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Health & Fitness

Saving Brainpower for Other Things

Haven't you heard of STEM CC?

”My wife has to be the worse cook. In my house, we pray after we eat.”

—Rodney Dangerfield

I love to stand in front of my refrigerator and cry, “Aha!” as soon as I open the door.  You know by looking in whether you can see meals in there without some grand recipe plan.

There are nights when the question of what to prepare for dinner inspires a burst of culinary craftsmanship.   And then there are moments - usually when the children & husband are ransacking the cabinets "looking for somethin' nice" - when inspiration is nowhere to be found.

Erma Bombeck wrote the following passage:

My son, Jaws II, had a habit that drove me crazy.  He’d walk to the refrigerator-freezer and fling both doors open and stand there until the hairs in his nose iced up.  After surveying two hundred dollars worth of food in varying shapes and forms he would declare loudly, “There’s nothing to eat”.

I hate to be a big drip, but for all of you not involved in your household with some part of the meal preparations; the meals do not cook themselves.

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There is currently an ad where the two boys are looking in the freezer. They call mom on the cellphone and say, “there’s nothing to eat!” Mom talks about the given product, the boys grab it to cook it (and leave the phone in the freezer). So what we have here is a generation of computer gaming zombies that don’t have the culinary creativity to prepare anything that is not available at White Castle or microwaveable within a 2 minute parameter.

No wonder schools are pushing Science, Technology, Engineering and Math or STEM. Maybe we could widen it to STEM CC (to include the fascinating arena of cooking and cleaning) as that too has been neglected in our push toward Self Esteem 101, Eastern Antarctic Cultural Studies 102 and Different Ways to Find Fault with America 103 in our halls of higher learning.
 
The food shopping, the menu plan, the cooking and execution of all the meals many times a day, day-in-day-out, can be quite the chore and much more in need of erudition than was ever realized. The Fine Art of Meal Prep. 501 (note the graduate level course level) is wide open.

We could save ourselves an awful lot of brainpower with a plan to avoid all of that staring inside the refrigerator and wondering how to make a nutritious meal.  Have you ever found yourself staring inside the fridge & wondering what kind of meal can we make out of a jar of strawberry jam and a carrot? Some sort of smoothie perhaps? 

Families of little munchers need that fuel for strength and protection. 
When hunger strikes, my family of guzzlers can be highly charged.  I dislike being a big bag of nerves and I like to put what’s left of my brainpower by evening into other things instead of the quantum mechanics of meal preparation. 


                                     DINNER?  DONE.  IN ONE PAN.
For busy home cooks like you, this culinary vessel has been described as the holy grail of the kitchen, they are the efficient, tasty, no-fail meals cooked in one great skillet -  IN The Cast Iron Skillet.

(If you don’t have a Cast Iron Skillet, grab any deep 12inch skillet).
Few vessels will perform better than the cast iron & it will last a lifetime - it performs in the oven, on the stove, or under the broiler, on the BBQ grill.  Plus this gentle giant of cookware is almost indestructible.

The following recipes are short on prep time but big on taste.  They don’t require making anything on the side.  In the cast iron you can prepare chix wings to steaks, quality grains to vegetables, and wild-caught fish - sauces are built in. There aren’t a lot of steps, and there’s not a lot of cooking.

Broiled Shrimp with Tomatoes and White Beans
Pick up shelled, cleaned shrimp to save time.  Capers (optional) add a tangy note and the white beans make it a substantial meal.  Accompany it with hunks of rustic bread.

Fried Eggs with Greens and Mushrooms
When that fridge is almost bare, grab the partially filled egg carton.  Saute some mushrooms and some greens (chard, kale or spinach - any greens), and crack in the eggs.  All on the stove top.  Drizzle in some herb butter to polish off meal.

Braised Chicken with Potatoes, Olives and Lemon
Moist chicken, cook with potatoes in stock on the stove and then finished off in the oven with garlic, olives and lemon.

Baked Rice with Chorizo (or use fresh brats, Italian sausage) and clams
Tasty dried chorizo and clams, along with onion and garlic, aid this Spanish meal with the expense.  The list of ingredients is refreshingly brief.

Baked Rice with Sausage and Broccoli rabe
Brown some sausage, add onions and garlic add rice and some stock.  Pop in the oven - the rice will absorb the liquid.  Broccoli rabe to add iron to your diet.

Pork Roast with Caramelized Parsnips
When the neighbors are on the way over for dinner with a bottle of wine, this is one that can be thrown together also in a single pan. As the pork cooks with rosemary, it will releases its juices into the skillet, caramelizing the parsnips.

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Skillet Roasted Rosemary Potatoes, and Quick Skillet Mac and Cheese can be added to your culinary journey as well.

Write me if you care for any of the recipes and method - happy to share.  Some recipies are from Martha Stewart and some are from Fine Cooking books.


                                              Healthy Habits
Investing some effort into good habits,  good nutritional habits empowers you.  If you foster a lifestyle of healthy eating, it will come naturally. Changing how you think and how you eat makes you feel well.  It saves you time, money and frustration.  

I heard a good tip recently.  Do not put anything into your mouth until you know exactly what is going into your system and add up the all the calories you will be devouring. (There‘s a hefty lump of STEM for ye!).

I am finding, as we are aging, it seems whatever we eat is going straight to certain areas of the body that we do not want it to.  And, we either are having to exercise more / differently & being mindful of eating well.
 
As a quick rule of thumb.
Half your plate should be vegetables (STEM).
One quarter should be a carbohydrate-rich food, such as potatoes, dairy or fruit. Twenty five percent (STEM and STEM CC) should be a lean protein, such as grilled fish, skinless chicken or boiled egg.

Add a small amount of healthy fat when cooking (e.g. olive oil) or as additional fat (e.g. low fat margarine or a pat of butter) and you have a balanced plate.

I’m lucky that my family will gobble up plants, fruit and vegetables.  My family are less excitable about protein so I have to be inventive about getting that protein in - making our bodies tick, being the oar to our cells. 

Most of all I want to look into that well planned fridge most of the time, and say “Aha”. So, next time you’re at the local school board, just start asking folks, “Sssssayyy, have YOU HEARD about the new buzz in ALLLLLLL the educational circles? STEM CC?!?!?!”  And when they begin to look quizzical at you, wrinkle your brow at them, pretending to hear a question from somewhere in the back, “what’s that?!?  Ahhhh, Yes, ummmm, lemme see  - teaspoons to gallons… right!! That’ll be 768 teaspoons of vanilla in a gallon, thank you!”

STEM CC




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