Mix'n'Match

We ate at a Mexican restaurant on Saturday. It was one of the two places we go to when it comes to Mexican foods. At those two restaurants, I will always eat two same meals over and over again. I've learned my lesson. Taking risks, when it comes to food, makes no sense. Every once in a while I'll still do it, but it usually results in a disaster of some sort. At one of them, Mazatlan, I will always eat Pollo Espinaca. I don't care for the chicken, but there's something about the spinach, mushroom and cheese combo it comes with. And their rice and beans are pretty good, too. This time, we went to Plaza Garibaldi and I ate their Vegetarian Quesadilla. What I love about those is that they both feed me at least two times, while they cost pretty much nothing. Good deal. And a nice pig-out-meal after a week of homemade healthy things!

Here is my meal. The picture is again taken with the cell phone. It would have been too awkward to shoot some with the huge EOS at the restaurant, after all. At least without my sister being around. She would have done it, of course. She's the master of stalking foods with a camera.  The second picture is of Molcajete. That would be... a pile of food to feed a village. Or whatever else it means in Spanish, ok.

I just need to let you all know that I really utterly hate cilantro. I will tolerate it only in some good salsa. And that's only sometimes. I love coriander seeds, though.

We had two and a half meals each from that pile of food. Good deal for something like $20.

Anyway, Mix'n'Match actually had nothing to do with our Mexican meals. The title refers to my today's kitchen adventure. I had to cook after work, for tomorrow, of course. And I had no game plan. Actually, I rarely ever do. Sometimes I will know in advance what I wish to make and I might even go get the missing ingredients. Most of the time, however, I just work with what I have. Or end up running to the store in the middle of the process because, uh-oh, there's no carne for my chili con carne. Or no butternut squash for my, how odd, butternut squash soup. 

I decided to cook some soup today. Well. Okay. Soup, to me, is clear broth with some soup noodles in it and maybe a lone carrot piece or two. Perhaps some parsley and parsnip and that kind of thing. I've learned over time to stop confusing people so now, when I cook a stew, as in thick(er) liquid(ish) dish that's eaten with a spoon, from a bowl of some sort, I just say that there's some soup to be served. And then when I actually sautee something, I might refer to it as a stew. And life's so much easier.

The final product looked like this: 

Chopped sweet yellow onions, sweet potato and yellow carrot, sauteed with a spoon of olive oil. Sliced leek, both white and green parts, of course. Later on, I threw in some green and red lentils, for good measure. Parsley, salt, pepper and a dash of ground pepper. Oh, and a can of butter beans, along with the starchy water they come in. Good stuff.

It took about 45 minutes to prepare, with all the cooking. Maybe five of those minutes were spent chopping the ingredients and stirring here and there. While it was slowly cooking, I washed the dishes, talked to my mom on Skype, read a few articles online, etc. I always get confused when people around me say that they don't have the time to cook because cooking requires so much time. It sure does, if you choose to prepare a four course meal every day, followed by a few different desserts. But cooking a simple, everyday meal? It's really simple. And does not require meat thermometers and other probes (what are those things even for?!). It requires no preparation or dedicated kitchen time. It gets done while you're running around working on other household stuff. Or while you're watching a show. Posting on a forum. Reading a book. Watching TV, if that's what you do. Sure, sometimes I don't feel like it and then I just don't. But for the most part, we eat a cooked meal almost every day and it doesn't seem like I'm missing out on... life. Or anything else, for that matter.

Also, cookbooks. I love cookbooks. I buy cookbooks when they are on sale. I love the smell of a new book. I love the colorful pages. I also love cooking magazines and I am subscribed to a few (subscriptions here cost literally nothing). I love looking at those photos. I read the recipes the same way I read a novel. You know, start from the beginning, absorb the content. That kind of thing.

And then I don't really cook anything from them. I use them as a reference or to get some general idea. Every once in a while, I will actually do my best to follow a recipe. I really will.

And then I don't. It's just boring. Or looks weird. Or there is no reason why I would want, say, two carrots and one broccoli, when I can do seven carrots, half a broccoli and two slices of tomato. Mixing and matching usually works just fine, either way.