If Not Now, When?

Hello All,

One of the many frustrating things (at least to me) I hear from people all the time is "I DON'T HAVE TIME".  People often say to me that they don't have the time to cook, or to cook from scratch which is something I strongly advocate.  Now, lets get this straight, I'm not saying that you have to cook organic foods, although that helps (if you can afford it) but in my experience things worth having such as good health are worth taking time for.  Think about it this way, if you don't take the time now, you may be forced to take the time later, because you may (or not, God willing) develop a health issue that will require you to change your eating habits, so why not start today!

Start small, get some fresh broccoli, cut off the stems and steam the florets (this is what a head of broccoli is called).  What you don't have a steamer?  That is okay, just put a little water (1/2 cup or less) or vegetable, chicken or beef  broth in the bottom of a pot and let it come to a low boil, add the broccoli florets and cover.  Let steam for about 2-3 minutes.  Remove from the flame, let cool and you now have some nice steamed broccoli. You can do this with just about any fresh vegetable you may fancy.  This gives you a serving of vegetables, and fiber.

You may love corn and are challenged about how to cook it besides creamed or just plain old boiled.  Well try some Confetti corn.  You make this with a little minced red onion, minced Orange bell pepper, and some fresh basil, chopped roughly.  Contact me for the exact recipe, but that is a viable option, and I'll even let you use frozen corn!  LOL.

Another way to look at this is: when you're making a new friend you want to spend time with that person, talking and such. Well become your own new friend and take the time to get to know yourself through healthy eating.  

Yes, I advocate eating healthy and cooking from scratch, and yes I do practice what I preach.  I make my own soups, spaghetti sauce, pancakes, granola, etc, and at some point I may bake my own bread.  Let me give you an example of the perfect time to cook a bunch of dishes and freeze them.  Last weekend it snowed, and if you didn't have anywhere you absolutely had to be, you were home.  If you'd been to the grocery store prior to the snow falling, then you had some food in the house and you were able to cook a few things and freeze them.  Another way this could work for you is if you're home at least one day a week and do a little advance planning.  Plan out what you think you might like to eat for lunch and dinner for a week and head to the grocery store.  Select some recipes and get to cooking.  I know for a fact that this works because I've done it ( I once had 3 jobs and the one day a week I was home all day was my day to cook and freeze).  I would prep some turkey burgers but not cook them cause they're pretty easy, just pop them in the oven.  I would make a pan of lasagna, cut it up once it cooled and freeze that.  I would make my spaghetti sauce and freeze that so when I wanted something different from what was already cooked I could have it, something like Shrimp Fra Diablo, or Penne ala Vodka.  These don't take a long time to make and the sauce was already made all I had to do was defrost it.

So, think about it, there are many ways to eat healthy ( I even oven fry chicken and it's pretty good if I do say so myself) do what works best for you and your dietary needs, think outside of the box, experiment a little with different flavors and have fun!

Much love!

J