Summary: I Cooked For The First Time In My Kitchen In 2015

   So in a rare case of events, I had two days off in a row this week, no clients, no fire department, no side business stuff, and no real estate work. I got a great cookbook off amazon.com boasting healthy recipes so I decided to give it a go, I did two appetizers and one entree. My typical cooking day, involves grilling a piece of chicken, boiling some brown rice, steaming some spinach, or drinking egg whites/protein shakes. THAT'S IT! So today I did some fancy Italian dishes. Here's how it went down:

COOKING    VERSE    NORMAL DIET

Time: 3 hours               Time: 30 minutes

Cost: $45            Cost: $12  

Left Over Servings: 1          Left Over Servings: 0

Healthier: No           Healthier: Yes

Calorie Estimate: 1,300*    Calorie Estimate: 500

Flavor/Taste: Plenty        Flavor/Taste: Bland

*in all fairness, I also had more calories because I was snacking on extra ingredients as I was cooking, and also did 3 recipes where I would have been fine with 2.

    On a health note, it already looks bad for the cooking day, so here's where it gets worse, the recipes I used, were actually HEALTHY RECIPES! But honestly, I can't say they were truly healthy, I'm not gonna knock or name the book I used, it makes a great effort to make healthier versions of dishes we eat, and I will definitely cook this again for special occasions. But at the same time, it calls for things high in sodium, and fat, and on top of all that, it calls for you to make several servings, and I didn't feel it specified that, yes the meal is only 300 calories, but you made 4 servings, so it's 1,2000 calories! So the problem is the average American may buy this book, but still continue on with our number one issue in America with our diet, PORTIONS! Sugar, salt, and fat are ESSENTIAL to live, it's the portions that kill us.

        Food is social, it bonds us, and it identifies our culture, it's family time, and it's friend time. So on the one hand we don't want to give that up, on the other hand we don't want to do it in excess. Admittingly, cooking only once in 11 months is the other extreme, I probably should cook more! But most of my friends and I go out to eat more often because we live near so many damn good restaurants. But when you are watching your weight and your health, you need to find the balance, you need to more often, and unfortunately eat bland, eat boring, and remember that food's first purpose is biological function. Cook for fun here and there, but eat for health and life.

Enjoy this blog? Need some protein? Click on the amazon link and suppor this site, I get a small commission on anything purchased thru the link, thanks for reading!