchen!  The tradition of cooking at home has died.  We now depend on eating out as a daily means of sustenance instead of an occasional outing or celebration.  We point the finger at the food industry for all the available fast, easy, maybe-not-so-nutritious boxed foods, but they are only supplying what we are demanding.  It’s time to turn the stove back on, bring eating back, and love the food we eat!

So that we don’t overwhelm ourselves, guest speaker, personal chef, mom and owner of Lilah Belle’s, Traci Higgins provides us with amazing tips and ideas on making cooking easy again.  Traci mentions the rise in sales of cookbooks and cooking magazines over the last few years and understands the longing for many to make their own meals.  She recommends storing interesting recipes in a recipe binder for times when we need a quick go-to resource of what to eat.  Traci also mentions making ingredients “go far”.  When shopping for food, pick 2-3 key ingredients and a particular meat or protein source for the week.  For instance, take the head of broccoli you purchased and cook two different meals with it at once, maybe a broccoli soup and a broccoli wrap.  Another example is to bake up some chicken breasts at one time and add different sides or spices throughout the week for variation.  In other words, don’t make cooking a chore, combine your tasks, and streamline recipes to make them go far.

Registered dietitian, Sarah Koszyk agrees.  A busy working professional, she understands the demands of time.  For ease, Sarah creates crock pot dishes, stews, and “frozen fiestas” that can be stored, re-heated and eaten throughout the week.  As Manuel puts it, cooking doesn’t have to be boning a duck for dinner!  There is no need to start over every night and cooking in bulk or throwing different ingredients into a crock pot will ease the strain of arriving home to an empty kitchen at the end of a long work day.  Just a little bit of planning can often go a long way!

In summary, do not fear your cold stove and empty pots!  Think outside the box and use the abundant spices available to us to add flavor and flare to your staple meals.  If you have to drag yourself into the kitchen, then you might as well make a big batch or several different meals at one time.  Schedule and plan a day to shop, pick up a few ingredients and have fun throwing a few easy things together that can be easily varied throughout the week.  Start slowly and over time you’ll wonder why it used to be so hard to turn the stove on.  Then little by little, you will finally get to know and enjoy what you are putting in your mouth!

To listen to Cook Flavorful, Easy Meals to Lose Weight