Prep time, Cooking, Eating, and Clean Up in Less Than an Hour.

Time is an issue on everyone's mind when it comes to food. We don't treat ourselves well enough in this area and tend to forfeit healthy options for unwise snacks because of the availability and time issue.

Now we are going through an interesting time. The economic recession has many feeling the crunch of money and in a way we are almost forced to slow down and re-evaluate what is important in our lives. This is a good time for many of us to take a "refresh" course in our lives.

Let's treat ourselves and spend one hour on one home made meal if possible once a day. During this time we can reconnect with ourselves, friends, or sit down with a newspaper. It feels good to create a meal that works for us, and that feeling can't be compared to just buying food at the store.

And home made doesn't have to mean at our own home. If there's someone you've been meaning to visit or friends that you haven't spent time with in a while, why not suggest bringing over some food to cook together?

There's a power in home cooked food that connects people and makes up feel good in the world.

Today was one of those 'you're sinning if you stay indoors, the weather's too beautiful' type days. After my first class I stopped by home to make a 10 min. sandwich (including prep and packing up time) and headed back outside.

I ate my sliced turkey breast sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, and mayo on a lawn on campus.

For dinner I put some ravioli in a pot to boil and made some of my beloved lean turkey meat balls to go with it. Yes, I was in the mood for turkey again today. I also heated up some of my mom's calaloo that she sent. If you don't have mom's calaloo you can prepare some vegetables for the meal.

I really wanted to add some pasta sauce to the ravioli but I discovered that my jar of sauce was starting to grow some moldy stuff on the inner rim. Ick! My mom kept trying to send me pasta sauce that I refused to take because I don't cook with it too often. Little did I know that the jar of pasta sauce that I did have was spoiling away in the fridge. It had only been a few weeks!

So please, watch your food supply not only to prevent it from running low, but to make sure things don't stay too long. Especially things that you wouldn't expect to spoil easily like pasta sauce. Check it now and then.

With the sentiments of one who took time off today to sit by a lake, Peace.

Many meals have past. But I will try to do an update as best as possible.

Friday 1/30 - I made some delicious lean turkey meat balls to go as a side with the yummy rice left over from Bento Cafe. Carrots served as the veggie side.

Monday 2/02 - One of my well liked and over-eaten dishes: pierogies! I found that it goes well paired with creamy vanilla yogurt. I also had some fresh lettuce from the Farmer's Market and Tyson's Anytizers chicken wings on the side.
Tuesday 2/03 - Tilapia Alfredo! The Fettucine and sauce came together in a box but where the directions asked to add chicken I added Tilapia. On the side was a salad of fresh lettuce, grapes, and croutons.
Wednesday 2/04 - Exam day breakfast: Mini Wheats, poptarts sans the icing, and a tangerine. Part of this complete breakfast.

Thursday 2/05 - Need to do groceries. Bought food at school.

Friday 2/06 - Microwavable meal in a bag. The next generation of tv dinners! Sided with lettuce and grapes.

Over the weekend I had some tasty treats...

Monday 2/09 - leftovers

And now today.....

Lentils and Stew chicken sent from home, mixed with rice that I made and mixed vegetables that I heated up.

So the moral of the month is that leftovers are your friends.

It's good to be back.

Last week I ate a lot of chicken. That 8 piece chicken that I bought Monday lasted 3 meals and I still had a lot left over when I went back home Friday night. This week I want to make home style dishes by preparing ahead.

This morning I ate breakfast with my roommates for the first time. It felt so homey and I had wanted to do that for a while. Then we all rushed off to start the school day.

At lunch time I was pretty hungry. I was thinking that I might want some salmon but I decided against it since I didn't have much time between classes to make that. I put some tortellini up and heated some slices of turkey breast to make a quick meal. Tortellini cooks pretty fast and I shredded some cheddar cheese on top to make it gooey with cheese. I planned salmon for dinner and took out a piece of the fish to thaw in a bowl of water.

I had dinner pretty late because when I got home I didn't feel like eating. I put the thawed fish in the fridge (not the freezer) until I was ready for dinner around 9 pm. To cook it, I put it in the saucepan with olive oil, lemon and lime juices, and basil. Mean time I put up some linguine that came with sauce, and some mixed vegetables.

This meal took about 40 min. but it could probably be made faster.

Back to school after a three day weekend!

Yesterday was Martin Luther King Day and school was closed. My family came to visit and we ate at Bento Cafe. Their meals are so delicious!


Today I had ravioli and mixed vegetables for lunch. Both come frozen and boil in about 20 min. (depending on how much you put up) Dinner was roasted chicken, salad, toast, and grapes on the side. I know that sounds like it took a while to make but I actually put it together in about 10 min. The secret is that I bought the 8pc chicken already cooked. I can have chicken anytime this week at the cost of $6. I did my shopping at Winn Dixie this week, but I find it to be more expensive than other grocery stores.

If anyone one is still looking to buy books for class I discovered this place from a bulletin board on campus called DealOz.com that compares prices of books from muliple sites. I was always a Half.com person for my textbooks but this DealOz.com place has a great concept. Check it out to save money.

With that being said, I hope everyone has a good weekend. Friday night is a great night to get out and be with friends. After watching a free movie at school, a bunch of us went to a Mediterranean restaurant in town. Being in good company can make a meal 100% more enjoyable. So if you will be cooking this weekend, invite some people over to share the meal with you.

I'm signing off. Check back again next week for an update of college, food, etc. and as always, thanks for reading.

I'm starting to find that my university's campus is an exciting place to explore. Not just physical places though, but exploring different social arenas through observation. My sociology class is rubbing off on me.


I walked home for lunch at about four, to make a sandwich. I bought those deli style turkey slices in a package with enough for a few sandwiches. Turned on the stove, heated the turkey while slicing cheese and spreading mayo on some sesame buns. Added some lettuce to finish off when the turkey finished heating after 5 min. Quick yummy lunch with some V8 juice.


For dinner today I had tortellini which I discovered that I love last week. I bought a huge frozen bag of it and threw some in boiling water while putting some chicken nuggets in the toaster-oven. Both finished in about 12 min. Then I put butter and squeezed half a lemon into the pot of tortellini (an idea from a good friend) and then added some tomato sauce. There was a little salad on the side. I like to put salads on the sides of dishes but you can also quickly heat up peas, mixed vegetables, or broccoli.


My New Year's Resolution this year had nothing to do with food or dieting. I told myself that I would initiate conversation with more people that I didn't know too well. At school I have been meeting a few people. But my spirits was dampened for a day by a student in Sociology class. I guess I was expecting students in that class to be, well, a little more social. I mean after all if you are interested in studying society and relationships between people I would think that you'd be a little more open in creating relationships and meeting people. I tried to strike up a conversation with this guy saying that I noticed him in my PreCalc. class. AND?!? was his response. "So where did you buy those lecture notes?". He responded "that class is so easy I don't see why you'd need the notes." OK. So not everyone responds well to open conversation with strangers. Even in a classroom environment. Like Sociology.

What I really have enjoyed about my school is the cool, humble, intelligent, funny, and open to conversations kind of people that I have met so far. There are some who do nothing more than drink on the weekends and gossip the next week about who they saw at what party. There are some cliquish ones who have found their circle and stop there, not venturing to strike even an academic discussion after class with peers. These are people I care not to meet. There is a certain level of maturity about a person who can strike an appropriate conversation with a stranger. Let's say it's a sort of art.

What do you all think?