About

Basically, my food philosophy is all about three things: Easy, Healthy, Inexpensive. But before I can explain those, I need to explain how I got there.

When I tell people I cook every night, I always get the same exasperated questions and comments: “What kind of food do you cook? I never know what to make;” “How do you have the time? You must spend hours cooking every night, and I get home too late from work and am too tired to cook,”  “I never want to buy those random, expensive ingredients that a recipe calls for because I never use them again,” or even “I don’t really like to cook.” Believe me, all those phrases have come out of my mouth at one point, too.

But at the same time, nothing beats a healthy, home-cooked meal. It’s cheaper, better for you, and (more times than not) simply tastier. So how do we integrate this into our extremely busy lives?

Admittedly, I actually like to cook. It relaxes me; not to mention it’s my creative outlet. At the same time, though, I don’t think I’m an incredibly talented cook. I have never attended a cooking class, I don’t come from a long line of extremely talented cooks in my family (sorry, Mom), and I’ve never been one to labor for hours in the kitchen. Most of my food knowledge comes from trial and error (I can’t tell you how many dishes I’ve burned, or how many times I’ve burned myself), from watching a few Food Network shows, or from taking inspiration from my wonderful friends. I was forced to cook every night as a poor starving student because I simply didn’t have the option or ordering out, and the same spaghetti with tomato sauce became very boring, very quickly.

So, I want to share my food knowledge with everyone. My food philosophy is based on a few simple ideas:

1. I believe, above all, in efficiency and spending less time in the kitchen, both in preparing the meal and in cleaning it up (I absolutely hate doing dishes, so I’ll use as few as possible when making a meal).
2. I believe in healthy, low-calorie, balanced foods that fill your cravings and your bellies without filling out your jeans.
3. I believe in keeping the same basic kitchen staples in your kitchen so you don’t have to spend money on crazy ingredients you’ll use in only one recipe.

With these basic beliefs, it’s easy to cook healthy, affordable, easy meals on any day of the week. I hope to bust all the exasperated comments and questions, and show you how to incorporate good cooking in your everyday life by posting some of my old favorites along with new ideas along the way. Bon Appetite!