Recipe Inspiration

Many of my friends have a tough time understanding how I stick to healthy eating.  They say they love food and that cooking is such an experience for them, something that they could never not do.

I'm not sure what they think I'm eating...

Just because I'm health-conscious and (more-often-than-not) watching what I eat does not mean that I do not enjoy food, settle for bland chicken breasts, or dislike cooking.

Rather, the exact opposite is true.  I love food, there's no way I could eat plain chicken once let alone every day, and cooking is one of my favorite activities.

I mean, look at some of the meals I've savored over the last few days:

Tilapia w/ Olive and Red Pepper Couscous

This was seriously one of the easiest and most delicious meals I've prepared and eaten in a long time.  All I had to do was saute the pepper and garlic for a few minutes, toss in some Israeli couscous and chicken broth, and throw in some kalamata olives.  Then, I seasoned the fish with salt and pepper and broiled for a few minutes.  It was so good.

Pork Chops w/ Mango and Red Pepper Salsa w/ Sweet Potato wedges

The salsa was not supposed to include red pepper (it was supposed to have red pepper flakes), but I misread the recipe.  Regardless, it was delicious, and this is coming from someone who does not so much care for pork.

Soba Noodles w/ Miso-Glazed Tofu and Vegetables

The Boy claimed that this could be served in a restaurant -- yes, it was that good.

However, I do not come up with these recipes on my own.  Yes, I know what tastes good together.  After all, mango, avocado, onion, and cilantro make a pretty darn good salsa for just about anything.  And, mix soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, and ginger together for a decent marinade.  Finally, any sort of seasoning (rosemary, oregano, seasoned salt, garlic salt, pepper, cayenne, etc.) while roasting any sort of vegetable is bound to be delicious.

That's about all I've got, though.  I am not a "chef" by any means.  I have a tough time creating anything from scratch and would totally suck on a show like MasterChef or Chopped.

But, I am a really good reader.  That is, I can follow a recipe like no tomorrow.  My favorite place to find recipes is on Cooking Light's website.  First, I know that most of the recipes are healthy.  Second, I know that most of the recipes taste good.  Third, I know that all of the recipes include real ingredients, most of which are not too difficult to find.  (For example, instead of using ground Fiber One cereal to bread proteins -- a la Hungry Girl -- Cooking Light uses Panko.)  Finally, I know that I can easily find the nutritional information for each recipe without having to enter the ingredients into a recipe calculator myself.  (And, I know that when I enter the meal into My Fitness Pal, it's likely already listed, which saves oodles of time.)

Another place I like to find recipes is on other healthy-living blogs.  My go-to blog for (mostly) healthy recipes is Iowa Girl Eats.  Kristin has tons of recipes (she generally posts one per day), and most of them are pretty darn healthy.  The only reason I head to Cooking Light first is because I have to enter IGE recipes into My Fitness Pal by hand and, let's face it, I'm lazy.  :)

So, there you have it: I love to cook.  I eat good food.  What I cook, however, simply uses less butter, fewer oils, and reduces nonessential unhealthy components.

But like I said before, I'm not a chef: I can just read well.  :)

And now for a completely random selfie:

I was driving to school today (at a stoplight in this photo, obviously), and I realized that I was having kind of a good hair day.  This was super weird since I have not washed my hair in a few days, even after falling asleep post- super-sweaty workout yesterday.  Seriously: my hair was drenched.  (If that's not sexy, I don't know what is.)  Thank you, baby powder, dry shampoo, and hair spray!

You're welcome.  :)

Where do you get your meal inspiration?  Can you create meals from nothing, or do you have to follow a recipe?