Polymath Cooking: Make it up as you go

Working full time is great. Unless coworkers start calling off work, and I am asked to fill in for extra shifts. On my day off today, I am going in at 4 to close. My plans for today probably could have been kept because I have/had most of the day available. Most of my energy has gone into what to make for my late lunch/early dinner and Eric’s dinner when he comes home.

Since we are leaving next Tuesday for a visit with family, I didn’t do much in the way of grocery shopping, so I have been trying to put together a kind of pasta salad idea. Not having a whole lot of ingredients, I needed to be a little creative. Tuna, peas, various beans, some tomatoes from our plant outside, and pasta.

I ended up nixing the tuna.

I simmered the peas, tomatoes, and garbanzos in some oil and vinegar with parsley. For the record, I also cooked the pasta. When the pasta was done, I threw all the ingredients in a bowl, spritzed some lemon juice on the mixture, sprinkled a little bit of cheese, and voila!

It came out pretty tasty. Now I have about 15 minutes to get ready for work, and I’ll let this little concoction chill in the fridge for Eric. There is enough that we’ll probably both have lunch for tomorrow, too.

Ahh. Nothing beats cooking by the seat of your pants.