Lightweight Eats

Have you heard about Michael Pollan's new book? It talks about home cooking, and why it's important. It's started a whole conversation about how to get Americans back into the kitchen.

Growing up, we had family dinner every night. Despite falling right in the middle of The Simpsons, dinner was served between 6 and 6:15pm daily. (My dad was not amused when afternoon crew practice interfered with dinner timing.)

And, almost every night, that meal was home cooked.

Dan and I have continued the tradition, although we are a little bit more lax about the timing. Oftentimes, dinner is on the table less than 20 minutes after we arrive home. Sometimes, we even eat completely different meals. For example, last week, Dan had lettuce wraps with rice, chopped veggies and peanut sauce, while I enjoyed a grain bowl with quinoa, mushrooms, snap peas and peanut sauce.

How do we do it? It's not as hard as it seems.

A few of my tips:
1. Always make extra.
The rice and quinoa? Those were leftovers from other meals. And later this week, we plan to have black bean soup from a batch big enough for two dinners and two lunches apiece.

2. Multitask.
That black bean soup? We let it bubble away on the back burner while we were cooking, eating and cleaning up another dinner.
While I'm pan frying something, I often turn the heat to medium. Sure, it cooks more slowly, but it doesn't require constant attention. While the broccoli slowly heats, I can make a tasty tahini dressing or begin cleaning up.
Slow cookers and rice cookers do the same thing: they multitask while you're off at work.

3. Share the work.
Dan is our official saucier. Sure, I can brown garlic without burning it, and get a beautiful crust on a batch of tofu. But Dan is the master of sauces. So while I tend to grains, greens and proteins, he dances about the kitchen fetching soy sauce, nutritional yeast, lemons, oils, herbs, spices and more. He always make a big batch—enough for lunch and maybe a second dinner.

4. Think simple.
Ever been to foodgawker? If that was your only source of recipes, you'd think that every meal had 15 steps and 25 ingredients. Not true. Many of my favorite meals seem too simple to share with the world: