Checking things off the old “to-do” list

In progress: cooking.

I have never been one who enjoys cooking. Not even a little. I love the outcome (food!) and I dislike the prep, waiting, and cleanup. Growing up I was always lucky to have a wonderful and talented grandpa who could put things that you wouldn’t think went together and make a yummy meal of them. He was the king of food improv, and when he would use cookbooks, would often combine a few recipes if he didn’t think one would give him the outcome he wanted.

I like things to be fast and easy, and if it isn’t, I won’t bother making it. So I have been asking other people what they cook so I can feed myself like an actual adult.

So far I have found that I really like non-pasta pasta. Out of all of the interesting variations out there, I love brown rice pasta the best. I’ve been making my own sauce with (gasp) real tomatoes, and I bought a steamer so I can have steamed veggies, not frozen. Any batch of food that I make is bigger than just one meal so I’ve been freezing it (great idea from my cousin) and saving the rest for later.

I’ve also found this food blog,  Spoon Fork Bacon, with pretty easy ideas if I want to get fancy. I tried the  Baked Asparagus Fries recipe the other night and they were really good. I didn’t do a dipping sauce but  if I make these when I have guests I totally would.

I have always brought my lunch to work, except for the few and far between days when I don’t have time to grab a frozen din out of the freezer. I recently bought a cute lunch bag that came with different containers and have nixed the frozen dinners. I hate making my lunch but I like that I’m eating fresh lunches and I feel like I’m spending less on frozen items. Except for the veggies and fruits-I have to buy these once or twice a week because, well, they’re fresh and I have to buy in small batches.

So that’s my big achievement for the year so far. And it’s a pretty big one because I still have to force myself to spend the time to cook when I’d rather be doing something else.