Green beans

I often over order with groceries (because with one person, ordering 3 vegetables for a week can be too much to cook), so I'm often scrambling to cook them before they're bad. I think it is really good and important to remember that a lot of food tastes really good done simply. The other night, I cooked flounder in coconut oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper, and it was great. I followed it with chips and guac and felt pretty thrilled about the whole thing. So while I completely endorse getting together a bunch of new and specific ingredients to try out a new recipe, I think we shouldn't feel so concerned about what to do if we don't have it all. Odds are in your favor that if you throw something in a pan with a fat (butter, olive oil, coconut oil depending on the flavor profile you're into) and sprinkle with salt and pepper, you'll end up with something edible and reasonably tasty. The corollary to that is to buy simple, fresh veggies and meat and fish so that they can stand alone well.

Tonight I heated up some fresh direct soup (meh, things like that remind me how much better homemade is) and then cooked some green beans to prevent them from spoiling over the weekend. I cooked them in the pan with butter and salt until they looked browned and a couple tasted still crisp but cooked (I'm fine with a range of textures usually). Then I served them with some goat cheese. It was great! And I mean that it met my standards for tasting good, being a positive contribution to my nutrition for the day, and helped reduce my produce drawer population boon.