Cooking at Home Archives - Kaizen Neko Project

July 10, 2025June 22, 2025

The BBQ That Wasn’t: A Tale of Canceled Grills and Saucy Solutions

Written June 6, 2025

Hello Dear Readers,

Alas, dear readers, the sacred ritual of BBQ Friday has been grill-napped. The culprit? Not raining. Not a meat shortage. Nope—my wife had an important meeting, and duty called louder than the sizzle of burgers on the grill.

Now, let me be clear: she’s not a fan of dining out more than once a week. Restaurant food, she claims, is a minefield of sodium and sneaky cholesterol. She’s not wrong, but still… BBQ Friday, gone? Tragic.

Was I disappointed? Of course. But I get it. Her work matters, and so does what we eat. She’s the nutritional commander of this ship—and, in fairness, probably the reason I haven’t rebelled against the strict renal-friendly regime I’m on. Honestly, she eats like me… just with more eggs for extra protein. She makes clean eating look like a culinary art form.

To fill the BBQ void, I whipped up some homemade French fries. And no, we don’t deep-fry them into crispy rebellion. My wife usually does the oven-bake toss-with-oil thing. I’m team Air Fryer—faster, crispier, and fewer complaints from my arteries.

Now for the real star: the dip. I made a spicy mayo using one of her handcrafted seasonings. Yes, you read that right—she makes her own ranch, buffalo, shawarma, Mexican, and Italian blends. Because store-bought seasonings? Too salty. And salt, for me, is the arch-nemesis.

Herbs, however? My besties. Rosemary, thyme, dill, basil—they’re basically flavor with a halo. Sometimes I swap sour cream for homemade yogurt, which she also makes because she’s a kitchen sorceress. Control the thickness, control the taste. Plus, she swears it’s easy. (I believe her, but I’m not giving up my air fryer just yet.)

Tonight’s sauce of choice was the mayo mix I usually serve with oven-roasted carrots or chicken. It’s spicy, creamy, and most importantly: wife-approved.

She finally returned from her meeting, and we dined like royalty—on fries, no less. It was already 5:30 PM, but we shared that meal like it was BBQ Friday. (Confession: I’d already eaten leftover homemade pizza earlier. But hey, second dinner is a thing… right?)

We may be on a tight dietary leash, but here’s the twist: I don’t even feel deprived. When you enrich our foods with our homemade favorites, “strict diet” feels more like a lifestyle than a sentence.

And next week? BBQ Friday will return. Unless life throws another curveball… or she schedules another meeting.

February 12, 2025February 1, 2025

Snow, Soup, and a Slice of Life

Written January 12, 2025

Hello Dear Readers,

The weather decided to warm up today, but the snow isn’t ready to bow out just yet. While there’s a solid chance it’ll melt away soon, the piles around here still make my wife a little wary of venturing out. Fingers crossed that tomorrow brings clearer roads and fewer icy surprises.

We skipped the grocery store run this week because of this snowy hiccup. That means no pre-packed meal kits from my wife, though she did lay out a game plan by picking recipes. The only catch? We’re missing a few ingredients, so I’ll need to play Chef Tetris with the menu. Luckily, I’ve made most of these meals often enough to wing it or pull off some creative swaps.

On the bright side, we’ve got frozen curry to save the day—or, in this case, the week. My wife, in her infinite meal-planning wisdom, froze it into neat little one-cup blocks and vacuum-sealed them like treasures. All it took was a quick pot of rice and voilà—curry and rice ready to go. Minimal effort, maximum comfort food.

Oh, and let’s not forget our trusty Sunday pizza tradition. It’s the highlight of the week, snow or no snow. Honestly, having a stash of homemade freezer meals and a little creativity in the kitchen makes weathering winter storms much easier (and tastier).

So, here’s to warmer days, clear roads, and always having a backup plan—preferably one that involves pizza.

October 2, 2023September 16, 2023

The Journey to Our Perfect Sunday Pizza: A Tale of Taste and Health

Greetings to all you lovely readers out there!

My wife and I cherish a ritual that has become near and dear to our hearts: our Sunday Pizza Day. The festivity kicks off on Saturday. It’s a little intro that involves feeding our sourdough starter, usually right after I wrap up my kombucha bottling process. This two-day routine has become a weekend culinary symphony for us, each step harmoniously leading into the next.

Our venture into homemade pizza began as a necessity rather than a mere food experiment. After being diagnosed with kidney disease and hypertension, salt went from another seasoning to something I had to be wary of. And let’s face it: store-bought or restaurant pizzas are generally sodium havens. Thus, my wife and I embarked on this home-cooking journey to balance taste and health.

My sister, a prodigious baker, laid the cornerstone of our pizza adventure. She bequeathed a tried-and-true crust recipe, a sourdough starter, and instructions on how to keep it thriving. We eagerly started our experimental phase with this foundation, fueled by necessity and culinary curiosity.

Our kitchen soon turned into a laboratory of taste. We dabbled with an eclectic array of toppings, some of which I had never even dreamt of putting on a pizza. Think potato, cauliflower, and zucchini! The crust, too, underwent a few incarnations. We introduced rosemary to the dough and switched to garlic-infused oil for that extra layer of flavor. The result? A pizza that’s both nutritious and delectable, albeit divergent from what we used to consider ‘classic’ pizza.

We’ve been so obsessed with our creation that on the rare occasions, we’ve ordered pizza since we found ourselves comparing it unfavorably to our homemade variety. What we once deemed scrumptious now pales compared to the personalized, health-conscious pies we whip up in our kitchen.

As we’ve navigated this gastronomic expedition, we’ve moved from problem-solving to perfecting. I can safely say we’ve reached a point where our pizzas no longer need ‘fixing.’ However, I highly doubt that this marks the end of our culinary creativity. From now on, any modifications we make will be born out of the desire to experiment for experimentation’s sake—to see how a new topping or tweak in the recipe melds with our now-beloved baseline.

Our Sunday Pizza Day isn’t just about the final product on the plate; it’s about the love, health, and creativity that go into every slice. And trust me, that’s the real topping you can’t buy.