It’s no secret that I like to eat out and the Metro Vancouver area offers a plethora of opportunities to explore my culinary interests. And while I post many of these #foodporn adventures on Instagram, I am home most of the time and home cooking makes up the majority of my meals. Surprisingly, it was only a few years ago that the only things I could make were toast and reservations. These days, my home cooking is just a little more sophisticated.
Protein, Carb and Veggie
Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t feel like any of the dishes I whip up in my own kitchen will ever be quite as inventive or as adventurous as what I get at a place like PiDGiN or Fable, but I do draw some home cooking inspiration from eating out. For the most part, the food I prepare at home is humble, simple and comforting in nature.
This is particularly true if I happen to be cooking dinner for only myself. Given that I also work from home, it can be easy to lose track of the hours in the day and preparing dinner oftentimes becomes a last-minute endeavor. To this end, my primary goal in making an quick and easy dinner is a simple one: make sure there’s a protein, a carb and some veggies. When I can legitimately tick all three boxes, I’ve got myself a complete meal.
And this is true for every meal of the day, whether I’m putting together a quick pasta dinner with some meatballs, a breaded chicken tender salad for lunch, or a humble omelette with tater tots for breakfast. It’s not fancy, but it works. In a pinch, I find myself making a lot of random stirfry dishes with whatever leftover meat and veggies I discover in the fridge. That’s partly how the #kwanscreativecatering hashtag came to be with my Instagram feed too.
Keep Your Home Cooking Simple, Stupid
Spontaneous home cooking doesn’t need to be difficult or complicated. There are going to be nights when you’ll want to experiment and that’s great. For me, I rarely ever follow standard recipes and simply allow my intuition be my guide. It doesn’t always work out quite the way I plan it, but that’s half the fun of cooking for myself in the first place.
Since I learned to cook from my Aunt and later my Grandmother who were extremely good at making meals for our 50+ Sunday dinners in middle Jersey. Country cooking on the farm, I learned that you could make some really good things with not very much.
Eggs, cheese, veggies and some fresh milk/cream from the cows makes a great anytime omelet. I love the pictures you used in this post, are they actual things you prepared and how long did you take groom them for the pictures?
I did the breakfast and salad. The pasta is Susanne. I’m mindful of plating when I plan on taking a picture, but I’m not too particular about it.