I've been working to get more vegetables (variety, color) and fiber into our diets. Fermented foods into mine also, but I'm having to sneak them into his. Salami, alas, doesn't count.
The problem with all those delightful vegetables -- and I really do like them -- is the washing and chopping that must be done with most of them. Cauliflower and broccoli are special offenders that can sit, taking up far more than their alloted space, for over a week in the fridge. (I haven't figured out the right enticement to recruit Household Brownies to come do that work at night, when we're sleeping. Maybe there aren't any out here.) With a few exceptions like slaw mix I generally avoid packaged, already prepped vegetables -- partly because it adds cost and trash but also because it seems the more things are handled the more likely they are to be subject to a food recall. We see them often enough in this topic. The washing and chopping and special fixing can be meditative and relaxing when I'm in the right mood, but very inconvenient otherwise.
On the other hand, I have discovered bagged convenience foods: simmering sauces and prepackaged cooked rice. I'd never have expected to bend on these, but they are a very nice way to cut prep times -- especially with sauces whose flavor profiles I can't crank out without consulting a cookbook or three.
I'm not proud of these ingredient lists, but I can think of worse things. And they ARE convenient.
A week or so ago I hoisted my resolve and my knife, and went to work on broccoli, red bell pepper, green onions, and a tube steak or two. Sometime later they were all simmering in the sauce, and when we were ready to eat I nuked the rice and put it under said simmered ingredients.
We both loved it! I thought the sauce maybe a touch too sweet and spicy/hot for my tastes, but he said I needed to keep it around. So I've bought more. I also have a butter chicken simmer sauce and a tikka masala sauce, and several different types of rice packages. You'll be seeing them all, probably, during the remainder of our stay here.
Speaking of our stay here, we've had some lovely celestial shows. This sunrise and moonset were from roughly the day I cooked this particular dinner.
