So in cooking this week using The Best Light Recipe cookbook...there was quite a bit of prep, but it generally went pretty well.

Corn Chowder (p 84)

Since I didn't have fresh corn (being that it's the middle of winter), I used frozen, thawed corn. Then food processored about half of it (like the recipe called for). But it went well...tasted good.

Quinoa Pilaf with Corn and Jalapenos (p 149)

The cooking class I went to last week, they told me they used it in their cooking and being that it is a pseudocereal and high nutritive value, I figured I'd make this. Since it is a side, I made simple pork chops with them. This took longer then I expected. But it turned out well, and quite tasty. I do believe I'll be doing more this type of thing later.

Barley Risotto (p 138)

This was quite good. Creamy, a bit of a chew and some fresh herbal flavors. I combined it with a a cut up sauted chicken breast. It was nice...I even had it on it's own as a lunch. It took a lot longer then I expected however, so much so that I actually served the last of our good cheeses and some crackers to myself and Shannon before I was done.

Pasta with Beans and Greens (p 170)

Now this was a struggle. Just over an hour of prep. The fresh kale was annoying as all get out (I've never used it before). Cut out the rib of the leaf, over and over and over, cut it into small segments. Ugh. Anyways after I was finally done with prep, I started cooking and had about another hour under my belt before I was finally done. I think it was good. The kale, which had entirely filled my big Chantal pot to over flowing, reduced down fairly well.

I think maybe it would have been better with fresh tender leaves of spinach combined at the end.

Over all this week was a week of new things. I've never really worked with barley, quinoa or kale before....so it was interesting to say the least.

In the future I may have to change when I plan dinners. I know I want to include going to the farmers market in my shopping for foods (it's on Saturday mornings). Plus there are times, like this weekend, where I cannot keep the schedule. so maybe I'll have to plan during the week, get ready and then do the shopping broken up between the farmers market and regular shopping. This week, I've still not planned what we're eating for the week and plan on going shopping tomorrow after work.