The Great Fitness Experiment!

Here (as a result of my begging & stalking) by popular demand: the inimitable Charlotte of The Great Fitness Experiment.

We all know her.

We all love her.

We all wanna be her. Enjoy.

I’m Cheap, Easy & Quick

No I’m not a hooker at a blue-light special. I’m talking about the way I cook. Being a health-minded gal with limited culinary abilities and three picky toddlers, I’m in a tough position come every evening round about 5 pm.

Healthy. Cheap. Quick. In that order, those are my three main priorities when it comes to food. (Notice that “tastes good” didn’t even make my top 3? Yeah, sadly, so did my family.) It’s hard to find recipes that do all three things. Sure there are tons of healthy recipes - with 5,000 exotic, expensive ingredients that take an hour just to prep. And of course there’s plenty of cheap, quick food a la McD’s. But all three? Plus yummy?? It’s enough to make this cooking-disabled momma throw the towel in. Literally. Surprisingly it didn’t make the soup taste any worse. All Husband said was “Hmm. Chewy.”

Bring on the Revolution
I grew up with a mom who, like many women of her generation, was enamored of Stuff In A Box (although in her defense she was also a huge fan of fresh produce). So consequently when I went to college I ate a lot of Stuff In A Box. After I got married, I added Frozen Stuff In a Box to the repertoire. It wasn’t pretty.

After gaining 47 pounds with my first pregnancy, I had had it with the unhealthy eating. I read every book I could on the subject and pestered every healthy friend I had and surfed the web like my DSL connection carried oxygen instead of data.

The problem with most “healthy” recipes that I found was that they were either too time consuming & expensive or relied too much on processed crap packaged in a special “healthy” box. (I’m thinking cardboard probably does have a lot of fiber - too bad it doesn’t apply to what’s inside as well.) It was then I realized that I was going to have to learn how to cook. I cried. I screamed at the heavens. I fainted. And then I got up and made dinner. I tried everything and sloooowly taught myself how to cook.

Getting Creative
As if it wasn’t enough of a challenge, I am also a vegetarian (shout out to my girl Ruta Bega and my homie K. Ale!!). So here are my fave strategies for coming up with something healthy, cheap & quick. Note: Omnivores - you know I love all you beautiful little freaks! - can just add meat to most of these dishes or serve it on the side. My husband and kids are all Omni so I know it works!

Soup: I make a lot of soup. And I make it from scratch. The trick is to make it in really big batches. Think witch cauldron minus the snake tongues and beetle butts. I base most of my soups off of beans and/or lentils and vegetables in a broth base. The variations are endless. Then I freeze it in little disposable plastic containers (that I reuse because I’m cheap and, well, I kinda have a soft spot for the ol’ planet) that hold about 4 servings each.

Salad: On Monday of every week I make a ginormous bowl of salad with a little lettuce, a lot of spinach and every conceivable veggie I can throw in. During the week, I’ll pull some of it out and add some cheese or beans or tomatoes or something else to kick it up. I make my own dressing by quickly stirring together some olive oil with a flavored vinegar. It takes me about 30 seconds. If I use my finger to stir it. What? It’s not like I lick it. Usually.

Bread: Being the health nut that I am (when I said I eat healthy I mean Healthy - a friend once told me my intestines must look like burnished steel from all the fiber I eat. I take that as one of the most wonderful compliments I’ve ever gotten!), I make my own whole wheat bread. Every Sunday I cook two loaves (despite what you may have heard bread baking is not that hard and pretty quick) . I leave one out and put one in the freezer.

I also make big batches of snacks for my kids like homemade granola bars, whole wheat banana muffins and the like and then put the extras in… the freezer!

Think Outside the Box
In addition to big batch cooking, my other tip is to make meat, if you eat it, the side dish and make vegetables your main dish. Veggies are cheap, healthy and easy to prep: I’ve never met a veggie that didn’t taste good sautéed in a little olive oil and garlic. (Except you Mr. Okra. Don’t look at me that way. You know what you did!) Stir fry is about as quick a meal as they come. And don’t feel bad at all about buying those pre-cut veggies. Sometimes the time saved is worth the expense.

Beans, lentils and other legumes are also super cheap, especially if you buy them dried and not canned, and only require a little overnight soaking to loosen them up (not unlike some friends I know). Think quick cooking grains as well, like quinoa & couscous. If you throw in a cube of bullion with the cooking water everyone will ask what you did to make it so “fancy.” Then you can go put on your pearls and smile sweetly and tell them you slaved for hours until you oozed enough sweat to give it just the right tang - not that they should feel guilty or anything although you have heard that Nordstrom’s is having a spring shoe sale. Ahem.

So there you have it - cooking tips from the girl who can’t cook! I’m assuming that most of you have mad kitch skillz so please leave me your suggestions and comments.

PS> What? You want a recipe? You actually trust me to give you a recipe?? Fools! Muwhahahah!  D’s Special Granola Bars (not special like that, psychos). There. I’m done with you.

Thank you Charlotte. I know you are a busyworkingwritingmama and appreciate you making time for us!

( Yada Yada Yada YAHOO!Imover heretoday talking about ways to EEEEEK the most out of your workout time.)