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canyonwalkerAlthough I haven't blogged about cooking for a while— a quick check shows my last post on the topic was nearly five months ago— I have been cooking. I've been limiting my restaurant meals to 8-9 per week. That means in addition to eating breakfast at home always, I prepare lunch or dinner at home 5-6 times per week. So yes, I've definitely been cooking; I just haven't been doing much that's fancy.
What is not fancy? Not fancy is meals that require little preparation other than taking something out of a box or a jar and applying heat. Microwaveable or oven-ready main dishes. Canned veg. Canned soup. Grilling a hamburger or hot dog. Slicing open a roll and melting cheese on it. ...Okay, not all of those are simple; I just don't think of them as fancy. There aren't more than 1 or 2 steps per item.
What's the obstacle against doing something fancier? It's time and planning, as I noted in my last cooking blog entry 5 months ago. Making something more elaborate requires a more time to prepare— and the planning to have that time. So often I look at the clock, see it's already well after 6pm, and try to figure out what I can have ready in the shortest time for dinner. Beyond planning the time to cook it also requires time and planning to get the ingredients and have them on hand. Recently I've resolved to do a better job of that... because after all it's not hard.
A few times in the past week or two I've had baked salmon, like you see in the picture above. There are still time-saving shortcuts in what you see on the plate.... The salmon is frozen and oven-ready in single portions in a box of 6 pieces I bought at Costco. The green beans are from a can. The mashed potatoes... well, those are actually the most effort-intensive thing on the plate as I boiled the potatoes, partly peeled them, and mashed them with milk and butter.
"That looks... health," Hawk quipped. Being healthy, making this is a "square" meal, was one of my goals. But so was making something that tasted really good and didn't require ridiculous amounts of effort. All it takes is some time and planning ahead.
What is not fancy? Not fancy is meals that require little preparation other than taking something out of a box or a jar and applying heat. Microwaveable or oven-ready main dishes. Canned veg. Canned soup. Grilling a hamburger or hot dog. Slicing open a roll and melting cheese on it. ...Okay, not all of those are simple; I just don't think of them as fancy. There aren't more than 1 or 2 steps per item.
What's the obstacle against doing something fancier? It's time and planning, as I noted in my last cooking blog entry 5 months ago. Making something more elaborate requires a more time to prepare— and the planning to have that time. So often I look at the clock, see it's already well after 6pm, and try to figure out what I can have ready in the shortest time for dinner. Beyond planning the time to cook it also requires time and planning to get the ingredients and have them on hand. Recently I've resolved to do a better job of that... because after all it's not hard.
A few times in the past week or two I've had baked salmon, like you see in the picture above. There are still time-saving shortcuts in what you see on the plate.... The salmon is frozen and oven-ready in single portions in a box of 6 pieces I bought at Costco. The green beans are from a can. The mashed potatoes... well, those are actually the most effort-intensive thing on the plate as I boiled the potatoes, partly peeled them, and mashed them with milk and butter.
"That looks... health," Hawk quipped. Being healthy, making this is a "square" meal, was one of my goals. But so was making something that tasted really good and didn't require ridiculous amounts of effort. All it takes is some time and planning ahead.
