Cooking Quick and Delicious Meals (when you're low on time and on a budget)

Hello hello, and welcome to Episode 98 of Life On the Brink!

I’ve been rediscovering my love for cooking yet again, this time as a way to ground and stabilize myself, but also to explore creativity and welcome new fall flavors. I’ve realized lately, though, that many may not have a passion for cooking in the same way, and that’s ok! Perhaps you just want to eat yummy things that make you feel good, making the often-more-affordable choice of cooking at home rather than buying out actually worth your time. Well today’s episode is for you!

In this episode I'm sharing:
-simple ways to make delicious, nourishing meals easier
-how not to feel overwhelmed by grocery shopping
-meal prepping ideas for every schedule
-easy and highly customizable recipes
and so much more.

Plus, this week's Little Joy is how I made a work event into a romantic getaway, and I've got a very atmospheric autumnal playlist to share.

For the complete show notes, click here!
For full transcript, click here!


Site: lifeonthebrink.live
Social: @anna_on_the_keys

Transcript

Unknown: 0:07

Welcome to Life on the brink, a lovely little place filled with inspiration and creativity that is dedicated to enjoying life one day at a time. I'm Ana. And together, we're exploring the beautiful things in this world that fascinate us, and often discovering something new. Hello, hello, welcome to episode 98 of life on the brink. It feels crazy to say almost 100 episodes very exciting. I hope you're doing well, that you're enjoying these first few weeks of true autumn. As I'm recording this, it's a very gray, Misty day, it's been sort of raining all day, all day, kind of. We just had a bigger tropical storm, not quite a hurricane. It's actually been a pretty mild hurricane season this year. But it's just been consistently rainy today. And it feels very cozy and autumnal. And today we have what I think is going to be a very inspiring episode that hopefully will leave you with lots and lots of ideas. Because we're talking about cooking today, I find myself in a new love for cooking again, it kind of comes and goes like with most things in life. And with this new fall season, I'm really finding that cooking is helping to ground me and stabilize me, but also I'm able to explore with creativity and new fall flavors. And I like that there's so much you can cook, you're not going to be able to discover it all in your life, just as I'll never be able to read all the books that are in the world. So I'm in a season of new creativity in the kitchen. And so I am hoping to bring some inspiration in that arena. However, I know that you may not have a passion for cooking in the same way that I do. And that's okay. Perhaps you just want to eat yummy things that make you feel good and save money. Because, you know, cooking is generally less expensive than eating out or takeout and stuff like that. But what I hear over and over from friends and from other people as I listen about why they don't cook, and these are people that are not passionate about cooking at this point in their lives, is simply because they feel they don't have time. Or I think sometimes people feel they might have time, but they don't think that the meals will be worth eating like they won't be very exciting. And I know that that must be a really tricky place to be. And so in this episode, I'm talking about some very simple ways some tips to build a balanced nourishing meal that is delicious and affordable to make. And it may not be quite as quick as picking up takeout. But none of these recipes or strategies that I'm sharing today will be very time consuming or complicated. This is all about simplicity making things streamlined and making it so you don't have to spend a lot of time or money to get good quality. So before we jump into it, go ahead and make yourself a cup of something warm and cozy, nice cup of tea or coffee. I actually have a cup of coffee today and I I've been doing this thing that I started doing a couple items of back but then I forgot about it where I'll make just a normal cup of coffee but then rather than put cream in it or almond milk or whatever. I froth it up and heat it up in my milk frother and I'll add maple syrup to it so that it's like a maple leaf foam. Put that over the coffee and then a dash of cinnamon. Oh my It is just a treat. First of all to have foam in your coffee or your tea. I forget about it all summer really how nice that is and then just a little bit of cinnamon a little bit of maple. I told you in the last episode. I'm like a maple fiend right now. So that's been wonderful and I'm I'm really enjoying this today. So you make a cup of something nice and sweet and comforting. And let's talk about this. Let's get into this. I am going to talk about a lot of different ideas and I'm going to link several recipes in there. shownotes but I'm I have the written breakdown of everything I'm going to talk about in the show notes. So to find all of that you just go to life on the brink dot live, check out the blog posts, and you'll find one for this episode. So don't be overwhelmed. This is not something you have to memorize. And it's not something you have to do all at once, by any means. So let's jump into it. By now, you may have heard about my theory regarding many things in life. But I've talked about it I know when it comes to like, home renovation, I know I talked about it in that episode. But it's how I tend to assess food and groceries as well as work and finances and fashion. And probably a lot more. But it looks like this. It's like time versus money versus quality. And that time, it's like time and energy. And you can only pick two. So time or energy would be the amount of time or effort that you must expend in order to get whatever the money would be the amount of money that you spend. And then three, the third element is the quality of that result. So if you want to, if you don't really care about the quality, then you can probably get something quickly. And affordably. If you need it to be quick, but you also want good quality, then you're probably going to have to pay more, you know what I mean? So, most things in life, I tend to pick good quality, and saving money, which means I choose to expend more effort or time. For example, I go about this usually with my wardrobe, because I enjoy thrifting. And I tend to keep pieces for a long time. And I'm trying to build like a a curated closet over time, where I have just pieces that I love every day. Isn't that the dream. But because I want to also have a good deal. I will spend that time in thrift stores and not very often. So it takes more time just because I do it when I can I when I feel like it, or when I need a particular item so that I can get something that's good quality. And for a good price. You just have to go hunting for it. Maybe you do want a good quality wardrobe, but you want it more, more conveniently or don't care as much about the money, then you see you can flip flop that I think about this a lot with home renovation as well. That's why it's taking a lot of time. That's why for most people, it takes a long time because you want the result to be nice, and that's flexible here and there. And usually we're trying to save money. So it's just about knowing your priorities. As I'm getting older, and thankfully more financially stable, I have found certain things that I find the money is worth it here, I don't want to spend the time or energy or I don't have the knowledge, or to go and learn all that right now. The money is worth it for someone else's expertise or whatever the situation is. So when it comes to cooking, I will gladly expend plenty of time and energy in the kitchen to have a delicious and quality meal for far less money than dining out would be for that same meal. However, even if you're not interested in spending lots of time messing around in the kitchen, I completely understand. We all have to eat. Like that's just a fact. And what's more, it really behooves us and benefits us to eat well as it fuels and nourishes our bodies. So unless you have serious cash to put into this, I would venture to guess that most of us would like to eat good quality meals without spending lots of money. In that case, it's a little more necessary to expend time and energy towards those meals. And that's where today's episode comes in. Because I'm going to share some simple ways to save money on food to produce quality meals. And these are ways that won't take up too much time. It will take a little bit of shot planning, possible meal prepping and it will require time cooking in the kitchen. But I've designed these tips to be as streamlined and simple as possible. So you can easily integrate them into your routines. And Like supposing you know if we're looking at an extreme case someone who were like spending a large percentage of their income on takeout or what you know, like a very convenient food option. Every day, every meal, this would make a huge impact in your finances. Probably most of you listening are not in that scenario. But it can make a little difference here in there. And I think it's empowering it is to be able to cook for yourself. It's an act of love for yourself or your body for the people in your home. And I'm going to teach you what I what has worked for me. Because I do have busy seasons, and I can't always be tinkering about in the kitchen. And this is what I found works for me, and a budget. Number one is to eat seasonally. This is great for many reasons I've spoken about it before, not only does eating what's in season tend to be what our bodies need, the nutrients in the fruits and vegetables that are in season tend to be what our bodies need at that time. But it also tastes so much better because it's it's it's time it's not being artificially encouraged all year round. Also, it does tend to be cheaper in a couple of ways. One of those ways would be if you can find a local farmers market near you and can find a reliable produce vendor or farmer I should say, go there. Check their prices, I shop around the stalls of the market until I find the best prices, which generally will tend to be better than what I can find in the stores. And in many shops. Another way to go about this in many grocery stores I've seen especially in the summer, little stalls or displays of seasonal local produce, where you can get things cheaper than what would normally be in that same store. So in the summer, it's a lot of zucchini and cucumbers and tomatoes. And they they grow so abundantly at a certain time of year that you can get them for cheap at the same grocery stores you might go to anyway. And then finally, a cool idea would be to grow it yourself. Now, this is not exactly always a cheap endeavor to get started making your own vegetable garden. But once you get it going, you can grow much more than you might expect. This year, I focused on tomatoes as my main vegetable, and lots of herbs and a few peppers. But the tomatoes, I didn't buy tomatoes from any market or store for a couple of months. And considering I cook with them all the time. That's kind of impressive, because I just had two plants. I barely did anything to them. And I was giving them away all summer, it just made so many tomatoes more than I expected. And a lot of my herbs did very well as well. I had a ton of basil, I still have lots of basil, which again, I cook with a lot, especially during the summer, I made pesto several times, and it was much higher quality and less expensive than even buying pesto at the store. So little things like that. If you're interested in starting your own vegetable garden, or starting to grow anything, I would check out episode 23 of this podcast called a simple guide to starting your own vegetable garden. Okay, so number two second tip is to have a plan. This will help you to not get overwhelmed when grocery shopping. There are a couple of ways that you can go about this as well. You could be number one super strict and plan out each of the meals that you're going to prepare during that week. I tend to grocery shop every week or every 10 days. And then you could write a shopping list of everything you need for those those recipes. Maybe you just plan out your dinners and then get a couple staples. My sister and brother in law do things this way. I could not do it this way. But that would be a nice step ahead and then you know you're getting what you need. Or another way to do it. This is what I do. If you don't want to plan specific recipes throughout the week. Just write a list of the essentials, look at your fridge, look at your pantry, see what you need, and then make room for whatever you find at the store. For example, I will write down on my shopping list like veggies and then a quantity like two to three or three to five and then I'll just see what's available. Sometimes I get ideas when I'm shopping and I let the ingredients sort of guide the meals. But I always have shopping list when I go to the grocery store. I find it really helps me to stay on task and I also find it useful All too. Well, I use like a notepad that in magnets, it magnets, it has magnets and it sticks to the fridge. So it when something runs out, I immediately write it if I remember on that notepad. And so I'm keeping track of what needs to be replenished. And then before I go to the store, I assess what I have and write things there. And I always have that on me. I might forget something and then be in the store and say, oh, yeah, we're out of garlic powder. And, and that's fine. But I find it really, really useful. And also, I just want to let you know that podcast 52 of life on the brink is called pantry essentials and building a well stocked kitchen. So if you're someone who doesn't really want to plan out every meal all the time, I have, I share in that episode, How To Build A kitchen that is going to work for you so that you can just cook on any given week. And you can have things available to you. So that's number two, to have a plan. And number three is to shop around. So this is the step that will probably feel like it's the most time consuming, but it really doesn't take that much more time. Sometimes certain grocers or markets will have excellent prices on certain things, but not others for whatever reason. And sometimes it has to do with the quality. So that's again, where you have to play that game of like, in this instance, do I care more about my time or my money or the quality. In some of these instances, I'm willing to sacrifice on some quality meaning, not everything I eat is organic at this time. When it is a good deal, I do go there I at this point in my life and more concerned with the consistency of eating homemade meals with fresh ingredients. But obviously, that could change in my life and perhaps you're in a different place. Whatever it is, it's a good time to assess your priorities again. So I for example, shop at the blessing Trader Joe's that we have, where I live, and is one of the best shops of the United States my opinion. And I go there for most produce and canned goods, non perishables, snacks, crackers, wine, it's great, but I hardly ever buy protein or dairy from Trader Joe's. Instead, I go across the parking lot to the Aldi after I'm done there. While I'm sure that they're delicious, I can get a better deal at Aldi, there's still a great selection of cheese and dairy over there. And the prices for chicken, beef, pork, fish, seafood are consistently better. It is an extra step in my grocery process, but it actually doesn't take that much longer. And it's consistently saving me money every week. So to me it is worth it. And then if I know I'm going to be able to go to the farmers market that weekend, I tend to not buy any produce especially or at least not buy any produce so that I can make room for that. That following weekend. Number four is to adjust your recipe. If an ingredient isn't available or affordable for you then substitute it. The key here is to know the role that that ingredient is playing in the dish. So if a recipe calls for bell peppers in your stir fry, but it's springtime, so you're at the market and the greens are at a great price. Why not then sub that vegetable for cut asparagus and bok choi I like to do this a lot when it comes to cuts of meat. I find that chicken breasts and recipes can easily be substituted for thighs, even bone in anything with bones is going to be less expensive. And if you over time when it gets a little bit skilled at I wouldn't say even butchering, just cutting, cutting things. I will buy sometimes the leg quarters and then I'll cut the off you know the drumstick, the chicken thigh the other pieces you know and that little bit of time does save quite a bit of money. But if you if you know the taco recipe you're following calls for ground beef but the ground turkey is on sale, just sub that in. I have also found that country Style Pork ribs, they're my favorite. They're like my best friend when it comes to things either like short ribs, or even like a chuck roast like for pot roast. I use country Style Pork Ribs which at least where I live are considerably less expensive. Also just consider the potential chain In cooking times when you are adjusting proteins in this way, in general, like I said, just think about what is the role that this ingredient is playing in the dish and try to bring it out in another way. If you need some citrus or a cause for lemon juice, but you don't have any, you can maybe substitute for vinegar. If you don't have any spinach or lettuces, then you can make a kale salad instead. And if you literally have no fresh produce whatsoever, then use frozen, it's nice to just have a little bag of vegetables somewhere in the back. I've discovered many delicious combinations and hacks, if you will just timesavers. Simply by experimenting with this, it may take a little bit of trial and error. But I think it's that's that's where the fun is. Number five, this is probably the big one, this is going to be the most useful, not the most useful. But this is a big element batching Working in batches, also in this arena, classically known as meal prepping, this is a huge time saver. But there's a couple of different ways you can go about it. The traditional route, if you will, is to spend your Sunday or whatever your least busy day is prepping a large quantity of one meal and packing it up for the week. This is ideal if you truly don't want to cook at all during the week. And you don't mind eating the same thing every day for that week. This is not for me, I cannot even save five days in a row. I think that's why most people probably don't stick to it for so long. But perhaps you're one of those you know, Food is fuel sort of thing don't really care about it, in which case, more power to you. This would be a great way to go about it. But there's a variation on that idea that I have found. Well, I found it really useful when I was in college, and I've revisited it here and there. In very busy seasons. I would spend a Sunday afternoon usually making several different larger quantities of things like quinoa or grain, roasted chickpeas, I would make chia pudding, and I would make granola. These were elements of several different meals that could then be made much quicker. For example, like with the chia pudding and the granola, I would make those and then usually the night before because I would have to get up early for class, I would assemble in a little Tupperware, put some pudding, cut up a little bit of fruit and add the granola, put it in the fridge. That would take like maybe three minutes, three to five minutes depending on the prep work of the fruit. And you could go even even quicker with dried fruit or anything like that. I still had a little bit of work to do during the week. But most of it was done on the weekend. And then I could customize that chia pudding with different fruits and different things throughout the week. So if you're someone who's very busy, I would really recommend this route. I'm leaving a video in the show notes. It's a YouTube channel called Rainbow plant life. She has a video called the one hour meal prep that's changing my life. It's fascinating. It's fantastic. It's this same sort of thought process where she made a grain and then she made some like high impact. Extras, they're not really extras, they're just elements that were going to really amp up whatever she was going to make very quickly during the week. She explains it very well. Please go watch the video. Another less strict variation on the same idea would simply be to make extra when you're cooking, either by making true leftovers. That's not a new idea. I love leftovers. Especially like in the winter when there's soups and things with potatoes. I love it. Or you can also if you're making rice for a dish make extra rice or the same with pasta, or if you need a little bit of chicken for a recipe but you've opened up the whole pack of whatever you got. Just cook all of it and maybe cook some of it if you've got like a very specific sauce going on or marinade. Then cook some on the side that are more neutral perhaps so you can use them in different ways. So then you're cooking one dinner, but you're also prepping for a meal later in the week. I just have to speak very quickly about how easy and yummy roasted vegetables are. I love roasting large pans of whatever's in season. And like I said keeping this seasonings semi neutral usually like salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder. And then they can be used in a variety of flavor profiles or cuisines. I just tossed them with all boiler avocado oil, sprinkle all the seasonings, mix it up and roast at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. Usually, you know you can shake them around halfway through, or double that time for potatoes and anything potato. It's so easy. And when you have these smaller pre cooked elements, assembling something feels much less intimidating than cooking something from scratch if you're in a pinch later on. And finally, the last thing I have to say about batching is about breakfast because I feel like that may be the most difficult meal to cook for yourself during the week, because usually you got somewhere to go. So I think that prepping things like yogurt parfait phase, making muffins or quick breads, banana bread or granola bars, doing this sort of stuff on the weekend is a great way to just prepare, even if you I haven't done it, but if you were very ambitious and want to do like a whole breakfast burrito assembly and then store them in the freezer, then you've basically got your own Taco Bell ready to go. I did do actually when I was when I was in college, I would make really big batches of oatmeal. And then I would divide it up into muffin tins. Well, I would like you know, sweeten it up, juice it up, but then put it, put it into muffin tins and top it with I think I did some like banana slices and pecan, stuff like that. And then others with berries. I had like little customizable muffin tins. And then once they would freeze, I would put them in a container. And then I would just pop one or two of them in a bowl, maybe a little almond milk and microwave them. And it's it was like an instant oatmeal, but it was so delicious because I made it myself. But even if you just you know, Wash and cut up some berries, and you make your granola, then come morning, you can assemble it. It's a very quick assembly. I think that any steps to make breakfast easier, are really going to help eliminate stress in the morning. It's so nice when I'm running late for something and then I'm hungry. I'm walking out the door and then I realized I have a banana muffin. And I can eat. And so like I said there's that one video from Rainbow plant life. But I'm also linking another video by pickup lines, another YouTube channel, I love them. It's a video called Easy student recipes that are meal prep friendly. So I'm leaving links to both of those in the show notes. Please go check them out. They're so inspiring, very creative, and really will help save time. Alrighty, point number six is to recreate your favorite takeout. The idea with this one is simple. I mean, cook what you what you like to eat, cook what you crave. If you find that you regularly go out to Chipotle, let's say for any of my international friends. It's just like a Tex Mex sort of burrito thing. Although I feel like Chipotle might be international now, I don't know. But you could easily make this at home, you could meal prep some rice and your protein, then maybe chop up some of your vegetables ahead of time. And then you can make really yummy burrito bowls, or tacos or whatever it may be. If you get good at making the food you actually want to eat, you're less likely to crave the convenience of takeout. This is why I hardly ever go out to breakfast. Because everything I like I can make except for poached eggs. If someone's going to poach the egg for me, I will let them do that. And number seven, my final tip is to prevent waste. Letting your groceries go bad is a real money waster. Although it happens to all of us from time to time, I'm sure try to prevent throwing away your food with a couple of these ideas. One is to try not to over shop. I know it's hard to keep track of what you have some times and we buy duplicates without meaning to but it's easier if you can see all your groceries. So if your fridge is becoming disorderly, maybe take a Sunday afternoon, clean it out, get rid of what's expired so that you can see what you have. And I know that that might look different depending on how many people live in your house. But just check in with your fridge every week before you go to the store. Take a look at what what you need but also what needs to be cooked what needs to be eaten that week or that day. Another idea is to challenge yourself to use everything up. So sort of like playing a game or pretending you're on Chopped where you you have to challenge yourself to cook What you have, look at what's going to go bad, and make it a little challenge for yourself. And finally, especially for fruits and vegetables, if something's gonna go bad, just wash it and cut it up and freeze it until you can use it. I currently have like a really big bag of pears. Apparently a family friend gave some to my brother in law and he gave a bunch to me. And they were all going to go bad I was going out of town. So instead they are sliced in the freezer, and they'll become a compote or something later. I personally like pears more in the later autumn and the winter. So there'll become something. Also, don't forget that many fruits can easily become smoothies when they're frozen. I like to Well, I buy bananas quite a bit, especially in the summer. And if they start to go bad as they always do, sometimes, they either become banana bread as we all know and love, or they become frozen, and you just add them into any sort of smoothie or I'll blend them up even thicker to be sort of like soft serve ice cream, it's a great way to use them up. So those are my seven tips for cutting down time and money in the kitchen. I hope that they have helped to frame food shopping and cooking in a bit of a lighter light or an easier light. But like I said before, don't worry about doing all these things at once. It's just a few ways to get you in the kitchen. And to hopefully save a couple bucks. So implement them as you can as you will. And now naturally I need to offer up some recipe ideas, of course. So here are some dishes that I have found very easy to cook, and very easy to customize. Firstly, it is cozy season. So let's talk about soup. Of course I'm back on my soup game. And it's truly the easiest thing on earth. That's probably why humans have been making it for centuries. You just have to begin here. Here's your soup guide. Whatever kind of soup you want to make. Here you go. You get a pot, you put a little oil on medium heat, you add what would be called aromatics. So the things that are going to add flavor to your soup, so usually onion, garlic, depending on the soup, ginger, depending on the soup, maybe that's where your carrot and celery go or where your bell pepper goes. These are the things that are going to help flavor everything else. Then you add whatever vegetables, whatever protein, get those things cooking. Then add some seasonings, maybe if you want add some tomato sauce if you want to make it sort of rich tomato II, then add stock. Let it cook. Bring that up to like a boil and then like let it simmer just so that everything gets cooked through. Then you can add pasta, you could add rice, you could add a little bit of creaminess, you could put all that in a blender and blend it up into like a fully creamy soup or blend part of it. They're truly like that's it. That's it and that's how every soup is made. Just with so many different variations of flavor and vegetables and proteins. That's truly it. I've got some recipes. In the show notes. I've got a lentil soup, roasted tomato basil soup, a Thai peanut, chicken ramen, and a French soup Oh P stew which is just like a vegetable soup with pesto in it. It's delicious. For very different soup recipes that all begin the same way and are all quite unique. So if you need somewhere to get started, go ahead and check out those links. I've credited all the recipe developers as well over there. And that soup, it's just fantastic. So heartwarming and cozy. And if you're like well I make soups sometimes and it just sort of ends up kind of bland or watery. Might I suggest to you that you make sure you salted like using enough salt and enough spices. Even if I put onion and garlic at the bottom. I'm probably still gonna put onion powder and garlic powder in the broth. Just just give it a go with the spices. Okay, next up after soup. What's also the simplest thing in the world to assemble a bowl. I think this was kind of an invention of the the newer generation of the chipotle generation where rather than have a sandwich or burrito or a rap or whatever, you can have it as a Old that's not always a salad. But really, I've heard them called macro bowls or Buddha bowls or whatever. But the building blocks are basically a carb or a grain of protein, vegetables and sauce. And also some nice fats like either yogurt or avocado, or feta cheese, goat cheese, these sorts of things can be really nice element to the flavor profiles can be so varied and they can be very, very easy to prep. It's also a really nice way to make sure that you're getting your vitamins in an eating very easy to eat seasonally. So especially if you apply your you know, meal prep Sunday, just make a ton of a grain let's say quinoa because I talked about it before. And you can roast a couple trays of vegetables, sort out what your protein is going to be. And you can make so many different flavor combos. I am going to leave a YouTube channel in the in the show notes. It's by Tish Wonder's new to me, but oh, she has such such a plethora of backlog, an entire playlist, in fact on YouTube full of bowl recipes, and they all look fantastic and so colorful and pretty. I feel like sometimes you can get such interesting bowls at restaurants like they're advertised in a very nice, wholesome way. It's so easy to make it home. So I would really, I'd go for this option if you are short on time during the week. The third idea is of course pasta because that's kind of like a bowl but with more sauce. You can tell I like sauce. Noodles come in many forms. And they're a great vehicle for so many different proteins and vegetables. I am leaving a link to a whole slew of pasta recipes as well. So feel free to customize. It can be so simple, but packed full of flavor and all the vitamins that you need. I love pasta, who doesn't love pasta. And then a couple of like sort of random elements to talk about. First let's talk about sauce. Like by itself. This is the one thing that can make any noodle bowl or a rice bowl or a Rabb or a salad from normal or potentially boring to stellar delicious. Fantastic. It's definitely a worthy addition to your meal prep time. So I've gone ahead and left some links in the show notes to some homemade pesto, homemade hummus, some green goddess dressing, and spicy roasted pepper sauce, which is the recipes for a pasta but I would eat the sauce on anything. In fact, here's a revelation I've had lately. Anything can be pasta sauce. Okay, just hear me out. You can roast whatever vegetables you can get the aromatics going with a little bit of cream or butter, like it's so easy to make fresh homemade pasta sauces. This one is like onions and garlic and I think an anchovy and roasted red peppers that you could get in the jar or roast yourself with a little bit of cream. Sometimes I like to add nutritional yeast. And it's a delicious spicy sauce that goes great with noodles. If you blend in a little pasta water at the end there or could be so versatile. I think it's nice when we start thinking about sauce as a combination of foods, real foods or other than its own separate like made up of little chemical parts, you know what I mean? So that sauce and finally, I just had to mention spices because the use of herbs and spices can totally change up the flavors for what would otherwise be very similar dishes. So maybe you make oatmeal pretty consistently and you usually add a little vanilla, maybe a little dash of cinnamon, but if you add in a spoonful of pureed pumpkin or squash, and then you add nutmeg and clove to that cinnamon, boom that's your pumpkin spice oatmeal. I would use the same roasted like if you had bell peppers, zucchini and like broccoli. I would put that into Thai basil dish Thai curry or I would put it in pasta sauce or I would put it in like a fajitas situation maybe not the broccoli but you can go in so many different ways depending on how you in a season things. That's why I recommend when you prep food to leave it sort of neutral but yummy so that you can customize it in different ways. Also, if you're interested in more spice talk, I would recommend to you Do Podcast Episode 41, which is called fall flavors to spice up your kitchen, we'll talk all about the health benefits and different spices and how to use them. It's a very, very autumnal time. So there you go. I hope that this episode has empowered you to cook for yourself. And also for your loved ones just a little bit more maybe nourishing your palate and your body, while keeping a budget isn't necessarily intuitive. So cut yourself some slack. And remember that you can enlist help from those in your household as well. So I hope that you're able to make lots of delicious meals that it's able to eliminate some stress from your budget from your week from your body. And if you're interested in more cooking episodes, there's probably going to there's going to be more cooking episodes to come this fall just a heads up, but I will recommend to you other episodes in the same vein as this one. Episode 48 is called Essential cooking techniques and how to step up your game in the kitchen. Or no, I just said How to up your game. Okay. Episode 33 is my most used cookbooks and how to enjoy following a recipe. And all the way back podcast episode number three, this was one of the most popular of all time is demystifying the science of recipe development. Lots of fun, and all of those. So Happy cooking. I wish you all the best. And I'll be right back with this week's little joy this week's little joy is date that Josh and I made out of a work situation. So I had a gig in Richmond, Virginia, which is the capital of Virginia, we it's about an hour 15 from us. And I had was playing for a really fancy private party just for one hour and in the morning on a Saturday morning. So we decided to make it a little trip. We went up to Richmond the night before, got to hotel for just one night. And we went to this Cuban place that my parents have always recommended to us and had just the most delicious meal. They're probably the best Mojito of my life as well. And, but then the next day, I got all fancy, you know, I'd curl my hair and all that stuff. And I played basically I was just hired to play a grand piano for an hour. I will include some pictures in the show notes because it was just breathtaking. It's a very historic old hotel. Oh my gosh, it was gorgeous. And then when it was done, I was invited, you know to stick around that little part of the party. We had a little bit of shock coterie gorgeous are coterie. Me and Josh. And then we use the opportunity because we were in Richmond to go to probably my favorite restaurant. If you're if you're in Virginia, go to Richmond go to Ken Ken brasserie, it's a French restaurant. I've only been a couple of times. And I've tried to go with Josh several times, but they've always been closed for one reason or another. But we finally went. And it was so gorgeous. The whole front of the restaurant was open air, like it's not always but they somehow remove that window. And we were at this little cafe table. It feels so French, just like it's so stylish and feels old. And I just I love it there. We split a croque madame, which was next level out of this world delicious, and the quiche, and just had a super fancy breakfast, or it was brunch at that point. And our server was like, You look stunning, like you look so fancy, where I said I was working, I'm a musician. And then we changed in the car and went to the local Botanical Gardens in Richmond, and walked all around those gardens. Josh had never been there. And they had this art installation, like throughout the garden. And I had seen it once before, and I wanted him to be able to see it too. So it wasn't too hot. It got a little hot. But it was just such a nice 24 hours we were back home and basically what was a 24 hour time span. But in that we fit to really delicious meals, a cute little hotel stay and a gig so I earn money too. And so at some time in the gardens, so it was just a really lovely trip. I'm glad that we were able to do it a really short getaway and I loved it. So like I said I'll share some pictures over on the blog. And let's talk about music. i i Right now I'm just all about the autumn vibes and just creating a soundtrack for myself. So I'm going to leave a link to a video. It's a YouTube video called one hour of vintage autumn music. It's by Jake Westbrook. It's his video on YouTube. But it's got some Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, little elephants, Gerald Bing Crosby, Artie Shaw, like, oh, Sarah Vaughn. There's some really, really great artists in here. And most of the songs either have the word September or October or autumn or leaf, or harvest somewhere in there. And it's nice because the YouTube video also has some, like vintage photographs or paintings that were like illustrations, that's what I'm looking for. Vintage illustrations. It it's really pretty, and I've enjoyed having it in the background. It's sort of like the auditory equivalent of a nice candle. Um, righty, well, I this was a big episode today. I hope you enjoy that you're inspired to cook that you're feeling all of the warm, cozy autumn feelings. If you're not already yet, feel free to follow me over on Instagram. I will get back into the swing of things a little bit. And we'll be asking questions and polling and sharing things over there. And if you haven't yet, feel free to subscribe to the monthly newsletter, or to leave a comment on the blog post and all of those things. I really really appreciate everyone who tunes in and love your feedback, love hearing where you're listening and how you listen. So I'll be back in two weeks with a new episode and I hope you have a wonderful autumn cozy day. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Life on the brink. If you're enjoying these episodes, please feel free to leave a star rating or even better leave a review on Apple podcasts to help spread the word. For podcast show notes and extra inspirational posts throughout the week. Head to the blog at life on the brink dot live. And if you'd like a little extra dose of inspiration in your life, sign up for the monthly newsletter, which lights up your inbox the first Friday of each month. Thank you so much for listening. And until next time, friends you have a lovely week. Bye