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All right. My podcast partner Diane will roll over in her Lulus when she reads this, but here is my truth: I usually forget the salt & pepper.
I know that S&P are the cook’s most basic tools, but I forget that. I do.
Other things I forget: that I have stuff cooking on the stove. That I have stuff cooking in the oven. That I have food thawing on the counter. That my finger tips work better when they remain attached to my fingers.
Seeing a pattern?
And I can’t promise I’ll ever remember. Maybe I will. Maybe I’ll find room in my head for the most basic of cooking skills. But at this point, my brain just isn’t working that way, and I don’t intend to make room right now. Why? Because my book is in final edits and I just discovered Game of Thrones. HELLO, my life is full.
Also, we just started homesteading, so I have to learn that too.
So for now, I cook the simplest of simple things, and when they end up tasting good, I make them again and again. Like the bison butternut bowl.
It dawned on me that there juust may be people like me out there. People that appreciate a phenomenal cookbook and beautiful pictures, but whose brain shuts down after the fifth ingredient. Or any mention of words like “whisk” (pronounced hooo-isk) or “fold.”
Some of us just want to find some good, clean pasta sauce (not to put on pasta, of course, but zucchini noodles made with this) rather than making it from scratch. Some of us want to buy amazing hot sauce rather than blending our own spices. Some of us want to buy delicious pre-made salsa rather than make our own.
Yes, it’s good to know how to home-make those things, and I’ve done that many times. But I don’t always want to do it again. I only have so many fingertips to spare.
For some of us, the simplest foods actually require a how-to. Yes, I want to be told how to make the most simple, stupid-easy recipes. For some of us, putting something in the oven coated in coconut oil having remembered to turn that oven ON is an accomplishment. (Remembering to take it back out of the oven is parade-worthy.) For some of us, cracking an egg while keeping the yolk intact is something we write home about.
Therefore, I hereby commit to blogging the things I make that are so stupid simple that – yes – a Cave Girl could do it.
Introducing: Good Food for Bad Cooks. Recipes…in the academic sense.
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6 Responses
I look forward to reading your fave easy recipes! I have also recently discovered Game of Thrones, and my husband is very excited I want to watch it with him now, but… I have made Health Bent’s “unrolled cabbage casserole” once/week for the past three weeks. http://www.health-bent.com/beef/paleo-unrolled-cabbage-casserole. I’ll have to check out your easy recipes!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! If I need to spend this much time in the kitchen, I need to get better at this stuff or I will completely lose all of my hard earned self-esteem! My latest challenge is grilling – that darned thing has such uneven heat! Sure it’s great to not turn on the oven in summer, but not when I burn everything… The guys are ‘pose to do the grilling because it is a perfect thing to do standing outside doing only that, with a cold drink in one hand – not trying to juggle it with two veggies and whatever I have to make for the kids because everything else I’m serving gets an “Eew, yuck!” (Ya, ya, don’t serve anything else and they will eat it – heard it, tried it, come over and feed them yourself if you think you can do better). Hubby is great with the grill, but gets home too late on weekdays to help out… Anyhoo, enough venting, bring on the lessons!!
LOVE this! I always fill like a fake when posting recipes. I never know the right words. Is it diced, minced… just chop the dang thing up. lol
Liz,
I love this! Especially because I have so many of those moments too…(argh! Burned the citrus macadamia topping on the sole again! Darn that broiler.) Thanks for the candor!
Haha love it! Looking forward to it. Sometimes I definitely need that too, and my fingertips will thank you!!
This is a great idea! I can’t wait to read all the posts (and can’t wait to read your book)!
Thank you for sharing this simpler, more usable approach for the regular people in the kitchen. I hope many fingers can be saved. 🙂