I heart food

So let me just be real. I love food, probably too much. Cooking it, eating it, playing with it (bad habit) and ruining my clothes with it (yep, still a 5 year old).

During school Robert would always beg (really, though) me to let him cook so that I would have more study time, but I always declined his offer- not because he doesn't have mad cooking skills but because I find cooking therapeutic. There is just something about making something, not only edible, but absolutely delicious out of random things in our pantry that I found so profoundly satisfactory. So at the end of a long day, the first thing I want to do is whip up a nice well rounded dinner for my dear rubbertoe and I.

And in honor of my food obsessed brain today (and making a bomb.com meal tonight) , here are a few of my favorite go-to dishes. Are they healthy? That's relative. Do I have a major sweet tooth? No. Do I love ethnic food and spice? Yes. With those precautions, here you go- a list of my favorite foods that I think everyone needs to try because they rock my world:

My favorite well-rounded, feel-good, "clean"  meal:
Last week my sister and I were talking about how much we love well rounded meals when we feel clean, light, and satisfied afterwards, so this is mine!

• Salmon. There are a few recipes that I like, and I always seem to go back to my mom's marinade or a nice herb crusted salmon. 
• Mashed Cauliflower. My sister(s) Micah and Collette first taught me how to make this, and I make it differently every time. I did find a similar recipe that I have used a few times and enjoy. Mashed potatoes go well here, too.
• Spinach Salad. 
• Jim Lahey's No Work Bread. My sister and I found this recipe a few years back in my cooking bible How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. I have finally figured out how to use Robert's sourdough start (yes, his Christmas present) with it, and let me tell you, it makes a KILLER sourdough artisan bread. Divine.

Go-to Desserts:

• Cherry Slab Pie 
• Deep Dish Cookie Pie I 1/4 this recipe and it was perfect for Robert and I (and probably a 3rd person). I also found that you could probably cut the sugar down by about half and still have it be too sweet. 
• Pierre Mineral Water + Crushed Ice + Stevia's Flavored Sweetners

Breakfast-ish:

• Peanut Butter-Banana Bread This was a Cooking Light recipe I found a few moons ago. I ended up cutting down the sugar down and adding more banana because bananas are so sweet. 
• Peanut Butter Cup Baked Oatmeal We literally have this for breakfast 5 times a week. 

Main Dishes:

• Homemade Indian Naan
• Sopa Tarasca (Bean and Tomato Soup) My sister first introduced us all to this soup from NPR's Kitchen Window at our Christmas Eve Palooza. Rocked my tastebuds.
• Tomato Basil Creme Pasta

And so there it is. A list of my favorite foods that may or may not make me want to weep because they are just that good.

Happy Sunday!