Lazy cooking for one

Quick and easy cooking is vitally important for me, in this new leg of my journey. I spent too long over the last year eating takeaway food or convenience junk of an evening – it wouldn’t be unusual for dinner to be three or four cheese and ham sandwiches, made (and eaten) one at a time, because it was just the easiest thing I could think to eat when I opened my fridge. This last few days, I’ve made time on an evening to do a full check of everything in my kitchen cupboards and freezer, throwing out things past their use-by dates, and considering what I can make to eat with what’s left. So, a couple of very easy meals I’ve made over the last few days include:
--- pasta bake (with wholewheat pasta, a tin of tomatoes, ham stock, garlic, handful of frozen diced onion, and handful of frozen sliced peppers - one casserole dish, into oven, sooo lazy but yum!);
--- tuna couscous (plain couscous cooked in a chicken stock cube – in a separate pan I cooked through some frozen diced onion, frozen peas, and small tin of tuna, then stirred through the cooked couscous);
--- egg-fried rice (beyond easy! Cooked some rice, drained it and patted dry, then into a frying pan with frozen peas and a little olive oil, cooked for a little bit, then tipped in a beaten egg, stirring until the egg cooks out, then adding soy sauce); and
--- breakfast frittata (made with a cold potato I’d baked the night before while I baked another for dinner, chopped up in a pan with a handful of frozen chopped mushrooms, and frozen chopped peppers, and then once cooked, adding a couple of beaten eggs).

When I eat these kind of meals - not exactly gourmet, with almost zero preparation involved - I wonder why I’ve spent so long not doing much cooking at all! This weekend I’m planning on making up a couple of big pots of chilli, and bolognese – these can be frozen into portions, so I can easily bring one out to defrost in the morning, and heat it up at night. At the weekend, I get time and inclination to make myself slightly more complex meals if I want, so I think tonight I’ll have a look through some recipe books for ideas. Lazy cooking is perfect for during the week, but keeping things interesting and a bit more challenging and enjoyable at weekends will also be great! I have a decent selection of fantastic cookbooks, that have been gathering dust over the last year or so – whether to get inspiration, or to find a recipe to follow to the letter. I’ll let you know of any successful experiments, lol! I’m not normally one to photograph my food, but believe me if I cook something impressive, I’ll definitely be uploading pictures!

Exercise-wise, I think today is shaping up to be my second rest day this week, which is fine as long as I exercise both Saturday and Sunday (which I intend to) – or I might head along to the gym this evening, perhaps. I’ll be honest, I don’t do too well when things are really unstructured, but the tentative call I put out at work for a workout partner in the office gym looks like it might pay off, which will be awesome. Having plans to meet someone for a workout will definitely work better for me. Really pleased that I made the effort to reach out to strangers, like that – not normally my way!!

Anyway. Work is finished for the day, I plan on checking the internet for updates from the IAU 100km world championships throughout the evening – I think it only just started, though, so there won’t be much excitement yet. There are some amazing runners in the starting line-up over in Doha, Qatar, so I’m excited to see how the GB runners do! I’ll be cheering for Paul Giblin and Jo Zakrzewski, from the comfort of my sofa. Or the gym treadmill, depending on what I decide to do this evening!! :-)