Janu Sirsasana & real simple dinner tonight

Janu Sirsasana ~ Head to Knee Forward Bend

Janu: Knee

Genou (jenoo): french for Knee

Sirsa: Head

Making dinner at home always makes a big difference to how I feel. It is a project that is finished within hours or minutes with benefits that are reaped almost immediately and if the results aren't perfect there is always tomorrow. With practice, cooking becomes a daily accomplishment with instant gratification.

Kyleigh Kuhn courtesy of altamira

I have found that the forgiving and few-ingredient recipes from Martha Stewart's Real Simple and Vegetarian Times magazines make nightly at-home dining possible. Magazine recipes also keep life current and seasonal. With my lenient schedule I enjoy shopping as the French do nearly everyday buying only what I am missing for that evening's concoction and going to the market or specialty store most compatible with the required ingredients. If you do not have this luxury, which occasionally I don't have the patience for either, write down the ingredients for 5 dinners and buy those together. Write and organize your list because you are likely to have lots of overlaps or can make substitutions for multi-use. For example, you don't need pecorino for spring pasta and parmesan for bean soup. Choose one. (I like pecorino because it is tangier and creamier, and is made from sheep's milk, which is said to be more easily digestible.) I could go on forever about food! So...


In summation: check out the recipes in Real Simple magazine, realsimple.com, or Vegetarian Times and shop with specificity! Forethought might even give you the chance to go to specialty stores or farmer's markets.

Creamy Fettuccine with corn and Arugula, courtesy of Real Simple

A few favorites:

Real Simple: great website if you don't want/get the mag.

• Thai Curry Vegetable and Tofu Soup with soba noodles or rice noodles cooked in the soup.
• Roasted Sausage and Grapes with roasted potatoes and lemon with dill
• Fettuccine with Lima beans. Peas and Leeks or corn and arugula (Lighten up! I use a lemon/parmesan sauce or creme fraiche if I'm not feeling the cream. Creme fraiche can be bought at Trader Joe's.)

Vegetarian Times: I find the website pretty annoying, and I do only the real-life mag.

• Sugar Snap and Snow Pea Stir Fry
• Strawberry Rhubarb Tart with Apricot Cream (May issue, not yet online.)

Courtesy of Audrey Kitching