Lazy food

Last time Andy went away for an extended trip, I ate really well. At the start of his absence I went through some cookbooks and marked recipes I wanted to try for myself, and I made a point to cook good meals.

This time has been very different. I’m happy to blame a number of factors: I’ve been busy and have been getting home late. I’ve been living off of the fruit & veggie co-op, which is convenient but doesn’t deliver much in the way of inspiration (the focus is on staple foods). It’s getting warm again, so I don’t feel like putting the oven on excessively. Really, though, I’ve been ridiculously lazy.

About half of a weekly co-op order, freshly washed and drying in the dish rack. Not pictured (because they didn’t need washing) were two ears of corn, a head of lettuce, a bunch of avocadoes, pumpkin, oranges, bananas and onions.

My meal focus has been on quick and simple. So I’ve been eating lots of soba noodles, because they feel vaguely healthy and they cook up in 5 minutes. Sometimes I have them with nothing but a splash of Liquid Amigos, but sometimes I jazz them up. This time I used some broccoli from the freezer, cucumber slices and roasted peanuts.

I’ve also been having lots of eclectic meals, particularly on the weekend when I’m trying to use up veggies. Here we have a sautéed mix of potatoes, carrots, onions and green beans served up with rice, an orange, and some peanuts.

On evenings when I don’t get home until very late, I sometimes don’t eat much at all. Last Thursday I went to a clothing swap party, where everyone brought their unwanted clothes and dumped them in a pile, and we all dug through and found some new treasures. When I got home, it took all my energy to spread some avocado on a slice of kalamata olive bread.

I haven’t been lazy all the time. Every few days I resolve to get motivated and eat more healthily, and I’ll even summons the energy to put together something complicated, like this lasagne. The top and bottom layers were tomato-tvp sauce, and in the middle was frozen broccoli and spinach mixed with tofu. This was yummy, and garlicky and made enough for leftovers.

And every now and then I'm even inspired to try something new. After laughing about Bianca’s memory of Granny’s beer beans (and her family’s lack of a similar memory), I decided to do something similar, though on the stovetop. Hence BBQ-Beer Beans and Tofu on toast. I used up some overripe tomatoes which I mixed with half a block of crumbled tofu, a tin of beans, some bbq sauce, molasses and half a bottle of homebrew beer. The result was sweet and tangy and delicious. And of course I had to drink the other half of the bottle of beer.

When I’m really feeling lazy, though, I open the freezer. Before he left, Andy got me a litre of chocolate soy ice cream. I’ve enjoyed it with crumbled up gingernut biscuits, desiccated coconut, and peanuts, but it’s equally good on its own.

I’m not the only lazy one in the house.

Nacho likes to spend a weekend afternoon by the back door, watching the bugs and lizards, and watching the pineapple grow.

Andy comes home in a bit over a week, so here’s hoping my motivation finds its way back to me before he does!