Lauren B. Lentini

Well, the good news is that I’m down 5 pounds. The bad news is, it’s due to illness. Ugh. I’ve still managed to make dinner all weeknights of 2019, though! Here’s the rundown.

Tuesday: Pan-Seared Soy Sauce and Black Pepper Tofu. This is the longest name for the easiest recipe. The whole recipe is right there in the name. Marinate soy sauce and black pepper on tofu. Cook tofu. Add sesame seeds and green onions. Done. Even I couldn’t screw this up, and there’s not too much to say about it.

Wednesday: Cheesy Squash Quinoa. This is almost as easy as the tofu. The squash is cooked in the microwave (I had to substitute pre-cut butternut squash for the acorn squash) and the quinoa practically cooks itself. Then you stir it together with two cups of cheese! Honestly, I’ll cut down the amount of cheese if I make it again. I’ll also make it as a side dish instead of a main course. Jerald loved it, though.

Thursday: Black Bean Soup. My own black bean soup recipe is to take a can of black beans and add a bunch of salsa and cumin. This recipe was to take two cans of black beans, add salsa verde and onions. And use the immersion blender to make it fancy. I approve. I can’t say yet whether I prefer red salsa or green salsa in my black bean soup; further research is necessary.

Friday: Egg and Avocado Spaghetti Squash Boats. Cutting open a spaghetti squash was as difficult as my cooking week got. The recipe was…fine. I didn’t feel well at all, so I don’t want to judge it too harshly, but we both agreed it wasn’t the best thing I’d cooked. We also agreed that the ketchup worked surprisingly well. This was one of the most important meals I’ve made so far because I didn’t want to do it and I did it anyway, and I learned not to be scared of a new vegetable.

Took the weekend off, convalesced, let Jerald take care of the cooking. Didn’t make it to the grocery store, though. Big mistake.

Monday: Chickpea and Rosemary Baked Frittata…almost. But something that never EVER happens in our house had occurred: we ran out of chickpeas! In my half-asleep state, I hadn’t checked the pantry before cracking the eggs and whisking in the parmesan, so I was locked in. After some quick thinking and a shouted conversation with Jerald (who was upstairs feeding the baby), I made a tomato-and-pepper frittata instead. Problem solving! Another important lesson in my January journey.

Tuesday: Spicy Garlic Pasta. Another “we still haven’t made it to the grocery store” recipe, but this time we did have all the ingredients. Another recipe I want to blame on my taste buds not being quite right because of my cold. All I could taste was heat, and I’ve never known red pepper flakes to be that hot. So I added more garlic and lemon juice and I still didn’t like it. So I added Quorn fake chicken and frozen broccoli to it (mixed together everything I was intending to serve as side dishes), and it was edible. Jerald liked it, so I’m probably not the best judge.

Wednesday: If one of us didn’t make it to the grocery store, dinner tonight was going to be hummus-on-a-spoon. I made Poached Eggs in Salsa, though, and just had to throw them on top of corn tortillas when Jerald got home from the store. There’s not a link for this recipe because it’s one of the ones that comes pre-loaded in Cozi. You don’t need one, though. Heat salsa in a pan until it’s bubbly, crack in eggs, cover and cook, top with cheese in the last couple of minutes, put on top of warm tortillas, top with sour cream or guacamole. I was waiting for Jerald to get home, so the yolks hard-boiled, but other than that I liked it quite a bit.

Just over a week into this challenge, I’m really glad I’m doing it. I’ve learned a lot already, and not necessarily about cooking. I mean, I’ve cooked before. But in the course of our marriage, I’ve never been the primary cook, and that’s a whole different mindset. I’ve already figured out why I don’t like cooking, and it’s illustrated above: I evaluate it. I can’t just enjoy the meal; I scrutinize every bite to decide what I did wrong or what I’d do differently next time. Even if I’m not blogging about it. That’s something to work on.

I also saw myself wanting to give up, as sickness crept in and I was tired and cranky and just didn’t feel like it. With Jerald’s support (and practically dragging me out of bed Friday after I worked from home), I pushed through that feeling and got it done. I didn’t have dinner on the table when he got home every night, but I felt proud and accomplished when I did. And it’s just not as hard as my brain tries to tell me it is! Me cooking makes so much more sense for our lifestyle, his work hours, and my weight-loss goals. I’m feeling positive about this change. Ask me again in a few weeks, when the novelty has worn off.

I’ll leave you with a photo of my sous-chef, because I know my audience.