It has been a particularly busy couple of weeks. I fell into a pattern of mine where I prepare extremely simple yet efficient meals for the week. Of course, this ability occasionally comes in handy. Especially during busy exam weeks, it is nice to know that I have very quick and simple healthy meal options that do not require much preparation time. It gives me more time to do school-related activities. But as I continued doing this for several weeks in a row, I realized that my food was getting boring and I was just not into it.

When I went grocery shopping for the upcoming week, I decided that I had to break this cycle immediately! I determined that I must cook slightly more complex dishes this week so that I could enjoy some color, flavor, and creativity again. I spent Friday night preparing the next week’s meals, as I normally do. But this time, I busted out my massive spice collection and mandolin slicer!

It has been a long time since I enjoyed a red sauce, so I made a tomato sauce with a ton of Italian herbs (over-spicing is what I do best…I call it medicinal). I cut some beautiful zucchini noodles (seriously, it beats the random vegetable chunks I have been eating lately). It is a pasta-type dish with mushrooms, artichoke hearts, black olives, and olive oil. I also made a dish with well-cooked broccoli, perfectly seasoned (aka over-spiced) chicken, homemade cashew cheese sauce (with more spices, lemon juice, chives, and nutritional yeast), dandelion greens, red pepper, and avocado. It tastes like a chicken macaroni and cheese or something.

Enough was enough! My Friday evening ‘culinary diversion’ was the most fun I had in weeks. I talked to my parents while I cooked and we laughed a lot. This is definitely not my best cooking, but I have missed well-flavored and more fun dishes. I now look forward to my meals next week!

For more information on nutritional information from a naturopathic medicine perspective, check out Surprising Facts Sourdough Bread is Teaching Us About Gluten Intolerance and 5 Health Issues You Didn’t Know Could be Caused by Poor Gut Health.

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