Thursday, January 15, 2015

A Lesson Regarding Cooking

I love to cook and I love to eat good food.  When we were first married I taught high school English.  The school I worked at was three minutes away from our apartment so I could easily be home by 3:30 or so every day.  My husband worked in a job with consistent hours so he was always home by 5:00. The way that I would relax when I got home was I would leisurely make a nice dinner and have it ready, with the table set, by the time he walked in the door.  I loved the peace and quiet and the enjoyment that came from making things nice and comfortable for my husband when he walked in the door.  Now, nine years later, things are a bit different.  We have three children, his work hours are erratic, and cooking has become more of a chore than a pleasure. I still love good food and I still love to eat it, but I have come to realize that, for my current time in life, there are some things that I need to compromise on, and this area is one of them.  Does that mean that I am willing to eat microwavable food or five ingredient meals or meat that has become mush in the crockpot because it just had a can of soup dumped over it? No. My compromise is that I make more casseroles than I use to and, upon occasion, we might have to eat a soup that is made of a bunch of canned goods dumped together rather than with all fresh ingredients. (More on this at another time, I hope.) All this being said, here is something connected with cooking that I have learned over the years.
 
Lesson: Don't be a messy cook. I grew up with a small kitchen and I have continued to have small kitchens throughout my married life.  I dream of someday having a huge kitchen with lots of counter space and a giant walk-in pantry, but it probably won't ever happen.  But, there is a lot to be said for small kitchens.  One great things is that it teaches you to be a tidy cook.  When your kitchen is small you have to learn to clean a bit as you cook, and if you have a small kitchen and don't do this, I would strongly recommend making an attempt to start this practice.  This isn't something that helps you enjoy the cooking process more, it helps you not go crazy over the clean-up.  I am tired by the time that I start doing the dishes (as my husband his helping get the kids ready for bed, this is my time to be alone) and the last thing I want is to be in the kitchen for an hour as I try to clean up the mess.  If you clean as you go, then you should primarily be washing the dishes that you at off of, putting food away, and cleaning the pots that the food actually cooked in.  This is a much easier process than when you add in the mess from dinner prep as well.
  Also, learn to make some good casseroles.  Casseroles are great because you make dinner, stick it in the oven, and while it bakes, you can clean the kitchen.

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