Hesitant cooking

This last week has been a stressful week. I generally handle stress pretty well- as I am pretty accustomed to it through all these years of grad school. Stress rarely affects my eating (usually I eat MORE) - unless I am on the "break-up diet," a tried and true way to lose a ton of weight and attract a new mate FAST! You know that diet, right? When the very thought of food makes you nauseous? This last week has been like that. I am have this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach like something just terrible is about to happen, then never actually does. Weirdly enough, when I went into work yesterday - I found I 3 inch screw placed on my desk - strange? Whatever, only one experiment left to go then it's time to graduate.

Anyway- one thing I can always get down - regardless of hunger- is pasta. Though I do love it, I seldom make it! I've made this recipe before "rustic pasta" from the Kind Diet- and didn't like it. Mainly because everything in that book turns out VERY salty. I found salt a very aversive taste (perhaps an evolutionary defense mechanism against my genetic predisposition for heart disease). However - I felt this pasta had potential- and it came out much better this time with a few tweaks.

Rustic Pasta (serves 4-6)

1/4 pound pasta
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, sliced
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/4 cup soy sauce (I cut this to about 2 tsp)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 head green cabbage, sliced (napa works better and cooks faster)
5-6 Tbsp marinara ( I used a whole can of diced tomatoes - which made a huge difference in taste)

Cook pasta. Heat oil, add onions, saute for 7 min, add garlic, saute for 3 minutes more. Add celery, saute 3 minutes more. Stir in soy sauce, gar powder, salt and cabbage, saute 4 minutes. Add tomatoes (or sauce) and cook. Much better this time, but still salty!


I served this with some tomato/basil flavored baked tofu for some protein! It was a good only meal of the day!