Maybe Not Masterchef Quality But...

Since moving into my "swank" new apartment I've been feeling the impetus for change particularly strongly. I'm pretty much always up for change, but lately I'm more up for major life overhauls. Because my new inner city lifestyle costs a pretty inner city penny one of the changes I have to make whether I want to or not is lunch. Since my office is basically in food Mecca I generally buy my lunch. But if I continue to do that, I'll be spending a lot of evenings and weekends at home! So it's back to the kitchen for me.

I pretty much always cook dinner, but I don't always put effort into it, and I don't always save some for lunch the next day. This is one of the things I am changing. Now I am cooking big, yummy, healthy dinners and rationing off smaller portions to take in for my lunch. (This is the long awaited change to my eatting habits in the healthier lifestyle grand plan. The excersize phase has already been well implemented.) It's exciting because it means I get to be creative in the kitchen and it's forcing me to do more than just whack on some pasta when I get home. Especially since part of this new plan is to cut back on the carbs.

I plan to make chili tomorrow, so today I headed across the street to the Vic Market (seriously, food Mecca!) to pick up my organic veggies for the chili. It struck me that at the moment I mostly have odds and ends for food and I was faced with the dilemma of what to do for dinner tonight. After wandering around in a cirlcle a few times going "uuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhh uuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhh uuuuummmmmmmmmm" I decided to get creative and mostly use what I already had. I picked up some spinach and rocket and decided to make a roast vegetable and tofu sausage salad.

The result? I was pretty impressed! I fried up my pumpkin with a dollop of allspice, then added some eggplant. I put in the spinach, and a splash of balsamic vinegar, then tossed in the rocket and finally, a bit of pear. I cooked 4 tofu sausages separetly with a bit of balsamic vinegar. The end result, to me, evoked a grown-up version of mac & cheese with hotdogs and ketchup. It was delicious, nutrious, filling, and even presented nice! Though not a dish that allows for left overs, definitely something I will keep in mind for future dinner experiments.