This Just In: It Is Possible to Cook Actual Food At Home!

After many years of take-out, delivery, and the always convenient burrito, I decided a couple of weeks ago to start cooking my own dinners. I don't have an aversion to cooking, and I'm actually pretty good at it, but too often I'd be faced with a grocery store full of food and have absolutely no idea what to cook for dinner, and I'd inevitably leave with a frozen pizza or some Lean Cuisines. It finally came to me that I shouldn't be walking into that store with no ideas, and instead enter the store knowing full well what I want to make.

But where to get those ideas? Well, when Martha Stewart Kids magazine went out of business they replaced my subscription to that with a subscription to Everyday Food, and those issues have been piling up for two years. I decided to just go through them, and whenever I found something I'd like to make, I flagged it. I then had a stack of magazines flagged, and all I had to do was pick a week's meals. Then I made a shopping list specific to those recipes, and voila! One trip to the store and I had a refrigerator full of food ready to be cooked each night. Also, cooking dinner is a lot easier when you have a recipe to follow. Who knew?

Here's what I've made this week:

Monday - Pork loin over sauteed spinach with an orange honey mustard vinaigrette.
Tuesday - Penne with shrimp, asparagus, feta, olive oil, and lemon juice.
Wednesday - Salmon with zucchini and shallots en papillote. (Yes, I actually made something en papillote. And it was really easy!)

Tomorrow I'm having a chicken breast wrapped in prosciutto with roasted green beans, and then Friday the rest of the prosciutto will go into a pasta with peas and leeks.

Also, currently chilling in the fridge are some low-fat semi-sweet chocolate panna cottas.

Cooking. How novel!