I Hate Cooking

1.  It's Not My Fault

I’ve never hidden my hatred for cooking.  I come from a long line of non-cooks.  I dislike cooking, my mom dislikes cooking, and I’m pretty sure her mom did too.  My most vivid memory of my grandmother’s cooking is a fragrant beef dish that tasted strongly of vinegar.  I'm amused that she was ever attracted to this recipe and, furthermore, that she made it more than once.  I know my other relatives MUST remember this infamous dish.   

The best cook in my family is actually my dad but for some reason his talent went undiscovered until long after I left home for college.  His mother was a pretty good cook but everything she made had a distinct Eastern European flair so I have no idea if she could make anything normal like lasagna. 

Randy’s mother is a rockstar in the kitchen and he was in for a rude awakening when he married me.  I tried cooking steak for his birthday, 21 days after our wedding, burned it in the oven, and set off the fire alarm.   I never tried again.

Thanksgiving with Randy's family, none of it made by me.

2.  I Have No Patience

 

To give you an idea of how lazy of a cook I am, I try to limit my meals to 10 minutes and 3 ingredients.  Because when I come home at 7:30 I want to eat NOW.  My go-to meal is spaghetti.  When Randy was a pilot and gone several nights a week, I would eat spaghetti more frequently than I want to admit.  It takes 10 minutes, has 3 ingredients (if you add meat) and I NEVER get sick of pasta sauce.  With a side of broccoli, it’s perfectly well balanced in my opinion.

I guess I'm more of an eat-to-live than a live-to-eat person.  I'm generally annoyed when (yet another) mealtime pops up because it means I have to go into the kitchen and figure out what the heck to make.  Again.  

 3.  Why It's Time to Improve

Now that I'm eating for more than just me and I'm out of the first trimester (meaning something besides mac & cheese sounds appetizing), I'm trying to step up my food game.  As in more variety and more veggies. 

I'm also trying to keep in mind that someday I'll have to cook for a family (yikes!).  I'm sure my kids will eat plenty of hotdogs like I did growing up (bless my hard-working parents), but I'd like to have a few decent homemade meals in my repertoire by then.

Since I've been trying to tone down the spaghetti habit to an acceptable frequency, this has become a new go-to meal:  Stir fry over couscous.  The brown things are turkey meatballs.

It's more than three ingredients but the vegetables are frozen and come in bags, meaning really easy, and it satisfies the 10 minute rule.  It's easy to change up by using different meats and vegetables.  I add curry powder for flavor and - this is what really makes it - a huge dollop of tzatziki yogurt sauce (the kind that comes on gyros).  Randy says he's sick of this meal already but I know it's only because he's not using enough tzatziki sauce.   

4.  Baby Steps (appropriately)

My cooking and health goals are to:

• Try one new recipe a month.  
• Cook vegetables other than broccoli.
• Eat more protein (meat and eggs) and drink more water.  For the baby.

Two weeks ago I made a chicken and wild rice casserole.  With a side of broccoli.  Progress!

If you know any nutritious and easy recipes, feel free to direct me to them.  I'm willing to bend the 10 minute rule...IF there will be leftovers.

And now the obligatory preggo pics (for my mom of course)...

 

17 Weeks

Artistic 16.5 week shot in front of the fountain at Flushing Meadows Park...

Is she pregnant or is she just hitting the beer and pizza a little too hard?  Beer, no.  Pizza, yes.

And finally, a couples shot.