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MAKING A POSITIVE CHANGE:
Cooking
Break out of your meal malaise By Michele Bellso
W
hat’s for dinner? How about Chicken Picatta with capers over angel hair pasta? Or Greek turkey burgers with tzatziki sauce? Or brown butter honey garlic shrimp? Before the coronavirus I might have made reservations at one of my favorite restaurants to enjoy one of these delicious entrées. Even though I love to cook, my fridge was always stuffed with Styrofoam and cardboard carryout containers filled with leftovers of every kind. There were days when the thought of having to decide what to cook, stopping by the grocery store to get the ingredients, and then cleaning up afterwards seemed exhausting. But in these times of coronavirus, not only have I strengthened my passion for cooking, it has taken on a new meaning. In our family, it has become the thing we look forward to, a ritual that pleasantly punctuates an endless blend of days. I’m getting more creative, adapting recipes, making clever swaps, and stretching budgets. Dinnertime— and preparing for it—is now one of the most gratifying parts of my day. But I’m one of the lucky ones. I really enjoy cooking. To me it's a form of creative expression. I get excited when I purchase a new kitchen gadget, create a new recipe, or invite friends over just to experiment with ingredients. I love sharing my passion for cooking by teaching cooking classes in my home with Let’s Cook Syracuse. I believe that delicious, healthy food need not be complicated nor take hours and hours. And you don’t have to settle for boring, tasteless
September 2020
Cajun Shrimp.
A Decade of A Circle of Red Edition
