hello hello! it’s been oh so long. i took a sabbatical! jk, work just got reallllly busy and it’s funny how that works – as soon as that happened, i felt that i didn’t have enough time to cook from scratch, exercise, sleep enough, read as much (as i want to), and all that kind of stuff… i think socializing used to be included in that realm too, but i don’t really do that anymore?! alas, cooking has gone to the back burner on the weekdays.
char and i noticed we were ordering takeout way too much (support local ok!) and we decided we needed to bend a little, for our budget’s sake. i tried to find pre-made food that wouldn’t be completely processed but would be quick to throw together on weekdays (and let’s be real – lazy weekends). i’ve been settling into the groove a bit, and i’ve also been trying to eat as many vegetables as possible, so a lot of time that looks like a bunch of spinach with an egg or two. or tempeh with sautéed greens and brown rice… with lots of kewpie mayo?! prepping ahead is certainly key to being fulfilled. for example: soaking grains and beans the night before you want to cook em, getting some dough going, prepping overnight oats. these are all great, but sometimes (a lot lately!) i am simply too tired to even do that!
this isn’t really a recommendation for how to live your life… but i recently (yesterday!) fell in love with a combo of items – all that was required was to cook the gnocchi and combine it with some prepared pesto. don’t get me wrong… having both fresh gnocchi and fresh pesto would be far superior, but we got to work with what we got, and what i got was refrigerated gnocchi from berkeley bowl (bless you) and a vegan kale-cashew pesto from trader joe’s!
side note: for some reason i’ve always hated trader joe’s… i try to eat as close to the earth as i can because i am lucky enough to live near lots of farmer’s markets, which means processed food is a no-go most of the time. but with my new time-savvy focus, i gave in and scoped to see if anything at trader joe’s would work. and boy did i come home with some treats. but also, i came across this vegan kale-cashew pesto and knew it would be perfect with my gnocchi, and it was! i spiced it up (literally) with some red pepper flakes, a drizzle of yummy olive oil, kosher salt, and freshly cracked lemon black pepper (another find from TJ’s!). so, ignore how poorly-prepared this dish is, but here she is in all her glory!:
that’s it for today, i’m tired! i’ll keep you updated on more cooking stuff if i feel there’s anything somewhat worthy of sharing – lol! what are your favorite food hacks / food items to keep around for a quick meal?! I NEED TO KNOW!
cooking with leeks 