First, and above all, you will need to start cooking at home 95% of the time. If you already do, great. If not, you can always start today. The reason cooking at home is priority #1 is because it's cheaper than eating out, you can control the ingredients (no mystery fats or poor quality proteins/produce), and it's far more satisfying to cook a meal from scratch than it is to pay someone else to do a sub-par job for you. Cooking is fun. Don't let the fucking food network tell you that if your not a chef then it's crap. I've been cooking for a living for over 8 years- nothing makes me more joyful than a simple, non-pretentious meal that a friend cooks for me (my wife is my friend too). Those chefs you see on TV cook food that was rooted from poverty. Generations ago, people only had a few things on hand because that's all they could afford, so they got really good at cooking certain meals that eventually became classics. Make your own classics with what you have lying around in the fridge and cupboards. Don't sweat, I'm going to share some very affordable and nutritious classic meals that I cook on the regular.
Before I get to that, I'd like you to consider a few things for your health and for the sake of better tasting food.
-Stop buying butter. Get safflower and olive oil. They have vitamin E, unsaturated fats & omega fatty acids, butter is the opposite.
-Stop buying honey and brown sugar. Get brown rice syrup and molasses. They have more healthy carbohydrates, less sugar, and are generally healthier sweetener alternatives.
-The bulk section is your best friend. You aren't going to believe the money you save when you start buying dry goods out of these bins in the grocery store.
-You'll get more than enough protein, I promise. North Americans are missing the point, it's not protein you should be worried about, it's carbohydrates. The typical DAILY N. American diet consists of enough protein to refuel 8 Olympic athletes after competition. Carbs promote an efficient metabolism and fat burning. They human body requires 3x more grams of carbs than protein per calorie. If you are getting enough fats and carbs, you are definitely getting enough protein. Google it, or comment below and I'll give you a "Protein isn't as important as you think" clinic.
-Ditch that iodized salt. Get kosher or sea salt. It sticks to food more evenly and adds flavor, not takes away from it. Not to mention, it contains minerals your body craves. Salt is good for you. Sodium in packaged food is not.
Now, without further ado, here are some great meals anyone can cook. As always, feel free to experiment and add your own style to them as you get more comfortable.
Breakfast
Steel-cut Oats.
In a pot bring 1.5 cups of water to a raging boil. Add a pinch of sea/kosher salt. Add 1/2 cup of steel cut oats. Bring heat down to medium and stir frequently or else it's going to foam up and spill all over the place. After a minute of taming the foaming beast, for the next 10 minutes stir occasionally. When it looks like the oats have soaked up the water and it looks like watery slop, put a lid on it and remove from heat. In like, 5 minutes, feel free to add 1 Tablespoon of peanut butter (NOT THAT HYDROGENATED OIL CRAP, REAL PEANUT BUTTER) and 1 Tablespoon of unsulphured blackstrap molasses or brown rice syrup and mix well. Transfer to your favorite bowl and enjoy.
I eat this about every day. If you don't yet know what it means to be "regular," make this a staple breakfast. Also, breakfast is "the most important meal of the day" because it jump-starts your metabolism which gives you energy and promotes fat burning. Here's the nutritional value if you prepare half of this without the peanut butter and sweetener:
The PB and Molasses triple the iron, calcium, carbs and unsaturated fats. Bam!
Lunch
Green Machine Sandwich
On whole/ multi-grain bread spread Vegenaise (yes, I just suggested a packaged food, its far more nutritious than regular mayo and tastes better, found in most grocery stores in the hippie section) and your favorite mustard on both sides. Next add sliced green bell pepper, sliced cucumber, lettuce, clover (or any) sprouts, avocado, green onion (or red, I guess). Close bread together to form a sandwich. Pair with a canned lentil soup from the hippie section of the store or make a soup that I post here on the blog under "recipes" a mixed greens salad with balsamic/applecider/redwine vinegar and olive oil and tomatoes, carrots and apples is also highly recommended instead of soup.
This sandwich has more than enough plant-based carbs to keep you going until dinner. Lunch should always be more filling than dinner. You will burn calories just doing whatever it is you do until dinner, so your food serves as fuel. Dinner should leave you feeling like you could probably eat a little more. If you are full, then you over-ate. You're just going to be hitting the sack shortly after dinner anyways, you don't want the extra food turning to fat.
Once a week, dinner can be had eating out. That is even a bit much. I still think it's important to eat out occasionally, since it serves the purpose of culinary inspiration. Every time you go to a restaurant you are eating food you probably haven't executed yourself. Use those ingredients on the plate and take a shot at your own version.
Dinner
Tacos (a favorite)
-Corn tortillas
-1/4c Sunflower seeds
-1/4c Pumpkin seeds
-1/2 a yam (small chop)
-1/2 an onion (small chop)
-1 clove garlic (minced)
-thinly sliced cabbage/lettuce, tomatoes, nutritional yeast
Preheat oven to 400*F. In a hot pan with a little saff/olive oil to coat and a couple pinches of salt, add chopped yam and onion. Stir occasionally. When those two start to get some browning color on them, add garlic, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, mix well then immediately put the pan in the oven. *If you are using a pan with a Teflon coat (non stick) and/or something with a rubber/plastic handle - DON'T. Drop $40 at Whole Foods or something and get a 10" cast iron pan. After about 10 minutes, those yam pieces should be nice and tender, so pull it out of the oven and trade it with your taco tortillas. Shake a couple dashes of black pepper and cumin in the pan, stir, and put in your toasty tortillas with your veg toppings.
The thing with tacos, is that the filling is completely interchangeable with whatever produce you have in the fridge. Always use a fatty protein like seeds/nuts to add texture and substance to your filling. Personally, I like to add a little bit of quinoa and whatever beans I might have around to the above recipe.
Your body reacts better to occasional and frequent exercise better when it can expect the same fuel every day. This doesn't mean eat the same exact thing everyday, it means make small changes within the same meals.
Check back soon, I'd like to give an onion cutting clinic to the uninitiated. Yes, that means video. Also, I have Wednesday off, so you can expect a race report from Sunday's Brad Lewis Memorial Criterium race and a recipe or two for summer potlucks or personal meals.
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