Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Day 3. What's For Dinner?

How can cooking and meal preparation be a more inspired part of our lives?

Even for the most ardent of chefs, meal prep can get wearisome sometimes. Day after day, we ask the same question, what will we make for dinner tonight?

I have found that cultivating a good attitude, planning ahead, and making sure there is a variety of choices at hand increases the enjoyment of my cooking experience.

Which is why I've begun to look for ways to make this necessary part of my day more creative and motivating. 

Here are five tips that help me

1. Cancel all negative confessions! Don't mutter how you hate cooking or that you wish someone else in this family would help out more. It only make you feel worse. I look at it as a tangible, very hands-on way to express love to my family. I have two males in my household...they both like their food. Making a nice meal is a perfect way to show I care about them.

2. Start early in the day. Be kind to yourself and leave enough room in your day so you can prepare your evening meal with more finesse and joy. Do some prep work first thing in the morning. Take out the frozen chicken breasts and whip up the marinade for later use. Any day that I'm flying out the door without any idea of what's for supper that night makes me feel not quite in control (which makes me feel just a little agitated too).

3. Find simple and easy recipes. Make it easy on yourself. There are hundreds of recipes in books, magazines and on-line to help you prepare easy and nutritious meals in 30 minutes or less. 

4. Make room for it. Recognize that cooking and grocery shopping ARE a daily part of your life's work. It's not an intrusion, it's one of the most important parts of it. So embrace and plan for it, and don't try to tack it on at the end, hoping you can fit it in somewhere when you're bushed at the end of the day.

5. Get inspiration from others. Let the pictures and write-ups of a great new cookbook inspire you. One like Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook & Kitchen Reader. Or Maya Angelou's Hallelujah the Welcome Table, A lifetime of Memories and Recipes. They both have wonderful recipes and stories that will connect you to other women across the countryside involved in the daily task of food preparation.

Cooking and eating will always be with us, so why not look for ways to make meal prep easier and as enjoyable as we can. It's all part of living a beautiful life.

We're in this together,
Brenda





1 comment:

  1. Brenda, I like your tips. Like you, I've learned that cutting the negative talk has been very helpful, and planning early in the day, even if it's just knowing what you'll cook, that really goes a long way too.

    Your post 'inspired' me today.

    Hugs,
    Nia

    ReplyDelete

To My Beautiful Readers,

Some people come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same. ~ Franz Peter Schubert

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Brenda xo