If I Can Cook, Anyone Can Cook

August 28, 2014

(Shareables at the bottom of this post if you’re in a hurry)

I was born a fried food lover and a microwave oven slow cooker. Up until earlier this week, I didn’t know how to mince garlic. I couldn’t tell a jicama from a sweet potato. I didn’t even know how to cut an avocado. I’d never bought anything more than frozen meals and vegetables my whole adult life, and a spatula in my hand was about as foreign to me as a welding tool.

So believe me when I say, friends: if I can cook, anyone can cook. I mean anyone.

Something just clicked in my head the other day when I got the book The Daniel Plan as a gift from my stepmom. The book is all about eating food for nourishment and healing, and combines a lot of spiritual talk about God and faith. But I think the part of the book that stuck with me was the fact that it listed everything you would need to buy to be healthier, and all the recipes on how to make good food.

I’ve always been stuck not eating healthy because I never knew what was good and what exactly I needed. This book lays it all out. I mean, really lays it all out.

This past Monday I spent about 2 hours grocery shopping at Ralph’s and Trader Joes and brought home enough food to feed a small city. The boyfriend said we didn’t have room for all of it and that it would all go bad because I would probably get tired of it after a couple of meals.

But he was wrong. I had just spent a lot of money on this food, and I was going to see these meals through. At least for a week or so.

What I never intended was absolutely loving cooking. It blossomed inside me after the first couple of meals like a fresh flower. The sizzling of the grill was as relaxing as waves breaking on the beach. And the smell, my GOD. I was dicing and seasoning and tasting and parsing. I was YouTubing like a motherfucker. You should look at my recent browser history. How to cook scrambled eggs with avocado. How to cook a sweet potato. How to cut and store jicama.

It’s amazing all of resources out there for the average person looking to cook a basic meal. I think after that 2 hours of shopping, I realized that the food I bought wouldn’t go to waste, because it was all pretty basic stuff found in every pantry across America. Vinegars and onions and paprika. You know, household stuff.

And now that I had all of the basic stuff, I was coming up with tons of recipes that weren’t even in the book! I decided to add a little sweet potato to our turkey burgers the other night, and some green beans while I was at it. Just because it was, you know, lying around. It’s like, all of the ingredients were all there in front of me, all I had to do was whip something up. I got to be creative. I got to taste new things, and then I could just add whatever I thought would taste good, and use a little imagination. Of course, having to cook, eat, and clean each night this week has been taking away some pretty valuable writing time, but I’ve been having so much fun it can’t be wrong.

Before we get to the shareables for the week, I’m dying to share with you some of the meals I’ve made! The first is an egg and avocado scramble with a bunch of bell pepper and onion (SO GOOD). The second is a turkey burger with sweet potato and green beans. The third was black rice with stir fry and some grilled fuckin’ organic tempeh. What the fuck is that? It’s fucking delicious is what it is. I also made a chicken primavera bowl with green beans but I only took a snapchat of that and sent it to my sister, meaning it’s gone forever.

I think the boyfriend has been enjoying it too. Of course, he’d rather have pizza any day of the week (he’s a little averse when it comes to healthy, home-cooked goods) but I think he’s been a bit surprised by my recently discovered ability to make something taste decent without using the microwave.

Also, I just want to add that those turkey burgers above had sun-dried tomatoes in them. And basil. Oh my God they were the best thing on God’s green earth. I actually bought the turkey meat and mashed it all together myself. I made burger patties. With my hands. I’m a goddamn master chef. I even used my George Foreman grill. I’ll see you on Hell’s Kitchen.

That being said, here are some shareables to get your long weekend started. (EFF YES!) I’ll be relaxing. And reading. And writing. And reading. And cooking. In that order.

SHAREABLES

Little Moments That Awaken Your Humanity (I cry. Every time.)

22 People Who Should Have Definitely Not Taken The Ice Bucket Challenge

20 Top Productivity Tools For Bloggers: Increase Your Productivity Immediately

Recipe: Slow Cooker Chicken Burrito Bowls (YES)

How to Get a ‘Pin-it’ Button For Every Blog Image

Free Social Media Icons For Your Blog (Used these for my blog!)

Please Steal My Ideas

See you guys Monday! If you have any great cooking/recipe pro tips…please send them my way!