Learning to cook

We don't have many convenience foods at our house anymore, I've noticed.

We buy a few for sure, like the pink lemonade mix we drink down so often in the summer. We have a bunch of canned soups hidden away in a cupboard in the "sick stash," which was handy last week when we got colds and could just pop open a can of chicken soup for Joe's dinner. I had ramen with an egg in it.

But I eat a lot less ramen than I used to. I figured out that it's almost as quick to boil a bit of whole wheat spaghetti with some frozen peas, and then to pour off the water and sprinkle the noodles with olive oil and salt and pepper and herbs and maybe some parmesan cheese (mmm). I might have taken a picture had I not eaten it all just now.

Usually this approach to cooking is cheaper, too, though I am not sure any meal can beat the price of a ramen packet. I'm sure the spaghetti isn't too expensive, though, especially since our cupboards are stocked with sale-price pasta.

I still prefer ramen when I'm sick, though. Mmm.