Scheduling

Let me explain how important day-to-day, or even hourly, schedules are in my life. Every night before I go to sleep I try to take all my thoughts and organize them nicely into a schedule for the next day. Wake up at this hour, shower from blah to blah, eat lunch here, write this now and read that later, etc.

It never works.

Not once have I gone to sleep with a clear mind a set schedule; not once have I woken up knowing exactly what is going to happen during the day. Yet I continue to attempt to schedule my life because I need to. 

I'm the kind of person that needs to know exactly when something is going to happen and how long it's going to last. I need to know what to do and when to do it. And now that I've started a real-person job--yeah I know its a cliche, but I really do feel like an adult now that I work 32 hours a week--there's one other thing to add to my schedule: food.

In the spirit of keeping this blog alive and growing, I've decided to use Sundays as food planning days. Make a list of menus for most nights of the week, make a groceries list and go shopping. It's a foolproof plan right? Wrong. I'm sure I'll stray from it in less than a month, but here's to keeping to the schedule.

But for those days when I don't have a set recipe, I'll just have to come up with simple dishes to feed my hungry stomach. Last week I put together a quick pasta with veggies and cheese. Turns out it tasted good and doubled as lunch for the next day at work. Win win. Here's the recipe.

Broccolini and Mushroom Rotini with Fresh Mozzarella
Active time: 10 minutes. Total time: 20 minutes.
Makes 4 servings.

• 8 ounces vegetable rotini (Barilla makes a great spinach one)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot
• 6 ounces mixed mushrooms
• 1/2 pound broccolini
• 1 8-ounce fresh mozzarella ball, cubed

1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and cook pasta according to instructions on the box. 
2. In a large pan or wok, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add shallot and cook, stirring occasionally until fragrant and slightly browned, about 2 minutes. Add broccolini and mushrooms and cook, stirring until almost soft, about 5 minutes--add about a tablespoon of pasta water if vegetables dry out. Season with salt and pepper. 
3. Once pasta is al dente, drain almost all the water and transfer pasta, and remaining water, to the pan with the vegetables. Stir to mix and cook just until pasta water has evaporated, about 2 minutes. 
4. Stir in mozzarella cheese and cook until slightly melted, about 1 minute.