4 April 2012

on cooking

I hate to cook. There I said it. I feel like a staple in the stay at home mom's life is cooking. Trying new recipes, providing healthy fare for the family. Especially with the big hype around organic food, whole foods and even growing your own food with various gardens. blech. I simply can not stomach any of it.

I am not a gardener, nor do I want to be. I mostly shop at Walmart or Target because that is afforable us to right now and I do not like to buy things intentionally do not buy things if they say organic because it annoys me. Prepare yourselves for a rant...

Technically EVERYTHING is organic as the REAL definition of organic is: having carbon based molecules in the molecular structure. All food is carbon based, therefore all food is organic. Even McDonald's. If you mean pesticide free and other things, which i think most people do, fine- change the definition of the word organic or find a new word!!

Rant over.

I do not like to cook. I LOVE to eat, but I hate the process of getting there. I am quite proud of myself when I try new recipes and make food that is unique and tasty- but man, I HATE actually getting to that point- the cooked food point. Did I mention I hate cooking?

When we were first married and both working Rhys cooked the majority of the time. Why? because he actually likes to cook. He also likes unbelievably large portion sizes so he would cook enough for 6 people just to make sure he would get enough. When I was pregnant with E, I was SOO sick that I could hardly get out of bed- he kept cooking. But when I became a stay at home mom, I felt like there was no viable reason why Rhys should work all day and then come home and cook a meal. After all, I was home, not doing a whole lot, so the least I could do was cook.

I used to pretend I liked it. But I dont. And now that we are in our own house, living by our own rules, it is a massive struggle for me to cook. I wait until the last possible moment I could possibly start dinner and then grumble around the kitchen while I gather things together. I drag my feet so much during the cooking process that most days we end up eating at least 30 minutes later than we should. Which means E is not always pleasant at meal times. My fault? without a doubt.

BUT I HATE COOKING!!!

I was given a crock pot for Christmas which I use A TON. Some people say that makes meals bland. I say add a few jalapenos to the recipe and bland no more. Or course you have to like hot food.... good thing we do! Most of my crock pot recipes are from pinterest. and whether the recipe says you can or not, the meat goes in frozen. So far, everything has come out wonderfully.

Maybe some day I will like cooking. But I doubt it. If I ever win the lottery, or come into expendable income someway, I will have no reservations about hiring a chef to make all our meals. I will clean up after said chef, no problem. So long as I am not cooking.

Which is what makes this week so great. Monday was taco salad. Easy, quick and I am craving all things mexican or tex-mex this pregnancy. Tuesday we had frozen lasagna. Healthy? of course :) I bought the party size so we could have left overs tonight. Then my mom called and said we were going out to eat for my grandma's birthday. woo hoo! No cooking tonight and leftovers tomorrow. Rhys is off Friday so apart from Monday, no cooking all week!! I love it!

So if you guys out there have any awesome and super easy crock pot recipes, let me know. My family will thank you!

5 comments:

Stefanie said...

Have you tried the Hawaiian Barbecue pulled chicken that has circulated on Pinterest? I don't think it gets any quicker or easier, makes a ton so you can freeze some for later, and is really yummy. Here's a link: http://www.framedcooks.com/2011/06/hawaiian-barbecue-pulled-chicken.html

Elizabeth said...

I'm like you-I only cook because I have to. I enjoy it a little more all the time, but I'll never love it. We have other talents, right?!

The Bishop's Wife said...

I'm with you on everything you've just said. I'm lucky that Nate is the gardner in the family. I also am going to email you a simple, meaty enchilada recipe that we are making tonight, which will be the third time we've made in the past two weeks.

The Bishop's Wife said...

Although, I'll add that I'm horrible at crock pot meals...somehow I mess up crock pot meals. I don't understand.

Katie said...

Oh Kristina, I feel your pain! I caught our old oven on fire at least five times. And I didn't even have an awesome reason for doing so. It was always with something lame, like broiling chips.

(YES I TRIED TO BROIL CHIPS.)

I am learning to love to cook, but, wow, it's taken a while! One of our favorites here is crock-pot pulled pork. Put a decent sized pork butt in the crock-pot. Dump a can of Dr. Pepper over it. Dump some BBQ sauce on top of that. Cook on low all day and shred with a fork when finished. Voila! Super-tasty. We eat ours on buns as sandwiches, with coleslaw (just buy a coleslaw kit in the bagged salad section). Crock-pot meals CAN be tasty! If you want to be brave, sub the BBQ sauce for a can of Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (Pioneer Woman style). HOT and yummy!