food thoughts

i think about food all the time.  here are a few thoughts:

• diy.  i'll put things like sweet bean paste, tomato sauce, and chicken stock on my grocery list.  then, debate myself in the aisles and decide not to buy these things. i have time to make a healthier, fresher per-unit version.  i like the economy of it too.  ok, $1.50 or $3 isn't much.  but, i might already have a chicken carcass in the freezer or a pile of super delicious tomatoes on the counter.  so why not use it?  i don't do this for everything!  we have jars of mustard, tubes of harissa & tomato paste, and those dashi granules too.

• not gourmet.  i don't like fussy cooking.  a restaurant recipe for chicken stock probably makes really awesome soup, but it also requires boiling & discarding lots of chicken meat.  that kind of stuff is fun to do occasionally, but most of the time, i'm aiming for value while still being vegetable-ful, seasonal, fresh, and interesting.  on the weeks i get the farm box, i plan meals around whatever is in the box and adapt recipes to accommodate.  leeks, onions, shallots?  they're all kind of the same idea!  maybe the adaptations violate culinary rules, i don't know.  it tastes okay to me, though, i'm not that discerning.  on the off weeks, i try to make one semi-adventurous meal and then spend the rest of the week trying to use up the odds & ends -- half an onion, fistful of basil.  repurposing leftovers is fun too!  that's what pizza and omelets are for :)  

• not healthy.  i realized, as i repinned a recipe from a friend's "healthy recipe" pinboard on pinterest, that i don't think of recipes as healthy or not.  (the big categories in my head are vegetable vs. non-vegetable, adaptable vs. fussy, sweet vs. savory.)  i think, it's because i have all kinds of other rules about food.  like, cookies and fried foods are okay if i make it myself.  because baking and deep-frying is such a pain (to me), i don't do it often.  also, i don't buy many snacks (with the exception of nuts).  so, all of the food in the kitchen is probably relatively okay.  though, it's sad sometimes to eat a spoonful of peanut butter or honey after looking through all the cabinets for a snack.