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What’s cooking? is a question I’ve heard a lot of over the years.
I’ve always cooked a lot for my family growing up. But the day I got married, I not only took a new last name and role as “wife”, I also became the full time chef in our newly established home.
That first year, I spent time learning what kinds of food my husband and our housemates liked best. I tried out new things and made menu plans and shopping lists like a pro. After all, I’d grown up cooking from scratch and feeding four was suppose to be easier than feeding six or eight! In all actuality, it took a more than that whole year to figure out how to cook small enough portions that we could eat in a reasonable time frame. But I loved it.
Lately though, I’ve gotten out of my cooking groove. Somewhere along the way, I stopped planning menus and writing shopping lists and just sort of started cooking on the spur of the moment. Working away from home with two completely opposite schedules threw a big wrench in my little reign as queen and chef in the kitchen.
I was deep into Chef’s burnout when I finally opened Trina Holden’s eBook, Real {Fast} Food, and began to read.
Trina’s book was fabulous. It started out right with what I needed to hear the most: what makes real food, “fast” food isn’t necessarily the ingredients, but the planning ahead. It reminded me of all the reasons why menu planning is the “stitch in time that saves nine” in the kitchen, and why it will make my life and yours so much easier if we will just take the time to do it.
Trina not just told me why menu planning would save me time in the long run, but she made menu planning for an entire month sound so easy, with step-by-step instructions on how to make it work. There’s even printable in the back to write on!
She talked about master shopping lists & buying in bulk. She shared tips for cooking extra for later, and saving time with organizing your day so that you spend less time in the kitchen with greater results. She shares simple recipes and tucked in things that gave me some good food for thought about sprouting and soaking grains more regularly.
Trina used Real {Fast} Food as a way to inspire busy housewives like myself with tips for successfully feeding our families well, and having a life outside of our kitchens and away from washing dishes. And that’s exactly how I felt when I got done reading it— truly inspired.
Scott and I are vegetarians, mostly vegan in fact, so not every little detail of Real {Fast} Food applies to the way we eat personally. But the principles of eating healthfully, and as close to the way God created food as possible, and the methods for planning that Trina shared are all things that I could relate to, and use in my own kitchen. There is no pressure whatsoever that one way of eating is the only way to eat. As a vegan-vegetarian, whose dietary choices are often misunderstood, it was refreshing to read another perspective without feeling like the main point of the book was to tell me that I was wrong. Instead, Real {Fast} Food is all about sharing, and encouraging all of us to make better choices for the food we put on our tables whenever possible.
(Watch for a post in the future on how I use the cooking in bulk and other principles that Trina shares to make my Vegetarian and Vegan cooking faster and more simple on a daily basis.)
Planning ahead is a must for every kitchen, no matter what the particulars of your diet and lifestyle are.
If you are looking for inspiration and how-tos for cooking more healthfully, and for feeding your family more real food, you need to read this book.
This book is also available in Kindle Format, you can read it on the go or pour over it in your kitchen. If you have an iPad or smartphone, consider getting the kindle app. It makes it super easy to refer to no matter where you are!
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esther says
May 1, 2012 at 9:52 pmOur home made raw cheeses. Feta, goude, camembert, paneer, extra….!!!
Catherine says
May 1, 2012 at 2:29 pmLately, a favorite of mine has been kale sauteed with a little garlic, then served with a squeeze of fresh lemon! SO delish! That book sounds fantastic, too!
Jacquie Snell says
May 1, 2012 at 1:53 pmMy favorite real foods are almonds picked right from the tree and cooking with freshly picked lemons :)
Carmen says
April 30, 2012 at 1:31 pmMy favorite would be homemade bread – loaf, French, rolls … it doesn’t matter.
Rachel M. says
April 30, 2012 at 12:09 pmOne of my favorites would have to be real (that is, unsweetened) peanut butter…
Brooke Adametz says
April 28, 2012 at 11:42 amAny veggie that comes straight from our own organic garden! Nothing more local than that! Would love to win this book! adametzb@yahoo.com
Lois says
April 27, 2012 at 4:04 pmI’m really new to this “real” food thing, but my favorite would probably be the deer that my husband shoots in fall. No hormone-filled meat on those! Someday I’d love to have a cow of our own. When I’m pregnant, milk from the store makes me soooooo sick but raw milk doesn’t affect me at all.
Amy DiGiacomo says
April 27, 2012 at 11:05 amWe love our raw milk!
Sarah says
April 27, 2012 at 10:58 amI guess I’ll have to say raw milk. We have a sweet Jersey that joined our “family” 8 months ago… and we are so excited to be drinking it. and making yogurt and butter and cheese.
åslaug says
April 26, 2012 at 6:25 pmWe love venison, fried in butter with sea salt and fries cooked in homegrown lard ;)
Naomi Webster says
April 26, 2012 at 11:33 amRaw whole milk, yogurt, & kefir!!! Absolutely love it :)
Briana says
April 25, 2012 at 5:05 pmStuffed french toast!
Laura @ Life is Beautiful says
April 25, 2012 at 12:47 pmI LOVE healthy food! My favorites include pizza dough in my bread machine, trail mix and granola bars, salad, and sprouts! :)
Caitlin B says
April 25, 2012 at 11:40 amWhole wheat bread is definitely my favorite!
Jill/Colorfulheart says
April 25, 2012 at 12:00 am15 bean soup with homemade cornbread :-)
Samantha says
April 24, 2012 at 7:18 pmPesto!! Made from basil out of our garden. Mom makes large batches and freezes it. I also love making garden salads in the summer.
Elyssa says
April 24, 2012 at 7:06 pmSoup, Salad, and vegan grilled cheese sandwiches! Just sooo good! But I like so many kinds of food and new inventions. :)
NeKisha Rowe says
April 24, 2012 at 5:14 pmOne of my favorite real foods is yogurt. It can be used to replace a lot of things in cooking and baking, as well as being used to help soak grains. We love to eat it plain and blend it in smoothies!
LeAnna says
April 24, 2012 at 3:59 pmHow cool! I’d love to read what she has to say. My favorite real food is butter or coconut oil. I wish people understood that fat isn’t all bad, and you’re much better off using REAL fat over that hydrogenated nastiness.
Emily says
April 24, 2012 at 3:53 pmBread made with fresh ground wheat flour, kombucha, home-raised lamb chops, just to name a few. ;)
Cathie says
April 24, 2012 at 3:08 pmMmm, my favourite real food is apple pie. Does that count? I make it from scratch myself! ♥
Lovely giveaway, Chantel! Thank you!
Brittany says
April 24, 2012 at 1:24 pmWhipping cream, cream cheese, homemade butter and raw milk! :)
Deanna says
April 24, 2012 at 11:12 amWhole wheat bread fresh out of the oven, homemade yogurt, fresh veggies. There are just so many good ones.
Emily Upchurch says
April 24, 2012 at 10:43 amFresh, whole-wheat bread and tortillas, for sure! We love our whole grains around here!
Christina says
April 24, 2012 at 10:10 amOhhh…. I love real food. It’s my favourite when you can put a whole meal complete with preserves, cheese and butter and every single item be home grown/made. Bread and cheese, with potato leek soup is so delicious. And all of it is off the farm.
Rachel says
April 24, 2012 at 10:09 amFavorite real food? Too many! :) Over here we love organic, raw cheese, homemade whole wheat bread (warm with butter is the BEST!), fresh milk from the farm, veggies with salt and butter, salads, homemade yogurt, venison my hubby shoots in the fall, beef & chicken from the farm…..yeah, too many! :) Sounds like an awesome book! :)