Adventures Into Eating Vegetables

January 13, 2012

People call me a health nut. I can’t decide if it’s because I always try to eat so-called "healthy" things or if it’s because I always pick the health nut combo at IHOP, probably the latter—it just seems right. Typically, my diet consists usually of a protein shake in the morning, protein bars later on, and a light meal later after that, with some sweet things mixed in randomly. I’m not sure how healthy this is, as great amounts of protein can strain the kidneys. But for all my "healthiness," I’m still small as a stick.

One resolution this year, for me, is to eat more fruits and vegetables. But that being said, I want to get them fresh. To do this, I suppose I’ll have to cook. Let me rephrase that. I suppose I’ll have to learn to cook. Well, it won’t be that bad. I already know how to follow directions. If I can do mac ‘n cheese, I can do 'cookbooky' things, too.

So last week, I picked a pasta dish called "Risotto-Style Penne with Tomatoes and Ricotta Salata" from Fresh & Fast Vegetarian by Marie Simmons. It was fantastic! This recipe intrigued me because instead of cooking the pasta in water like the most awesome creation of mac ‘n cheese, you essentially cook it along with the vegetables in a broth. The broth just boils away. It was amazing!

All right, maybe it wasn’t that amazing, and I’m just a little too excited about his cooking thing, but I was really quite impressed with it and myself. On a side note though, cooking takes forever!

So the plan? Cook in bulk on the weekend and eat during the week. I think this may work. If it works wonderfully, you might just get a few more cooking blogs. Should you not hear much from this blogger for a period of time, you can well imagine my idea went bad, along with the food I cooked and most likely ate. I really hope that doesn’t happen. I’ll cross my fingers.

Here are more awesome vegetarian cookbooks if you so choose to venture with me into the vegetable and fruit eating realm.

Till next time, keep things interesting Parkville; eat your fruits and veggies!

~Cody C.
Parkville Branch