But I just don't like to cook. It feels like extra work to me, especially because somebody will have to do the dishes after we eat. And I'm not even the one who does them all the time, but it's like the looming possibility is just too much to handle with everything else I have to do in a day. Good thing I picked a guy who likes to help around the house, huh?
Side note: As I was writing this last night, I got a text from Hubsey who was in NYC for work: "So I'm eating a pig's face. And it's awesome." Then he sent me a picture, which was... weird, but kind of interesting? It was apparently deep fried and the kitchen brought it out to him by mistake, so it was also free. I bring this up mainly because I don't do anything cool like fried pig's face when I'm in the kitchen.
I do make a lot of nachos, though:
I struggle with food sometimes because I want us to be healthy, which generally means making more dishes from scratch, but I also have a lot of things to balance in my life and don't want to spend forever cooking. I settle for doing a lot of easy dishes with only a few fresh ingredients: nachos, chili, spaghetti, and stir fry are favorites. Homemade pizza has been making an appearance the last several months, too.
More often than not, I rely on something packaged to round out a meal. Trader Joe's has a great selection of frozen sides, so I use those a lot. Actually, Trader Joe's has great everything. I recommend the tomato-basil pasta sauce, the breaded eggplant, the salt and pepper potato chips, and the pork potstickers. Oh! And the black bean taquitos. (It's hard to go wrong in there.)
I also pick up a few packaged things from Target, mainly Annie's organic items. All varieties of the mac and cheese are excellent, as are the cheddar bunnies.
Both of us are very snacky, so sometimes we just have a mish-mash of finger foods for dinner. As long as we have veggies and hummus, chips and salsa, or cheese and crackers, we're good to go. I also like to have bagels or trail mix hanging around, and Hubsey is into cereal.
The one area I am very picky about is our fresh produce. I pay out the nose for organic goodies from Whole Foods, and now that I've been doing that for a while I can't imagine going back. They have such an impressive spread, and the quality really is better than the other stores in the area. It's worth every penny. I don't get a lot of packaged food there because the same organic brands are cheaper at Target, but sometimes I splurge on fancy wine and cheese. (More finger food!)
So what do you eat at home? Do you like to cook elaborate meals, or are you in the faster-is-better group like me? What's your favorite thing to make? Anybody else a Snacky McSnackerson?
I want to see the pig's face! What on earth is it? My hubby is chief cook in our house, although there are certain dishes that are "mine" and consequently have more ingredients!
ReplyDeleteIt's exactly what it sounds like! Most of the pig's head (without the bones, it looked like) deep fried and plopped onto a plate. I'm glad I wasn't there to see it.
DeleteHummus and veggies or pretzel crisps are a STAPLE at our house. I think we go through a family size thing of hummus in like two days...and there's only two of us.
ReplyDeleteWhen I wasn't working 12 hours a day I would cook every night. It's my unwind time and I love it. To me cooking is just as great as crafting. My one rule though is that it can't be hard to do - and during the week must take less than 30 minutes. Now that I'm working like crazy we've been making a big lasagna on Sunday and eating it for dinner most of the week. And my husband is also getting a chance to practice his skills - which is awesome.
ReplyDeleteNachooooooo's....you're making me hungry!
ReplyDeleteWhen my kids were growing up I cooked a meal everyday! After they grew up and moved away (they are in their late 20's now) I married a man that can cook! Now I cook very little but I do enjoy it. I sure do love to bake though.
ReplyDeleteForgot to mention, those Nachos look amazing!
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge cook. I love making big meals. When I was younger we always had a cooked meal and so the tradition has passed on with me. My boyfriend is more like you were he doesn't like to cook because he has to do dishes so he eats pasta or potatoes most meals if I'm not around.
ReplyDeleteSo far this week we have had a chicken roast, with veggies, and homemade mac and cheese. I'm trying to learn new recipes so I can add to our list of foods.
Tacos are seriously my favorite meal to eat. I do everything homemade even the tortillas. I'm not sure how Mexican it is since I'm a Puerto Rican making food but it's still really tasty.
My parents have a good system going in the kitchen- If one cooks, the other cleans up. It works really well. I love cooking, mainly because I'm picky about what goes into my food. (I don't like cooking with lots of oil or sodium filled sauces) I'm very into eating clean and healthy and it really isn't time consuming!!
ReplyDeleteFor my lunches, I cook some quinoa or brown rice, chicken or other protein, and veggies. Sometimes I get frozen organic veggies or sometimes I saute them fresh. I prepare them 4 - 5 at a time so I don't have to worry about it the rest of the week. The same can go for dinner, but I get tired of the same thing.
My meals don't normally take more than 30 minutes, which really isn't a lot when you're eating good for your body. I say if you really really want to eat healthy, dedicate yourself to 30 minutes a day to ensure a healthy meal! My fiance would die if he saw me leaving this comment, but I'm extremely passionate about what goes into my body, and I wish everyone was! Haha.
<3
Kelsey
Be Like The Fox
You named so many things I love, chips & salsa, cheese, hummus, wine, did you say dark chocolate anywhere? LOL... I love finger foods too, and healthy snacks, and thankfully the hubby doesn't mind a spread like that either... We try to cook decent meals a few times a week, but we're also guilty of the snack type meals as well. As long as they are healthy, I don't see anything wrong with eating fresh. ;)
ReplyDeleteI love cooking and finding new recipes to try, but I also get overwhelmed with the thought of meal planning, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, dishes etc. and it's easy to get lazy. I like making a huge vat of soup or stew and having leftovers forever!
ReplyDeleteJake and I are huge snackers, too, and are always happy when meals include things like cheese and crackers. I do cook from scratch fairly often, but I love keeping options like frozen meatballs around for quick, relatively healthy dinners.
ReplyDeleteI don't like to cook either! I wish I did. Trader Joe's is my go-to place. Those potstickers...mmmmmm :)
ReplyDeleteMy boyfriend does most of the cooking and when I try to cook a meal he hovers over me. We're big on fish, steak, chicken, now that we have a crockpot we're stew crazy too. We cook with a lot of veggies and potatoes too. We go to the supermarket a couple of times of week because we don't like to freeze anything. We're kinda nuts.
ReplyDeleteWe are the snackiest people ever! I need to have crackers in the house or I will go crazy. I get sad when all we have are sweet snacks, like fruit and applesauce and stuff but no salty snacks. We rarely buy pre-packages meals and try to do most things from scratch. Except falafel, we had a deep frying disaster a couple week ago. Now we buy frozen ones. Haha.
ReplyDeleteTotal snacker! I love coming home and having some nuts, hummus, or cheese right away for a snack. We're late dinner eaters mostly because I grew up in a home that always had late dinner. I blame my mom for that since she's from Belgium, and a later dinner is much more typical in Europe. We love cooking and love to make an event of it. We plan our menus for the week and cook together. It usually also includes a glass of wine for me and a beer or scotch for Andrew. We love to sit down and eat at the table too. All of this time is our little thing we do and it's also a chance to catch up with each other. Cooking together is probably one of the things I look forward to most each day! :)
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love cooking, but it's difficult for me to cook just for myself, so I haven't cooked much recently. PB&J, cereal, and carrots are my go-to foods when it's just me, but I find cooking for others very satisfying and can't wait to get cooking again with my man when he comes back. He loves cooking, too. In fact, the first time we ever had a 'dinner date,' we cooked instead of going out!
ReplyDeleteI like to cook and I do it all the time, but I don't enjoy it all the time. When I've planned ahead and know what I'm going to make then I'm good, but when it's 5:00 and I have no plan, I just want to skip it and eat cereal, which isn't going to fly. If I were/when I was single, I'd eat a lot of premade foods, snacks for dinner, cereal, bagels, etc. I don't need a huge meal all the time- I'd much rather snack.
ReplyDeleteHoly smokes ... I don't think I could eat a pigs face?! But finger food is big in my house. My girls love a 'cheese plate' as we call it. I just grab the cutting board and we do cheese, fruit (apples, grapes, pears) fresh bread, veggies and humis ... it's a hit at my house. But we do cook a lot from scratch. I'm lucky that my husband can cook - actually he is very good at it, and makes dinner mosts nights. Lucky me! and now my girls are old enough that they clear the table and do the dishes - whooo hooo. Mommy gets to go watch the news:)
ReplyDeleteI'm like you...cooking just seems like more work. We eat a lot of casseroles so we have left overs for a couple of days. That way if I spend an hour cooking, at least I don't have to do it again til mid week :)
ReplyDeleteFor a second there I thought you were going to show the pig's face. Whew!
ReplyDeleteI'm a picky eater, which also means that I'm a picky cook: I can't prepare gross-looking things, no matter how delicious they are once cooked —bacon, for instance— but that's not what kept me from cooking in the past.
You know what did?
Not having a dishwasher.
Once I moved into a place with a dishwasher, getting into things like modest roasts and risottos seemed less daunting.
Actually, I have a post in the making about the thing that made me want to learn serious, nutritious cookery. Maybe my rationale will work for you too? :)
Ah, we do cook from scratch and I like the time spent in the kitchen. It gives me a moment to de-stress, which is always welcome. Drop by today to read my post on baking bread.
ReplyDeletePigs face sounds interesting :/ I hope your husband enjoyed it! I love to cook, so I make most of my meals from scratch. Trader Joe is full of wonderful treasures, every time I go there I find something new to try. Sounds like you found some good stuff there too! I wish there was a Whole Foods close to me, lucky you for being able to get their fresh produce.
ReplyDeleteValerie
Everyday Inspired