Tonight was a quick and pretty mess free dinner for me. Chicken fingers dipped in ranch dressing/dijon mustard and then herb breadcrumbs. Frozen brussel sprouts roasted with fig balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Throw both in the over for about 40 minutes. About 60 mins. from start to finish. For me that's quick. I love to cook, but am messy and slow. While I try and eat healthy and avoid processed foods, sometimes, especially on those days when my rheumatoid arthritis acts up, nuking a microwave meal or ordering take out pizza is all I can manage. Despite the fact my current PCA is a culinary student, she's rarely home, and honestly isn't a very healthy cook. So, it's up to me to keep up the effort.
Now, I'm especially committed to keeping on my healthy eating path. I just finished
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. The secret to a eating healthy? He says it right on the cover: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Most of the book is common sense, but common sense after having lived almost 50 years with new studies every month advocating new ways to eat. It comes down to eliminating processed foods, eating mostly fruits and vegetables (lots of leaves), and less meat. Eat meat as a side dish, not a main dish. If you purchase packaged foods, read the label and only choose those with 5 or fewer ingredients which you can pronounce. (Okay, he may not approve, but I discovered Fritos corn chips have only three ingredients: Whole corn, corn oil and salt. So, I guess my snack food of choice is Fritos!) He also advocates eating a wide variety of foods from all cuisines, which I do already. Even the vegetables and fruits of today often aren't as nutritious as they were years ago because of how they're grown. So, gardens and CSA (community sustainable agriculture) are the way to go if you can do it.
Last summer, we arranged for a CSA drop off at my workplace. I split my weekly share with a coworker and it was a great, fun experience. We want to do it again this season. I'd never eaten kohlrabi before and just about every week for six weeks we got kohlrabi. Lots of greens, cabbage, fresh herbs, squash, potatoes, tomatoes, apples, pumpkins. In the past couple years I've discovered roasted beets. Just cut off the greens, wrap in tinfoil and pop in a hot oven for an hour. Let them cool and the peels just pull away easily. There's something about a roasted beet, the small, the taste, the feel that comforts me, nourishes me. In a way I didn't realize I needed nourishment. My next experiment is turnips. I know I've probably tasted them before, but it wasn't a big one in my family, growing up. So, turnips here I come!
I'll probably always have a few frozen microwave meals in the freezer and a box of instant mashed potatoes for those tough RA days. But I know, overall, I'm eating healthier than I was a year ago and will keep up the small changes that matter.
