We've all been there. We have a recipe in mind, we're envisioning how great it will taste, and daddy will be home at 5:30 looking forward to a warm meal that's ready to eat and a house that's peaceful. We look at the clock with reads 5:00, and we frantically take all of the ingredients out of the refrigerator. We're ready to start cooking. We go to chop an onion, and baby starts whining. We look at baby and smile, he smiles back. We look at the onion, he cries. We wonder how on earth we're going to be able to have a warm home-cooked meal on the table by the time daddy gets home.
Lately I've been trying something new, and it seems to be working. I've been planning my meals ahead of time for the entire week, and then doing 1 grocery run a week to get the ingredients. I organize my grocery list by department. Yes, it takes effort and some planning, but it has made cooking a lot less stressful. Prepping meals throughout the day has also made cleaning up as I go along a whole lot easier and more manageable, so there's not a pile of dishes awaiting me at the end of the day.
The other thing I've been doing, is not starting to cook until everything has been prepped. At 8 months old, Leo has been demanding more of my attention, so I've had to get creative in the kitchen.
In the morning I already know what's for dinner, because I have my menu that I've planned ahead of time, and all the ingredients are in the fridge. Whenever Leo is napping, or he appears to be preoccupied with a toy, I'll prep one of the ingredients and put it in a bowl.
Tonight I'm making a Rachael Ray recipe - Cacciatore 'Stoup' with Turkey Meatballs (minus the mushrooms, because my husband's not a fan of the portobello!). I thought I'd use images to outline my progress. In this case, I think a picture speaks 1,000 words - you can see how slow my progress is...
11:00 a.m. - cheesecake dessert has been made, and is sitting in the refrigerator. (Graham cracker crust is one of the store-bought/pre-made ones), so I just mix together the filling, pour it into the crust, and refrigerate...
Noon - veggies, onion, and garlic have been chopped and prepped. Parsley has also been chopped...
12:20 - Crushed tomatoes have been taken out of the can and seasoned...
2:00 - Turkey meatballs have been made...
I will start cooking this around 5:00 in order for it to be warm ready to eat by 5:30.
*Update: Here it is!
I got a few emails last week asking where I go to get my recipes. As most of you who read this blog know, I'm not a fan of clutter, so I try to get most of my recipes online. If I make a recipe and I like it, I then write out the recipe on a recipe card and stick it into a recipe box.
Cooking used to scare me. Maybe it was the fear of messing up? I don't know. The website that I've found most helpful is Kathy Maister's Startcooking.com This site is wonderful, and takes even the most amateur cook through step by step VIDEO instructions on how perform anything from how to mash potatoes to how to chop an onion. I've personally found that knowing things like how to chop an onion, has not only boosted my confidence in the kitchen, but has made cooking faster and more manageable - especially with an 8 month old baby boy!
Also, I realize that most of you who read this blog have children of your own, so I'd love to hear your tips in the comments section!
5 comments:
You are awesome! You are doing exactly the tip I've heard repeatedly--to prepare the meal all day long--but I've rarely followed. I wish I could eat dinner at your house!
Okay, last night I was catching up on your blog while waiting for my rice dish to finish cooking. I felt terrible enough because you so often cook such beautiful multi-course meals and you host big dinner parties while I don't meal plan and tend to wait till 4:00 p.m. to open the refrigerator. So yesterday I thought I was doing pretty good because I pulled two recipes off of the Internet (at 4:00 p.m.) and had chicken baking and a rice dish cooking. The rice and beans dish was so that I could actually have some protein for once (I'm a vegetarian). But the rice dish failed! After 45 minutes, the brown rice had barely absorbed any liquid and was basically dry rice amidst all the wet ingredients. It was inedible and unfixable. I almost had a complete meltdown in the kitchen, aided by pregnancy hormones and having JUST been to your blog about how efficient you are being these days. Chris swooped in, told me I had not committed a capital crime, and whisked me off to a restaurant. I still feel like a complete wretch, though.
Katherine,
First let me tell you that I taught myself to cook this past year with MANY failures. It is a terrible feeling, I know. Plus, I think I've told you that when I'm pregnant I'm a rotten housekeeper and a rotten cook. I just don't have the energy, and I feel sick to my stomach most of the day. I can probably count on my two hands how many times I cooked a meal from scratch while I was pregnant with Leo. Even though I felt guilty about it, I resorted to preparing things from bags - i.e., I would make a stir fry and instead of chopping all the veggies myself, I would get a bag of frozen veggies and then just add some fresh chicken. I also would use instant rice (the kind you boil in a bag for 10 minutes...I think it's made by a company called "Success." If you had the flu, nobody would expect you to cook extravagant meals. They'd tell you to take it easy and to be good to yourself. But when we're pregnant and feel sick (I know I've told you when I was pregnant I really did feel like I had the flu everyday), somehow we're expected (or we expect ourselves) to still operate the way we did when we didn't have hormones raging through our body and when we didn't feel sick to our stomachs. So be good to yourself, take it easy, and just keep it simple. You don't have to cook everything from scratch in order for it to be enjoyable and nutritious. That Startcooking.com website I have posted on my blog is a really good resource too. All of the recipes are really easy, and Kathy has step by step photo/video instructions on how to prepare each meal. She even has a vegetarian section! So don't be too hard on yourself, especially while pregnant. Pregnancy is a great "excuse" to enjoy take-out and frozen vegetables.
Love,
Rebecca
...and I know I've said this on my blog before, but part of my goal of cooking (or learning to cook) has been a promise I made to myself once I quit my job and had Leo. We didn't have Leo until 3 years into our marriage. Prior to Leo's birth, I was working a full-time job nearly an hour away from home! When I got home, I was usually too exhausted to cook. I made a promise to myself that once I was home full-time, I'd try to make up for all of those years when I couldn't cook nutritious meals for my family. But like I said, when you're pregnant and exhausted, there's nothing wrong with using substitutes. Frozen veggies are still nutritious, and the rice that comes in a bag that you boil for 10 minutes tastes just as good.
Rebecca, you are very sweet and polite, but remember that I had 15 postpartum months after John when I *wasn't* pregnant and I still was this lame about putting effort into my cooking. :) You are making it a top priority and I am not.
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