Introduction

The Kitchen is where I collect recipes, meal plans, and the experiments that somehow turn into full-blown research projects. Everything here comes from cooking, eating, tweaking, and repeating until I either get it right or decide it isn’t worth making again. You’ll also find the bike rides, exercise, and everyday routines that support the process. It’s less of a cookbook and more of a running journal of what actually works for me.

I’m definitely in uncharted territory when it comes to cookbooks, but I like cooking, and some of this stuff gets a little weird in a fun way, so I figured I’d share it.

This isn’t me pretending to be a chef or measuring everything down to the gram. It’s just what I’ve figured out actually works for me without turning food into a whole exhausting thing.

Most of these recipes lean lighter, not because I’m chasing “healthy,” but because they fit into how I eat day to day.

• Breakfast is usually light, savory, and yeah, there’s almost always something crunchy on the side. Most of the time, it’s chips. I’m not even gonna pretend otherwise.

• Lunch is still light, still savory. This one’s more about keeping things steady than filling up.

• Mini is my buffer so I don’t end up doing something dumb later. Usually it’s two (or three) cracker sandwiches with salami and pepper jack, plus a couple pieces of fruit. Salty, sweet, does the job.

• Dinner is the real meal. Heavier, heartier, and almost always built around rice, black beans, and coleslaw.

It’s not perfect, it’s not fancy, but it’s consistent. That’s kind of the whole point.