Just blast some Gene Simmons and get to it! Well, if that's what you're into (crazy) but we're really talking about super amazing business acronyms. Also, at the end I am giving you my killer salad dressing ingredients. Stick around.
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| Mini KISS will help cook up some major distractions. |
So KISS. This stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid. That's right, you're stupid. So am I. We are all stupid, according to this acronym. Some more sensitive individuals have changed it to Keep It Simple Sir, but I'm no sir, and Keep It Simple, Girlfriend, while fun to say (HAAY), is confusing to pronounce. KISG. Maybe we'll start a movement. Either way, we all have tough skin and we'll be fine, stupid.
I find that the easiest way for me to be successful at cooking and eating at home is to plan ahead and keep things simple. S gets the credit for the planning ahead. I used to hate the grocery store and put it off as long as possible. A couple of weeks ago my friend R was sitting on my couch and looked at my coffee table and then at me with curious excitement asking "what's that a list for?" Then she realized how lame I was when I told her it was a shopping list. She is single with no babies and lives in New Orleans. That = a life without shopping lists.
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| Bought this at Anthropologie. It's a pad and a magnet and helps plan your meals. |
Every weekend (usually on Sunday) we make a list of the nights we need dinner and plan on what we might eat. The cooking at home killer is that you likely have just spent all day at the office, or chasing and cleaning up after kids, and when the house gets quiet the last thing you want to do is spend an hour in the kitchen cooking dinner. I get it. So you have to plan ahead and keep it simple, idiot. I mean, stupid. That is really the only way to succeed if you are trying to cook more everyday meals at home. Here's what we do.
If we are going to cook anything complicated, we try to make sure it can
go for more than one meal and we usually make it on Sunday evening, when
we are rested and have the time. If it's something we can prep on a Sunday and just put it in the oven later in the week, that is awesome, too.
Next, we keep some standard items that don't spoil quickly. Items we use in lots of things. To give you an idea, we buy 2-4 heads of garlic at a time, buy sacks of onions and potatoes, and pick up a couple of sweet potatoes almost every week. We always have butter, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and a whole shelf of spices. Create a stock pile of fresh staples that will stay good for 2 or 3 weeks and a stock pile of spices you love. This will help you with the simple cooking that's coming up next.
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| When you think of dinner, think of your childhood. |
When you are planning your dinner, think of it in sections. Think of the things your body needs. Proteins, vegetables, whole complex grains and carbs, calcium, fruit, iron, etc. Build your meal the way you would fill your tray. An example would be 8oz chicken breast, sauteed kale, and grilled sweet potato. Not every meal has to have everything you need as long as you get enough throughout your day. A simple meal is easy to prepare and easy to shop for. Using the same meal above, these are the steps that it would take in my life on a work day.
Get home from work (5:30) - Landon is usually just finished with her dinner. I clean up, take the chicken breasts out of the fridge. Depending on the thickness I might pound them down to a thinner consistency. I season them with salt and pepper or Uncle Chris' Gourmet Steak Seasoning and toss them in some olive oil. Then I let them come to room temp, meaning I leave them alone. That all took about 3 minutes.
L and I play some and a few minutes before her bath I wash a sweet potato and slice it about 3/4 Inch in thickness. Sprinkle with sea salt and EV Olive Oil and then I let them sit with the chicken breasts. This took about 2 minutes and I'm on my feet anyway because I'm hanging out with L.
After bath and bed (around 6:45) I go outside and turn the grill on high and let it heat up. Coming back into the kitchen I wash and dry the kale, tear it into pieces and put a large saute pan on the stove to warm up. I take the chicken and sweet potatoes outside and put them on the grill. The sweet potatoes go in the grill wok. I close the top and come back in. I put a little EV Olive Oil in the pan and coat it. Then I take crushed or sliced garlic and throw it on the bottom. I keep the heat over medium and put in the kale, turning it to coat. I cover it and go out to check on the chicken and sweet potatoes.
Chicken is turned to the other side and I shake up or turn the sweet potatoes, then lower the heat a little and come back inside to clean off the tongs and get fresh plates for the cooked items. I toss the kale once more and cover while I wash the items up and get the plates. I keep the cover on the kale and turn the heat off, heading back outside to get the grilled items. Take them off, come back in and take the cover off of the kale and dinner is ready.
You get 5 minutes of prep time when you would have been doing something anyway, then 15 minutes of active cooking time. SIMPLE. If you count the 5 minutes or so that you leave the chicken sitting to cool down, dinner is ready between 7 and 7:30. This also keeps your shopping simple and you can do this with every meal. Pick a protein, do two veggies or a veggie and a carb or whatever your magic combo is. It helps you spend your time on the borders of the grocery store where you should be and it helps you and your family eat healthy, whole foods.
Just because you cook at home doesn't mean you need to be a gourmet. Tonight we had boneless, skinless chicken thighs again. These are becoming a staple because Landon loves them. We had a box of fresh greens in the fridge from last week so we made a salad with the greens and some cherry tomatoes. I really think what makes salad at home so delish is making your own dressing. Hidden Valley Ranch has it's time and place, but the reason salad at great restaurants tastes so good is because they make the dressing from scratch. It's something you can play around with using oils and vinegars in your own kitchen. Tonight I did a dressing with 1/3C grapeseed oil, 1/4C balsamic vinegar, 2 teaspoons of honey, 1/2 teaspoon of sriracha, and a clove of crushed garlic.
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| tonight's dressing |
We tossed the greens and grape tomatoes in the dressing and put the chicken on top. An easy, simple dinner that is healthy and homemade. Prep your kitchen, play around with your ingredients and figure out what works best for you and what will keep you in there cooking, stupid.
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| I bought this shirt for all of us. Just so we can remember where we stand. |
-RT
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