On Food and Love

The author with her family. Collage by Michelle Warner.

I have always been the type of person who lives life finishing off their breakfast while thinking about the sandwiches I want to pick up for lunch and what leftovers will best combine for dinner while I prep for the next few days of meals. Then I had a baby and found a whole new way to over think their meals too. 

I work in a kitchen that develops recipes and cooks food for TV and web based content so there’s a lot of food in front back and middle of mind. Don’t worry, I’m very into it.

Cooking is something that’s always come easy to me. In times of stress I’ve spent hours in grocery stores and filled my fridge with more than I could eat. I would serve it to friends and fill their bellies to fill my heart. 

Most of my current cooking is testing recipes for work, and with that I have a lot of great leftovers. With only two adults to feed  and no dinner guests, our fridge and freezer are filling up. A great bonus is baby is developing a palette so diverse, that I hope they will still join me for a pickle and grilled cheese after they’ve dined on white fish salad and swiss chard with heirloom beans.

In a time when wasting food feels like a crime and we cherish the luxury of access, I’ve found this new venue for my need to feed brings me great satisfaction. I have created almost a new language of repurposing ingredients and leftovers into new baby foods and now toddler foods with a few teeth to work with. 

My husband is my cheerleader as he high fives me for turning a squash no one wanted to cook, leftover ricotta dip (a Thanksgiving recipe for work) and some straggly asparagus almost forgotten, into petite puffs for our little one.  

While I look forward to one day filling our dinning table, all its leaves extended with friends; feeding this goofy kid from all this would be waste has become my rainbow in a very trying time. Just one of the way we’re riding this wave and it’s helping keep us healthy and sane.