Coach Kirstin

So dinner tonight came about because one night I had chicken and I really didn't have a very good plan.  I decided to scan my cabinets and see what I had.  Diced tomatoes and tomato paste it was.  Here is what I ended up using 3 cans diced tomatoes (I'm a nerd and had organic) 1 can tomato sauce (because I'm paranoid its going to burn while I'm gone) 1 small can tomato paste 4 cloves garlic ~ 1 tbsp basil ~1  tbsp oregano few dash's of salt, I prefer to add this after I tossed it all in the crock pot the night before and went to bed.  Not pretty but this was my masterpiece. Plugged it in and went to work.  Of course the can of tomato sauce was completely unnecessary but I'm paranoid.  Came home and all I had to do was cook a veggie.  I was really craving Kale with Bacon and with my boyfriend out of town, I can cook it with even more apple cider vinegar than usual.  Its my favorite side to cook because its easy and quick. ...

Maybe I'm lazy or just always short on time.  Either way I decided that it's easier to make a big batch of my breakfast for the week on Sunday's and the warm it up throughout the week.  It started when I started fighting.  I used to be really neurotic and I would measure out each portion in a pan cook it individually to ensure I got the same amount in each serving....time and life has gotten my neurosis to calm down a bit.  I now just cook in a bit batch.  I also have learned some ways to make save time and money.  I like to keep my veggies extra fresh, well dead of winter that is always possible so I use frozen, also saves me from having to chop all that up.  I just dump the bag in and voila!  I also use Trader Joe's Bacon Ends & Pieces.  Its about $2.99 here which is about $5 less than a package of bacon of the same size (1 lbs) since I just chop it anyhow, I don't need pretty strips of bacon for frying up with my eggs and laying on pla...

This weeks Green Grocer  delivery had a few things I wasn't sure what to do with.  Namely eggplant and butter lettuce.  Off to the interwebs I went and found a recipe for Eggplant Bolognese .  I added a few extras like the bell peppers and onions to my delivery so I didnt have to pick them up and then got the meats from the grocery store.  My boyfriend also had the great idea to add bacon, which gave us some bacon grease and extra goodness in the Bolognese.  Below is my ingredients and steps modified from the above recipe. Left over bacon fat 2 tablespoons butter 1 large eggplant peeled and cubed (approximately 2-3 cups) 1 red bell pepper cut into bite size pieces 1 small red onion, sliced (should have cut smaller) 1 pound ground beef 1 pound ground pork 1 pacakge bacon 1 teaspoon sea salt + more to taste 2 tablespoons  balsamic vinegar  5 garlic cloves minced 1 ½ cups tomato sauce  1 tablespoon dried oregano ...