To save some cash dollars I've been trying to get back into cooking at home more often. I love cooking, I just don't get off work until 6:30 and the idea of spending another hour or so whipping something up after work just exhausts me.
I'm getting over myself though and have done a little bit of old and new recipes this week and am pretty proud of myself for what I've put together from the contents of my cabinets.
Monday I made turkey tacos - ground lean turkey, taco seasoning, small white corn tortillas, bit of avocado, low fat cheese, and Cholula hot sauce. I usually add black beans, but I had forgotten to buy more.
Tuesday I made a taco salad with leftover seasoned ground turkey, lettuce, avocado, chickpeas, black beans, black olives, and low fat cheese with a simple dressing I made up of fresh lime juice, hot sauce and a bit of extra virgin olive oil.
I had most of a can of chickpeas and about 1/3 of a can of black beans left and didn't want to toss them (and didn't have anything clean to store them in), so I decided to try making some black bean hummus. It actually turned out pretty well, despite the several substitutions I had to make. Chickpeas, black beans, extra virgin olive oil, finely chopped garlic, salt, pepper, lime juice (instead of lemon), a few dashes of a spice blend, and toasted sesame seeds in place of tahini because I didn't have any. It could use some actual tahini for taste and a smoother texture but I was really pleased with how delicious it turned out, especially since it was my first time attempting it and had to wing it on several ingredients.
And tonight - the piece de resistance - split pea soup from scratch. I used basically this recipe:
Simple Split Pea Soup (that website is awesome for healthy food ideas, by the way) minus the garlic because I forgot to put it in, but it was completely delicious without it. Mine was different because the store was out of dried split peas and I had to use a pea soup package. I tossed the flavoring packet and just used the dried split peas, but the measurements were off from the recipe. I added a teaspoon of sour cream to my bowl, but think I would have preferred without.
Man, that soup was/is delicious.
Plan for tomorrow: small taco salad with rest of ground turkey and pea soup.
Ok, this is rambling, but whatevs, I'm so proud of myself and I've gotten major use out of the
immersion blender I got for Christmas!
