Today has been a big week for me/us. It’s been a big change for me because I am no longer at the industrial heater company. I made a huge step into a new chapter of my life by leaving my comfortable, challenging, and financially stable job and diving into something completely different. I now have 2 part time jobs (barista at Starbucks and server at Nada – a high end Mexican fare restaurant), and am moving forward with my own small business. My business is called Stir Crazy Cuisine. It’s a full personal chef service. If you’re interested, please contact me and we’ll be happy to provide more information! I am incredibly excited and slightly nervous about this extreme change, but luckily I have an amazingly supportive husband so it doesn’t seem as scary. It’s a big change for us because my work schedule is no longer  7:30-5 Mon-Fri. Now I have an unstructured 6-7
day/week sometimes evenings schedule.  In all honesty, I found myself pausing mid serving at the restaurant I work at and found myself saying, “it’s 9 pm, I’m still at work, and I’m pretty happy”. Who knew?!

With all that said, it is difficult to create day-of dinners. I am so busy, yet I refuse to allow my husband to eat the can of ravioli when I am capable of cooking. He’s pretty easy going, but dinner is the last thing I will allow to go down the drain with my full schedule. I actually find myself doing for me what I get paid to do by others! I now cook my weekly meals on Sunday and leave minimal preparation required at the time of serving. It doesn’t take me long and I find myself eating even better throughout the week than I used to.

Here is a healthy side dish that took no more than 15 minutes to make. It is great alongside poultry, red meat, and fish.

Ingredients
4 long zucchinis, washed well (scrub to remove sand) and sliced thin
2 tomatoes, sliced into thick fractions
1/2 onion sliced thin
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs butter (to make vegan, subsitute the butter for an extra tablespoon of olive oil)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste (start with a tsp of each)

Steps
1. Heat butter and olive oil in a deep pan on medium high until it shimmers
2. Lower the heat to medium and add the onions in the pan and cook until onions are translucent
3. Add the zucchini salt and , stir to coat it evenly, and cover the pan with a lid
4. Continue stirring every few minutes and once the zucchini becomes softer, add the tomatoes, stir once more, take off the heat and let it sit for a few minutes
5. Serve hot and enjoy!