I cannot cook and it makes meals frustrating! - Page 2

[ariatrance]

Originally Posted by ollyoxenfree

Good on you for caring about your family's health and wanting to provide healthy, delicious meals for them. Best wishes with it.

Thank you. I haven't thought about it that way before and you are right - I should view this as a challenging goal to achieve, not a nightly failure. If I set up my mind for success first, it doesn't matter what happens - each success is celebrated. At least, that's how I try to teach my kids. I am going to try to internalize this in regards to cooking. Thank you again!

A couple things that jumped out at me - how did you cut yourself while peeling? How while washing the knife? Did you learn anything from these incidents? Were you using a knife or a peeler to peel? When washing knives, my hand never gets near the blade... I hold the handle in my left and w a soapy brush, brush, flip, brush, rinse, into the drying rack. Never set it down in the sink - first rule of a professional kitchen. For peeling, i only peel things w inedible skin, like butternut. Always cut it into smaller chunks first and use a peeler away from yourself, not towards (this took me years to feel comfortable).

When I cut myself with the knife, I was washing it in the sink. I was holding the handle in my left hand, sharp edge down, using the soapy brush. I really don't remember exactly what happened but I believe my right hand slipped (due to suds) and came back up onto the knife blade. It was my right index finger. It happened rather fast. I always wash knives very, very carefully because I am afraid of cutting myself. I think this was probably just a horrible fluke accident but it has made me quite nervous since.

As for the peeling, I was peeling away from myself. Always do - however, I was trying to peel a small, red potato and my left index finger had come up over the back edge unnoticed and I clipped it with the peeler. Just a few of the top layers, no blood but that was pretty lucky. I believe I will just leave the skins on the next time and tell anyone who complains that they can peel them!

When do you do your shopping? Do you meal plan? Do you take the kids shopping? Meal planning and prepping can be huge time savers. Along w prepping large batches of things like beans. When i make beans, i dont sort either. I soak 3 c overnight, then cook the next day during the day (not durint dinner prep). Let them cool and scoop out 2 c portions into bags and freeze Flat (thats one can's worth). Those 3 c of dried beans give me about half a gallon of cooked. And then i dont need to make beans for a few weeks.

I grocery shop with the kids one morning a week. It is a lovely excursion and we have a good time. The kids are actually really pleasant in the store and I don't have any problems forgetting items on the list. Meal planning is a trial. I do it alone with no input from my husband. I tire of eating the same things over and over again, so I like to try out a couple of new recipes that use similar ingredients within a week. However, reading a recipe never makes it seem like it will take all that long. But I don't remember to factor in the children either. I don't try to get crazy but try out crockpot recipes or casseroles or skillet dishes.

So, no I cannot prep stuff when I get home from the store. I would like to do it at night after the kids are in bed but then, I don't get any personal time to myself if I do that. Having those two hours at night really makes a difference in my overall attitude. Maybe I can convince/coerce/force my husband to do the prep the night I buy groceries....

When you get home from the grocery store, instead of putting the veggies away, prep them first (assuming that your dh is distracting the kids). There are a few i wouldnt prep, like potatoes, since they oxidize, but washing and cutting things like onions, carrots, celery, peppers, tomatoes, etc can save you a lot of time later.

There are definitely tricks and tips that you learn as you go. I bet you'll never make that mistake w the soup and blender again. With hot things in the blender, crack the lid open for steam, cover w a towel and hold onto the lud when you turn it on. And never fill it more than halfway.

Rather than constantly trying new recipes and getting down on yoyrself if theyre not perfect, id suggest 1 new recipe a week. Try it. If you need to tweak something, make s note and try it again next week. If you dont like it, no harm no foul, just move on. If you do like it, you can add it to the rotation. A few months of that and you should have a good selection of recipes to work from. I would also suggest investing in a kitchen timer. Mine has saved dinner more than once. I can carry it w me and have 4 different timers going at once. If i rely on my memory, all too often we're eating overcooked food.

I don't have a large selection to begin with of regular meals. Beans and Rice, Spaghetti, Pancakes and Eggs and that's it! I really don't want to eat the same three meals twice a week...and we eat enough PB&J for lunches. I sometimes wonder how on earth we've been making it this long!

I think if I get my husband on board with helping prep stuff for the week, especially the meat!, then that could be step 1. Step 2 is finding simple recipes (factoring in kid time) that don't require a lot of my personal attention (crock pot or oven) to add to the rotation so maybe I can have six different meals each week. Or something like that.

I appreciate all the suggestions and help! Thank you for the encouragement!

[Magelet]

Here are a couple of my favorite tasty, fairly healthy, fast and easy meals. I don't think they're nutritional powerhouses, but they're not bad. (though pasta with cream sauce might be considered not so healthy if your fat phobic. I'm fat philic).

Migas: Take a bunch of tortillas (I buy the ones with the least preservatives, but there's still a few. corn or flour is fine. I use about 6-7 taco size tortillas for two very hungry young adults with the metabolism and appetite of teens, but I also serve it with beans for dinner (not for breakfast or lunch) and we could always eat more because it's so yummy I think for a family I would scale up to a full pack of tortillas, and a large size can of tomatoes. we probably eat as much as 3-4 usual adults.

I cut them up into strips (take the stack, and cut the stack as one.) about an inch by 2-4 inches. really approximate, you just want it edible size. Saute them in a little olive (or coconut or lard or whatever oil you feel is healthy) oil until golden. Pour in a can of tomatoes (I use the normal size, the size that's the size of a can of beans. crushed, diced, pureed, even whole works in a pinch.) Stir a bit. Crack in one egg per person. add salt to taste. serve with tomatillo/green salsa from a jar. (because there are plenty of options that don't have preservatives or other stuff I don't want to eat, and it's easier and cheaper (probably not, but maybe) than making it myself.) I also serve it with beans for a full dinner. usually, just whatever beans are around, topped with fat, salt, and a little vinegar. canned or frozen/reheated beans would work just fine.

Pasta with broccolli and cream sauce:
cook pasta, usually I do whole wheat penne or fusilli or something like that. cook broccoli until almost mushy/really really soft (the only time I will ever advice on mushy veggies, I think). usually, I cook the broccoli in the pasta, then add the pasta when the broccoli has cooked some and cook em together. extra nutrients and a single pot! When it's done, strain it, pop it in a pot (the pasta pot works fine), and pour a bunch of cream over it. Stir over pretty low heat until the cream starts to thicken and make a sauce (like 5-7 minutes? maybe way way less.) add some salt, and serve with some parmesan. (also, you can add ham when you add the cream. I grew up with cut up deli ham in it. I no longer eat ham, or meat and dairy together, but it was delicious that way.)

[cristeen]

Ok, quick and easy:

enchiladas - great use for leftover meat. I mix the meat with shredded cheese, a can of chopped green chiles, a can of olives, chopped tomatoes, chopped onion, whatever i have on hand and think will 'go'. Warm your corn tortillas, and put about 1/4 c of filling in each, roll them and pack them into a casserole dish. At this point they can be frozen or refrigerated until you need them. I open a jar of tomatillo salsa (like Magelet said, easy enough to findw/o preservatives and wsy quicker thsn making it), dump the whole jar over for a 8x13, or half jar for an 8x8. Top w some more cheese and bake at 350 for about 30 min if made fresh, 40 if its been sitting in the fridge. Serve some beans and/or rice on the side.

Tacos or burritos are another good use of leftovers, beans and rice, so nice and cheap. I saute up an onion w plenty of chile powder, coriander and cumin, add in the shredded/crumbled meat and warm through. For burritos, stuff everything inside and roll it (meat, beans, rice, cheese, onion, tomato, pepper, avocado, olive, lettuce, sr cream, etc)... For tacos, spoon the meat into the tortillas and top w some cheese and the fresh veg, serve the rest on the side.

For filling soups, sausage sweet potato spinach is excellent and pretty cheap (use any sausage you want). I add cooked white (navy) beans to make it more filling, and i put the raw spinach in the bowl instead of the pot so it doesn't get slimy. Corn chowder is a fave here, even w frozen corn. For that matter, clam chowder is good if you find a sale on canned clams. A thick cream of tomato is yummy with a grilled cheese sandwich. I make all my soups from scratch, but am not above using prepared ingredients (like a can of chopped tomatoes).

Chili and sloppy joes are both dishes that can be made earlier in the day and allowed to simmer until dinner time (as are most soups). Most could even be made in a crockpot.

I definitely think that you should get your DH to help with the food prep. Personally though, I consider my time in the kitchen to be "me" time, if I get it without the baby under my feet. Sure, I still need a few minutes to sit down and do *nothing*, but I don't have the luxury of a whole lot of that kind of time.