Recipe Roundup: Week One

Cooking is not my strong point. When it's going well, I thoroughly enjoy it. The process: planning, buying ingredients, preparation, and of course eating it! There are few better feelings better than cooking a delicious meal then sitting and devouring it, every bite (maybe even some plate licking). What I don't enjoy is feeling rushed and the imaginary pressure that I put on myself when cooking for others. For some reason i always go into panic mode when I am cooking a meal and someone is waiting for me to finish, peaking their head into the kitchen every so often sniffing the air with longing and the inevitable hovering near me and the stove. It drives me sick! But it's ridiculous and it's something that I should get over, especially if I want to feed myself and the ones I love on a regular basis.

One thing I have been doing with my free time is collecting recipes on Pinterest. I always found Pinterest so overwhelming. There's just so much coming at you at once, you know? Maybe it's the layout, I'm a minimalist and visually like everything to be clean, easy to dissect and for some reason I just don't get that with Pinterest. Despite my qualms, I have been using the site quite a bit at work during down time as a way to connect with our customers at the shop and increase our online presence. Many of our younger customers and 'work from home' clients use (and love) the site so I've been getting used to it. I love that there is an abundance of recipes for any type of meal imaginable. I've gained so many new ways to cook my favorite foods and it's a blessing because I was getting so bored & tempted to eat out every night.

My goal is to overload on veggies in an effort to transition into Vegetarian only meals. As much as I do like meat, I don't crave it as much and really never miss it when it's not on my plate so I figure I can just eliminate it. My veggie staples at the moment are kale (how cliche), zucchini, mushroom, squash, asparagus, green/red/orange bell peppers, and spinach. Trying to incorporate these into meals in different ways takes creativity, which I am lucky that Pinterest provides. Below are some recipes that I have made this week and planning to make before the week is up.

First 'Simple Sesame Noodles' by the Pioneer Woman. These were delicious and ridiculously easy to make. I had all the ingredients aside from the sesame oil, so technically they were "Sesame Noodles". I don't like sesame flavor so I didn't miss out. I topped the noodles with a bell pepper, mushroom, zucchini stir fry and it was the bomb!

Next, 'Garlic, Lemon & Parmesan Zucchini' by Cooking Classy. Again, so darn easy to make! I am a zucchini fanatic and this was perfect to curb my in-between lunch/dinner appetite limbo. Next time, I may think of cutting back on the olive oil and baking just a tad longer to see if these crisp up a bit more in the oven. Michael and I munched on these and he kept going on and on about how the lemon really brought out the flavors in the zucchini. He swears by lemon. *eyeroll* Will definitely make these a staple in my repertoire.

On the menu for later in the week is, 'Garlic Mushroom Quinoa' by Damn Delicious. I pretty much make this on my own, but mix in the mushrooms while the quinoa is boiling and let them cook down that way. This recipe calls for sautéing the mushrooms with garlic in a separate pan then adding them to the finished quinoa. Seems like a no brainer that this is going to be yummy. Michael is not the biggest mushroom fan, but when done right he can't complain.

On a separate note, I am so happy people have really nice dish ware, cooking pans, and excellent lighting in their homes because photos like this would not be possible in my dark, little apartment with all our epically hand me downed cookware. One day it'll be a reality for me, but for now I am grateful for the food bloggers out there :)