(Prep)rarin' to go

Life keeps me on my toes. I juggle three part time jobs, which often means I'm out of the house 12-15 hours per day between two of them.

I'm not complaining, life is good. My house, car and person are all in reasonably good working order. And, my fridge and pantry are full of good, farm fresh produce from Long Hungry Creek Farm. Actually, I have more food than I usually have the energy to prepare after a long day.

Most of my cooking is done on one or both days off per week. I tend to make one or two giant pots of soup or chili, a casserole or something else I can throw together and simmer for a while. Since I'm overwhelmed with sweet potatoes, potatoes and winter squash at the moment, most of my recipes contain one or more of each. I also compose something with beans and rice and dish everything up in portion-sized containers for the week.

Of course, eating the same three meals over and over all week can get a little old after a while. I mean, I am a creature of habit, but let's get real. You can only eat so many bowls of soup each week before you start to float away.

That's when I rally and make a stir fry. Okay, I know that's not ambitious. Ambitious is what happens when I literally have nothing else to do...or I have housework and don't want to wash the floors.

I know what you're thinking, why not go to the local Chinese take-out place? Y'all know I live in Nashville, right? Good Chinese food here is a commodity I'd be willing to pay for. In lieu of that, I make my own. Luckily, my brother and sister-in-law gave me a giant cast iron wok!

In 20 minutes, I cranked up the oven, cubed some tofu, laid it out on a parchment-lined baking pan and popped in the oven. While the tofu browned, I sliced up 1/2 and onion, a clove of garlic, a chunk of ginger, a carrot, a handful of asparagus and 1/2 a small cabbage. I also juiced a tangelo and pulled the tamari sauce and sesame oil out of the fridge.

You know the rest. De-lish!

Seriously, though. Cooking's not hard. You just have to figure out what you like that tastes good together, gather the ingredients, and roast, braise, stew, steam, bake, broil, boil, fry or grill it up! Now, get to it.