I’m so happy and excited to welcome you to my cooking blog, Dish With Me. Getting to this point has truly been a labor of love. At the request of my sons, I set out to create a cookbook, but considering the times we live in and the technology we have access to, a blog made more sense at this point in time. I have always loved to write, cook and help others, so this is a natural fit.
WORK/LIFE BALANCE
Beyond simply sharing my family’s favorite recipes with you, my goal is to help you fit cooking homemade meals into your busy schedule. You see, everything you cook doesn’t have to be super hard, heavily involved and include hundreds of steps that involve using every pot, pan and utensil you have in your kitchen! Trust me, I know, first hand how hard it is to juggle all of the various jobs and duties life throws at us. I mean, there is this thing called a job that many of us have.
Some of us, also, have children, grandchildren, or even parents to care for, a home to take care of, grocery shopping, yard work, laundry, and other miscellaneous obligations. The list can go on and on. It is sometimes hard to find a healthy work/life balance. So, who wants to add cooking and cleanup to that list, right? Well, me, for one, because eating REAL quality food makes me feel better and I am positive it will make you feel better, too.
IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE COMPLICATED
I once heard, with my very own ears, a coach for my youngest sons baseball team say, “If it doesn’t come in a box, bag or a bucket, we don’t eat it!” Those words literally came out of his mouth! And he meant it! Ummm, what? That statement truly stunned me. I find it completely shocking that some people really do live this way. In this blog, I will try to simplify things, so that cooking isn’t stressful. I mean, we all have to eat, right? But does it always have to be a decision between fast food or complicated? NO! It does not! So, why not ditch the fast food cycle and prepare wonderful, yet fairly uncomplicated meals in the comfort of your own home…at least a few nights a week?
Check out this recipe for CREAMY COCONUT TOMATO SOUP. It can be done in about 35 to 40 minutes. It could take that long to go get fast food.
TIME
As I talked about above, I know many of you probably feel overwhelmed at the mere thought of having to find time to cook, but I’d be willing to bet that you can carve out a little time here and there a few times a week. It, sometimes, is just a matter of organization and priorities. You don’t have to cook huge, complicated or elaborate meals. Heck, you don’t have to cook at all if you don’t want to, but, if you choose to do so, there are delicious rewards coming your way!
Start small. Just try cooking a main dish and using frozen or canned sides to go along with it. Once you get more comfortable in the kitchen, try adding a home cooked side or two to go along with your main dish. Also, I LOVE the concept of cooking once and eating twice…or more! NO, that doesn’t mean you have to eat the same thing twice. Sometimes it is pretty simple to turn one dish into a completely different dish. For instance, if you are cooking chicken one night, double the amount you are cooking and use it the next night on top of a salad, or shred it up and make a soup or a chicken sandwich. Viola, baby!
I CAN RELATE
You might be thinking, she is at home blogging, what does she know about being busy? Trust me, I really can relate. I am a licensed BSN, RN and my experiences are in bedside nursing (hospital). I have never worked in a clinic and worked a typical eight hour day. Ever.
My reason for sharing this is because most bedside nurses work a minimum of twelve hours per shift. Sometimes it is more. I have worked sixteen hour days before. That is two full work days for most people! Yes, that is the truth. Yes, it sucked. No, I did not cook on those days. But…I did plan for my upcoming shifts by cooking the day before my shifts started, because, honestly, there were days that I was so dog tired that I didn’t even have the heart to stop anywhere and get something to eat, I just wanted to be home.
Fast food is simply usually a no-go for me. Not for any particular reason, except that I don’t like most of it, and, if I do eat it, I usually don’t feel well nourished afterward. Although there are a few exceptions.
CONCLUSION
My goal is to help you find a balance in the kitchen and, hopefully, to help you enjoy cooking. I will share some fairly simple recipes with you that are relatively quick to prepare and, if, on occasion I do share a recipe that is a little more complicated or time consuming, I will certainly share that information with you upfront so that you can save that recipe for a day when you have time for it.
I am really happy you are here at Dish With Me and it is truly my hope that I can help enhance your cooking experiences and that you will enjoy my recipes.
Come on, guys, Dish With Me!