Wellness@Work: How to get creative in the kitchen
If you set the oven to 400 degrees and roast almost any vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper, they will come out great. Canned tomatoes plus onions or garlic make a great sauce for shrimp, sausage or meatballs.
By Robert Israel, M.D.
USA Health Integrative Health and Wellness
Barriers to good nutrition for many of us are the result of a lack of imagination and time. We don’t take the time to plan our menus until it is time to sit down (or, in too many instances, stand) for our meal.
Last night, I returned to an empty kitchen after a few days away, but I was able to find a relative feast in the pantry and freezer, and in the corners of the fridge.
From the freezer, I found some ground lamb, which became meatballs. From the fridge, a few serviceable squash, part of a head of cauliflower and some green onions, which were oven roasted with olive oil, salt, pepper, a red onion and some herbs for 25 minutes or so.
The pantry yielded a can of tomatoes and some whole wheat pasta. With the tomato sauce plus the meatballs on the pasta, we had a pretty fine spread. All of this was really simple fare, but it was delicious and doable without a recipe.
If you set the oven to 400 degrees and roast almost any vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper, they will come out great. Canned tomatoes plus any of the onion or garlic family you have on hand makes a great tomato sauce (which really needs no additions) that can dress up shrimp, sausage, meatballs, etc.
Cauliflower and squash are vegetables that last a long time in the fridge, so they are likely candidates for this kind of unplanned and “unshopped” meal. Sweet potatoes, canned beans and brown rice are almost always available from the pantry and easy to dress up.
Breakfast today was still unshopped, but not unhealthy. It consisted of whole wheat bread – 6 grams fiber/slice and 100 calories – that, when toasted, made a perfect palate for peanut butter. Served with 4 ounces of kombucha, it was a real feast for the microbiome, and it was ready in just four minutes.
Tonight, I will have collards bought for $2 that will yield a large potful – enough to feed an army – plus fresh fish, roasted okra and sweet potato.
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