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tryingto be a superhero but was in the kitchen all day
Started
by Jana Fiorentino
on January 26, 2011
yesturday I made, Alicia's soft rice porridge for breakfast, gigger pasta with zucchini and arame with carrots and onions and candied ginger pears for dessert for lunch and I was in the kitchen all day, and then was to tired to make dinner. How are you sapose to do this and have a life! I was in the kitchen for over 3 hours! please any help on trying to be a superhero and having a normal life! no wonder its called a superhero you have to be a superhero just to cook like this, you have some special super powers or something? Help!!!!
Oh Jana - I feel your pain! I have been superher for 1 1/2 yrs. I've got it down to a routine now but it does take time. I was glued to recipes and lists for several months as everything was so foreign to me. I don't do lists anymore and only do a "special recipe" that I follow on the weekend when I'm not working. So, I make a big pot of brown rice on the weekend then add things to it each night - lots of veggies for a stir fry or beans and veggies for a twist etc. Also, I make a big pot of soup - maybe lentil stew or something hearty and I (we - there are four of us) live on LEFTOVERS.
Hope this gives you a little encouragement - babysteps!
It does take time at first, but it gets easier.
I make miso soup for breakfast on a pretty regular basis, and I make the rice porridge sometimes too. The miso only takes me about fifteen minutes, chopping and all. In between adding stuff to the pot, I can go brush my teeth or fix my hair or whatever. For the porridge, I only make that if I already have a big thing of rice made up. I also try to make sure I have toasted nuts on hand.
I tend to save some of the more involved recipes for special occasions or when I really feel like cooking. But if you stick to the basics--make a big pot of rice for the week to eat with steamed greens, beans, or other veggies, maybe some ume vinegarette, etc--it really isn't that much of a hassle. I've figured out which recipes keep well and will put the time in to make those because I can eat off of them for several days. The aduki bean & kabocha is great. The nishme is pretty easy, and once you have all your veggies chopped and in the pot, you can wander off to do other things. The mushroom pizzas are a favorite--I make a bunch of the toppings, a batch of the tofu creme, and all I have to do when I get home is preheat the broiler and top my tortillia with stuff.
After you experiment with some of the recipes, you'll know which ones to go to if you don't feel like doing a lot of cooking and which ones are better for when you have more time.
A few things I do to make life easier:
1) while I unpack from grocery shopping I tend to wash trim chop and re-package all or most of my veggies for the week. Greens keep great if you spin them dry (after washing and tearing) and then put them in a ziplock with your breath trapped in the bag (the CO2 keeps the greens happy). onions, mushrooms, squash, broccoli pretty much everything will keep fine as long as you package them properly.
2) i make a pot of grains in the rice cooker and a pot of beans while I'm around the house on the weekends.
3) in the mornings before i leave for work I do my "AM dinner prep" i pull out pots and pans i may need, utensils any ingredients that don't need to be refrigerated (spices, oils, canned goods, dry goods) just this little bit makes it much easier and faster to get dinner on the table later that night.
4) like everyone else i cook fewer meals and eat them more than once, I tend to eat the same breakfast and lunch everyday for a week (with a break if needed) and then pick something completely different the next week so I'm getting variety in my diet over the course of a few weeks. i plan for a few different dinners and plan on eating them at least twice.
Hope this helps and good luck!
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