Five Features of the Perfect Recipe

I love pretty much all food blogs, but I’m constantly apologizing to the bloggers and changing the recipes…

Sorry, I can’t really rationalize buying [insert weird spice here] when the recipe only calls for a dash.

Yikes, with this semester’s class load, I’m not sure I can manage that “20 min” prep time that would OBVIOUSLY TAKE ME TWO HOURS.

Ummm yeaaa, that much Velveeta would kill a person.

I never wanted to call myself a picky eater, but the evidence was sort of piling up. So I sat down and made a list of what I’m looking for in food.

1. Delicious: I know people (ok I know women) who can eat food just because it’s healthy. Looking at you, woman eating raw bell peppers as a snack. But I’m not one of those people. In case we only get one shot at this life thing, I’m going to eat delicious food.

2. Healthy: I do try to eat healthy, but I can’t count calories (can’t, won’t, whatever). So I’ve tried to adopt Michael Pollan’s food rules: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants. By “food,” he means real food – food that’s more a product of nature than a product of industry. So I try to avoid foods with long lists of crazy ingredients, added sugars, stuff like that.

3. Quick: The food blog market seems to be cornered by people who have an inordinate amount of time on their hands. Maybe they’re stay-at-home moms with multiple nannies. Maybe they’re full time food-bloggers who’ve lost touch with their roots. Maybe they really can prepare these meals quickly and easily like they say, and I should just quit forever. In any case, I need recipes that are quicker.

4. Inexpensive: Everyone knows that grad students are made of money, but just for kicks, I like to check the price tags.

5. Ethical: I have no problem with eating animals, but I think we can do better with how we raise those animals.  Also, growing crops to feed to livestock is crazy inefficient and pretty brutal on the environment. For me, asking lots of questions about where meat comes from is harder than just leaving it out of my cart, so I usually avoid it. Except when I don’t. I sometimes accept it be polite or – let’s be honest– because I really want it. The idea that meat-eating is all or nothing is pretty weird when you think about it. I do try my very hardest to avoid pork, because pigs are smart enough to play video games and they make good pets.

So check out the blog for some delicious, healthy, quick, inexpensive, and ethical food ideas! Each recipe will come with a run-down of whether it qualifies as real food, how long it really takes to make, and how much it costs per serving. Enjoy!