Convenience Foods

I am officially at the point where I don’t know what to cook anymore. This is serious. I, the person who pretty much always knows exactly what she wants to eat, suddenly doesn’t care what’s on my plate each night, as long as it fills me up and doesn’t take too much time.

Blame it on winter’s lingering presence making me want to hunker down and do just about nothing. (Yeah, that workout routine I started on the one nice day we had, that’s not been very successful.) Or maybe it can be blamed on the 12 hour workdays, back-to-back-to-back, travel to visit family, events, and other worries. All I know is that food has taken a back seat, and I am hoping my passion for cooking or even just eating, rather than getting meals over with, returns soon.

Convenience foods have been a saving grace during this time. I know, I know, they aren’t usually healthy, and it’s probably just as easy to make something from scratch. Still, knowing that I have a delicious chicken pot pie in the freezer is like meal insurance.

We’ve been living off of semi-homemade meals, and to be honest, many of them have come out quite good.

A couple of convenience foods that go perfectly together are Trader Joe’s frozen ricotta and spinach ravioli, pairing perfectly with chicken sausage. I am getting to the point where I am not super interested in eating meat or any protein for that matter, but I always enjoy chicken sausage for some reason, especially since it comes in so many varieties. Frozen ravioli, chicken sausage, and some of my favorite sweet peppers plus a salad with the best creamy balsamic dressing ever (The dressing recipe is from Food Network Magazine; I definitely want to share it. It has us wanting to eat piles of veggies just so we can have more dressing!)

Instant whole grain rice, tofu, and frozen veggies topped with sriracha also come in handy when it comes to looking for quick eats. The box of goodies that Oldways sent me for Whole Grain Sampling Day has been a huge help and a great reminder that foods that are convenient can be delicious and really good for you.

Do you ever get in an eating slump? What are your go-to convenience foods?