The What I Ate Today Food Diary

Today was a fresh green smoothie day and, for breakfast, I made another with strawberries.

The flavor was terrific this time!   I used a banana, two kiwi, strawberries, half an orange and kale.   It was very good but I still made that weird face when I drank it.

It's obviously a reaction to something, I just haven't figured out what yet.  It's definitely not the flavor, though, because today's smoothie was very good.

For lunch, I was super lazy.  I had four slices of turkey, each one wrapped around a slice of cheddar.   I just wasn't feeling inspired and didn't feel like taking the time and effort for anything more complicated.  It was satisfying but not entirely filling.   I had a little mayo with it just to moisten it up a bit.

Between lunch and dinner I was a bit of a bad girl.  I had two mini Twix candies and one mini Snickers candy.

For dinner, I did an experiment.   I had bought some Rogan Josh sauce from the market the other day.  I was... curious.   Now, traditional Rogan Josh is a Persian dish that's made with lamb, but I don't have lamb and I have no idea how Rogan Josh is actually made.

What I did, was caramelized some onion and garlic, added mushrooms then cubed pork.   When the pork was about half cooked, I added a good dollop (probably half a cup although I didn't measure) of the Rogan Josh sauce and cooked it "stir-fry" style until the pork finished cooking and the sauce was nice and thick over the pork.

I admit, I was a little worried.   It didn't smell like my normal cooking.   Granted,  my cooking often leans towards Italian and Asian cuisine.   I was pleasantly surprised when I tasted it though.   It turned out AMAZING!!  I ate the pork served over about a cup of white rice and with some of the leftover vegetable medley from yesterday.

Do I Have to Follow a Recipe when Cooking?

I don't do recipes.

It's true.   I don't.   I hate recipes when doing any kind of cooking other than baking. (Baking is special.  It's like chemistry and if certain ingredients aren't combined in the right allotment, bread doesn't rise, cookies turn hard, etc.)

I cook by smell with a gigantic dash of trial and error added in.

Sometimes this means I mess up.   Sometimes it means I have to eat some really nasty concoctions.  You've already read of me doing the first because of my trial and error with the green smoothies.   But its how I know how to cook.   For me, recipes bungle things up more often than not.

If you want to get what you cook perfect every single time?   Yes, you have to follow the recipe.  It will turn out the same every time if you do and thats what some people want.

Me?  I want it to turn out in a way that smells and, therefore, tastes 100% perfect each time.  And since our sense of smell and taste changes from day to day dependent on a myriad of factors (health, season, what we've ate or drank, even if a woman is on her menses) that means winging it more often than not.

So.... no.   You don't -have- to follow a recipe.   Not for green smoothies or for cooking supper either.  Just be aware of what you're putting in the pot.... and follow your nose.