Southern Musings

In the rush of everyday life, finding a few minutes is a treasure. Especially when those precious minutes were found by doing less of the things you rather not do. I love to cook. I just do not enjoy cooking every day. So the thought of walking into that kitchen each and every day to deal with the torture of finding a suitable meal that my picky family will enjoy is enough to send me running out of the house screaming my head off.

Don’t get me wrong. I do enjoy cooking at times. Through the years, I have had a couple of online friends that have told me of the joys of cooking ahead. It goes by many names such as bulk cooking, cook once a month, cook once eat for a month, and freezer cooking. Regardless of what you call it, it sounded like a lot of work that I could not fit into my schedule.

I had considered it previously. I had even spent precious pennies on a vacuum sealer. It has sat in the box for several years now. With the pace I was living going to school and working part time, I did not have time to eat, much less cook. Luckily for me and my family, my husband is not only a good cook, but nice enough to take on the cooking duties.

When I graduated, I believe he saw that as the day that he would turn the keys to the kitchen back over to his wife. Well, he was in for a surprise. I didn’t take the keys. At first, I was not going back in that kitchen. He and my youngest son are very picky eaters. Not having to deal with that for the past two years was a blessing worthy of angels singing. Facing the wrath of two hungry males that do not like what I had cooked was not a challenge that I wanted to take on again.

Instead, I simply let him continue to cook. He would complain, but he still did it. Then one day, I decided to give him a break. I know, real smart of me wasn’t it? Well, I did it. Then somewhere he got the silly notion that I would keep it up. Me, cook everyday? What did he expect? He continued to work on me and I continued to struggle with him on it. No way was I going back into the kitchen.

Then I remember the slow cooker I had. He hated using it. He refused to use it and even forbid me from using it. Yeah, forbidding me to do something doesn’t go over very well most days. So, I dug in the back of the cabinet and found it. I cleaned it up. I still do not know how a cabinet can get so dusty! I threw a few ingredients in and turned it on. He walked in the door, took a whiff, and got a look on his face like he heard angels singing.

Oh no! My plan backfired. He liked the smell. Would he even try to eat it? Okay, the joke was on me. He ate it. He even liked it. Now, I had yet another nail into the door of the kitchen. If I was not careful, he would nail that door shut tighter than a coffin lid. Then where would I be stuck?

Slowly, day by day, the struggle became harder and harder to deal with. I haven’t completely given up yet. But I am cooking more. Dealing with Mr. Picky Eaters still is not my favorite activity. Sometimes, I start dinner and my dear sweet husband is kind enough to finish it for me. Each week, I am cooking more and more.

Take this week for an example. I got the urge to make red beans and rice. It had been so long since I had made it, that I knew the recipe would be difficult to remember, even of my modified version. Take a look in the food section and I’ll post what I did this week in case you are feeding an army or the entire neighborhood. We ate from that one time of cooking for three nights. My husband hates leftovers. He suggested that we have it the second night. Lazy me agreed quickly. Heating it up in the microwave is much quicker than cooking another meal.

The third night, he was kind enough to cook. I figured he must be tired of my fighting him about who was going to cook. I did help. I put on the lemon pepper chicken. That recipe may even find its way into the food section. Then he said he would handle the side dishes and I came back to my trusty computer. He mixed pasta and the bean stuff I had made. It was a completely different taste, but he did not have to spend a lot of time doing it. It was even good! After dinner, we didn’t have room in the refrigerator to put it all.

That’s when I remembered my vacuum sealer. Hmm, could I figure it out? My youngest son came to my rescue and provided moral support and an extra pair of hands. Together, we did it! We packaged all the leftovers. Most went into the freezer. What we expected to use the next night was put in the refrigerator.

The outcome is yet to be determined. The seed has been planted. I want to learn to cook once and eat many times from it. Just think of all the time I will save! Not to mention that time is coming from me doing less of the thing that I do not like doing. As an added benefit, if I plan it right, I will no longer have to deal with picky eaters! Yes! Score! Okay, yes, I’m excited. Yes, I will share with you the outcome. Even if it is a bad one. Meanwhile, I’m going back to dreaming of all that I can do with my new found time. I wonder how long it would take to go to visit Paula Deen’s restaurant, The Lady and Sons?

Trackback URI | Comments RSS