Healthy but Quick Series

I gained 20 lbs my first year in public accounting. It was all thanks to the restaurant takeout we ordered for lunch AND dinner while working until 1 AM. Since I was the one picking up the food (first year!), I felt obligated to eat that food, too. Just because it is called a salad, does not make it healthy. And I ate that salad twice a day for months. We had to wear suits because the client was business dress. By the time that client audit was almost over, my suit jacket buttons would not close at all and I was afraid to split my skirt zipper sitting down. All work and no time or money to buy new suits (non-matching separates were frowned upon and this was early 2000 before internet shopping was the obvious solution), I started making some food on Sundays to bring for lunch and dinner for a couple of days early in the week.

A decade and a half later, I am trying to eat healthier again and wanted to write a series of recipe posts that are Healthy but Quick. Many people want to eat healthier but don’t have time to cook a full, complicated meal after a day at work or school. Some recipes sound delicious but we give up for a number of excuses and just pick up takeout. Of course, the one item that really makes the recipe is not in our fridge and it’s too late to go to the supermarket; or we really don’t have the time or patience to follow a series of steps involving multiple cooking methods and pans. We also see something at the supermarket (usually a vegetable) and just leave it there because we have no idea how to cook it. Or we buy it and never make it (yes I have been guilty of such laziness!).

My sibling and I have worked in the food industry before becoming accountants, as well as my parents (my dad has been a chef for decades and my mom is an excellent cook), and some of my cousins in Greece who own restaurants. Cooking is in our genes and I don’t mind experimenting or trying complicated recipes in my spare time. But when I don’t want to deal with it (which is often), I end up just making the item very simply. So, I want to share some of my quick tricks that help me eat more greens and vegetables during the week.

Yes, I know that some of my recipes will be simple and obvious to those in the know, but that’s the point. Who wants to come home at 9 PM and cook for 30 minutes or more? Over the years, many of my colleagues have said they don’t have time to cook so they pick up some fast food or takeout. And if you have fresh food in your fridge and your brain is too fried to come up with ways to cook it, you let it sit there in the fridge and end up throwing it all out at the end of the week. I will post some of the more complicated recipes I make on weekends, but the point is this is for accountants, students and others who work late or have late classes and want something healthy but quick to eat. There are so many great fun and creative food blogs and cookbooks I enjoy, so I will share those with you as well. But this series I will tag as “Healthy but Quick.”

We will be making quinoa to start with. Let me know if there is something else you want me to make so you can try it during a busy week!