With COVID variants looming large, many of us are back to cooking at home. Some of us never stopped. And while we’re all for supporting local restaurants, ordering takeout everyday isn’t always in the best interest of our wallets—or our waistlines.
In this episode, registered and licensed dietitian and nutritionist Wendy Wesley shares some guidelines for stress-free cooking. We’re talking no-recipes, use-whatever-you-have-on-hand cooking.
“I think if people can cook more intuitively and cook with methods and techniques rather than recipes, they can be faster and more efficient in the kitchen. And I think that brings joy in the kitchen,” says Wendy, of St. Petersburg, adding, “It does sound really hippie, I know.”
But the application is very practical.
Wendy has appeared on The Zest several times, and she always brings such concrete advice to help us eat healthier and actually enjoy the process. In this episode, she shares guidelines for substituting ingredients so you’re not constantly making grocery runs.
“People can be very rigid about their ingredients,” Wendy observes.
She also reveals her formula for cooking anything from meatloaf to crab cakes to falafel: protein, wet binder, dry binder, sauteed aromatics/vegetables and seasoning.
“I call it the loaf method,” Wendy says. “Once you learn the loaf method, your cooking goes from one thing to 10 things.”
This conversation was recorded in the spring of 2021. But it feels as relevant today as it did then—perhaps even moreso.
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