Food vs. Foodie?

Part of life at the University is cooking for myself. I love cooking... but I rarely follow a recipe. I never really thought about the creativity that goes into food until I moved. I had to decide what I wanted to buy and make it affordable. Where did I want to put my money? One of my first purchases was "green" dish soap. When I bought ziplock bags and saran wrap, I had to think about what the trade offs were and if it was worth it. Yeah, my environmental conscience kicked in big time. Thus, I try to grow food and buy more at farmer's markets than the grocery store. The hardest part is figuring out how much vegetables I will use in a week. It all looks so good. Swiss chard and kale are my weaknesses, I always buy too much. There are some organic things that a college girl can't afford but it's about balance: balancing priorities, money, health and ethics.

It's rather nice to cook for myself. I was definitely influenced by the foodies at church and in Children's Ministry. We did food like you wouldn't believe. We're not in Costco anymore, Toto. Church luncheons are always surprising...

I've been taking pictures for a while of my creations and thought I would share some with you. All the vegetables are organic and most were bought at the local farmers market. The pictures were taken at different times so yes, some vegetables are out of season.
The main ingredients of most of my cooking: olive oil, fresh garlic and onion.

Chicken Stir Fry with yellow zucchini, red and green cabbage, carrots and broccoli over noodles.

This is a variation on a noodle bake. I omitted the meat and doubled the eggs. There is about one cup cooked chopped spinach, low fat ricotta cheese mixed with 2 eggs, spiral pasta, spaghetti sauce mixed up and topped with cheese. I made two of these last week. One for the freezer and one to eat!
Chili (from a can) with extra beans and carrots. I stirred in some frozen corn when I served it and topped it off with monterey jack cheese.

This was a left over creative inspiration. I had too much brown rice so I added chili powder, garlic, black beans and corn. I added some cheese and topped it with some left over chicken. The rice was better than the chicken which was rather bland.

This is a family favorite which has become my favorite study food for crazy weeks. Tuna Noodle Salad. A can of tuna, noodles, olives and green beans over a bed of lettuce and topped with a olive oil vinaigrette. The side dish is garlic sauteed summer squash.

This is my favorite summer meal. Corn chips and "salsa". Onions, sometimes a spicy pepper, heirloom tomatoes, cilantro and dash of lemon or vinegar. Yes, it's more of a pico de gallo but at our house it's called salsa...

My other favorite study food is salsa with frozen corn and black beans. Simple, fast, and filling!