Cooking for health: Don't forget your veggies!

Today I did a google search for healthy recipes. Now I am not sure who determines what is healthy and what is not but I had to say to myself are you kidding?! The recipes that came up were not at all what I should be eating and of course all seem to take a lot of effort to make. Ok, so I am figuring out there isn't a way to make being healthy effortless or at least if there is I haven't found it yet.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about vegetables lately and trying to figure out how to get more veggies into my diet and how to diversify it a little. When you buy veggies from the frozen section of the grocery store you don't have much of a selection to work with. Considering I have been healthy for a couple years now I am getting very sick of broccoli, carrots, spinach, peas, and green beans. I have been realizing I don't really know anything about the different veggies out there and their nutritional value.

Now I realize I may get off track at times but you will have to excuse me considering it is after 8pm and I am just eating dinner and yes it is close to my bedtime. Sleep is very important. So after work today I went for a massage. Then I had to figure out what is for dinner. I am already very relaxed and can't even imagine getting in front of the stove. Off to the grocery store I go (sometimes you have to force yourself to do things you don't feel like doing). Then I end up walking out of the grocery store with 5 bags of mostly fresh fruit and veggies with a few other odds and ends. They are not joking about healthy not being cheap. Over $100 later I am on my way home to figure out how to cook all this stuff. I have to say that on the way home I had all kinds of ideas going through my head on why I didn't want to cook anything and how I could just go out and get something or just go to bed which would not be good since I hadn't eaten in a while.

Let the cooking begin and let me start off by saying I still had dirty dishes from the last time I cooked. Yes I know not cool at all but give me a break I am still trying to figure out this how to do everything thing. The idea of a cleaning lady is sounding very nice but how can I afford that when I have to buy all this healthy food.

First things first and that is the veggies. Now I read an article on Web MD today about the best greens. One of the highest rated in nutritional value was kale. This is the veggie that we see as a garnish on the side of our plate but I definitely don't see anybody eating it. Doesn't exactly sound right that we are leaving something with the best nutrients and eating the stuff with hardly any.

 

So here they are kale, collard greens and ......some other leaf. Yes I have already forgotten. But who needs a name when you have a picture. Everything I have seen says wash really well. I also read somewhere to soak them and then rinse again. So I pulled a couple pieces off each one and soaked them while I got the other veggies started. I got my pan out and added some olive oil, roasted garlic, crushed ginger, onions, mushrooms, peppers, and tomatoes. Later added the greens after they were washed and sliced. I cut the think stems off to help speed up cooking.

I also added a little rose wine while sauteing. I try not to drink very often and very much but I do like a little wine or a good beer occasionally. So I had about half a glass. Then the bad part is I have to pay full price for a bottle of wine and what do I do with the wine I don't drink. Time to experiment. I have to say it didn't turn out bad at all. I also sprinkled a little goat cheese on top.

Then my other idea was some whole wheat angle hair pasta with garlic, olive oil, and pesto. This was kind of turning into a disaster in the pot trying to mix these which means I must of done something wrong so I sucked it up and put a little on my plate and just put a little pesto on top with parmesan cheese. I pay a lot of attention to labels now so I found the pesto with the least amount of sodium possible. You have to watch out for these things. The pasta tasted excellent but wouldn't of won any prices for elegance.

Next I need some protein. I bought some chicken at the store but said forget it because I also had some already cooked in the fridge. I heated up my chicken and made a cucumber dill sauce. This is a greek thing I believe but not hard to make. Greek yogurt, dill, and chopped cucumber and you are good to go. If only everything was that easy.

Meal complete: It probably won't win any prizes and I know why would someone put greek and italian together but hey it is all fresh and homemade. Full with lots of nutrients.

It just goes to show sometimes we underestimate what we can do. Now I can go to sleep knowing I did it. I had a wonderful meal and I remained calm the whole time. Even though my massage probably helped a little.