Maybe my mind has been infiltrated irreversibly by Michael Pollan ... I can't get over the best food advice I've ever heard, eat real food. Doing this has done as much for our overall health as synthroid has done for my metabolism. I love artificial hormones as much as I love real food.
Anyway, with so many food options, it is easy to go with the convenient ones. I like the idea of spending very little time on cooking. If it were my artform, and I truly enjoyed the time I spent in the kitchen it would be different. For me, it means that I am not playing with my son, hanging out with Trey, writing a research paper, or going on a long run. Whether or not I drop running as a hobby because my music loop is putting me to sleep, I still don't want to spend hours in the kitchen and I don't like feeding Alex out of a jar. It takes no more time to give him some variation of our meal than it does to open a jar. Plus I feel a little guilty if he doesn't finish the jar because even the non-organic stuff is more expensive than feeding him what we are already eating. Yes, I am cheap and becoming cheaper as I stay home more.
Last night dinner approached too fast---our dog put on a freak show and occupied most of the afternoon with an unexpected illness.
In haste, I grabbed a rotisserie chicken and made a side from the farmer's market goodies.
Into a pan of 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat:
I sliced:
1 small white onion
2 medium ears of sweet corn
at the same time I microwaved
5 fingerling potatoes until they were soft to the touch (2-3 minutes)
I like the colorful ones because they typically have more nutrients.
I then cut these even smaller and added them to the sweet corn and diced
1 summer squash
I put a few tablespoons of water into the pan and put the lid on and cooked 3-4 minutes until the squash was done and then added
dill for taste
For Alex, I diced his potatoes even more and also did a quick softening of part of his meal in the blender (just loosening it for a little bit easier chewing). Turns out his 4 teeth are good enough to eat the dish with or without the easy blend. I also gave him really small pieces of the most moist (and fatty) parts of the chicken because they were easier to chew.
I gave myself a slice of ugly tomato (I'm the only one that digs uncooked tomatoes in this house).
Alex devoured this and I only spent 10 minutes making the meal. This is real convenience food.
